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Expedition 73 flight engineer and NASA-Astronaut Nichole Ayers caught this photo of Lightning Oversching City Lights as seen during a Night Pass on Singapore on Sunday, June 15, 2025. | Credit: NASA/Nichole Ayers
With the arrival of a visiting crew still delayed, the science and maintenance work on board the international space station The Week of Expedition 73 Crew, together with De Tijd for Earth Obeservations and an interview for a podcast.
Orbital observation
Is it a green aurora with pink stripes, or a white aurora with green stripes? That apparently became the question at the international space station, at least for Expedition 73 flight engineer and NASA Astronaut Anne McClain.
‘So when I took this aurora At first I thought my settings were not correct because the Aurora seemed white. I thought the ISO might have finished, or I chose the wrong lens. It turns out, which I thought was white, is actually light pink, and this led me on a path of learning, “wrote McClain on Tuesday (June 17) in a social media update of Orbit.
As McClain discovered, the color of Aurora depends on various factors, including the molecule that touches the atmosphere of the earth, the nature of the impact itself, the density of the atmosphere at the point that the collision occurs and the height of the impact.
“Green is the most common aurora color, and it occurs when the electrons oxygen molecules touch between 60-150 miles [100-240 kilometers] Height, “wrote McClain.” If the sun plates touch oxygen, but at a larger height, above 150 miles [240 kilometers]The resulting color is red. This only happens under intense solar storm activity due to the lower density of atomic oxygen at higher heights. “
And as McClain discovered, the aurora she took was “was very pink!”
A stationary image of a video made by Expedition 73 flight engineer Anne McClain shows a “very pink” aurora because of oxygen particles that touch the atmosphere of the earth. | Credit: NASA/Anne McClain
Science status
Under the research that was conducted this week on board the space station, it was:
RICH -Expedition 73 flight engineer and NASA Astronaut Jonny Kim installed tags around the space station as part of the demonstration of RFID-compatible autonomous logistics management. Realm uses a free -flying robot called Astrobee to follow tagged equipment and charge, making it possible to find the items they need when they need them.
Bio-monitor -Kim also spent two days this week continuing a test with a vest built by Canadian that makes data collection possible about the physiological status of the carrier, including heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature. Kim rated the comfort of the device during the 48 hours that he was wearing it.
Ring Shaved drop – Colleague NASA – Astronaut and flight engineer Nichole Ayers continued her work from last week by changing protein samples and adding new test cells to an experiment that tested surface tension as a way to contain liquids and to observe proteins without making the fluid contact with the other fixed walls of the containers.
Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritskiy, refugee engineers with the Russian space agency Roscosmos, used acoustic sensors that were confirmed in their necks as part of a respiratory study based on the sounds they make during exhaling.
Station
The crew also spent time maintaining the systems of the space station, including:
Window inspections -Working in the American laboratory ‘Destiny’, McClain investigated and documented the condition of each of the windows of the module. Later she did the same in the dome of the station and inspected each of his seven windows.
Expedition 73 Commander Takuya Oneishi also worked on windows, but within Jaxa’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Kibo module, including the glass patholes in the electrostatic levitation, which is used to expose suspended samples to high temperatures.
Cranks, handles and seals – Onishi spent part of this week cleaning the seals on the shutters between each of the American operational segment modules, as well as removing dirt and dust from the handles on each hatch.
Meetings – Onishi, McClain, Ayers and Kim spoke with Joe Acaba, head of the Astronautkantoor of NASA, as well as their main flight director of Expeditie to discuss their upcoming activities and plans for the station.
Ryzhikov and Zubritsskiy also searched the ZVEZDA service module for extra storage space. Together with Kirill Peskov, the three Russian Kosmonauts also worked on cleaning and taking care of two Orlan rooms to be used on future space walks.
Astronaut activity
On Tuesday (June 17), Ayers participated in a podcast interview for the US Air Force, Academy Association of Graduates. A newly promoted lieutenant -colonel in the Air Force, Ayers described for the first time in the space to see the earth.
“It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen,” she said. “And then see the earth from the dome and the laboratory window here, you don’t see land or state lines on earth. It is not like every state has a different solid color. There is only geography and only terrain, so you learn the world all over again in terms of textures and textures and geography and water.”
Ayers said she started seeing our planet as ‘so vulnerable’.
“It really ensured that I want to take better care of this earth and when I get home, I want to do things a little better and take that extra step,” said Ayers.
Sjassed visitors
A second week passed without the expected and now delayed arrival of the fourth visiting crew of Axiom Space.
According to the latest update from NASA on Thursday (June 19), a new targeted launch date for the AX-4 crew “in the coming days” is expected. NASA takes the extra time to analyze a leak repair on the Russian side of the space station.
Axiom Space’s AX-4 Commandant Peggy Whitson, a retired NASA Astronaut, remains ready to launch with Isro (Indian Space Research Organization) Astronaut Shukla, ESA (European Space Agency) Project astronautkiś sight of tibeon and tibey she lookies Hungary.
By the figures
From Friday (June 20) there are 7 people On board the International Space Station: Commander Takuya Onishi from Jaxa, Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers and Jonny Kim from NASA and Kirill Peskov, Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky from Roscosmos, all refiners.
There are Two Docked Crew -Space: SpaceX’s Dragon “Endurance” confirmed to the forward gate of the Harmony Module, and Roscosmos’ Soyuz MS-27 attached to the port of the Pricale Node on earth.
There are also Two moored freight spaces: Roscosmos’ Progess MS-29 (90p) attached to the space-oriented port of the Poisk module and progress MS-30 (91p) attached to the AFT port of the ZVEZDA service module.
The space station has been constantly manned from Friday 24 years, 7 months and 19 days.
