Cardiovascular, Exercise Research to End Station Crew’s Week

Aboard the International Space Station on Friday, Expedition 31 Flight Engineer Joe Acaba worked with the Biomechanical Analysis of Treadmill Exercise on the International Space Station, or Treadmill Kinematics, experiment. Treadmill Kinematics studies the difference between exercising on a treadmill in space and on Earth.

It is the first rigorous investigation to determine the most beneficial treadmill exercise conditions to maintain or improve crew health during long-duration spaceflight.

Acaba also collected blood and urine samples for Human Research Facility experiments. He then placed the samples in the Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS.

Flight Engineer Sergei Revin worked with the Russian experiment PNEUMOCARD, which studies how the cardiovascular system responds to spaceflight conditions. The information recorded during PNEUMOCARD can be used to predict possible physical reactions of the crew members during their return to Earth.

Andre Kuipers, also a flight engineer, worked with the Ryutai Rack in the Japanese Kibo laboratory, preparing it to be rotated out for examination. He also installed new battery packs in the Compound Specific Analyzer-Combustion Products in the Environmental Health System and rearranged the stowed items in Kibo in preparation for the upcoming visit of a Japanese cargo ship.

Flight Engineer Don Pettit performed an acoustic survey of the habitable areas of the orbiting complex and measured the speed of air flow in the Kibo module. He also spoke with students at St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Hay, New South Wales, Australia, via amateur radio.

Flight Engineer Gennady Padalka replaced smoke detectors and, along with Revin and Commander Oleg Kononenko, a carbon dioxide filter in the station’s Russian segment. Kononenko also performed routine servicing of environmental control and life support systems in the Zvezda service module.

The SpaceX Dragon cargo vehicle splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast at 11:42 a.m. EDT Thursday, completing its historic mission to the International Space Station. Dragon was recovered by ship and is on its way to SpaceX facilities in McGregor, Texas, so the spacecraft and its cargo can be analyzed by experts. Dragon, which delivered 1,014 pounds of non-critical cargo on its demonstration flight to the station, spent a total of 5 days, 16 hours and 5 minutes berthed to the complex.