Crew Studies Exercise, Veins, and Plants Before Quartet’s Farewell

The four SpaceX Crew-8 members are pictured aboard the space station. From top to bottom are, NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps, Mike Barratt, and Matthew Dominick, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin.
The four SpaceX Crew-8 members are pictured aboard the space station. From top to bottom are, NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps, Mike Barratt, and Matthew Dominick, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin.

Space biology topped the research schedule aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday as the Expedition 72 crew explored how weightlessness affects exercising, veins, and plants. Meanwhile, four SpaceX Crew-8 members continue targeting Sunday, Oct. 13, for their departure, weather pending.

Scientists are studying how to work out effectively in microgravity to prevent space-caused accelerated bone and muscle loss. NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit, with assistance from NASA Flight Engineer Matthew Dominick, set up high-definition video cameras and a motion capture system that monitored him while working out on the advanced resistive exercise device (ARED) in the Tranquility module. The ARED mimics the inertial forces of lifting free weights on Earth to maintain muscle health during long-term space missions. Pettit’s exercise session was for the ARED Kinematics study that compares the results of both Earth and space workouts to improve space exercise programs and counter musculoskeletal deconditioning.

Commander Suni Williams took charge as the crew medical officer on Wednesday and scanned the neck, shoulder, and leg veins of NASA Flight Engineer Nick Hague using the Ultrasound 2 device examining his circulatory health. Williams also configured radio frequency hardware and serviced samples for the Gaucho Lung drug treatment study. Hague installed biology imaging hardware in the Kibo laboratory module that can detect space-caused inflammatory changes in organisms.

NASA Flight Engineer Jeanette Epps spent her day replacing components that remove carbon dioxide and ethylene from inside Kibo’s Plant Habitat to support an upcoming space botany study. NASA Flight Engineers Mike Barratt and Butch Wilmore spent their day on maintenance as Barratt charged spacewalking tool batteries and Wilmore swapped out experimental hardware for an advanced life support system study.

Roscosmos Flight Engineer Alexander Grebenkin continued packing for his return to Earth targeted for no earlier than Sunday. He will return with fellow Crew-8 members Dominick, Barratt, and Epps aboard the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft. The Commercial Crew quartet will call down to Mission Control at 3 p.m. EDT on Thursday for farewell remarks live on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

The orbiting lab’s three other cosmonaut flight engineers Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, and Aleksandr Gorbunov focused on their complement of Roscosmos science and maintenance. Ovchinin replaced a fire extinguisher in the Nauka science module and jogged on a treadmill for a regularly scheduled fitness evaluation. Vagner installed a hyper spectrometer to obtain Earth imagery in a variety of wavelengths. Finally, Gorbunov set up carbon dioxide monitoring gear, tested Roscosmos laptop computers, and conducted a space physics experiment. Gorbunov also joined Hague at the end of the day and discussed with mission controllers their experience riding to space aboard the SpaceX Dragon Freedom.


Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog@space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Relaxation, Science, and Maintenance as Crew Departure Preps Continue

The aurora australis blends with Earth's atmospheric glow blanketing the nighttime horizon in this photograph from the space station as it orbited above the Pacific Ocean.
The aurora australis blends with Earth’s atmospheric glow blanketing the nighttime horizon in this photograph from the space station as it orbited above the Pacific Ocean.

The seven NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station relaxed and took a break on Tuesday before the SpaceX Crew-8 mission leaves. Meanwhile, the four Roscosmos cosmonauts stayed busy focusing on their complement of research and lab maintenance.

Expedition 72 Flight Engineers Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, and Jeanette Epps of NASA and Alexander Grebenkin from Roscosmos are now targeting departure from the orbital outpost aboard the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft for no earlier than 3:05 a.m. EDT on Sunday, pending weather. The quartet is scheduled to call down to Mission Control Center in Houston for farewell remarks at 9:15 a.m. on Thursday. Watch live coverage of both events on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

NASA’s three Crew-8 astronauts Dominick, Barratt, and Epps cleared their schedules on Tuesday and relaxed following several days of cargo packing, departure training, and spacecraft configurations inside Dragon Endeavour. Crew-8 cosmonaut Grebenkin stayed busy spending the first half of his day obtaining Earth imagery in the visible and near-infrared spectrum. Afterward, he serviced the ventilation system inside the Nauka science module.

