Archivo de la etiqueta: spacestation

Astronaut, Cosmonauts Board Soyuz; Close Hatch for Departure

At 2:52 p.m. EDT, the hatch closed between the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft and the International Space Station in preparation for undocking and return to Earth.

NASA will provide live undocking coverage at 5:30 p.m. on NASA+. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

NASA astronaut Don Petitt, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, will undock from the orbiting laboratory’s Rassvet module at 5:57 p.m., heading for a parachute-assisted landing at 9:20 p.m. (6:20 a.m. Kazakhstan time, Sunday, April 20) on the steppe of Kazakhstan, southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan.

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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Mark A. Garcia

NASA+ Begins Coverage as Soyuz Trio Preps for Departure

NASA’s live departure coverage is underway on NASA+. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

NASA astronaut Don Petitt and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner will close the hatch between the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft and the International Space Station about 2:25 p.m. EDT.

The spacecraft will undock from the orbiting laboratory’s Rassvet module at 5:57 p.m. to begin the journey back to Earth, heading for a parachute-assisted landing at 9:20 p.m. (6:20 a.m. Kazakhstan time, Sunday, April 20) on the steppe of Kazakhstan, southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan.

NASA will provide live undocking coverage at 5:30 p.m. on NASA+.

Spanning 220 days in space, Pettit and his crewmates will have orbited the Earth 3,520 times and completed a journey of 93.3 million miles over the course of their mission. The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft launched and docked to the station on Sept. 11, 2024.

This was Pettit’s fourth spaceflight, where he served as flight engineer for Expedition 71 and 72. He has a career total of 590 days in orbit. Ovchinin completed his fourth flight in space, totaling 595 days, and Vagner has earned an overall total of 416 days in space during two trips to the orbiting laboratory.

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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Mark A. Garcia

Station Has New Commander; Soyuz Trio Ready for Saturday Departure

The International Space Station has a new commander as three Expedition 72 crew members get ready to return to Earth on Saturday. The orbital residents staying behind will soon welcome a U.S. cargo craft and get ready for their increment’s first spacewalk.

Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) took control of the orbital outpost from Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin during a change of command ceremony on Friday afternoon. Onishi will officially lead the new Expedition 73 mission when Ovchinin undocks from the station’s Rassvet module aboard the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft with NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonaut Ivan Vagner at 5:57 p.m. EDT on Saturday. The Earthbound trio will parachute to a landing in Kazakhstan at 9:20 p.m. the same day (6:20 a.m. on Sunday, April 20, in Kazakhstan) of Pettit’s 70^th birthday. NASA+ will broadcast Saturday’s crew farewell, undocking, and landing activities live beginning at 2 p.m.

Ovchinin and Vagner had one last research session on Friday with assistance from Flight Engineer Kirill Peskov testing the lower body negative pressure suit. The specialized suit from Roscosmos may prevent space-caused head and eye pressure symptoms and help a crew member adjust to Earth’s gravity quicker. Vagner also wrapped up handing over his crew responsibilities to his fellow cosmonauts while Pettit finished cleaning out his crew quarters. Ovchinin will complete packing the Soyuz crew ship with cargo on Saturday before activating the spacecraft’s systems.

A day-and-a-half later, the NASA’s SpaceX 32^nd commercial resupply mission will lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center carrying about 6,700 pounds of new science experiments and crew supplies for the Expedition 73 crew. Dragon will launch at 4:15 a.m. EDT on Monday and dock at 8:20 a.m. on Tuesday to the Harmony module’s space-facing port for a month long cargo mission. Onishi and NASA Flight Engineer Jonny Kim will be on duty Tuesday monitoring Dragon’s automated arrival and docking. NASA+ will provide live launch and docking coverage of Dragon’s 32^nd cargo mission to the orbiting laboratory.

NASA Flight Engineers Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers are getting ready for the first spacewalk of Expedition 73 planned for May 1. The duo spent Friday organizing the Quest airlock where their spacewalk will begin and checking their spacesuits’ components and systems. Next, the duo verified the suits’ helmets, boots, and arm and leg assemblies fittings. McClain and Ayers will spend six-and-a-half hours in the vacuum of space preparing the station for a new rollout solar array and relocating an antenna that communicates with commercial spacecraft.

Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky have finished transitioning their new crew responsibilities from their departing crewmates Vagner and Ovchinin. Ryzhikov also spent Friday on life science activities collecting samples of mold and bacteria for analysis while Zubritsky set up and activated Earth observation gear.

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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Mark A. Garcia

Crew Swaps Command on Friday Before Soyuz Departure and Dragon Launch

Expedition 72 will come to an end and segue into the Expedition 73 mission after three veteran crewmembers depart the International Space Station on Saturday. Meanwhile, the orbital residents stayed busy on Thursday with cargo mission preparations, spacesuit checks, and microgravity research.

