While we have all been busy here on Earth, the international assemblage of astronauts on the International Space Station have been moving on with their scheduled work week far up and away in Earth’s orbit.  The Expedition 45 crew has been busy this month with biomedical science, Cygnus mission preparations, and routine maintenance.

But this crew is not above letting its fanboy flag fly, donning the Jedi Knight look of Obi-Wan Kenobi, complete with lightsabers, for their NASA expedition poster.  What better way to keep the tie between science fiction and science fact?  You often hear about how many astronauts and NASA engineers and crew were influenced by Star Trek, but clearly Star Wars must have had a similar influence.

Expedition 45 includes flight Engineers Kjell Lindgren and Kimiya Yui, who both have been in space for more than 100 days.  Yui has been working on experiment hardware inside Japan’s Kibo lab module.  Lindgren is conducting research on growing food in space for the Veggie botany experiment.  Commander Scott Kelly is prepping for the December arrival of the Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo craft.

On the Russian side of the orbital lab, crew member Mikhail Kornienko, who has been at the station for the past year, is exploring human digestion in space. Veteran cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Sergey Volkov have been conducting repairs of late in the Zvezda service module. Volkov is the newest Expedition 45 crew member, clocking his first 70 days in space.

You can follow the work of these Jedi astronauts on their Facebook page here.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com