Expedition 63 Commander Chris Cassidy works in JAXA’s Kibo laboratory module. Photo credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
The Expedition 63 crew continues to prepare for the scheduled delivery of nearly 8,000 pounds of supplies and equipment aboard Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft on Sunday. As usual, advanced space science rounded off the day’s activities on the International Space Station. The crew are also continuing to work on isolating the exact location of an air leak that was recently isolated from the Zvezda service module.
An Antares missile stands at its launch pad in Virginia, ready to launch the Cygnus supply ship into space when it launches at 9:38 p.m. EDT Thursday. About nine minutes later, Cygnus reaches Earth orbit towards the space station to arrive at 6:10 a.m. on Sunday and capture robots
Commander Chris Cassidy and flight engineer Ivan Vagner continued their robotics skills on the computer on Wednesday afternoon. The duo will be in the dome on deck on Sunday morning and command the Canadarm2 robotic arm to reach for Cygnus. Ground controls then take over the Canadarm2 and install Cygnus remotely on the Unity module about two hours later.
Cassidy started the day working in the Japanese Kibo lab module to set up experimental hardware that would allow science to work outside of the revolving lab. The veteran astronaut also spent a few moments doing light plumbing while servicing the urine processing assembly in the Tranquility module.
The two Russian cosmonauts, including Anatoly Ivanishin, a three-time station resident, focused on their space exploration and laboratory maintenance complement throughout the day. The duo first took part in a space communications study that used a variety of photography and audio hardware. Next, Ivanishin moved to isolate the source of an air leak using an ultrasonic leak detector. Vagner checked the radiation measurements and then swapped out camera lenses and activated hardware for two Earth observation studies.
UPDATE: Roscosmos has released new information that further isolates the leak point to the transfer chamber in the Zvezda service module. Additional leak detection processes are continued with the ultrasonic leak detector.
In terms of design, the Zvezda service module consists of four sections: three pressurized sections (transfer compartment, work compartment and transfer chamber) and the pressureless assembly compartment, in which the integrated drive unit is located.
At the current leak rate, the leak, which has been investigated for several weeks, does not represent an immediate danger to the crew and only a minor deviation from the crew’s schedule.
