The Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft with NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub aboard approaches the space station for a docking. Credit: NASA TV
NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub on the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft docked to the International Space Station at 2:53 p.m. EDT while the station was traveling 260 miles over Ukraine, south of Kiev. Coverage of hatch opening will resume at 4:45 p.m. and will be available on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.
Once aboard station, the trio will join the space station’s Expedition 69 crew of NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Frank Rubio, Roscosmos cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin, Konstantin Borisov, and Sergey Prokopyev, as well ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa. O’Hara will spend six months aboard the orbital laboratory, while Kononenko and Chub will both spend one year on the orbital outpost.
On Sept. 27, the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft will return carrying NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin back to Earth.
The Soyuz MS-24 rocket with one NASA astronaut and two Roscosmos cosmonauts aboard blasts off toward the International Space Station. Credit: NASA TV
NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub are safely in orbit on the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft after launching at 11:44 a.m. EDT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (8:44 p.m. Baikonur time).
The Soyuz will dock to the space station’s Rassvet module at 2:56 p.m. A short time after docking, hatches between the Soyuz and the station will open.
NASA coverage of docking will begin at 2 p.m. on NASA TV, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.
NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara walks to the launch pad where she will launch aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft with cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub.
NASA coverage now is underway for the launch of a crewed Roscosmos Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station with NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub. The Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:44 a.m. EDT (8:44 p.m. Baikonur time). Launch and docking activities will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.
After a two-orbit, three-hour journey, the Soyuz will dock to the space station’s Rassvet module at 2:56 p.m. A short time later, hatches between the Soyuz and the station will open and the crew members will greet each other.
Once aboard station, the trio will join the space station’s Expedition 69 crew of NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Frank Rubio, Roscosmos cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin, Konstantin Borisov, and Sergey , as well ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa.
O’Hara will spend six months aboard the orbital laboratory, and Kononenko and Chub will both begin a year long stay on the orbital outpost. This will be O’Hara and Chub’s first spaceflight and the fifth flight for Kononenko.
Soyuz-24 mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern):
10:45 a.m. – Coverage begins for 11:44 a.m. launch.
2 p.m. – Coverage begins for 2:56 p.m. docking.
4:45 p.m. – Coverage begins for hatch opening and welcome remarks.
This bottom up view shows the Soyuz MS-24 rocket’s first stage boosters as the spacecraft stands at its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Mission managers have given the go for the launch of three new crew members aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft to the International Space Station at 11:44 a.m. EDT on Friday. NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub will ride the Soyuz crew ship and dock to the Rassvet module just over three hours later at 2:56 p.m.
Expedition 69 Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineers Dmitri Petelin will be on duty Friday monitoring the arrival of the new Soyuz. After the new crew docks and after leak and pressure checks, Prokopyev will open the station’s Rassvet hatch while Kononenko and Chub will open the Soyuz hatch. The new trio will enter the orbital outpost, join the station crew for a welcoming ceremony, participate in a safety briefing, and begin a six-month space research mission.
Prokopyev and Petelin continued preparing for the arrival of the new trio by setting up crew quarters for the new cosmonauts inside the orbital lab’s Roscosmos segment on Thursday. NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio will configure O’Hara’s new crew quarters in the Columbus laboratory module on Friday before she arrives.
Prokopyev, Petelin, and Rubio are also preparing for their return to Earth inside the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft on Sept. 27. The two cosmonauts have been testing the lower body negative pressure suit that may help their bodies adjust quicker to Earth’s gravity after living in weightlessness for just over one year. When Rubio lands with his Soyuz crewmates, he will have the record for the longest single spaceflight by a NASA astronaut at 371 days, surpassing astronaut Mark Vande Hei’s record of 355 days.
Rubio joined several of his Expedition 69 crewmates on Thursday for the Vascular Aging study collecting blood, urine, and saliva samples for analysis. Rubio along with astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli, Andreas Mogensen, and Satoshi Furukawa assisted each other with the blood draws. Moghbeli of NASA closed out the study spinning samples in a centrifuge then stowing them in a science freezer.
