NASA astronaut Megan McArthur described the location on Friday as “suboptimal” however manageable.
“Spaceflight is stuffed with numerous little demanding situations,” she mentioned right through a information convention from orbit. “This is only one extra that we’ll stumble upon and maintain in our project. So we’re now not too fearful about it.”
Challenge managers may make a decision later Friday whether or not to deliver McArthur and her 3 crewmates again of their SpaceX pill earlier than launching their replacements. That release already has been behind schedule greater than every week through dangerous climate and an undisclosed clinical factor involving one of the most workforce.
French astronaut Thomas Pesquet informed journalists that the previous six months had been intense up there. The astronauts carried out a chain of spacewalks to improve the station’s energy grid, continued inadvertent thruster firings through docked Russian cars that despatched the station into transient spins, and hosted a non-public Russian movie workforce — an area station first.
In addition they needed to handle the bathroom leak, pulling up panels of their SpaceX pill and finding swimming pools of urine. The issue used to be first famous right through SpaceX’s personal flight in September, when a tube got here unglued and spilled urine underneath the floorboards. SpaceX fastened the bathroom at the pill expecting liftoff, however deemed the only in orbit unusable.
Engineers decided that the pill had now not been structurally compromised through the urine and used to be secure for the experience again.
At the culinary facet, the astronauts grew the primary chile peppers in area — “a pleasant ethical spice up,” in step with McArthur. They were given to pattern their harvest up to now week, including items of the fairway and crimson peppers to tacos.
“They’ve a pleasant spiciness to them, a little bit little bit of a lingering burn,” she mentioned. “Some discovered that extra tough than others.”
Additionally returning with McArthur and Pesquet: NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and Jap astronaut Akihiko Hoshide. SpaceX introduced them to the distance station on April 28.
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One American and two Russians will stay at the area station following their departure. Whilst it will be higher if their replacements arrived first — with a purpose to proportion recommendations on dwelling in area — Kimbrough mentioned the remainder NASA astronaut will fill within the inexperienced persons.
