NASA has posted a new video showing International Space Station (ISS) astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur chatting about some of the science experiments they’ll soon be working on aboard the orbiting outpost.
The experiments are scheduled to arrive on Monday, August 30, aboard a SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule that launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, August 29.
The delivery will include, for example, more plants for Veggie, one of the space station’s growth facilities that is aimed at engineering plants that grow better in microgravity conditions. This will enable scientists to create improved conditions for future astronauts embarking on long-duration missions to Mars and possibly beyond.
We get to see one of the station’s many Express Racks, too. These compact devices contain experiments sent by scientists from around the world, and provide all the necessary power and cooling to ensure the research is properly conducted.
McArthur also takes a moment to talk about the incoming Faraday Research Facility and the four different experiments that it’ll contain.
The astronauts’ video offers a good look around several modules that make up the sprawling space station, and reveals just how much technology is already packed inside the satellite. Fellow crew member Thomas Pesquet recently shared a couple of videos of his own, featuring tours of the Columbus Module and one of the station’s airlocks that are used before and after spacewalks.
SpaceX’s rocket launch on Sunday went exactly to plan. The commercial spaceflight company was also able to celebrate the first use of a brand new droneship that successfully received the first stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket shortly after launch.
To watch a livestream of the Cargo Dragon spacecraft docking with the ISS, head over to NASA TV at 9:30 a.m. ET (6:30 a.m. PT) on Monday, August 30. The coverage will include audio from Mission Control and also Kimbrough and McArthur, who will be overseeing the procedure.