Mogensen of ESA (European Space Agency) later trained to operate the Canadarm2 robotic arm and serviced laptop computers in the Columbus lab. Furukawa from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) set up food and drinks for the arriving crew and collected water samples for analysis from the Kibo laboratory module.
Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov focused his activities on orbital plumbing and electronics maintenance during the first part of his day. In the afternoon, he checked out video hardware and laptop computers.
Expedition 69 astronauts (from left) Jasmin Moghbeli, Frank Rubio, and Satoshi Furukawa join each other for lunch aboard the space station’s Unity module.
Robotics, lab maintenance, and microbiology were the top priorities aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday. The Expedition 69 crew members also had time set aside for Earth science operations and biomedical duties.
Astrobee, the toaster-sized, cube-shaped free-flying robotic helper was activated today inside the Kibo laboratory module. Student-written algorithms were uplinked to the orbital outpost to control the robotic assistants, encourage problem-solving, and promote space education. Astronaut Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) monitored the robotic activities and noted his impressions for review on the ground.
Three flight engineers worked across from Kibo inside the Columbus laboratory module finalizing the reorganization of the research facility from ESA (European Space Agency). NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio kicked off the work transferring research and cargo racks into slots aboard Columbus. He was joined during the morning by ESA Flight Engineer Andreas Mogensen of who helped him move the racks back and forth. NASA Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli concluded the work in the afternoon restoring the Columbus lab to its operating configuration and stowing hardware. The Columbus work was done to accommodate new exercise gear that will keep astronauts healthy and in shape during long-term space missions.
Mogensen also studied how to capture Earth’s reflective properties, also called albedo, by photographing the Moon during specific lunar phases. Results may provide new insights about Earth’s climate using satellite instruments. Moghbeli drew her blood sample at the end of the day for a glucose test as part of the Vascular Aging study that is monitoring accelerated aging-like symptoms that occur in astronauts’ arteries.
Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov was back on microbiology duty on Wednesday collecting and stowing microbe samples from surfaces inside the Zvezda service and Nauka science modules. Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin studied fermentation to improve food preservation and preparation in space. Commander Sergey Prokopyev continued readying hardware for packing inside the Soyuz MS-23 crew ship that will take him, Petelin, and Rubio back to Earth at the end of September.
The Soyuz MS-24 rocket that will launch three crew members to the space station on Friday, Sept. 15, is pictured standing at its launch pad in Kazakhstan. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Tuesday was filled with health research and science hardware maintenance for the Expedition 69 crew. The rocket to launch the next crew to live aboard the International Space Station has also rolled out to its launch pad.
Four flight engineers kicked off the day with a health examination checking vital signs such as temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and respiratory rate. NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli set up the medical gear, including the sensors and software that recorded the biomedical data, inside the Destiny laboratory module. She then joined Frank Rubio of NASA along with international astronauts Satoshi Furukawa and Andreas Mogensen for the periodic health checks.
Moghbeli moved on to the Columbus laboratory module reorganizing the ESA (European Space Agency) research facility and swapping research and cargo racks. She was making space inside Columbus to accommodate new exercise gear that will keep astronauts healthy and in shape during long-term space missions.
Mogensen of ESA attached breathing gear and sensors to himself and pedaled on an exercise cycle for an investigation measuring an astronaut’s aerobic capacity in microgravity. Furukawa of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) assisted Mogensen setting up the exercise gear. He then serviced samples inside the Electrostatic Levitation Furnace, a high temperature research device that safely measures thermophysical properties of a variety of materials.
Rubio worked in the Kibo laboratory module readying a plasma monitor for placement outside the orbital outpost and into the external microgravity environment. The ionospheric plasma research device will be robotically installed on the Bartolomeo science platform. After a series of checkouts, it will begin studying how upper atmosphere phenomena like auroras affect radio and satellite signals.