The other four NASA astronauts residing aboard the space station including Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineers Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague, and Don Pettit also had the day off on Tuesday. Pettit, however, did spend a couple of hours testing a free-flying, robotic camera in the cupola then photographing the deployment of the CySat-1 and DORA (Deployable Optical Receiver Array) CubeSats outside the Kibo laboratory module. The quartet has been assisting the homebound Crew-8 members with their return activities and will soon adjust their sleep schedules to accommodate Endeavour’s undocking from the Harmony module’s space-facing port.

The four cosmonauts aboard the station, including Grebenkin, stayed busy on Tuesday continuing their advanced microgravity science and orbital upkeep tasks for Roscosmos. Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin installed Earth imaging hardware in Harmony that can be remotely controlled by students on the ground to photograph Earth landmarks. Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner spent his day replacing gas and water filters in Nauka and cleaning smoke detectors in the Rassvet module. Flight Engineer Aleksandr Gorbunov measured carbon dioxide levels aboard the station then worked on standard orbital plumbing duties.


Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog@space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Biology, Physics Research Fill Schedule as Crew Awaits Departure

Category 5 Hurricane Milton, packing winds of 175 miles per hour, is viewed in the Gulf of Mexico from the space station as it orbited overhead. Credit: NASA TV
Category 5 Hurricane Milton, packing winds of 175 miles per hour, is viewed in the Gulf of Mexico from the space station as it orbited overhead. Credit: NASA TV

Space biology and physics were the main focus of research operations for the Expedition 72 crew aboard the International Space Station on Monday. Meanwhile, four Commercial Crew members are waiting for their final departure date before returning to Earth.

NASA Flight Engineer Nick Hague worked in the Columbus laboratory module swapping filters inside the BioLab’s incubator. BioLab supports the observation of microbes, cells, tissue cultures and more to understand the effects of weightlessness and radiation on organisms. NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit set up a laptop computer on the Cell Biology Experiment Facility, a research incubator with an artificial gravity generator, located in the Kibo laboratory module.

Station Commander Suni Williams explored space physics on Monday mixing gel samples and observing with a fluorescence microscope how particles of different sizes gel and coarsen. Results are expected to benefit the medicine, food, and cosmetic industries. NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore, who has been aboard the station with Williams since June 6, trained to operate advanced life support gear installed in the Microgravity Science Glovebox for a different space physics experiment then relaxed the rest of the day.

Roscosmos Flight Engineer Aleksandr Gorbunov wore a sensor-packed cap that recorded his responses as he practiced futuristic planetary piloting techniques on computer. Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin inspected and cleaned the Electromagnetic Levitator that can levitate samples exposed to high temperatures for thermophysical research. Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner started out his day cleaning smoke detectors and testing batteries before ending his shift imaging Earth’s nighttime atmosphere in near-ultraviolet wavelengths.

NASA Flight Engineers Matthew Dominick and Mike Barratt, both SpaceX Crew-8 members, began the day in the Tranquility module unpacking and transferring cargo stowed in the NanoRacks Bishop airlock. More than just a stowage module, Bishop can also house science experiments that can also be placed in the external microgravity environment.

The two other crewmates representing Crew-8, Flight Engineers Jeanette Epps of NASA and Alexander Grebenkin of Roscosmos, spent their day packing cargo inside the Dragon Endeavour, handing over their mission responsibilities, and relaxing.

The four Crew-8 members will wait a few more days before saying farewell to the Expedition 72 crew aboard the orbital outpost. Mission managers are monitoring weather conditions off the coast of Florida and will announce an undocking and splashdown time and date, weather pending, for the foursome inside Endeavour.


Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog@space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Dragon Operations Continue During Stem Cell Research on Station

The 11-member Expedition 72 crew poses for a portrait inside Harmony module. In the front (from left) are, Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague, Matthew Dominick, Aleksandr Gorbunov, and Suni Williams. In the back are, Jeanette Epps, Aleksandr Grebenkin, Mike Barratt, Ivan Vagner, Don Pettit, and Alexey Ovchinin.
The 11-member Expedition 72 crew poses for a portrait inside Harmony module. In the front (from left) are, Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague, Matthew Dominick, Aleksandr Gorbunov, and Suni Williams. In the back are, Jeanette Epps, Aleksandr Grebenkin, Mike Barratt, Ivan Vagner, Don Pettit, and Alexey Ovchinin.

