5,000 Pounds of Gear & Homework Makes it to the ISS

NASA’s Expedition 73 rendezvoused with the SpaceX Dragon this week, picking up a fresh restock of supplies and new experiments to keep them busy aboard the ISS.

After a lengthy 1.5-hour docking and pressure-checking process, the team cracked open their haul for unloading, moving some time and temp-sensitive samples to their stations first. NASA gave audiences a quick rundown of what they’re working on, like the “Maturation of Vascularized Liver Tissue Construct in Zero Gravity” investigation, filed under MVP Cell-07. 

Flight Engineer Zena Cardman set up “a portable glovebag in Harmony’s maintenance work area and installed experiment modules containing liver tissue into an artificial gravity generator,” according to NASA’s brief, where it will explore “how bioprinted, or engineered, liver tissues containing blood vessels behave in microgravity.” If they see positive results, they hope to see some long-term health benefits for astronauts and the folks back home. 

Flight Engineer Jonny Kim (of Silver Star & SEAL fame) continued the unpacking process, handling “several thousand pounds of crew supplies and lab hardware. His peers, MIke Fincke and JAXA’s Kimiya Yui transferred a number of portable freezers for integration aboard their own station. The trio finished up with their tasking and joined Cardman for a review of plans for an upcoming ‘reboost’ maneuver next month. The freshly arrived Dragon set off its reboost kit to demonstrate the ability to maintain the station’s orbital altitude. 

Ryzhikov spent his day swapping out computer networking gear while Flight Engineer Alexey Zubritsky activated Earth observation gear and cleaned life support gear. Flight Engineer Oleg Platonov collected radiation measurements, worked on orbital plumbing tasks, and also activated automated Earth imaging gear for an overnight photography session of the Asian continent.

FMI: www.nasa.gov