Packing research samples and station equipment for return to Earth were the main tasks aboard the International Space Station Wednesday. The seven members Expedition 72 The crew also maintained a variety of scientific hardware and electronic equipment throughout the orbiting laboratory.
NASA astronauts finish loading completed science experiments and laboratory equipment inside the Dragon spacecraft for recovery and analysis on Earth. NASA and SpaceX are now targeting Friday, December 6 for the return of the resupply spacecraft. Mission leaders canceled the return scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 5, due to forecasted high winds at the landing site off the coast of Florida. NASA’s live coverage of Dragon’s undocking and departure begins at 10:50 a.m. EST on NASA+ as the spacecraft detaches autonomously from the Harmony modulefrom the forward port around 11:05 a.m. Friday. Learn to watch NASA content via various platforms, including social media.
NASA astronaut and station commander Suni Williams started his day by installing the sample pack Space automated laboratory incubator inside Dragon. NASA astronauts Nick Hayes And Butch Wilmore continued his loading and stowage work portable scientific freezers filled with research samples and motorized lockers containing finalized experiments inside the Earth spacecraft.
Williams and Hague also had time to join in the Quest airlock replacing components and resizing a spacesuit ahead of a series of spacewalks planned early next year. Wilmore spent all day Wednesday loading goods from the station to Dragon.
NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit started his day in the Kibo laboratory module setting up a orbital deployer for small satellites which will soon be placed in the vacuum of space to release a series of CubeSats. Pettit, a four-time visitor to the space station, finished his shift replacing experimental samples inside the Integrated combustion rack prepare the search device for spacecraft fire safety investigation.
Roscosmos flight engineer Aleksandr Gorbunov also worked on cargo tasks, but on the other side of the orbital outpost. Gorbunov unpacked part of the nearly three tons of cargo launched aboard the Progress 90 cargo ship on November 21 and mooring to Poisk module on November 23. The first space traveler ended his day inspecting and photographing the air conditioning equipment in the Zvezda service module.
Cosmonauts Alexei Ovshinin and Ivan Vagner teamed up throughout the day Wednesday to maintain a wealth of communications and electronic equipment in the Roscosmos segment of the orbital outpost. Ovchinin then moved on and checked the ventilation equipment inside the Zarya module. Vagner conducted a photographic inspection of Zvezda’s windows and then collected her hair samples for biological analysis.
Learn more about the resort’s activities by following the space station blog, @space_station And @ISS_Research on ISS Facebook And ISS Instagram accounts.
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