NASA Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams conduct International Space Station Research

NASA Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived at the International Space station on June 6, 2024. Since then, the pair has completed a host of science and operational tasks, including research into fluid physics, in-space stem cell production, student-designed investigations, technology demonstrations, and more. Throughout their mission Butch and Suni have contributed to human research and our understanding of how the body adapts to spaceflight over a long duration mission.

0:10 – Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams work inside the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) in support of SoFIE-RTDFS, an experiment investigating how flame spread in space is affected by fuel thickness and ambient pressure.

0:47 – Jeanette Epps and Suni Williams uninstall ESA’s (European Space Agency) Metal 3D Printer and remove the test print, the first metal 3D printing aboard the International Space Station.

1:24 – Mike Barratt, Butch Wilmore, and Suni Williams install the ArgUS Multi Payload Carrier into the Nanoracks Airlock for the ArgUS Mission 1 technology demonstration, which was later robotically installed to the Bartolomeo platform on station’s exterior.

2:00 – Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams unpack frozen science samples after arrival on NASA’s Northrop Grumman 21st commercial resupply mission. The samples are stored in the Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI).

2:39 – Suni Williams jogs while strapped to a treadmill inside the International Space Station's Tranquility module.

3:09 – Butch Wilmore uses a tube lined with various gel thicknesses to simulate the human respiratory system for the Gaucho Lung investigation. A fluid mass known as a liquid plug is observed as it either blocks or flows through the tube. Data regarding the movement and trailing of the liquid plug may allow researchers to design better drug delivery methods to address respiratory ailments. 

3:22 – Butch Wilmore exchanges a test section for the Packed Bed Reactor Experiment: Water Recovery Series (PBR-WRS). Results of this investigation could help optimize the design and operation of packed bed reactors for water filtration and other systems in microgravity and on the Moon and Mars. 

3:39 – Suni Williams conducts a cell harvest for the InSPA-StemCellEX-H1 investigation which continues testing of a technology to produce human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in space that could be used in the future to produce clinical grade stem cells in during spaceflight.

04:23 – Butch Wilmore sets up the Genes in Space-11 experiment studying how spaceflight may activate retrotransposons, which are DNA fragments that copy and paste themselves throughout a genome, leading to cancer and other diseases. Genes in Space is a competition for students in grades 7–12 to design innovative DNA experiments that tackle real challenges in space travel and deep-space exploration.

04:52 – Butch Wilmore installs hardware for the MaRVIn-TABOOS investigation which leverages station’s microgravity environment to better measure the movement of particles from a hot to a cold region of a fluid, a process known as thermophoresis. These insights could aid in the design of low-cost platforms for detecting viral diseases.

05:21 – Suni Williams activates Nanoracks Module-9 mixing tube assemblies to facilitate dozens of student-designed experiments, providing students hands-on experience with research in space. The investigation contains 38 experiments designed by students in grades 5-12 and at the college undergraduate level. This is the 20th flight of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP), Nanoracks-National Center for Earth and Space Science Education-Surveyor-Student Spaceflight Experiments Program Mission 18 to ISS (Nanoracks-NCESSE-Surveyor-SSEP).

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