Crew Works Vein Scans For Health and Suit Checks for Spacewalk

Vein scans and spacesuit checks were the top duties for the Expediton75 crew aboard the International Space Station on Tuesday. The orbital residents also continued their Earth photography sessions, cargo operations, and life support maintenance.

Station commander Jessica Meir kicked off her shift collecting blood samples inside the Columbus laboratory module for the Venous Flow investigation that is exploring how microgravity affects the circulatory system. Afterward, she spun the samples in a centrifuge, analyzed the samples for signs of space-caused blood issues, then stowed the samples in a science freezer for preservation.

NASA flight engineer Jack Hathaway took charge of Tuesday's first set of vein scans operating the Ultrasound 3 biomedical device to observe Meir's internal jugular veins then measured her blood pressure. Meir and Hathaway also took part in the second set of vein scans after lunchtime taking turns using the Ultrasound 3 with flight engineers Anil Menon of NASA, Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency) and Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina, both from Roscosmos. Doctors on the ground monitored the ultrasound scans in real-time to understand the risk of blood flow anomalies and blood clots during a spaceflight.

Hathaway, Menon, and Adenot also worked together throughout Tuesday servicing spacesuit gear ahead of a spacewalk planned for Tuesday, Aug. 18. The trio took turns swapping spacesuit components inside the Quest airlock where Menon and Adenot will exit the orbital outpost next week. The spacewalking duo will spend about six-and-a-half hours swapping out a high-speed data and communications antenna on the station's Z1 truss segment.

Roscosmos flight engineer Andrey Fedyaev had a busy Tuesday, first starting his shift photographing landmarks throughout Africa and Eastern Europe. Next, Fedyaev spent the rest of his day inside the Zarya module troubleshooting electronics gear and laptop computers. Pyotr Dubrov began his day cleaning smoke detectors in the Poisk module then wrapped up his shift loading obsolete hardware inside the Progress 94 cargo spacecraft for disposal when it departs in September. Kikina worked primarily inside the Zvezda service module maintaining the ventilation system and cleaning areas behind the panels inside Zarya.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog , @space_station on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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