The Expedition 72 crew continued working inside the two SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked to the International Space Station on Friday. The orbital residents also kept up stem cell research, serviced a  pair of spacesuits, and maintained life support systems at the end of the week.

Three NASA astronauts and one Roscosmos cosmonaut representing NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 are nearing the end of a seven-month mission and are waiting for NASA and SpaceX to announce their return to Earth time and date, pending weather. Dragon Endeavour Commander Matthew Dominick is poised to lead Pilot Mike Barratt with Mission Specialists Jeanette Epps and Alexander Grebenkin back to Earth inside Dragon with a splashdown off the coast of Florida. The quartet has been packing cargo and personal items inside the spacecraft for several days and spent the end of the day Friday reviewing emergency equipment.

The space station’s two newest crew members, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, joined Expedition 72 Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore inside Dragon Freedom and trained the duo on Dragon operations. Hague also worked with Barratt and NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit inside Freedom configuring its seats for docked operations.

Stem cell research has been underway aboard the orbital outpost this week using the microgravity environment to learn how to produce advanced cell-based therapies and treat certain blood diseases and cancers. Williams and Epps partnered together processing stem cell samples and peering at them with through a microscope. Researchers are exploring how weightlessness enables stem cells to produce blood and immune cells with superior attributes than those created on Earth.

Wilmore spent his day in the Quest airlock servicing a pair of U.S. spacesuits. The veteran NASA astronaut swapped out components and cleaned cooling loops inside the suits as part of regularly scheduled maintenance.

Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, who have been aboard the orbital lab with Pettit since Sept. 11, split their day with computer maintenance and life support operations. They also joined Gorbunov and recorded a video for educators and students on Earth. Grebenkin inventoried medical gear and tested power supply systems in the Nauka science module.


Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog@space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Ongoing Crew Return Preps and Biology, Earth Science Top Crew’s Day

The four SpaceX Crew-8 members are pictured during pre-flight training in January inside the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Credit: SpaceX
The four SpaceX Crew-8 members are pictured during pre-flight training in January inside the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Credit: SpaceX

Dragon configurations topped the schedule once again on Thursday as four Expedition 72 crewmates target a return to Earth next week. Meanwhile, critical space research and lab maintenance filled the rest of the day for the International Space Station’s orbital residents.

The SpaceX Crew-8 mission that began with a launch to the orbital outpost on March 3 is coming to an end and its four crew members will share their farewell message at 9:55 a.m. EDT on Sunday live on NASA+. NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin will return to Earth aboard SpaceX Dragon Endeavour next week on a date soon to be announced by NASA and SpaceX officials. The Commercial Crew quartet is completing a six-and-a-month space residency that saw dozens of science investigations promoting advanced therapies, technology demonstrations, and more benefitting humans on and off the Earth.

Dominick spent Thursday inside Dragon Endeavour checking seat configurations and synchronizing computer tablets with SpaceX networks ahead of Earth return. Barratt joined NASA Flight Engineer Nick Hague inside Dragon Freedom, docked adjacent to Endeavour on the Harmony module, and set up the spacecraft with standard emergency hardware.

Hague’s SpaceX Crew-9 crewmate, Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, kicked off his shift setting up hardware to monitor Earth’s nighttime atmosphere in near-ultraviolet wavelengths. Later, the first-time space flyer studied space station systems and procedures then serviced an oxygen generator

Epps and Grebenkin have also been preparing for the ride back to Earth. Epps packed personal items and cargo inside Dragon. Grebenkin completed testing the Roscosmos-designed lower body negative pressure suit that may speed up a crew member’s adjustment to Earth’s gravity.

Expedition 72 Commander Suni Williams, who will be staying in space until February 2025, began her day with a cognition test measuring how microgravity affects characteristics such as memory, attention, reasoning, and more to ensure safe and successful space missions. Afterward, she assembled stem cell research hardware in the Life Science Glovebox then installed new wireless hardware aboard Harmony.

NASA Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore, who will return to Earth with Williams, documented his meals for the day in a nutrition tracker. Afterward, he assisted with cargo packing inside the homebound Dragon Endeavour.

NASA astronaut Don Pettit and his Soyuz MS-26 crewmates, cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner had their day full of science maintenance and health research. Pettit, on his fourth spaceflight, swapped gas bottles inside research hardware that explores how fires spread in weightlessness to improve fire safety in space. Ovchinin and Vagner paired up for blood pressure measurements and hearing exams helping inform doctors how living in microgravity affects humans.

