Inside the ISS: Mission Critical Moves and Breakthrough Science

Science and Health

The SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft is pictured from a window on the Dragon Endeavour spacecraft in a photograph taken by NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flght Engineer Nick Hague. 258 miles below the International Space Station is the Sunflower State of Kansas. Credit: NASA
The Expedition 72 crew is preparing for a key port relocation maneuver this weekend as they count down to the launch of a new cargo mission to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) next week. Meanwhile, the crew kept busy on Wednesday with essential tasks, including stem cell research, spacesuit checks, and a range of lab maintenance.
Dragon Spacecraft Relocation
NASA Flight Engineer Nick Hague will lead the upcoming maneuver, commanding the SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft as it undocks from the Harmony module’s forward port at 6:35 a.m. EST on Sunday. He will be joined by NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, as they take a brief ride in Freedom to reposition and redock it at Harmony’s space-facing port at 7:18 a.m. This maneuver will free up Harmony’s forward port to receive the incoming Dragon cargo mission.
The vibrant night lights of coastal cities on the Mediterranean Sea, from Spain to Italy in Europe and Algeria to Lybia in Africa, are pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 262 miles above Barcelona. Peeking in at the bottom of the image is Mallorca Island, next to it Minorca. The Italian islands of Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily are also visible. Above Earth, stars glitter in the night sky. Credit: NASA
Hague and Wilmore took turns on Wednesday preparing for the Dragon cargo mission arriving soon after Sunday’s Dragon Freedom relocation. The duo trained on cargo operations then reviewed rendezvous procedures and monitoring tools for the approaching SpaceX Dragon cargo craft. Hague also downloaded his health data collected from electrodes and the Ultrasound 2 device for analysis by researchers.
Lab Maintenance and Spacewalk Preparations
Science and maintenance rounded out the schedule on Wednesday as Commander Suni Williams serviced stem cells and checked out a spacesuit. She worked with Wilmore inside the Kibo laboratory module inserting stem cell samples into a microscope to image for a blood disease and cancer study. Following that, Williams entered the Quest airlock and resized and configured a spacesuit ahead of spacewalks planned for 2025.
Expedition 71 Commander Oleg Kononenko (foreground) and Flight Engineer Nikolai Chub, both Roscosmos cosmonauts, are pictured inside the International Space Station’s Zvezda service module monitoring the automated rendevous and docking of the Progress 88 cargo craft to the Poisk module. The duo was at the controls of Zvezda’s TORU, or telerobotically-operated rendezvous unit, ready to take remote control of the Progress 88, packed with about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies for the Expedition 71 crew, in the unlikely event the spacecraft would be unable to dock on its own. Credit: NASA
Ongoing Maintenance and Earth Observation Experiments
NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit, on his fourth spaceflight, spent his morning removing the small satellite deployer from Kibo’s airlock that had earlier deployed several CubeSats into Earth orbit for a series of technology studies. Afterward, Pettit worked on orbital plumbing tasks flushing resupply tanks and transferring water to life support components.
Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner continued maintenance and inspection activities in the aft end of the Zvezda service module. Flight Engineer Aleksandr Gorbunov completed an experiment run and deactivated hardware that imaged the Earth’s nighttime atmosphere in near-ultraviolet wavelengths.

Highway agency tells angry bird to ‘myna its own business’ after it photobombs traffic cam

Business News

An angry-looking myna bird has become a viral video star after landing directly in front of a highway traffic camera in New Zealand.The black-and-yellow tropical bird stares curiously into the camera overlooking a section of road near Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, its beak open as it appears to squawk loudly. It then flies off before returning for a few more seconds.The video was posted on Facebook on Oct. 21 by the New Zealand Transport Agency, which operates the cameras and joked that the bird “needs to myna its own business.”“The myna bird is a pest in New Zealand — it’s aggressive towards our native birds, destroying their nests, eating native fruit, and taking over other birds’ territory, so this definitely wasn’t a welcome cameo on our cameras,” the agency said.Myna birds, which have the ability to mimic human speech and are often kept as pets, are native to Asia. First introduced to New Zealand in the 1860s, by the mid-20th century they had spread across the North Island and begun to disrupt local ecosystems, leading them to be classified as an invasive species.“A myna annoyance like this can make the roads a bit tricky to see,” the agency said. “Thankfully the myna didn’t stick around long and our bird’s eye view of the road was soon restored.”

UTB launches mobile app to enhance tourism experience

Travel

Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), in partnership with Total Energies Uganda, has launched the Explore Uganda App, a mobile application designed to enhance tourism and travel experience for national and foreign tourists to destinations in Uganda.

