NASA space station in orbit status November 5, 2021.

A pair of astronauts on the International Space Station used virtual reality today to study advanced driving controls.

At the same time, the four Expedition 66 crew members are turning their attention to returning to Earth this month.

An experiment sponsored by ESA (European Space Agency) is using virtual reality in a space environment to help engineers optimize workstations and interfaces to control future space robots and spacecraft. This morning, ESA Commander Thomas Pesquite set up the Pilote experiment for NASA flight engineer Megan MacArthur wearing a virtual reality headset. She works in the Columbus Lab module, wears VR goggles, and uses a haptic controller to drive and capture simulated spacecraft in an environment similar to a video game.

NASA's flight engineer Shane Kimbrough and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Akihiko Hoshiko have been working on various space station hardware all Friday. Kimbrough works in the Destiny laboratory module in the United States and is responsible for repairing thermal gears, while Hoshide inspects the lights and track piping system in the Kibo laboratory module.

Kimbrough will also lead McArthur, Pesquet and Hoshide back to Earth in SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour. The group of four has been packing the Endeavour with personal belongings and station hardware, as well as conducting training on the computer at home. Four commercial crew astronauts will be separated from the port facing space in the Harmony capsule and splashed off the coast of Florida, ending the space station mission that began in April.

The other three crew members of the Orbital Laboratory, NASA flight engineer Mark Vande Hei and Roscosmos astronauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov, will continue to stay in space until next spring.

Vande Hei has been training for his role all Friday, when he will monitor the upcoming release and departure of Crew Dragon. Before ending his day setting up the hardware to collect biological samples, he also checked the American toilet sensors. Shkaplerov continued to carry out cargo transfer in the ISS Progress 79 supply ship, and then photographed the photobioreactor hybrid life support system experiment for inspection. While conducting microgravity biology research for sterility research, Dubrov explored ways to maintain safe, sterile conditions.

Actiwatch Plus: The crew removes Actiwatch Plus and stores it in the Actiwatch Plus kit. Actiwatch is a waterproof, non-invasive sleep-wake activity monitor worn on crew members' wrists. The device contains a miniature single-axis accelerometer that generates a signal when the object is moving. The data is stored in the non-volatile memory inside Actiwatch until they are downloaded for analysis.

Explore Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS)-Toilet: A crew member performs troubleshooting steps to restore a suspicious toilet pressure sensor. The toilet system is an exploratory technology demonstration that has developed into a permanent United States on-orbit (USOS) system. The toilet has the same basic design as the Orion Universal Waste Management System (UWMS) and interfaces with the Urine Transport System (UTS) to allow simultaneous waste and sanitation compartment (WHC) and toilet operations.

Pilote: A crew member performed a Pilote scientific run to test the ergonomics of the multi-sensory interface used to control robotic arms and spacecraft. It is necessary to conduct these experiments in a microgravity environment, because conducting experiments on Earth will lead to the use of ground-based ergonomics to design workstations, which are inconsistent with the conditions encountered on orbiting spacecraft. The Pilote survey uses virtual reality and a new tactile-based user-machine interface to test the effectiveness of new control schemes for remotely operating robotic arms and spacecraft.

Polar: The crew used ice bricks and double cold bags to transfer the samples from the cold cargo hold to the polar unit in preparation for the dragon's departure. Polar is a cold load management facility that can transport scientific samples to or from the International Space Station at low temperatures (-80ºC). Polar uses 75 W power supply and uses air cooling as its heat dissipation method. Polar can hold up to 12.75 liters of sample volume and 20 pounds of samples, including sample support equipment.

Crew-2 Dragon departure preparation: The crew completed several activities to prepare for the upcoming Crew-2 departure. The crew completed on-board training (OBT) to review the dragon's departure procedures, transfer the cargo to the vehicle, and prepare personal data for downstream transmission to the ground. Crew-2 is tentatively scheduled to leave and return to the crew of Endeavour on November 7.