On Friday at 11 a.m., NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson will discuss on NASA+ her recently completed mission aboard the orbiting lab. She launched to the station on March 23 and returned to Earth aboard the Soyuz MS-25 crew ship with cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub on Sept. 23.

Dragon Operations and Space Science Fill Station’s Midweek Schedule

The city lights of central Asia and an aurora crowning Earth's horizon are pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited above western Kazakhstan.
The city lights of central Asia and an aurora crowning Earth’s horizon are pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited above western Kazakhstan.

Dragon spacecraft operations are underway aboard the International Space Station as a new crew gets up to speed with life in microgravity and another crew turns its attention toward returning to Earth. Amid the crew swap activities, advanced space biology research continued apace on Wednesday exploring unique phenomena impossible to achieve in Earth’s gravity environment.

New Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Nick Hague spent his day with fellow flight engineers Matthew Dominick and Mike Barratt readying the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft for its upcoming return to Earth. The three NASA astronauts reconfigured seats inside Dragon setting it up for a four-person crew and transferred standard emergency gear back into the spacecraft.

Dominick and Barratt, SpaceX Crew-8’s commander and pilot respectively, are getting ready to fly back to Earth with Mission Specialists Jeanette Epps of NASA and Alexander Grebenkin of Roscosmos. Officials from NASA and SpaceX will soon announce the date and time of Endeavour’s undocking from the Harmony module’s forward port and its splashdown off the coast of Florida. Before Crew-8 departs, the foursome will provide farewell remarks at 9:55 a.m. EDT on Sunday live on NASA+ and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

Veteran NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit, who arrived at the station on Sept. 11, worked in Harmony exploring the genetic risks space travelers face by analyzing and amplifying RNA samples. Observations may help doctors identify mechanisms that lead to a variety of diseases and improve the diagnosis of illnesses both on Earth and in space. Commander Suni Williams cleaned the inside of the Life Science Glovebox following earlier stem cell research promoting therapies for certain blood diseases and cancers. NASA Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore refilled the Columbus laboratory module’s Human Research Facility with medicine, blood kits, and needles.

Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, who docked to the orbital outpost with Hague aboard the SpaceX Dragon Freedom on Sept. 29, partnered with Grebenkin who trained him to use the European robotic arm. Gorbunov also continued familiarizing himself with station operations then installed Earth observation hardware in the Nauka science module to image the atmosphere in ultraviolet wavelengths. Grebenkin installed more Earth monitoring gear to obtain visible and near infrared imagery of landmarks in the Amazon, Portugal, and Germany.

New station flight engineers, Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, who began their mission with Pettit aboard the Soyuz MS-26 crew ship, split their day on Roscosmos research and lab maintenance. Ovchinin joined Grebenkin setting up the Earth monitoring gear and also serviced carbon dioxide removal hardware. Vagner worked on routine upkeep of the Zvezda service module’s ventilation systems.


Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog@space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Dragon Suit, Seat Checks During Crew Departure Preps and Space Science

The SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov approaches the International Space Station on Sept. 29, 2024.
The SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov approaches the International Space Station on Sept. 29, 2024.

Expedition 72 Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore, both NASA astronauts, tried on their SpaceX Dragon pressure suits for the first time on Tuesday with assistance from new crewmate Nick Hague of NASA. The NASA trio checked out their pressurized suits, tested the suits’ audio configurations, and conducted seat fit checks inside the Dragon Freedom spacecraft while wearing the suits.

The three astronauts later joined Roscosmos Flight Engineer Aleksandr Gorbunov and practiced emergency drills inside the Dragon docked to the Harmony module’s forward port. Williams and Wilmore, who rode the Boeing Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station in June, will return to Earth with Hague and Gorbunov aboard the Dragon spacecraft in February.

In the meantime, four other Expedition 72 crewmates are nearing the end of their space research mission that began on March 5. NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick will command the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft leading Pilot Mike Barratt and Mission Specialists Jeanette Epps and Alexander Grebenkin back to Earth on a date soon to be set by NASA and SpaceX mission managers. The homebound SpaceX Crew-8 quartet has been packing personal items and other station cargo inside Endeavour for the ride home. Grebenkin also tested the Roscosmos-designed lower body negative pressure suit that may help ease the adjustment to Earth’s gravity and offset space-caused symptoms.

NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit and Roscosmos Flight Engineers Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, who have been aboard the orbital outpost since Sept. 11, spent Tuesday working on a variety of physics and biology investigations. Pettit worked inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox testing advanced life support hardware that may be used on future space missions operating in different gravity environments. Ovchinin strapped on a sensor-packed cap that measured his responses while practicing futuristic planetary and robotic piloting techniques on a computer. Vagner assisted Grebenkin as he tried on the specialized suit that may counteract the effects of living in weightlessness.

At the end of the crew shift on Tuesday, all 11 space station crew residents gathered together and reviewed their roles and responsibilities in the unlikely event of an emergency. The orbital crew coordinated with mission controllers from around the world familiarizing themselves with using personal protective equipment and fire extinguishers. The astronauts and cosmonauts also reviewed the necessary actions and evacuation procedures in case of a fire, a chemical leak, or a pressure leak.


Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog@space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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SpaceX Crew-9 Nears Launch During Station Upkeep Duties

Hurricane Helene is pictured in the Gulf of Mexico heading toward Florida's Gulf Coast in this photograph from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA
Hurricane Helene is pictured in the Gulf of Mexico heading toward Florida’s Gulf Coast in this photograph from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Two SpaceX Crew-9 crewmates are counting down to a Saturday launch, weather permitting, and beginning a five-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Meanwhile, crew departure preparations and lab maintenance duties were ongoing for the Expedition 72 orbital residents on Thursday.

Commander Nick Hague of NASA and Mission Specialist Aleksandr Gorbunov of Roscosmos are at Kennedy Space Center in Florida preparing for their liftoff aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft targeted for no earlier than 1:17 p.m. EDT on Saturday, as the impacts from Hurricane Helene to the Florida peninsula are better understood. The duo will ride Dragon in low Earth orbit for a day before docking to the Harmony module’s forward port at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday. Hague and Gorbunov will open the hatch about an hour-and-a-half later and join Expedition 72 before returning to Earth in February. NASA’s launch and docking coverage begins at 9:10 a.m. Saturday and will stream on NASA+ and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

See Hurricane Helene in this video from the space station.

Soon after Crew-9 arrives, three astronauts and a cosmonaut will end their six-and-a-half-month mission and depart the space station. NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, and Jeanette Epps with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin will return to Earth aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft for a splashdown off the coast of Florida. The SpaceX Crew-8 quartet practiced Dragon departure and deorbit techniques on a computer Thursday getting ready for next month’s return to Earth.

Space station Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore, who are due to fly back home with Crew-9 in February, reviewed Dragon pressure suit characteristics. Williams also transferred cargo in and out of the Cygnus cargo craft. Afterward, Epps and Barratt helped Williams collect her blood samples for processing, stowage, and later analysis. Wilmore joined Dominick and swapped components on the orbital outpost’s toilet, also called the waste and hygiene compartment, located in the Tranquility module. Grebenkin tried on the Roscosmos-designed lower body negative pressure suit that may help crews adjust quicker upon return to Earth’s gravity.

NASA astronaut Don Pettit, who is on his fourth spaceflight, spent Thursday cleaning sampling hardware inside the Electrostatic Levitation Furnace, a research device that explores the thermophysical properties of materials heated to extreme temperatures. Cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner worked throughout the day servicing electronics and life support systems in the orbiting lab’s Roscosmos segment.


Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog@space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Crew Rotation Preps Continue Amidst Human Research on Station

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket performs a brief static fire test at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida before the launch of the Crew-9 mission. Credit: NASA/Keegan Barber
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket performs a brief static fire test at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida before the launch of the Crew-9 mission. Credit: NASA/Keegan Barber

As one crew on Earth prepares to launch to the International Space Station another crew is getting ready to depart the orbital outpost. In the meantime, human research is underway as the Expedition 72 crew members continue exploring how their bodies are adapting to microgravity.

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft atop the Falcon 9 rocket is counting down to a lift off targeted for no earlier than 1:17 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Sept. 28, weather permitting. Dragon will carry SpaceX Crew-9 members NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to the space station for a five-month space research mission. Crew-9 will launch from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Back in space, three astronauts and one cosmonaut are nearing the end of their mission that began on March 5. The four SpaceX Crew-8 members Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Alexander Grebenkin, joined each other on Wednesday and checked out the pressure suits and the communication gear they will wear as they descend to Earth inside Dragon after six-and-a-half months in space. Dominick and Barratt, Crew-8 commander and pilot, also reviewed the spacecraft’s systems and procedures ahead of next month’s undocking and landing.

