Crew Off-Duty, Cosmonauts Work Cargo and Station Upkeep
Four Expedition 74 crew members are enjoying an off-duty day following a busy week of science prep, post-spacewalk closeout procedures, cargo operations, and more. Three other International Space Station residents set their sights on an array of maintenance tasks throughout the day.
NASA astronauts Chris Williams, Jessica Meir, and Jack Hathaway, along with European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot all had the day off on Friday. The quartet exercised and spent the day relaxing.
NASA continues to assess potential dates for U.S. spacewalk 95 outside the International Space Station as teams prepare for the installation of future roll-out solar arrays. The agency has been reviewing the standard spacesuit preparations and other procedures needed following U.S. spacewalk 94 along with other station activities including cargo, research, and maintenance activities
On March 18, NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Chris Williams successfully completed U.S. spacewalk 94, preparing the 2A power channel and performing additional tasks. This work will enable the future installation of roll-out solar arrays to provide additional power for the orbiting laboratory, supporting critical systems and its safe, controlled deorbit. NASA will share the updated date and time for spacewalk 95 once scheduling is finalized.
In the Roscosmos segment, space station commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov removed and replaced an AC compressor. He then proceeded to take a health assessment that analyzes how a crew member works individually and with their teammates before conducting some maintenance on the treadmill.
Flight engineer Andrey Fedyaev worked in the Nauka module to replace stowage battery units and test video cameras the crew uses to document work and life aboard the orbital complex.
Flight engineer Sergei Mikaev reviewed the schedule for next week, organized and cleaned up files on station computers, and configured cameras and hardware crewmembers use to take photos of Earth. He ended his day on Progress 94 cargo operations, unloading food and supplies that were delivered earlier this week, and installed a payload that will assist with acquiring images of Earth in the visible and near-infrared ranges.
Science, supplies, and equipment are soon to be delivered to the International Space Station aboard a Northrop Grumman Cygnus XL spacecraft. NASA's Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply Services 24 mission is targeted to lift off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida no earlier than Wednesday, April 8 at 8:49 a.m. EDT.
In addition to food, supplies, and equipment for the crew, Cygnus will deliver research to the space station, including a new module to advance quantum science that could improve computing technology and aid in the search for dark matter and hardware to produce a greater number of therapeutic stem cells for blood diseases and cancer. Cygnus also will carry model organisms to study the gut microbiome and a receiver that could enhance space weather models that protect critical space infrastructure, such as GPS and radar.
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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Abby Graf
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