Station Commander Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos will hand over command of the orbital laboratory to JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi at 2:40 p.m. EDT on Friday. Afterward, Ovchinin will turn his attention to returning to Earth with Flight Engineers Don Pettit of NASA and Ivan Vagner of Roscosmos after 220 days in space. The trio will undock in their Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft from the Rassvet module at 5:57 p.m. EDT on Saturday ending Expedition 72 then parachute to a landing in Kazakhstan at 8:20 p.m. the same day (6:20 a.m. on Sunday, April 20, in Kazakhstan) on Pettit’s 70^th birthday. NASA+ will broadcast Saturday’s crew farewell, undocking, and landing activities live beginning at 2 p.m.

Onishi will stay onboard the space station leading Expedition 73 and orbiting Earth until July. Remaining with Onishi will be NASA astronauts Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, and Jonny Kim, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritsky, and Kirill Pskov.

Onishi and Kim will be on duty early next week monitoring the automated approach and rendezvous of the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft carrying about 6,700 pounds of science and supplies for the orbital residents. Dragon will launch at 4:15 a.m. EDT on Monday, April 21, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and dock at 8:20 a.m. the following day to the Harmony module’s space-facing port for a month long cargo mission. The duo continued training on Thursday for Dragon’s arrival reviewing spacecraft monitoring techniques on a computer.

Kim began his Thursday shift studying how McClain‘s sense of balance is adapting to microgravity as she wore virtual reality goggles for the CIPHER human research investigation. Afterward, Kim examined the retina, optic nerve, and cornea of his crew mates Ayers and Onishi using medical imaging hardware.

McClain and Ayers are due to exit the orbital outpost on May 1 for a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk. The duo will prepare the port side truss structure for a new rollout solar array and relocate an antenna that communicates with commercial spacecraft at the station. Pettit spent Thursday preparing their spacesuits, cleaning the cooling loops, and inspecting suit components. Later, Kim and Onishi practiced installing jetpacks on the spacesuits that would be used to maneuver back to safety in the unlikely event a spacewalker became untethered from the space station.

Ryzhikov and Zubritsky are settling in for a seven-and-a-half-month space research mission and beginning to pick up Ovchinin’s and Vagner’s crew responsibilities. The cosmonauts also attached sensors to themselves and studied how a long duration spaceflight affects the respiratory system. Flight Engineer Kirill Peskov wrapped up a research session with the departing Vagner as they tested the lower body negative pressure suit that may help a crew member returning to Earth adjust quicker to gravity.

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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Mark A. Garcia

Crew Departure, Dragon Mission, and Spacewalk Preps Fill Crew’s Day

Three International Space Station residents will return to Earth this weekend just a couple of days before the expected arrival of the next SpaceX Dragon cargo mission. Soon after that, two NASA astronauts will exit the orbital outpost for a solar array maintenance spacewalk.

Veteran orbital residents Don Pettit of NASA and Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, both from Roscosmos, are winding down a seven-month space research mission that began on Sept. 11, 2024. The Earthbound crewmates are scheduled to undock from the station’s Rassvet module at 5:57 p.m. EDT on Saturday inside their Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft ending the Expedition 72 mission. They will orbit Earth twice before firing the Soyuz’ braking engines, descend into the atmosphere, then parachute to a landing in Kazakhstan at 8:20 p.m. (6:20 a.m. on Sunday, April 20, in Kazakhstan).

The trio from NASA and Roscosmos spent the first half of Wednesday reviewing the steps they will perform to ready the Soyuz spacecraft for undocking, as well as the procedures they will use once they depart the station and head back to Earth. Pettit then continued packing up his personal gear for stowage aboard the Soyuz MS-26. Ovchinin and Vagner spent the last of half of their shift handing off their mission responsibilities to the orbiting lab’s two newest cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky who arrived at the station on April 8.

Next, the new Expedition 73 crew will turn its attention to the arrival of the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft that will launch at 4:15 a.m. EDT on Monday, April 21, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Dragon will dock to the Harmony module’s space-facing port at 8:20 a.m. the following day delivering about 6,700 pounds of new science experiments and station supplies. Flight Engineers Jonny Kim of NASA and Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) trained on Wednesday for the spacecraft’s arrival and will be on duty next week monitoring Dragon’s automated approach and docking.

Just over a week after Dragon’s arrival, NASA Flight Engineers Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers will put on their spacesuits and exit the orbiting lab’s Quest airlock for a six-and-half-hour spacewalk on May 1. First, the duo will install a modification kit to prepare the port side truss structure for a new rollout solar array. Next, they will relocate an antenna that communicates with approaching and departing commercial crew and cargo spacecraft. The astronauts spent Wednesday familiarizing themselves with the spacewalking tools and parts they will use and organizing them inside Quest.

Flight Engineer Kirill Peskov spent the first portion of his day collecting air samples from the Zvezda, Zarya, and Nauka modules for analysis. Later, he focused on orbital plumbing duties transferring water between the station’s U.S. and Roscosmos segments.

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.

Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here: https://www.nasa.gov/subscribe

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Mark A. Garcia