Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) Commander Michael López-Alegría, Pilot Walter Villadei, Mission Specialist Alper Gezeravcı, and Mission Specialist Marcus Wandt have now been on the International Space Station (ISS) for 16 full days.
Ax-3 is now targeted to undock from the ISS no earlier than Tuesday, February 6 at 8:05 a.m. CT. Mission managers from Axiom Space, SpaceX, and NASA are continuing to monitor weather conditions at the splashdown site off the coast of Florida. Updates on crew return coverage can be found here.
MLA transferred the emergency equipment out of Dragon and placed it back into the ISS. He also transferred the POLAR refrigerator, Microgravity Experiment Research Locker Incubator (MERLIN) cold stowage, and Nitrogen Oxygen Recharge System (NORS) tank into Dragon to prepare for undocking.
Villadei, Gezeravcı, and Wandt transferred cargo into Dragon to complete packing for undocking.
MLA supported Gezeravcı in filming an additional video for a documentary, which will highlight the first Turkish astronaut.
Villadei and Gezeravcı also recorded a video on daily activities aboard the space station.
Finally, after the mission, Villadei and MLA will have completed the Italian Air Force-led Endothelial Function experiment. The crew trained on-ground and pre-flight to gather ultrasound acquisitions and blood draws, which will be compared with those taken before launch and after re-entry. This will add a new layer of knowledge about the interaction between humans and the microgravity environment. It will offer a better understanding of the physiology of endothelium dysfunction, as a preclinical marker of future cardiovascular disease and as an indicator of artery health in long-duration space missions.
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