The App is set to significantly heighten traveller interest to explore Uganda, positioning the country as a destination of choice. In March this year, Total Energies Uganda pledged support to UTB in its mission to sustainably promote Uganda as the preferred tourist destination for inclusive development and to mark the start of this partnership, the two collaborated to develop the Explore Uganda mobile application.
While launching the app in Kampala, Lilly Ajarova, the CEO of UTB, said the app is a bold step towards engagement with modern travellers to provide an interactive way to experience the beauty and diversity of the country and bring Uganda closer to travellers.
“The app is not just a tool, it is also an invitation for the world to explore Uganda like never before. Our goal is to put Uganda at the forefront of global tourism leveraging technology to make our stunning landscape, rich culture, biodiversity and unique experiences accessible to all,” she said, adding that the app is just the beginning as it is part of a broader strategy to strengthen the tourism sector, boost the economy and position Uganda as a must-visit destination on the global stage.
Pearl Kakooza, the board chairperson of UTB, noted that this mobile app underscores the importance of digital transformation in Uganda’s tourism development and represents a milestone in the journey towards positioning Uganda as a premium destination for both domestic and international travellers since even though the country has immense tourism potential, there has been a challenge of visibility and accessibility.
“The tourism landscape is evolving and traveler preferences are shifting towards self-guided experiences. Through this app, we are offering visitors a seamless navigation of Uganda’s tourism offerings. It will serve a comprehensive guide that will provide essential traveller information, accommodation, culture, entertainment as well as itineraries for the diverse tourism offerings Uganda has.”
She added that the app initiative aligns with UTB’s broader mission to elevate, promote and enhance the country’s tourism potential and that they are confident it will significantly boost tourism numbers, attract new markets and faster sustainable tourism development.
Since the core of operations of Total Energies in Uganda are in the North Albertine sub-region where Murchison Falls National Park is located, the oil company aims to contribute to developing Uganda’s tourism sector which will play a pivotal role in diversifying the economy and creating long-lasting socio-economic value.
Pauline MacRonald, the company’s Biodiversity director, noted that they hope the app will bring destination Uganda to life in the digital space, create a new way of attracting visitors and serve as an online marketplace for community-based tourism enterprises, tour operators and potential investors to share and access information on a global scale.
Explore Uganda App, which has been developed by a team of six Ugandan women software developers, will be available for download on the App Store and Google Play. Its key components include information services that provide detailed insights into tourist attractions, accommodations, restaurants and cafes options, location-based search options for discovery of events and festivals, a user interaction with a feedback system and in-App customer support to enhance user experience.
It also has a finance option with multi-currency support and currency exchange rates, real-time weather updates, licensed tour operators, travel agents and guides, transport services and investment opportunities in the tourism sector. All these are available in multiple languages such as English, French, Swahili, Spanish and German.
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Pickleball part of the Hawaii’s long-game sports tourism strategy

Travel

It’s game on for Hawaii
tourism officials who are making a play for better
positioning in the lucrative sports tourism market.
The Hawai‘i Convention Center hosted a blessing Wednesday celebrating the expansion of its sports courts program, which includes 45 new pickleball courts, some 19 of which have been designated for use in the Aloha Pickleball Games &Festival that debuts Friday and runs through Sunday. Organizers say it is Hawaii’s largest pickleball tournament to date.
More than 600 registered players are signed up for the Aloha Pickleball Games &Festival, which was organized by Pop Up Pickleball, a division of the California-based sports event management firm Pickleball Management Group, and will
feature a competitive tournament format. Spectators and family members also have free entry to access the Pop Up Pickleball Vendor Village and can participate in most nontournament activities.
Teri Orton, general manager of the Hawai‘i Convention Center, said “Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in the
nation and globally. This is a big investment for the state of Hawaii and for our community and we hope it will be here for years to come.”
The new pickleball courts are just the latest sports venture at the center, which also has 28 volleyball and badminton courts, 18 basketball courts and 11 futsal courts in its Level 1 Kamehameha Exhibit Halls. The center’s sports program is just one of the many strategies in Hawai‘i Tourism Authority’s sports tourism long game to use sports tourism to fuel the state’s visitor-­dependent economy, boost community benefits and
foster diplomacy.
Daniel Naho‘opi‘i, HTA interim president and CEO, said HTA’s $700,000 investment in the center’s sporting programs attract festival attendees from outside the state and provide opportunities to market Hawaii globally. It also offers added value for the visitors who are coming to Hawaii for a meeting, incentive trip,
conference or an event,
Naho‘opi‘i said.

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