Space to Ground: Midpoint: July 05, 2024

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’m chelsey ballarte. The international space station is mid-way through its 25th year. In the first half alone, the station has seen the arrival of eight visiting spacecraft. Four have carried humans to the station, and four have carried cargo. They’ve completed hundreds of hours of research in the orbiting lab.

Oh, and while we’re talking stats, the space station has orbited the earth nearly 3,000 times this year. But who’s counting, right? "and liftoff! Go axiom-3. " axiom space hit the ground running this year, launching four spaceflight participants to the space station on january 18 for a nearly 3-week stay.

Then on march 3, nasa’s spacex crew-8 mission launched aboard a dragon spacecraft. The crew is made up of nasa’s own matt dominck, mike barratt, and jeanette epps, as well as roscosmos cosmonaut alexander grebenkin. They’re still aboard the space station now, serving as expedition 71 flight engineers. Just a couple weeks later on march 23, soyuz ms-25 launched, delivering three more humans to the space station, including nasa astronaut tracy dyson. She’ll remain on station for six months helping maintain the orbiting lab and conducting science experiments.

And of course, history in the making. On june 5, the starliner spacecraft lifted off with two humans on board a first for the spacecraft. Nasa astronauts suni williams and butch wilmore arrived at the space station on june 6, supporting nasa’s boeing crew flight test mission. The astronauts have had a groundbreaking first half of the year. Through their research, they’ve completed many firsts and even broken records.

Using liquified stainless steel, the astronauts were able to 3d print with metal for the very first time on the space station. The ability to 3d print metal objects in space could reduce the need to pack heavy tools with us on our way to the moon. The first cardiac tissue was successfully 3d bioprinted using the biofabrication facility on the space station. This functional, live human heart tissue could advance our technology for producing organs and tissues instead of depending on donated organs for transplant. In another groundbreaking first, researchers successfully tested a small robot that can perform surgery in space.

The robotic surgeon was controlled from the ground, using two hands to grasp and make cuts on rubber bands to simulate human tissue. This expedition crew and its researchers have put countless hours in the lab to achieve all of these incredible firsts, but the records don’t stop there. The astronauts have also gotten to work behind the camera, taking more photos of our earth these past six months than all of 2023 combined. The space station crew has a unique vantage point of our earth, and their photos help researchers track how our planet is changing over time. Scientists can use the database of millions of astronaut photos to monitor glaciers and volcanoes, urban lights at night, hurricane and wildfire events, and even studies on lightning flashes.

The crew even took some amazing images in april during a total solar eclipse. "hahaha... unbelievable! " "please welcome nasa's 23rd astronaut class" meanwhile here on earth, nasa added 10 new astronauts to its roster in the first half of 2024. The newest class of astronauts graduated their 2-year candidacy and are now eligible to begin training for missions to the international space station, and even the moon through nasa’s artemis campaign.

The international space station has already racked up a number of achievements in the first half, but we are just getting started. We’re looking forward to seeing nasa astronaut don pettit fly for the fourth time this september, and nasa’s spacex crew-9 crew later this year as well. And for the mid point of 2024, that’s all for this space to ground half time report, thanks for watching.

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