Medical tests and microbiology topped the research schedule for the Expedition 74 crew aboard the International Space Station on Tuesday. The seven crewmates also worked on spacesuits, cargo operations, and life support maintenance.
NASA flight engineer Chris Williams kicked off his shift drawing a blood sample from NASA flight engineer Jessica Meir for processing in a centrifuge and preservation in a science freezer for later analysis. Williams later collected, processed, and stowed his urine samples for the CIPHER study that measures and compares astronaut health before, during, and after a spaceflight. Doctors regularly analyze a crew member’s biomedical samples collected throughout a mission constantly gaining insight into microgravity’s effect on the human body.
Williams later joined Meir and NASA flight engineer Jack Hathaway as they reorganized cargo packed inside the Leonardo Permanent Multipurpose Module. The trio cleared air vents in Leonardo for proper airflow, trashed obsolete hardware, inventoried items, and photographed problem areas for inspection.
Hathway and Meir later partnered together and filled a liquid cooling and ventilation garment, a spacesuit’s inner layer that regulates a spacewalker’s temperature, with water. The duo also attached shoulder pads to the cooling garment and installed a spacesuit on a support stand inside the Quest airlock for future maintenance.
Flight engineer Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency) began her shift working on cargo consolidation to optimize space inside the Columbus laboratory module. After lunch, Adenot inspected and cleaned the Tranquility module’s ventilation system then checked the operation of the Exploration Potable Water Dispenser, a technology demonstration to advance water sanitization methods, reduce microbial growth, and dispense hot water into crew food and drink bags.
Station commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and flight engineer Sergei Mikaev, both Roscosmos cosmonauts, joined each other and collected microbe samples in the Nauka, Zvezda, and Zarya modules. The samples will be analyzed to understand the orbital outpost’s microbial environment and learn how to protect crew health and space station hardware.
Roscosmos flight engineer Andrey Fedyaev spent his shift primarily on orbital plumbing duties. Fedyaev first checked the functionality of water stowage tanks and inspected their hoses and connectors. Next, he purged residual fluids and gases inside water recycling hardware to ensure its continuing safe operation.
Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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