Space travel alters gene expression in white blood cells, weakening the immune system, making astronauts more susceptible to infections and skin rashes while in space, according to a study.
Mission commander Senior Colonel Chen Dong opened an extravehicular activity hatch on the Tiangong space station at 6:26 pm on Thursday Beijing time and then floated out of the station.
This loss happens because bones that would normally be weight-bearing on Earth, like your legs, don't have to carry weight in microgravity.
The astronauts even hung little flags of all the countries represented over their performance zones on the space station.
"Welcome home Victor, Michael, Shannon, and Soichi, and congratulations to the teams at NASA and SpaceX who worked so hard to ensure their safe and successful splashdown," NASA Administrator, Senator Bill Nelson, said.
The Crew-2 mission is the second of six crewed missions NASA and SpaceX will fly as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program.
One of the bolts did not fully engage on the first attempt, so Rubins used a power drill to back it out and reseat it, then used a ratchet wrench to tighten the bolt, reaching a safe configuration.
Vice President Mike Pence, who attended the launch with his wife Karen, called it a "new era in human space exploration in America."
The launch was to be witnessed by US President Donald Trump from Kennedy Space Station in Florida.
Very appropriately has the significance of the spacewalk been summed up by Christina ~ "I think it’s important because of the historical nature of what we’re doing," she said ahead of the spacewalk.
