The SpaceX Dragon refueling ship carrying more than 5,800 pounds of new scientific experiments and crew supplies, photographed from a window of the SpaceX Dragon Freedom crew ship, approaches the International Space Station over the ocean South Atlantic on July 16, 2022. Credit: NASA
New scientific experiments continue to unpack from inside the newly arrived SpaceX Dragon refueling ship. The seven crew members of Expedition 67 have also made sure that the International Space Station (ISS) continues to orbit the Earth in perfect shape.
The Dragon spacecraft, which was launched with a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the 39A launch pad, at 20:44 EDT (17:44 PDT) on July 14 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, docked autonomously at the forward port of the station’s Harmony module at 11:21 am EDT (8:21 am PDT) on July 16, while the ISS was traveling more than 267 miles across the Ocean South Atlantic.
NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Bob Hines spent Monday, July 18, unloading some of the more than 5,800 pounds of crew supplies and science experiments delivered Saturday inside the Dragon cargo ship. The duo of flight engineers transferred time-critical research samples to the orbital lab to begin exploring a variety of space phenomena to benefit humans on and off Earth. Some of the new experiments include a study of the human immune system, research on protein production, and a cancer treatment experiment.
Kjell Lindgren, a NASA flight engineer, helped Watkins and Hines move scientific freezers inside Dragon to access the cargo pallets. Lindgren also tended to grow radishes and mizuna vegetables using hydroponic and aeroponic methods for the XROOTS space botany study. ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti tested computer connections within the European physiology module that supports neuroscientific, cardiovascular and physiological research within the Columbus laboratory module.
The three cosmonauts at the station focused primarily on life support maintenance tasks. Commander Oleg Artemyev and flight engineer Denis Matveev serviced Russian ventilation systems by replacing respirators and filters. Flight engineer Sergey Korsakov performed orbital plumbing tasks within the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module.