The spacecraft arrived at the orbiting laboratory’s Rassvet module at 3:32 p.m. Sept. 11, after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:23 p.m. (9:23 p.m. Baikonur time) with NASA astronaut Don Petitt and Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner.
The trio will spend approximately six months aboard the orbital laboratory before returning to Earth in the spring of 2025.
The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft is seen approaching the station ahead of docking at 3:32 p.m. EDT. Credit: NASA
NASA’s live hatch opening coverage is underway on NASA+, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms including social media. Hatch opening is scheduled to begin at 5:50 p.m. EDT.
The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft arrived at the orbiting laboratory’s Rassvet module at 3:32 p.m. Sept. 11, after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:23 p.m. (9:23 p.m. Baikonur time) with NASA astronaut Don Petitt and Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner.
The trio will spend approximately six months aboard the orbital laboratory before returning to Earth in the spring of 2025.
Three Crew Members Nearing Launch to Station Live on NASA+
The Roscosmos Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station with (pictured left to right) NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. Credit: Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center
NASA’s live launch coverage is underway on NASA+, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms including social media.
The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:23 p.m. EDT (9:23 p.m. Baikonur time) to the International Space Station with NASA astronaut Don Petitt and Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner.
After a two-orbit, three-hour trajectory to the station, the spacecraft will automatically dock at the orbiting laboratory’s Rassvet module at 3:33 p.m. NASA’s coverage of rendezvous and docking will begin at 2:30 p.m. on NASA+, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.
Once aboard, the trio will join Expedition 71 crew members including NASA astronauts Tracy C. Dyson, Mike Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, Butch Wilmore, and Suni Williams, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin, and Oleg Kononenko, and spend approximately six months at the orbital laboratory before returning to Earth in the spring of 2025.
Tuesday Sees Human Research and Space Biology Ahead of Crew Arrival
The Soyuz rocket is seen after being rolled out by train to the launch pad at Site 31, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Human research activities and space biology kept the International Space Station residents busy on Tuesday as they prepare for the arrival of three new crewmates who are set to lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.
NASA astronaut Don Pettit, along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, will launch aboard the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft at 12:23 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Sept. 11. Following launch, the trio will take a short ride to the station and dock at 3:33 p.m. to the Rassvet module before opening the hatches and joining the Expedition 71 crew in orbit, where they’ll spend approximately six months living and working in space.
Aboard the orbiting lab, NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick completed some cable and power reconfigurations in the Columbus laboratory module, then finalized hardware preps for human research activities that took place throughout the day.
Dominick was joined by NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps, and in coordination with remote ground teams, spent the day using ultrasound and tomography hardware to collect Epps’ blood pressure data and view her optic nerve, retina, and cornea. Epps then donned thigh cuffs through the remainder of the day to test how they could be used to possibly reverse space-induced headward fluid shifts in astronauts.
In the Japanese Experiment Module, NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson set up the Confocal Space Microscope, configured its lenses, and inserted samples for analysis. She then completed some medical training before ending the day swapping the gloves, sleeves, and media bag in the Life Science Glovebox.
NASA astronaut Mike Barratt set his sights to prepping for future space botany investigations throughout the day. He charged the Multispeq tool, which is used to capture plant data for the APEX-09 investigation, then updated the software that logs and manages the data.
A suite of activities topped NASA astronaut Suni Williams’ schedule on Tuesday as she replaced hardware on the Packed Bed Retractor Experiment, completed some orbital plumbing, and prepped for upcoming crew arrivals. Her NASA crewmate, Butch Wilmore, collected water samples from the potable water dispenser and later analyzed them for microbial growth. Wilmore also powered on the KERMIT microscope, swapped the lens, and installed new slides. In the evening, the duo held a conference with SpaceX ground teams.
Current station Commander Oleg Kononenko swabbed various surfaces throughout the orbital complex to assess for microbial growth in microgravity. He then spent the rest of the day packing items for return on the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft, which is due to bring him, along with Dyson, and cosmonaut Nikolai Chub, home in late September.
Chub spent the day packing items for departure then took some time to observe the glow of Earth’s nighttime atmosphere in near-ultraviolet and collect condensate samples from the water recovery system. His Roscosmos crewmate, Alexander Grebenkin, spent a majority of the day on orbital plumbing tasks, including replacing hoses and running a distillation cycle on the water processing unit.
Astronauts Rest After Starliner Lands; Soyuz Crew Nears Launch
The New Moon sets behind Earth’s colorful, but dimming atmosphere in this long-duration photograph taken with a camera programmed for high sensitivity.
Six of the nine orbital residents living and working aboard the International Space Station relaxed on Monday following last week’s departure of Boeing’s uncrewed Starliner spacecraft. The trio on duty today readied for the next crew to launch to the orbital outpost and tested a negative pressure suit.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams congratulated flight teams and said goodbye to the Starliner spacecraft (listen to the audio on X) that launched the duo to the station on June 5. The uncrewed Starliner undocked from the Harmony module’s forward port at 6:04 p.m. EDT on Friday, Sept. 6, and parachuted to a landing in New Mexico nearly six hours later. Wilmore and Williams will remain in low-Earth orbit until February when they are scheduled to return to Earth aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with the Crew-9 mission.
The two veteran station residents relaxed today enjoying a three-day weekend along with fellow NASA astronauts Tracy C. Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, and Jeanette Epps. However, Wilmore, Williams, and Epps spent a few moments during Monday afternoon setting up hardware for human research activities planned for all day Tuesday. The trio prepared a specialized thigh cuff being studied for its ability to reverse the space-caused headward fluid shifts in astronauts potentially preventing vision issues and helping crews adjust to different gravity environments.
Expedition 71 Commander Oleg Kononenko readied the Rassvet module for the docking of the Soyuz MS-26 crew ship planned for 3:33 p.m. EDT on Wednesday. Kononenko organized tools and cargo making space inside Rassvet and set up crew sleep stations for the new crewmates. The Soyuz rocket will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:23 p.m. on Wednesday carrying NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Wagner to the space station for a six-and-a-half month mission.
Kononenko also joined fellow cosmonauts Nikolai Chub and Alexander Grebenkin and tested the lower body negative pressure suit for its ability to counter the effects of weightlessness on the human body and help crews adjust quicker to the return to Earth’s gravity. Kononenko and Chub are due to return to Earth with Dyson inside the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft in late September. Grebenkin is targeting his return to Earth in early October with SpaceX Crew-8 crewmates Dominick, Barratt, and Epps.
