Today, Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) Commander Michael López-Alegría, Pilot Walter Villadei, Mission Specialist Alper Gezeravcı, and Mission Specialist Marcus Wandt completed their seventh full day (flight day 10) on the International Space Station (ISS).
Today was the Ax-3 crew’s one and only off-duty day aboard the ISS. However, the crew had to complete a few activities to ensure they are staying on track with their busy timeline full of research, media events, and outreach engagements. The astronauts also spent time catching up with their family members.
Villadei conducted a second technology demonstration with the Smart Flight Suit 2 (SFS2) to test the comfort and behavior of the suit's fabrics in space, function of the inbuilt sensors, and utility of the suit in microgravity.
Gezeravcı continued documentation of plant samples for the Extremophyte Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) project, which studies how the stress responses of plants in microgravity could translate to improved agricultural practices on Earth, in space, or on other terrestrial bodies for future space exploration missions.
In addition, Gezeravcı took photographs to track the progress of algae samples. This project, called Algalspace, investigates the survival and growth of algae in space. Information gathered from the ISS will help make a valuable contribution to studies on sustainable bioregenerative life support systems for future space missions.
Wandt completed another Orbital Architecture assessment with the fNIRS headcap to document his cognitive performance, stress levels, and stress recovery rate.
Wandt took a second round of photos in the cupola for the Thor-Davis project, which investigates lightning activity at the top of thunderstorm clouds. The proximity of these images taken from the ISS, versus weather satellites in higher orbits, helps investigators collect more accurate altitude-related measurements to study the relationship between electrical and convective thunderstorm activity and the effect of lightning on atmospheric greenhouse gas composition.
MLA talked to his alma mater, the U.S. Naval Academy. During the event, MLA participated in a Q&A with midshipmen. Watch the event here.
Gezeravcı participated in a Q&A with students from schools affected by the recent earthquake in Hatay, Türkiye.
MLA and Villadei recently joined together for the second webcast mission update to talk about their day-to-day life aboard the space station, as they are now halfway through the mission. Watch the mission update below.
Tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. CT, MLA will participate in an outreach event with Star Trek actor Melissa Navia to discuss the importance of space travel and developments in commercial space. Watch the event live, here.
Tomorrow, Gezeravcı will participate in an interview with Türkiye’s global news agency, Turkish Radio and Television Corporation/Anadolu Agency.
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