Space station crew preps for spacewalks as bioprinting and biomedical research ramp up

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station spent Monday preparing for a pair of spacewalks later this month while running biomedical experiments that include printing blood vessel tissue in microgravity, according to NASA's own account of the Expedition 75 crew's activities published Monday. The work is building toward the completion of a long-running upgrade to the station's power system.

NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk are gearing up for the first of two spacewalks to install roll-out solar arrays on the station's truss structure. The first excursion, scheduled for Oct. 29, will be Menon's fourth spacewalk and Kutryk's first; the pair will attach a new array to the port side of the truss. A second spacewalk on Nov. 5 will install the station's eighth and final roll-out solar array, on the truss's starboard side, completing a power-system upgrade NASA has been carrying out in stages since the first of the newer-generation arrays was installed in 2021. The final pair of arrays rode up inside the unpressurized trunk of a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule that launched Oct. 14 and docked at the station's Harmony module the following morning, carrying more than 6,300 pounds of science hardware and supplies, according to NASA's account of that arrival. Ground controllers plan to use the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to pull the arrays from Dragon's trunk and temporarily stow them on the truss ahead of the spacewalks.

What the crew did Monday

Menon worked inside the station's Quest airlock cleaning the cooling loops on two spacesuits, part of the routine maintenance that keeps suits thermally regulated during a spacewalk. Kutryk followed by filling the suits' tanks and liquid cooling garments with water. The two then joined NASA flight engineers Luke Delaney and Jessica Watkins for a call with mission controllers to review plans ahead of the spacewalks.

NASA said it will hold a news conference from Johnson Space Center at 2 p.m. EDT Tuesday to discuss the upcoming spacewalks, to be streamed on NASA's platforms including YouTube.

Biomedical research topped the science schedule

Delaney spent Monday working with a new experiment delivered recently aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule that aims to analyze astronauts' biological samples directly aboard the station rather than shipping them back to Earth for testing. NASA said the goal is to use compact, portable tools to get faster health readings in orbit, potentially paving the way toward more personalized medical treatment during long-duration spaceflight.

Watkins, meanwhile, serviced sample-processing hardware in the station's Kibo laboratory module before setting up the station's BioFabrication Facility to print blood-vessel tissue this week using cells from patients with a rare genetic disorder that causes rapid aging. NASA said the microgravity environment may offer researchers a clearer view of how the disease affects cells at a structural level than is possible in Earth-based labs, with the hope of eventually informing new therapies.

The station's three Roscosmos cosmonauts spent Monday on a separate set of tasks. Commander Pyotr Dubrov studied complex plasmas — mixtures of ionized gas, neutral gas and microscopic particles that, according to NASA's description, interact strongly with each other in weightlessness and can form plasma crystals; the research could inform the design of future spacecraft. Flight engineer Sergey Teteryatnikov tested onboard software tools intended to help the crew work more efficiently and to automatically transcribe crew reports for mission controllers back on the ground, while flight engineer Anna Kikina spent part of the day organizing food packs and logging equipment locations in the station's Zarya module.

Why the solar arrays matter

The roll-out arrays, known within NASA as iROSAs, are gradually replacing and supplementing the station's original, larger solar wings, which have degraded after more than two decades in orbit. Each new array is smaller and lighter than the originals but more efficient, and NASA has said the completed set will meaningfully increase the power available for the station's research operations — power that supports everything from the BioFabrication Facility's printing runs to the life-support systems keeping the current seven-person crew alive. The arrays are also designed to support the station's eventual safe, controlled deorbiting later this decade, part of the broader transition NASA has outlined on its human spaceflight program pages as the agency plans for commercial successors to the current station.

Kutryk's role in the upcoming spacewalk is part of Canada's long-standing contribution of astronaut time to the station program in exchange for Canadian Space Agency access to orbital research. His official CSA biography describes him as a former Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot and experimental test pilot who was selected as an astronaut candidate in 2017 after training at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

What happens next

Assuming Tuesday's briefing confirms the current timeline, Menon and Kutryk's first spacewalk on Oct. 29 will be followed roughly a week later by the Nov. 5 excursion that completes the solar array upgrade. The bioprinting work is one of several new experiments the crew began activating this week after Thursday's cargo delivery; NASA said others include growing artificial retinas and heart tissue in weightlessness, growing protein crystals to help develop more precise cancer treatments, and observing how plants respond genetically to microgravity, research meant to improve the life-support systems future spacecraft will need on longer missions. NASA said it will continue to post daily updates on station activities through its space station blog and social media accounts as the spacewalk preparations continue.