Good morning and welcome to this Friday's edition
of the International Space Station update hour.
You're joining us here inside of the flight control room
in Houston, Texas, where the Orbit Two team is wrapping
up another successful week onboard the International
Space Station.
They're being led today
by Flight Director Michael Lammers joining him
at the CAPCOM console there serving as the voice connection
between controllers here on the ground and the crew
up in space is Christie Bertels.
And that crew right now is the Expedition 31 crew members
from around the globe.
They are comprised of three Russian cosmonauts,
two NASA astronauts and one European Space Agency astronaut.
Starting on the left there we have NASA astronaut Joe Acaba
followed by Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka
and then Russian cosmonaut Sergei Revin.
And then on the right side we have our three astronauts
who will be returning back down to Earth just over a week
from now with ESA astronaut Andre Kuipers,
current Expedition 31 Commander Oleg Kononenko
and NASA astronaut Don Pettit.
So the crew quite busy week with an array of different experiment
and maintenance activities throughout the International
Space Station.
We'll start off with the activities
that were taking place on Monday
with Commander Kononenko replacing a few
of the components in the Russian toilet system doing some routine
maintenance and also working on the Russian Bar experiment
which looks to develop ways
for detecting any potential depressurization throughout
International Space Station modules.
Moving on, another Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka was
working with the Plasma Crystal experiment
which he spent quite a few days throughout this week working on.
It's a study of the growth of different plasma dust structures
in the zero gravity environment of space.
He was also working on the Russian Constanta experiment
which looks to study spaceflight factors like that zero gravity,
but also the radiation environment
that they are exposed to and the effects
that it has on different enzymes.
Our third Russian cosmonaut Sergei Revin was also involved
in that Bar experiment but also worked
on the Matryoshka experiment named after the set
of nested Russian dolls.
It's a mannequin sized device that has a number
of sensors placed throughout it that is used to track
and gather data on the radiation conditions
that astronauts are exposed
to during their expedition spaceflights.
Meanwhile, NASA astronaut Joe Acaba was busy setting
up the Fluid System Servicers Fluid Control Pump Assembly
inside of the Japanese experiment module
in preparation for a coolant refill.
He was also spending a good portion of his day working
with principal investigators in Cleveland
for the BASS experiment, which stands for the Burning
and Suppression of Solids, an investigation that looks
to examine the burning and extinction characteristics
of a wide variety of fuel samples in microgravity.
Meanwhile, European astronaut Andre Kuipers was involved
in doing a few ultrasound scans
for the Integrated Cardiovascular which looks
to study the atrophy of the heart muscle as well
as the Vessel Imaging Research Project
which studies the changes in the properties of the vessel walls
of blood vessels inside
of the astronauts' bodies during long-duration spaceflights.
He also took some time out of his day
to do a Public Affairs event speaking with ESA
and Euronews in Europe.
And then our final crew member on Monday,
Don Pettit was working
on the station's Environmental Health System,
specifically doing a removal and replacement of the oxidizer
in the Total Organic Carbon Analyzer which looks
to study the carbon content in the astronauts' drinking water.
He was also packing up a few items for his return to Earth
in their Soyuz TMA-03M vehicle.
Moving on to Tuesday, Commander Kononenko was, he took some time
out once he woke up to inspect the service module's caution
and warning panel, as well as taking some photographs
and inspecting two
of the windows inside the Russian segment looking
for any new cavities, scratches or new or expanded old stains
or discolorations that could affect the
transparency properties.
Meanwhile, Padalka was busy with his twice daily checking
of the vacuum pressure conditions inside
of the Plasma chamber of that Plasma Crystal experiment
which he worked on throughout the week.
And our third Russian cosmonaut Sergei Revin completed his
second session of the Russian behavioral assessment Typologia
which looks to study the features of operator activities
of these ISS crews during long-term spaceflight phases.
NASA astronaut Joe Acaba was back
in the Japanese experiment module working
on the Fluid Servicer System,
specifically doing some maintenance work
on the Fluid Control Pump Assembly,
and also gathering some hardware for his upcoming work
on the Antimicrobial Applicator
and the Internal Thermal Control System.
While he was doing that,
Andre Kuipers was reviewing some procedures preparing
for his upcoming work
on the Fluid Physics Experiment Facility which he worked
on over the next two days inside
of the Japanese experiment module
and also collecting a few more samples
from the Environmental Health System onboard the station.
While all that was going on, Don Pettit was doing some removal
and replacement work inside the Water Recovery System taking
out the Recycle Filter Tank Assembly in rack two of the WRS
and replacing it with new components and also working
on the station's CDRA, or the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly,
taking out the jumper and doing a slight modification it.
Moving on to Wednesday,
Commander Kononenko was conducting a series
of Sokol launch and entry suit checks.
These are the flight suits that he, Kuipers
and Pettit will be wearing during their return
to Earth on July 1.
Coming next weekend the three astronauts will return to Earth
after 193 days in space and 191 days onboard the station.
So Kononenko was doing some leak checks on their entry suits
and also a few departure checks and some checkout work
on their departing Soyuz TMA-03M vehicle.