Microbiology and cargo transfers were the focus for the orbiting lab’s three cosmonauts throughout Tuesday. Roscosmos Flight Engineer Konstantin Borisov spent the day swabbing station surfaces for microbes then stowing the samples for later analysis. Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin studied how to maintain safe and sterile conditions for space biology research. Commander Sergey Prokopyev checked items for packing inside the Soyuz MS-23 crew ship that will return him, Petelin, and Rubio back to Earth at the end of September.
Meanwhile, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Soyuz MS-24 rocket has rolled out to its launch pad counting down to a lift off at 11:44 a.m. EDT on Friday. The Soyuz crew ship will carry NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub on a short ride to the station that will see them dock to the Rassvet module at 2:56 p.m. the same day.
Astronaut Frank Rubio works in the Microgravity Science Glovebox swapping graphene aerogel samples for a space manufacturing study.
The seven Expedition 69 crew members enjoyed an off-duty day on Monday aboard the International Space Station. They will be welcoming three new crewmates at the end of the week when they launch and dock to the orbital outpost.
Three future station crew members are at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan counting down to their lift off aboard the Soyuz MS-24 crew ship planned for 11:44 a.m. EDT on Friday. The trio, consisting of NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, will dock to the Rassvet module just over three hours later at 2:56 p.m. First time space-flyers O’Hara and Chub along with Kononenko, who is making a record fifth trip to the space station, will orbit Earth on the station for six months conducting advanced space research.
The current Expedition 69 crew is composed of two separate crews, one of which has been aboard the space station for nearly a year and the other which has been on the station since Aug. 27. The longest serving crew, with Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineers Dmitri Petelin and Frank Rubio, will depart at the end of the month after living in space for just over a year in space.
Rubio today has surpassed NASA’s single spaceflight record of 355 continuous days in space made by astronaut Mark Vande Hei on March 30, 2022. At 11 a.m. on Tuesday, NASA TV will broadcast a pre-recorded space-to-ground conversation Vande Hei had with Rubio on Sept. 5 when he congratulated the orbiting astronaut for his record-breaking mission.
The station’s newest crew is in its third week of a six-month-long space mission. The quartet consists of first-time space-flyers NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov, as well as two-time station visitors Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Andreas Mogensen of ESA (European Space Agency). They will stay in space conducting a variety of microgravity science experiments benefitting humans living on and off the Earth until late February.
The space station soars above the coast of Argentina into an orbital sunset. From left are, the station’s main solar arrays, the Canadarm2 robotic arm, and an external research platform.
Human research and spacesuit work topped the schedule for the Expedition 69 crew aboard the International Space Station at the end of the week. The orbital residents also analyzed microbes, maintained life support systems, and worked on cargo transfers.
Researchers on the ground continuously investigate how living in space affects astronauts to keep crews healthy. The crew members provide blood samples and other specimens during their mission for examination on the orbital outpost or in laboratories on the ground. They also attach a variety of sensors to themselves measuring their physiological reactions while either at rest, exercising, or even working. The data is downlinked real-time or later to help doctors understand how weightlessness affects their bodies.
Two astronauts, Jasmin Moghbeli of NASA and Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), took turns pedaling on an exercise cycle for a workout study in the Destiny laboratory module. The duo wore breathing gear and cardiac sensors for the investigation monitoring their aerobic fitness. Moghbeli later sequenced DNA from microbe samples collected from the potable water dispenser. Furukawa moved on and inventoried medical supplies inside the Human Research Facility.
Flight Engineer Andreas Mogensen of ESA (European Space Agency) wrapped up four days of an immunity study of Friday. He removed experiment hardware, stowed blood samples in a science freezer, and disconnected the Kubik research incubator. Mogensen was helping doctors learn how microgravity affects cellular immune functions and to monitor the human immune system in space.
NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio worked in the Quest airlock scrubbing cooling loops in a pair of U.S. spacesuits. After Rubio’s cooling loop work was completed, Moghbeli would take over and deconfigure the spacesuits then stow them in Quest.
