Space Station First: All Docking Ports Fully Occupied, 8 Spacecraft on Orbit
For the first time in International Space Station history, all eight docking ports aboard the orbital outpost are occupied following the reinstallation of Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft to the Earth-facing port of the station’s Unity module. The eight spacecraft attached to the complex are: two SpaceX Dragons, Cygnus XL, JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) HTV-X1, two Roscosmos Soyuz crew spacecraft, and two Progress cargo ships.
This milestone follows the reattachment of the Cygnus XL spacecraft, supporting the Northrop Grumman-23 commercial resupply services mission for NASA, which was removed last week by the robotics officer at the agency’s Mission Control Center in Houston using the space station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm. The Cygnus XL movement was coordinated between NASA, Northrop Grumman, and Roscosmos to provide appropriate clearance for the arriving crewed Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft on Nov. 27.
Cygnus will remain attached to the orbiting laboratory until no earlier than March 2026, when it is scheduled to safely depart and dispose of up to 11,000 pounds of trash and unneeded cargo when it harmlessly burns up in Earth’s atmosphere.
Meanwhile, the 10-person Expedition 73 crew filled its day with biology and physics research while preparing to split up early next week.
Three new residents are living aboard the space station following the arrival of the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev will stay in space until July 2026, conducting advanced space research benefiting humans living on and off Earth. Kud-Sverchkov and Mikaev have already begun studying how living in space affects the microcirculatory system in their hands, fingers, feet, and toes. Williams has been assisting his NASA crewmates with cargo activities.
On Dec. 8, the orbital outpost will return to seven members and become the Expedition 74 crew when NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky enter the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft, undock from the Prichal module, and parachute to a landing in Kazakhstan. The trio performed pressure and leak checks on the Sokol launch and entry suits they will wear next week for the ride back to Earth. Ryzhikov continued packing cargo inside the Earth-bound Soyuz, while Zubritsky began handing over his responsibilities to his new Roscosmos crewmates. Kim, Ryzhikov, and Zubritsky are nearing the end of an eight-month space science mission that began on April 8, 2025.
Kim also joined his new crewmate Williams and NASA Flight Engineer Zena Cardman to open the Cygnus XL hatch following its reattachment Monday morning. The crew will continue unpacking some of the several tons of new science and supplies Cygnus XL delivered on Sept. 18.
Flight Engineers Mike Fincke and Kimiya Yui spent their day focusing on space research to learn about phenomena that can only be studied in the weightless environment of microgravity. Fincke, from NASA, first swapped computer hardware supporting a physics experiment that is studying ways to preserve cryogenic fluids in spacecraft fuel tanks. Next, he configured the new NanoRacks Thailand Liquid Crystals experiment, which will observe changes in the formation of flat liquid crystal films in microgravity. Yui, from JAXA, studied how the brain regulates its blood flow. He measured both his cerebral artery blood flow and blood pressure to help doctors understand potential space-related issues.
Flight Engineer Oleg Platonov spent Monday collecting, processing, and photographing microbe samples gathered throughout the station’s Roscosmos segment for analysis. He also transferred data highlighting the vibrations the station experiences while orbiting Earth to a laptop computer.
Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here.
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Mark A. Garcia
