Bone Cell Analysis Advances as Dragon Adjusts Station’s Orbit

Expedition 73 continued observing bone stem cells on Wednesday to learn to defend the skeletal system in microgravity and guarantee crew well being on lengthy length area missions. The International Space Station residents additionally put in superior pc {hardware} and practiced an emergency drill as a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft boosted the orbital outpost’s altitude.

NASA Flight Engineer Jonny Kim was again contained in the Kibo laboratory module processing bone stem cell samples to assist medical doctors perceive the molecular modifications crew member’s bones expertise throughout a spaceflight. The human-provided samples have been delivered lately aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo craft and are being handled with a therapeutic agent for a better look and a greater understanding of space-caused bone loss. After a interval of incubation through the analysis actions, the specimens are stowed in a science freezer to be returned again to Earth aboard Dragon for retrieval and evaluation.

Before the beginning of the bone examine, Flight Engineer Kimiya Yui of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) activated the Life Science Glovebox for Kim to start his experimental work. Yui then moved on and arrange a man-made gravity-generating incubator to review the fermentation and brewing technique of sake yeast. At the top of his shift, the two-time station customer put in the Axiom Data Center Unit-1 within the Destiny laboratory module to check processing and information storage and superior manufacturing purposes on orbit.

Flight Engineers Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke continued unpacking a few of the science, provides, and {hardware} packed inside Dragon on Wednesday. As the crew labored through the second half of its shift, the exterior reboost package put in inside Dragon’s trunk, an impartial propellant system, powered the spacecraft’s two Draco engines for a number of minutes in an indication of its skill to take care of the station’s altitude.

Cardman and Fincke additionally partnered collectively clearing up area and organizing cargo contained in the Permanent Multipurpose Module. Cardman later changed and repaired {hardware} on the cupola’s robotics workstation. Fincke reviewed procedures and gathered {hardware} for an upcoming physics examine to develop and design new supplies, resembling prescribed drugs, in area.

Station Commander Sergey Ryzhikov and Flight Engineer Alexey Zubritsky, each from Roscosmos, began their shift training an emergency evacuation drill with Kim. The three crewmates, who launched to the orbital outpost aboard the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft, educated on a pc the procedures they might use to shortly board their Soyuz and undock from the station within the unlikely occasion of an emergency.

Afterward, Ryzhikov and Zubritsky joined fellow Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov and photographed crew actions documenting analysis work, train, upkeep duties, and extra. Platonov spent nearly all of his shift contained in the Nauka science module cleansing elements on its air flow system.

Learn extra about station actions by following the area station weblog, @space_station on X, in addition to the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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September 3, 2025