"HOUSTON, STATION ON SPACE TO GROUND."
WELCOME TO SPACE TO GROUND, I AM KAYLA LAFRANCE.
THIS WEEK WAS A BUSY ONE ONBOARD THE ORBITING
LABORATORY
AS THE CREW PREPARED THE STATION FOR NEW AND
CONTINUED SCIENCE.
NASA ASTRONAUT CHRIS CASSIDY SPENT PART OF
HIS WEEK
SETTING UP THE ADVANCED PLANT HABITAT FACILITY
FOR THE NEXT ROUND OF GROWTH OPERATIONS.
THAT FACILITY PROVIDES AN ENCLOSED ENVIROMENT
TO SUPPORT PLANT AND BIOSCIENCE RESEARCH.
LOGISTICS IS A LARGE PART OF KEEPING
SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS RUNNING ONBOARD THE SPACE STATION.
AN EXPERIMENT SUCH AS THE ADVANCED PLANT HABITAT
REQUIRE USE OF CONSUMABLE STATION RESOURCES
SUCH AS WATER AND POWER IN ORDER TO OPERATE
SUCCESSFULLY.
THIS WEEK, THREE OF THE LARGE PAYLOAD RACKS
KNOWN AS EXPRESS RACKS WERE MOVED TO NEW LOCATIONS
THAT BETTER ACCOMMODATED THEIR SIZE AND RESOURCE NEEDS.
WE JUST ASSIGNED ANOTHER NASA ASTRONAUT
TO AN UPCOMING COMMERCIAL CREW MISSION
WITH MORE FLIGHTS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER.
NASA’S JEANNETTE EPPS WAS ASSIGNED
TO THE STARLINER-1 MISSION,
THE FIRST OPERATIONAL FLIGHT OF
BOEING’S CST-100 STARLINER.
SHE’LL JOIN VETERAN NASA ASTRONAUT
SUNI WILLIAMS AND FELLOW FIRST TIME FLIER
JOSH CASSADA
ON A SIX-MONTH EXPEDITION,
SCHEDULED FOR THE LATTER PART OF 2021.
PRIOR TO THAT, BOEING IS GEARING UP
FOR ITS UNCREWED ORBITAL FLIGHT TEST-2
NO EARLIER THAN THIS DECEMBER
FOLLOWED BY THE FIRST CREWED FLIGHT ON STARLINER,
TARGETED FOR NEXT JUNE.
QUESTION: HAVE YOU BEEN FOLLOWING ASTRONAUT
CHRIS CASSIDY ON TWITTER?
YOU REALLY SHOULD!
THE ISS COMMANDER HAS BEEN BUSY
ON HIS SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT @ASTRO_SEAL,
SENDING DOWN BREATHTAKING IMAGES AND HEARTFELT MESSAGES
OF VARIOUS EVENTS HAPPENING ON OUR PLANET
FROM HIS VANTAGE POINT IN ORBIT.
THE POWER OF HURRICANES LAURA AND GENEVIEVE,
THE DEVASTATION OF FIRES IN CALIFORNIA AND
THE AMAZON,
AND THE TRAGIC EXPLOSION IN BEIRUT ARE SOME
OF HIS RECENT POSTINGS ON TWITTER.
CHRIS ALSO CAPTURES EARTH’S AWE AND BEAUTY
WITH
AMAZING VIEWS OF OUR PLANET.
YOU CAN FOLLOW HIS JOURNEY ON BOTH TWITTER
AND INSTAGRAM.
KEEP SENDING YOUR QUESTIONS USING THE HASHTAG #ASKNASA,
WE WILL SEE YOU NEXT TIME.