Epps also joined Barratt and scanned his chest with the Ultrasound 2 device as doctors on the ground monitored for the CIPHER suite of 14 human research investigations. Electrodes on Barratt’s chest also provided data helping scientists understand potential space-caused changes to his cardiovascular and muscular systems. NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit, who has been aboard the orbiting lab since Sept. 11,  pedaled on the Destiny laboratory module’s exercise cycle while attached sensors and wearing breathing gear that measured his aerobic capacity.

Cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner wore virtual reality goggles that tracked their eye movements providing details about how a crew member’s sense of balance adapts to the lack of gravity. The duo then worked throughout the day maintaining power systems and life support gear in the Roscosmos segment of the space station.

Station Commander Suni Williams took turns with NASA Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore on Wednesday training for upcoming cargo operations inside the arriving and departing SpaceX Dragon vehicles. The duo then split up as Williams swapped out combustion research gear and Wilmore collected microbe samples from lab module surfaces for incubation and analysis.


Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog@space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Williams Leads Station as Crew Swap Operations Continue

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore make pizza aboard the International Space Station's galley located inside the Unity module.
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore make pizza aboard the International Space Station’s galley located inside the Unity module.

Expedition 72 is officially underway with NASA astronaut Suni Williams as its commander aboard the International Space Station. Meanwhile, the nine orbital residents are awaiting more visitors while also preparing for the next crew departure.

Williams took command of the orbital outpost when NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub undocked from the Prichal docking module at 4:36 a.m. EDT on Monday. The trio inside the Soyuz MS-25 crew ship parachuted to a landing in Kazakhstan at 7:59 a.m. EDT (4:59 p.m. Kazakhstan time).

Williams, who arrived at the station with NASA Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore on June 6, will lead orbital outpost operations until February when she and Wilmore are scheduled to return to Earth with the SpaceX Crew-9 members aboard the Dragon spacecraft. Williams was busy Tuesday readying standard emergency equipment ahead of Crew-9’s upcoming arrival. Wilmore explored how specialized substances gel and coarsen possibly leading to advancements in the pharmaceutical, food, and 3D printing industries.

NASA and SpaceX teams have adjusted the next launch opportunity for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission to no earlier than 1:17 p.m. EDT, Saturday, Sept. 28, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida due to expected tropical storm conditions in the area. The change allows teams to complete a rehearsal of launch day activities Tuesday night with the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket, which rolled to Space Launch Complex-40 earlier in the day. Following rehearsal activities, the integrated system will move back to the hangar ahead of any potential storm activity.

Although Tropical Storm Helene is moving through the Gulf of Mexico and expected to impact the Florida panhandle, the storm system is large enough that high winds and heavy rain are expected in the Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island regions on Florida’s east coast.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are to launch aboard the Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station on what will be the ninth crew rotation mission with SpaceX under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. They will conduct research and perform maintenance activities during their five-month mission. The mission is launch from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

In the meantime, the SpaceX Crew-8 mission, which has been aboard the station since March 5, is getting ready to end its stay in early October. NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick and Mike Barratt, the Commander and Pilot respectively of Crew-8’s Dragon Endeavour, reviewed spacecraft systems and packed personal items and other cargo throughout Tuesday. Dominick also trained for the upcoming rendezvous and docking of the Crew-9 mission.

Also returning with Crew-8 is NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov. However, Epps focused on an advanced life support experiment on Tuesday swapping out hardware on a device that may inform the future design of water and urine processors in different gravity environments. Grebenkin tried on the Roscosmos-designed lower body negative pressure suit with assistance from fellow cosmonaut Ivan Vagner.  The suit may alleviate space-caused head and eye pressure symptoms and help crews adjust quicker to the return to Earth’s gravity.

Vagner is continuing to get up to speed with space station systems since his arrival with cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and astronaut Don Pettit on Sept. 11. He and Ovchinin spent some time on Tuesday getting familiar with operations aboard the orbital outpost. Pettit worked out on the advanced resistive exercise device as cameras and a motion capture system monitored his form. Observations may inform unique microgravity workouts to keep astronauts fit and healthy on long-term missions farther away from Earth.


Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog@space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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