The Dragon resupply ship, which was launched on November 26 by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, is already berthed to the International Space Station (ISS) and ready for use.
The unpacking of many thousand pounds of cargo has already started for the Expedition 68 team.
New hardware to improve the ISS’s power generation system as well as new science experiments investigating botany, biology, and physics are all loaded within Dragon.
On Sunday, November 27, less than two hours after the private space freighter docked at 7:39 a.m. EST , NASA Flight Engineer Josh Cassada opened Dragon’s hatch and stepped inside the vehicle.
Nicole Mann, Frank Rubio, and Koichi Wakata, fellow flight engineers from NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), respectively, joined him shortly after.
The remaining portion of Sunday was spent by the four astronauts unloading vital scientific tests and research samples for storage aboard the orbiting lab.
The Dragon spacecraft is home to a variety of technological and scientific investigations into topics like in-space construction, nutrient production on demand, and plant growth in microgravity.
Source: NASA
As the crew prepares the cutting-edge equipment to test the efficacy of skin and bone mending in space on Monday, new tests are beginning.
Wakata started the day by putting fresh skin samples and bone cell samples in the BioLab research facility and the Kubik incubator, respectively.
In contrast, the second study will look at how sutured wounds heal in weightlessness. The first study will investigate how bone cells react to microgravity.
On Monday, Mann and Rubio worked together to move research samples transported aboard Dragon into station facilities and set up cutting-edge biology hardware.
The astronauts will soon conduct research on how microgravity impacts skeletal stem cell regeneration, which could help both on Earth and in space treat bone problems.
Dragon also brought two new roll-out solar arrays that were transported inside its unpressurized trunk section, in addition to the science experiments and supplies.
This week, robotic controllers on the ground will instruct the Canadarm2 robotic arm to remove the solar panels and secure them to attachment points on the truss framework of the space station.
The new solar panels will be installed during two spacewalks that NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio plan to complete before the year is through.
On Monday, Roscosmos Commander Sergey Prokopyev worked on orbital plumbing jobs before using a computer-controlled 3D printer.
Early in the day, Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin worked on electronics upkeep; afterwards, he investigated how electric and magnetic fields impact fluid physics in microgravity.
Anna Kikina, a flight engineer, took air samples from the Zvezda, Zarya, Nauka, and Rassvet modules for testing.
