August M
NASA reported a full slate of science aboard the ISS on Wednesday, with astronauts conducting human-health experiments, cryogenic-fluid tests, and robotics work while helping newly arrived crewmates settle in and preparing a separate trio for next week’s return to Earth.
The International Space Station entered a busy midweek rhythm as veteran and newly arrived astronauts blended intensive research with handover tasks.
With one crew preparing to return to Earth, the orbiting laboratory remains fully booked with human-health and physics experiments.
The day’s work underscored how scientific output and crew adaptation run in parallel aboard the outpost.
Human research focus
NASA said Flight Engineer Zena Cardman dedicated much of Wednesday to biomedical studies, including blood processing and spatial-cognition testing for the CIPHER program, which tracks astronaut health before, during, and after missions.
After assisting with the blood draw, Jonny Kim helped centrifuge and store samples, then Cardman completed a computer-based microgravity navigation test.
Kim also prepared the Astrobee free-flying robots for ground-controlled trials aimed at increasing autonomous operations.
He then trained Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov on using the ARED system. Kim continued packing ahead of his Dec. 8 return aboard Soyuz MS-27 with Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky.
Tech and environmental studies
JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui troubleshot a CO₂-removal experiment inside the Kibo lab, part of ongoing development for Artemis life-support systems.
He also continued unloading science payloads from the Cygnus cargo vehicle.
Roscosmos Flight Engineer Oleg Platonov downloaded Earth imagery gathered overnight, completed airflow and lung-function tests for a breathing-in-space study, and analyzed air samples while collecting radiation data, notes NASA.
Sources: NASA
