ISS astronauts begin 2022 with biology & robotics experiments; Spacewalk also in pipeline

Astronauts of the Expedition 66 crew aboard the International Space Station have kickstarted 2022 with new experiments in microgravity along with preparations for the spacewalk. According to a blog published by NASA on January 4, the astronauts are now working on subjects of biology and robotics and are also reviewing Crew Dragon emergency procedures. The month of February will be crucial for the crew as Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov are slated to conduct a spacewalk on January 19. 

As for the biological experiments, NASA astronaut and flight engineer Raja Chari began his share of work by swabbing bacteria samples and sequencing their DNAs to understand the microbial environment on the station. Chari's fellow crew member Thomas Mashburn on the other hand photographed operations for the Plant Habitat-05 experiment meant for studying cotton genetics whereas Kayla Barron is working on an experimental audio sensor that can identify early indications of space hardware failure.

Besides, European Space Agency’s (ESA) Matthias Maurer is leading the process of reviewing a variety of emergency scenarios aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon vehicle and is training for events such as a fire, a depressurisation, and an emergency undocking with three other NASA astronauts. 

The spacewalk ahead

As mentioned above, Russian cosmonauts Shkaplerov and Dubrov are preparing for their spacewalk that will be carried out for a variety of objectives. According to Russian space agency Roscosmos, the main goal of the spacewalk is to integrate the Prichal nodal module, which arrived at the International Space Station at the end of November 2021, into the Russian segment of the ISS. The duo will also carry out several other tasks such as transferring the cargo boom from the transition compartment to the multipurpose laboratory module and connecting cables responsible for intermodular communication. 

New Year aboard the ISS

The celebrations of the new year became something that has gone viral on the internet. Astronauts aboard the space station shared pictures showing the first sunrise of 2022 which left netizens amazed. As we already know, the ISS crew witnesses 16 sunrises owing to the space station’s many trips around the Earth in a day, making the images even more intriguing. Take a look at the images below.

Image: Twitter/@Space_Station