Weekend Departure Preps Continue as Crew Works Science, Spacesuits
Three Expedition 74 crew members are nearing the end of their stay aboard the International Space Station handing over mission responsibilities and packing up cargo for return to Earth. Science hardware, lab maintenance, and spacesuits kept the rest of the crew busy aboard the orbital outpost.
ThreeExpedition 74crew members are nearing the end of their stay aboard theInternational Space Stationhanding over mission responsibilities and packing up cargo for return to Earth. Science hardware, lab maintenance, and spacesuits kept the rest of the crew busy aboard the orbital outpost. NASA astronautChris Williamsand Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev will ride back to Earth inside theSoyuz MS-28 spacecraftto land in Kazakhstan at6:26 a. m. (3:26 p. m. local time) on Sunday, July 26, completing an eight-month space research mission. They are spending the rest of the week packing cargo inside the Soyuz while helping their replacements get up to speed with space station operations and systems. The Expedition 74 mission will end and Expedition 75 will officially begin when the homebound trio undocks from theRassvet moduleinside their Soyuz spacecraft at 3:02 a. m. on Sunday. NASA flight engineerAnil Menonand Roscosmos flight engineers Pyotr Dubrov and Ana Kikina are in the second week of their planned eight-and-a-half-month mission. They are using their new skills to conduct space research while still familiarizing themselves with living and working in space. Menon setup a pair ofresearch incubatorsand connected them to theColumbus laboratory module’s power supply. Dubrov and Kikina collected and processed their blood samples, then stowed the specimens inside a Roscosmos science freezer for later analysis. Flight engineersJack Hathawayof NASA and Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency) partnered together at the end of their shift on Wednesday and checked out procedures and spacesuits in theQuest airlock. Hathaway also replaced orbital plumbing components in theTranquility module. Adenot videotaped herself working out on the newEuropean Enhanced Exploration Exercise Deviceto inform future workout techniques on missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. NASA flight engineerJessica Meirinspected crew quarters acoustic blankets, organized food packages stowed inside theUnity module, and tested the operation of plumbing hardware. Roscosmos flight engineer Andrey Fedyaev strapped a series of cuffs around his arm, wrist, and fingers to measure how blood flows through his microcirculatory system in microgravity then worked on life support maintenance the rest of his shift. Learn more about station activities by following thespace station blog,@space_stationon X, as well as theISS FacebookandISS Instagramaccounts. Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here.