Meanwhile, Gennady Padalka was continuing his biological
research experiments onboard the station doing a Russian
experiment study on veins inside of the human body
and also doing some maintenance work on the station's TVIS,
or the treadmill with vibration isolation stabilization,
doing a replacement on one of the wire ropes inside
of the gyroscope that helps stabilize it.
He was joined in that replacement work
by fellow Russian cosmonaut Sergei Revin, who in addition
to that was doing some cleaning
of the ventilation systems throughout the Russian segment.
NASA astronaut Joe Acaba was also working on some
of the air quality monitoring systems inside the station
cleaning out a few of the bacteria filters
and also working with the Antimicrobial Applicator inside
of the Japanese experiment module's Thermal Control System.
And then also on Wednesday,
Andre Kuipers kicked off his work
in the Fluid Physics Experiment Facility
which is a Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency rack
that looks to investigate different fluid physics
phenomena in microgravity.
While all that was going on Don Pettit was working
with the Amine Swingbed hardware assembly installing that in one
of the EXPRESS racks onboard the station.
Amine Swingbed is a technology demonstration that's hoping
to determine if a smaller,
more efficient vacuum regenerated system,
which is typically only used on short duration spaceflights
like the space shuttle was before, would be feasible
in something as large
as the International Space Station environment where things
like recycling water vapor which an Amine Swingbed actually takes
out of the air are much more important.
Moving on to Thursday, Commander Kononenko was spending much
of his day doing some electrical power tests throughout the
Russian segment service module, also known as Zvezda.
And while he was doing that Gennady Padalka was back
at a few experiments working with the Sonocard system
which looks to acquire physiological data during the
astronauts' sleep periods using a contactless system.
He was also at work on the Typologia Russian experiment
that Sergei Revin worked on earlier in the week which looks
to study how these astronauts adapt in their transition
to weightlessness and any effects that it has
on their control skills.
And speaking of Sergei Revin on Thursday, he was working
with the Russian Relaxation experiment which looks
to determine the effects of propulsion system exhaust
on the Earth's upper atmosphere and also
on the station's environment
and their optically sensitive surfaces such as windows,
equipment lenses and the solar array panels.
He was also working with the Kaskad investigation which looks
to do some cell cultivation of different microorganisms
and also cells from animals and humans all
in that microgravity environment.
Meanwhile, Joe Acaba was removing a few insulation
blankets from that Antimicrobial applicator
that he had been working
on inside the Japanese experiment module
to allow the temperatures to equalize
with the station environment
and also doing some work inside the JEM,
or the Japanese experiment module,
on the Thermal Control System.
He was taking a look at the Fluid Servicer System.
Meanwhile, Andre Kuipers was continuing his work
on the Fluid Physics Experiment setup working
on the Marangoni Inside payload that they are installing.
That payload looks to study the thermal capillary convection
also known as Marangoni Convection
in the microgravity environment of space.
Our final astronaut on Thursday was Don Pettit, who was also
in the JEM working on some
of the portable computer systems doing some battery changes.
He was spending some time taking a few ultrasounds again
for the Integrated Cardiovascular test and also
for the Vessel Imaging Research.
All that brings us to today Friday the end of the week,
Commander Kononenko and his two Russian cosmonauts participated
in a Public Affairs event earlier today.
And he will be doing some Soyuz descent training
and departure preps.
Again he was scheduled to depart alongside Andre Kuipers
and Don Pettit coming up on July 1.
Gennady Padalka will be continuing his work
with the Plasma Crystal that he's,
experiment that he's been giving some attention
to throughout the week then correcting a few items
that they found when they were replacing that wire
in the gyroscope onboard the treadmill.
He'll be replacing a loose stabilizer
and a few bolts and misaligned ropes.
Meanwhile, the third Russian cosmonaut Sergei Revin is back
with the Kaskad experiment again looking at investigation
of cell cultivation of microorganisms, animals
and humans in microgravity and then assisting Gennady Padalka
in reinstalling the treadmill.
NASA astronaut Joe Acaba is going
to be getting some proficiency training
for the Crew Medical Officer position
and also inspecting the Destiny laboratory's Utility Output
Panel, looking at a few cables and inspecting the unit
for any damage as the astronauts onboard and controllers here
on the ground look to determine the source of a,
the cause of a power circuit trip
that occurred a little bit earlier today.
European astronaut Andre Kuipers will be closing
out his week replacing some of the items in the Waste
and Hygiene Compartment,
changing out the urine receptacle and the insert filter
and also joining Kononenko in some of the training
for that Soyuz descent operations coming up
and prepacking a few items into their vehicle for return.
Then our final astronaut onboard the station,
Don Pettit will be doing some maintenance on the Waste
and Hygiene Compartment as well, manually filling
up the flush water tank.
And then he'll be spending a good portion of his day working
with the SPHERES experiment, SPHERES standing
for the Synchronized Position Hold Engage
and Reorient Experimental Satellites.
You can see him here inside of the JEM working
with those satellites.
They go through a series of commands, docking operations
and different maneuvering operations and look
to prove different algorithms and different programs written
down here on the ground
in the microgravity environment of space.