Laboratory Internal Thermal Control System (ITCS) Manual Flow Control Valve (MFCV) Adjustment: Today, staff use Coriolis flow meters to adjust the MFCV of the DC-to-DC converter unit (DDCU)-1 rack to reduce passing through the rack . This is done to reallocate cooling resources for the LAB's medium temperature loop (MTL). ITCS provides equipment cooling and heat rejection through a combination of water circuit and interface heat exchanger.

Recycling ECLSS recovery tank discharge/filling: Today, the staff set the recovery tank to discharge to ЕДВ-У. After the setting is completed, the ground uses the Urine Transport System (UTS) to drain the water tank. After the ground experts completed the transfer, the crew confirmed that the recovery tank was empty, terminated the drainage, and repositioned the fill/drain valve for filling. The crew also replaced ЕДВ at the unloading ЕДВ location of UTS.

No ground activities today: All activities have been completed unless otherwise stated.

Portable Computer System (PCS) Restart Internal Thermal Control System (ITCS) Leak Limit Setting Command and Control Software (CCS) Monthly Document Downlink Atmospheric Activation System (ARS) Thermal Amine Scrubber (TAS) Activated Atmosphere Activation System (ARS) Laboratory Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Discontinued Proactive Plan

APM Status Check (NASA) Standard Measures Saliva Collection (NASA) System:

The crew arrives and prepares to change the command ceremony. Crew Long Departure Meeting, Sunday, November 7 (311 GMT) Payload:

Actiwatch Plus Don (NASA) Probiotics Capsule stow (JAXA) Standard Measures Saliva Collection (NASA) System:

Crew-2 Undock Monday, November 8th (312 GMT) Payload:

Actiwatch HRF1 Setup (NASA) EarthKam Shutdown and Load (NASA) Food Physiology MELFI Transfer (NASA) Plant Habitat-04 Clear Debris (NASA) SERFE Collection and Degassing (NASA) System:

Return of emergency equipment to today’s planned activities: Unless otherwise stated, all activities have been completed.

HRF Universal MELFI Sample Insertion Operation Probiotic Problem Microgravity Science Glove Box Closed Dragon Cargo Transport JEMRMS RLT2 Status Check JPM1OA4 Lamp Troubleshooting PILOTE Hardware Setting Removal and Replacement (R&R) Waste Sanitary Compartment (WHC) ЕДВ-Y Waste Sanitary Compartment Room (WHC) EDV Multi-Purpose Small Payload Rack (MSPR) JEM Water Recovery System (JWRS) Set up U.S. Laboratory Low Temperature Loop (LTL) Gas Trap Plug (GTP) Remove PILOTE Science DOSIS 3D Passive Detector from Columbus Disassembly (10 PDP and 1 TDP)). Cargo Dragon Station Support Computer Relocate SpX-CREW DRAGON Review CBT Regeneration Environment Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) Recovery Tank Drainage Onboard Training (OBT) Dragon Departure Review DC to DC Converter Unit (DDCU)-1 Rack Rotation Down Preparation Data preparation to return to the toilet pressure sensor troubleshooting LAB1P3 Manual flow control valve (MFCV) to adjust the crew to leave and return to earth preparations Internal thermal control system (ITCS) manual flow control valve (MFCV) to adjust the auxiliary charging D4 battery return to on-board training (OBT) )) Crew Dragon departs CBT Public Affairs Office (PAO) event Unloads EDV in JEM Urine Transport System Exchange DC to DC Converter Unit (DDCU)-1 Rack Rotation Finishing Station Support Computer (SSC) System Ventilation Clean Manufacturing Equipment Print Removal , Cleaning and transfer of Stow Polar sample from Cold Stowage HRF universal saliva collection, roll up and store sleeping bag

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

Filing basis: International Space Station

Tips for your editor tips@spaceref.com

Senior Editor and Chief Architect: Marc Boucher Email | Twitter

Editor-in-Chief: Keith Cowing Email | Twitter

Copyright © 2021 SpaceRef Interactive LLC. all rights reserved.