Crew wraps week with spacesuit upgrades and experiments on respiration and circulation in orbit

Crew wraps week with spacesuit upgrades and experiments on respiration and circulation in orbit
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Apr 14, 2025

The Expedition 72 team aboard the International Space Station (ISS) closed out their week with a focus on spacesuit enhancements and critical biomedical research. As one group adjusted to the rigors of microgravity, another prepared for their journey home after months in orbit.

NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers spent Friday outfitting two spacesuits with newly installed display and control modules inside the station's Quest airlock. The updated liquid crystal electronics provide real-time suit diagnostics, ensuring astronauts have clear data on suit performance during extravehicular activity. Concurrently, crewmates Jonny Kim and Don Pettit conducted a comprehensive review of suit readiness protocols and hardware configurations.

Having arrived on April 8 aboard Soyuz MS-27, Kim is acclimating to life aboard the ISS alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky. Despite their short time on station, the trio has already begun routine maintenance and scientific duties. On Friday, Kim focused on orbital plumbing tasks in the Tranquility module, while Ryzhikov and Zubritsky participated in physiological experiments tracking respiratory patterns and circulatory responses in zero gravity. The duo used sensor arrays to monitor blood flow across various extremities and the forehead.

Pettit, who is nearing the end of his mission, has started transitioning responsibilities to the newer arrivals. He offered training on the use of the advanced resistive exercise device, a cornerstone for maintaining muscle and bone health in microgravity. Station Commander Alexey Ovchinin and Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner, who launched on September 11, 2024, are rehearsing descent techniques ahead of their planned April 19 return aboard Soyuz MS-26. The crew will depart from the Rassvet module and land in Kazakhstan, concluding Expedition 72.

Earlier in the day, Pettit also contributed to a student-designed experiment, analyzing the melting behavior of frozen droplets made from water, salt solutions, and olive oil in the unique environment of space. He later performed ultrasound scans of JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, focusing on vascular changes in the neck, shoulder, and legs to better understand how the body adapts to prolonged weightlessness.

Elsewhere, Ovchinin and Vagner joined Roscosmos Flight Engineer Kirill Peskov to test a lower body negative pressure suit. This device is designed to simulate gravitational effects by drawing fluids toward the lower body, potentially alleviating intracranial pressure and easing the return to Earth's gravity.