In the Roscosmos segment of the orbiting lab, Commander Sergey Prokopyev serviced docking hardware, jogged on a treadmill for a fitness evaluation, then began packing items inside the Soyuz MS-23 crew ship. The two cosmonaut flight engineers, Dmitri Petelin and Konstantin Borisov, split their day between collecting station microbe samples for analysis, replacing life support hardware, and disposing trash and used hardware inside the Roscosmos Progress 84 cargo craft.
The space station is orbiting slightly higher after the Roscosmos Progress 85 cargo craft fired its engines for 21 minutes and 55 seconds Friday afternoon. The orbital reboost sets up the correct phasing for the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft docking on Sept. 15.
NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli collects water samples for microbial analysis inside the Destiny laboratory module.
Life science and space physics continued aboard the International Space Station on Thursday helping researchers improve human health and advance fundamental knowledge. The Expedition 69 crew members also worked on spacesuit maintenance and ongoing cargo activities.
Flight Engineers Andreas Mogensen and Satoshi Furukawa concentrated their research activities on space biology to learn how weightlessness affects human immunity and the aging process. Mogensen from ESA (European Space Agency) spent his third day this week processing blood samples and preparing them for incubation to understand how space affects an astronaut’s immune system. Furukawa from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) sampled water from the Kibo laboratory module’s water recovery system, conducted a hearing test, them swapped out commercial research hardware.
NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio collected samples from the potable water dispenser and analyzed them to detect microbes and determine the quality of the water. Afterward, Rubio finalized the hardware replacement work inside the Cold Atom Lab preparing the quantum research device, that chills atoms to near absolute zero, for testing and operations.
NASA Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli inventoried medical supplies inside the Human Research Facility and photographed the contents for review by specialists on the ground. Next, she checked out a spacesuit jet pack testing its components and performing leak checks. The jet pack, also called Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER), is attached to spacesuits the astronauts wear during spacewalks. The SAFER provides controls allowing a spacewalker to return to the station in the unlikely event they became untethered from the orbiting lab.
JAXA astronaut Satoshi Furukawa removes experiment hardware from inside the Multi-use Variable-g Platform, a biology research device that can generate artificial gravity.
The Expedition 69 crew aboard the International Space Station focused its main research activities on biotechnology on Wednesday. The orbital residents also continued the ongoing maintenance of lab hardware.
Researchers on the ground use the facilities aboard the space station to understand how living in weightlessness affects the human body. Some of the experiments operate remotely or autonomously, for others the astronauts set up and run the experiments, or even act as subjects as NASA and its international partners learn how to sustain crews on future missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
NASA Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli began her day conducting DNA research by analyzing microbe samples collected from the orbital outpost’s potable water dispenser. She used a small commercial DNA sequencing device to identify the samples for the BioMole technology demonstration. BioMole may improve environmental monitoring systems on the station and future spacecraft traveling farther away from Earth.
Moghbeli then assisted JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa as he replaced components on the BioFabrication Facility (BFF). The 3D biological printer is testing printing organ-like tissues in microgravity with an eye to manufacturing whole human organs in space in the future.
Flight Engineer Andreas Mogensen of ESA (European Space Agency) continued his human research duties that he began on Tuesday. The two-time station visitor serviced blood samples that had been placed overnight in the Kubik research incubator then stowed the specimens in a science freezer for later analysis. Mogensen is helping doctors learn how microgravity affects cellular immune functions and to monitor the human immune system in space.
NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio continued his space physics activities for a second day as he replaced experiment gear inside the Cold Atom Lab. The research device chills atoms to near absolute zero creating almost no motion allowing scientists to study fundamental behaviors and quantum characteristics.
The station’s three cosmonauts turned their attention on Wednesday to the upkeep of hardware in the Roscosmos segment of the orbital lab. Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin spent the day replacing pumps and installing batteries on an Orlan spacesuit. Flight Engineer Konstantin Borisov videotaped himself becoming familiar with and exercising on the advanced resistive exercise device before checking out a laptop computer in the Nauka science module.
