Videos: “Space to Ground” + Other ISS reports – July.16.2021

Here is the latest episode in NASA’s Space to Ground weekly report on activities related to the International Space Station:

** Space is Spicier: Peppers Growing on Station – NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

On July 12, NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough on the International Space Station added water to NASA’s Plant Habitat-04 (PH-04) experiment in the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH), the largest of NASA’s three plant growth chambers on the orbiting laboratory. This activated the experiment, which contains 48 Hatch chili pepper seeds recently sent to station. Astronauts on station and a team of researchers at Kennedy will work together to monitor the peppers’ growth for about four months before harvesting them. This will be one of the longest and most challenging plant experiments attempted aboard the orbital lab. The crew plans to eat some of the peppers and send the rest back to Earth for analysis. Some of the data collected from PH-04 will include the astronauts’ take on flavor and texture of the peppers, along with Scoville measurements to assess the spiciness of the peppers. A research team monitoring a control experiment on the ground at Kennedy will collect similar information for comparison. SpaceX’s 22nd commercial resupply services mission in June delivered PH-04 to the space station. Read the full feature and the fact sheet about the PH-04 experiment. Follow progress on social media. Feature: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/chile-pe… Fact Sheet: https://www.nasa.gov/content/plant-ha…

For information on the NuMex pepper Hatch Valley video footage, please contact New Mexico TRUE at www.newmexico.org

** Cool Flames Created Aboard International Space Station – July 14, 2021 – NASA Video

The hot flame created during a test for the Cool Flames Investigation with Gases experiment is shown burning. After the flame appears to extinguish, a cool flame is created. While too faint to be visible in real time during space station testing, the research team uncovered the presence of cool flames in the data.

** Expedition 65 Inflight with Harlem Link Education Group – July 9, 2021 – NASA Video

Aboard the International Space Station, ISS Expedition 65 Commander Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA Flight Engineer Shane Kimbrough answered pre-recorded questions from Harlem Link charter school students in New York July 8 in an educational in-flight events. The students represent all five boroughs of New York, ranging in age from pre-kindergarten to fifth grade. Hoshide and Kimbrough launched in April on the SpaceX Crew Dragon “Endeavour” for a planned six-month mission.

** Space Station Crew Answers Questions From New York State Students – NASA Video

Expedition 65 – NASA Astronaut Megan McArthur and ESA Astronaut Thomas Pesquet answer questions from the Children’s Museum of Saratoga.

** ‘Intelligent’ robotic arm to launch with new space station module – VideoFromSpace

European Robotic Arm (ERA) will be able to “move back and forward by itself, hand-over-hand between fixed base-points,” according to ESA, It will be launched to the International Space Station along with the ‘Nauka’ Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module.

** WATCH Earth Images from the International Space Station.- July 12, 2021 – space googlevesaire

https://youtu.be/hWNrkcgWGcM

** Spacewalk season timelapse, episode 3 – European Space Agency, ESA

Timelapse video made during ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s second mission to the International Space Station, “Alpha”. ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet and @NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough performed three spacewalks in the span of 10 days to install two new solar arrays that will generate more electricity on the International Space Station. The third and final spacewalk for the duo happened on June 25 to finish installing the second pair of new solar arrays. This spacewalk proceeded without problems, and the two new solar arrays are already working and supplying power to the Space Station. The design of the new solar arrays will be used to power the lunar Gateway that will be built in an orbit around the Moon – the next outpost in space for the agencies that run the International Space Station. …

** Science so cool it is freezing! – European Space Agency, ESA

Interviews with the “Cold Stowage” team at @NASA‘s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, that ensure science on the International Space Station stays cool. Many experiments run on the Space Station require freezing samples for analysis later on Earth, or are sent into space frozen and thawed out in orbit. The European-built MELFI (Minus Eighty Lab Freezer for ISS) keeps these samples at the right temperature. From a virus to algae or muscle biopsies, many samples have been sent and stored in space over a decade years that the freezers have been operating. The technology behind keeping the science cool in space has found its way back to Earth too, limiting losses when transporting liquid gas in tankers. Built by ESA and transferred to NASA and @JAXA | 宇宙航空研究開発機構, MELFI is a versatile storage freezer. The four compartments can be set at different temperatures ranging from −98 °C to +4 °C to preserve biological samples such as blood and urine that will be returned to Earth.