Spacewalk Preps and Advanced Biomedical Research Begin Week

This week, NASA astronauts Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk began preparations for two spacewalks to install roll-out solar arrays on the International Space Station. The first spacewalk is scheduled for October 29, while the second will occur on November 5. Menon, in his fourth spacewalk, and Kutryk, a first-timer, will work together to install these arrays on the station's truss structure at the end of October.

Meanwhile, the Expedition 75 crew focused on advanced biomedical research, including portable biological sampling in microgravity and 3D cell printing. During the week, flight engineer Joshua Kutryk filled spacesuit tanks and liquid cooling and ventilation garments with clean water. Meanwhile, NASA flight engineer Luke Delaney and Jessica Watkins joined a pre-spacewalk conference with Mission Control to discuss their upcoming experiments.

Delaney's experiment aims to analyze crew biological samples in space, potentially providing quicker health insights than returning samples to Earth. Watkins, on the other hand, worked on the BioFabrication Facility in the Columbus laboratory module to print blood vessels made from cells of patients with a rare genetic disorder that causes rapid aging. Observations of this process in microgravity could yield valuable insights into the cellular affliction and lead to advanced therapies.

The Roscosmos three cosmonauts also contributed to the week's activities. Commander Pyotr Dubrov investigated complex plasmas, which could influence future spacecraft design and research methods. Flight engineer Sergey Teteryatnikov explored the potential of super intelligence tools to boost crew efficiency aboard the spacecraft, while flight engineer Anna Kikina organized food packs to ensure consumption before their expiration dates and documented the location of hardware inside the Zarya module.