Vein Scans, Muscle Study on Station Informing Ways to Keep Crews Healthy
Human research, the series of ongoing investigations to understand how to keep astronauts healthy while living long-term in space, was the main science topic aboard the International Space Station on Thursday. The Expedition 72 residents also continued packing a cargo craft for its upcoming departure and conducted an emergency drill to stay familiar with response, communication, and coordination procedures.
Four NASA astronauts took turns Thursday morning in the Columbus laboratory module using the Ultrasound 2 device to scan their neck, shoulder, and leg veins. Flight Engineers Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague kicked off the biomedical work as Wilmore powered up the Human Research Facility and its ultrasound hardware. Next, Wilmore scanned Hague’s veins as doctors on the ground monitored in real-time guidance.
Hague then took control of the Ultrasound 2 and scanned the veins of station Commander Suni Williams while she relaxed in the Columbus lab. Afterward, Hague handed over the ultrasound device to Flight Engineer Don Pettit taking his turn as crew medical officer to scan the veins of Wilmore with remote guidance from specialists on Earth. Doctors will use the downlinked medical data to gain insights into crew health and learn how the human body adjusts to living and working in weightlessness.
After the vein scans, Pettit began setting up hardware and connecting electrical gear for the new Muscle Stimulation experiment that seeks to counter space-caused muscle atrophy in crew members’ legs with improved exercise methods. Hague collected his urine samples and stowed them in a science freezer for future testing. Wilmore finalized packing radio communications hardware that had been removed from outside the orbital outpost during a Jan. 30 spacewalk.
Williams also activated an Astrobee robotic free flyer that maneuvered inside the Kibo laboratory module demonstrating its ability to capture and stream live video back to Earth. Williams then retrieved samples of engineered yeast from an incubator and stowed them in a science freezer for later analysis to determine their ability to produce on-demand nutrients on future missions.
Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov pointed a camera out a Zvezda service module window and photographed Earth landmarks in a variety of wavelengths. Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin collected trash and obsolete gear for disposal aboard the Progress 89 cargo craft before its departure at the end of February. Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner worked on ventilation maintenance in the Nauka science module.
At the end of their shift, all seven Expedition 72 crewmates gathered together and practiced a regularly scheduled emergency drill. The orbital septet worked in conjunction with mission controllers around the world and followed simulated emergency drill steps on computer tablets. The crew then reviewed procedures to follow in the unlikely event of a depressurization, chemical leak, or fire aboard the space station.
Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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