Space to Ground: The Work Continues: 01/13/2023

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.

What is said in the film

Welcome to space to ground. I am nilufar ramji. After nearly a month and a half in orbit, the 26th spacex resupply mission is back on earth, loaded with several tons of scientific cargo. Following a set of commands from ground flight controllers, the cargo dragon spacecraft undocked from the zenith port of the international space station’s harmony module at 5:05 pm central time on january 9th. The resupply mission launched from florida on november 26th to delivery nearly 4400 pounds of science and supplies, including two new irosa solar arrays that were installed by spacewalking astronauts in december.

Two days later, the spacecraft re-entered the earth’s atmosphere, making a parachute assisted splashdown in the pre-dawn hours off the coast of florida. With crew dragon splashdown, we welcome home several science investigations where researchers can continue their work on earth. One of these investivations is designed to protect astronauts from high doses of radiation. Crew members wore a special device called astrorad vest while performing daily tasks. Astronauts provided feedback on the vest’s fit, feel and range of motion.

This feedback will allow the garment developers to improve its design, which aims to provide personal radiation protection for astronauts on artemis missions and future travel to mars. Another returning investigation known as dynamos, compares two model soil microbial consortia, one aboard the space station and another here on earth. Results from this investigation could help researchers develop integrative networks to predict the influence of the selection pressure imposed by the space station on microbial community dynamics and functions. Also returning on dragon are samples of extra virgin olive oil. This investigation will analyze the properties of the flown olive oil samples with controls that were kept on the ground.

Olive oil is rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds, and provided that the oil maintains its properties in space, it could be beneficial to the health of astronauts on long-term space missions. Last month, an external leak was detected from the roscosmos soyuz ms-22 spacecraft docked to the international space station. That soyuz carried three crew members, including nasa astronaut frank rubio, to space on september 21 from the baikonur cosmodrome. Roscosmos engineers have determined that the spacecraft is not viable for a nominal crew return. An uncrewed soyuz spacecraft will replace the current vehicle.

That spacecraft, soyuz ms-23, will launch to the space station on febuary 20. And that’s space to ground for this week. For all the latest on the science taking place aboard the orbiting labortory, don’t forget to follow us on twitter @iss_research. Thanks so much for watching. See you next week.

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