On 1 February, NASA astronaut Shannon Walker took some pictures around the European Physiology Module to plan for the installation of a new Payload Data Router. This technology demonstrator for the International Space Station stores and transmits analogue data in digital form with very high fidelity, similar to that employed in aircraft during test flights. Mission designers are interested in its use for future space missions.

The European Physiology Module supported one new Grip session featuring NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover. With two sessions complete, only one more session is needed to get a full understanding of how the astronauts’ perception of mass and movement changes in space, and how their body and mind adapts to accommodate in weightlessness.

The European Physiology Module was upgraded on 26 February with JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi replacing an old ‘Science Module Support Computer’. Meanwhile ESA’s next generation Life Support Rack continues to be tweaked and tested with a software upgrade and fine-tuning. The life-support system is a technology demonstrator for closed air reutilisation, capturing carbon dioxide from the cabin air and recovering up to 50% of the oxygen, allowing more autonomous utilisation of human-inhabited facilities.