Soyuz 70S Undock: The crew is sleep shifting today in preparation for 70S undocking later this evening. The Soyuz 70S vehicle is scheduled to undock from the ISS at 10:54 PM CDT today to return NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya. The vehicle is scheduled to land in Kazakhstan on Saturday, April 6th, at 2:18 AM CDT.
Payloads:
BioFabrication Facility (BFF) – Cardiac: The crew prepared to access the BFF and install cardiac tissue cassette inserts. These activities will support a BFF-Cardiac science print. The Redwire Cardiac Bioprinting Investigation (BFF-Cardiac) uses the BFF to print and process cardiac tissue samples for study and eventual use on Earth. Microgravity enables printing of tissue samples of higher quality than those printed on the ground. Results could advance technologies for producing organs and tissues in lieu of donated organs for transplant, and improve 3-dimensional printing so that crews on future long-duration space missions could print foods and medicines on demand.
Complement of Integrated Protocols for Human Exploration Research on Varying Mission Durations (CIPHER): In support of the CIPHER suite of investigations, the crew collected biological samples and participated in a Cognition test. CIPHER aims to improve our understanding of physiological and psychological changes in humans on missions that range from weeks to one year in duration. Conducting the same research over missions of different durations allows scientists to extrapolate to multi-year missions, such as a three-year round-trip to Mars. These data could provide deeper knowledge about changes that may occur on such missions and support development of countermeasures to promote astronaut health and well-being.
JAXA Protein Crystal Growth-19 (JAXA PCG-19): The JAXA PCG-19 samples were removed from Freezer-Refrigerator Of STirling cycle 2 (FROST2) and packed for return to the ground. The objective of the JAXA PCG-19 investigation is to grow high quality protein crystals in microgravity. The crystals are returned to Earth to determine protein structures in detail; the structures are used to develop pharmaceutical drugs, and to explore the mystery of our lives. The protein samples were crystallized in the ISS microgravity environment at 20℃ using the counter-diffusion method.
Materials ISS Experiment (MISSE): The crew removed the MISSE Science Carriers (MSCs) associated with the MISSE-18 investigation, and packed them for return to the ground. These MSCs have been outside the ISS collecting data in the external environment since September of last year. Alpha Space’s MISSE facility provides a unique platform that is available for the private sector, as well as other government entities, to utilize applied materials testing or technical demonstrations. The MISSE flight facility platform provides the ability to test materials, coatings, and components or other larger experiments in the harsh environment of space, which is virtually impossible to do collectively on Earth. Testing in low-Earth orbit (LEO) allows the integrated testing of how materials react to exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV), atomic oxygen (AO), ionizing radiation, ultrahigh vacuum (UHV), charged particles, thermal cycles, electromagnetic radiation, and micro-meteoroids in the LEO environment.
Systems:
Crew Departure Preparations: Today, the crew performed various activities to prepare for Soyuz 70S Undock and Return. 70S Undock is scheduled for later today at 10:54 PM CDT with landing scheduled for April 6th at 2:18 AM CDT.
Transfer Cargo Dragon Cargo Operations: Today, the crew continued transferring cargo from the SpaceX-30 cargo vehicle to the ISS. SpaceX-30 is scheduled to remain at the ISS until later this month before it undocks to return cargo and payloads to the ground.
Urine Transfer System (UTS) Offload EDV Swap: Today, the crew swapped the EDV in the offload EDV spot of the UTS. The main objective of the UTS is to provide automated control of urine flow from Toilet System and Waste Hygiene Compartment (WHC) or from external storage containers into the Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) Wastewater Storage Tank Assembly (WSTA).
Look Ahead Plan
Saturday, April 6 (GMT 097)
Payloads:
- BFF
- Mochii Fan Vent Cleaning
Systems:
- Crew Off Duty