The seven crew members of Expedition 67 are resuming their normal program of science and maintenance activities following the departure of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on Wednesday.
Orbital residents focused on vein scans, robotics, and a host of other space research aboard the International Space Station today.
NASA and Boeing completed their Orbital Flight Test-2 mission on Wednesday. NASA flight engineers Kjell Lindgren and Bob Hines monitored the arrival of the crew ship last week, conducted cargo and test operations inside the vehicle, then closed the hatch on Tuesday before finally seeing the Starliner disconnected from the bow port of the Harmony module at 2:36 pm EDT on Wednesday. .
Lindgren began an auditory assessment for the acoustic diagnostic experiment on Thursday and then set up the Astrobee robotic freewheels for the Kibo 3 robot programming challenge. Hines installed hardware that will measure blood flow to the brain for in brain self-regulation research.
Both astronauts later joined NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and ESA (European Space Agency) Samantha Cristoforetti for vein scans on Thursday. The quartet used the Ultrasound 2 device to scan the veins in the neck, shoulders and legs. Doctors in the field monitored the linked real-time biomedical scans for information on how the astronaut’s bodies adapt to microgravity.
Watkins and Cristoforetti began their day by collecting their blood and urine samples, turning them into a centrifuge, and storing the samples in a scientific freezer for future analysis. The duo then teamed up with Lindgren to check out the US space suits.
The three cosmonauts from Roscosmos station have also contributed to the space research series taking place today in the orbiting laboratory. The trio, including Commander Oleg Artemyev, with flight engineers Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov, re-explored ultrasound techniques to improve the location of landmarks on Earth for photography. Artemyev also completed a session that monitored his heart activity for 24 hours. Matveev helped Korsakov, connected to a variety of sensors, while working on an exercise cycle for fitness assessment.
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