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<\/a><\/figure>The Expedition 72<\/a> crew will change commanders on Friday as four crewmates prepare for their return to Earth. Meanwhile, the International Space Station<\/a> residents continued their ongoing human research activities while unpacking supplies from a new cargo craft.<\/p>\n Station Preps for Command Change, Conducts Heart and Bone Research<\/strong><\/p>\n NASA astronaut and station Commander Suni Williams<\/a> will hand over leadership of the orbital outpost to Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin during a change of command ceremony at 1:55 p.m. EST on Friday<\/a>. NASA+ will broadcast the event with all seven crew members as Williams and Ovchinin give remarks before turning their attention to crew swap activities.<\/p>\n Williams will return to Earth aboard the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft with NASA astronauts Nick Hague<\/a> and Butch Wilmore<\/a> and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov ending the SpaceX Crew-9<\/a> mission. The homebound quartet will leave the space station a few days after the SpaceX Crew-10<\/a> mission launches next week. Ovchinin will stay aboard the station with Flight Engineers Don Pettit<\/a> of NASA and Ivan Vagner of Roscosmos until mid-April.<\/p>\n The Crew-9 foursome spent the second half of their shift on Thursday continuing preparations for a return to Earth by practicing Dragon undocking and deorbit procedures on a computer. All four crewmates also called down to Earth and discussed return operations with mission controllers. Williams and Wilmore wrapped up their day familiarizing themselves with Dragon systems.<\/p>\n The SpaceX Crew-10 mission is targeted to launch aboard the Dragon crew spacecraft at 7:48 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, March 12, from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center. NASA astronauts Anne McClain<\/a> and Nichole Ayers<\/a> will command and pilot the Crew-10 mission with Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Kirill Peskov of Roscosmos serving as Mission Specialists. Crew-10 is targeted to dock to the Harmony module<\/a>\u2019s forward port at 10 a.m. on Thursday, March 13.<\/p>\n The orbital residents spent Thursday keeping up their space biology activities filling in researchers with the latest data on how a crew member\u2019s body adapts to weightlessness. Hague spent the first half of his shift in the Columbus laboratory module<\/a> module scanning his chest with an ultrasound device as doctors on Earth monitored in real time. The doctors were examining possible changes in Hague\u2019s arteries and veins to gain insights into an astronaut\u2019s cardiovascular health<\/a> while living and working in space. Pettit charged science hardware that monitors space-caused bone loss for a study observing an astronaut\u2019s bone health before, during, and after a space mission<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ovchinin and Vagner were back on cargo duty unloading more food, fuel, and supplies delivered aboard the Progress 91 cargo craft on March 1<\/a>. Vagner also measured his blood pressure for an investigation exploring how microgravity affects a crew member\u2019s blood flow and blood cells.<\/p>\n Learn more about station activities by following the <\/em>space station blog<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>@space_station<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>@ISS_Research<\/em><\/a> on X, as well as the <\/em>ISS Facebook<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>ISS Instagram<\/em><\/a> accounts.<\/em><\/p>\n Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here: <\/em>https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/subscribe<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Powered by WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Get The Details…<\/a><\/p>\n Mark A. Garcia <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Expedition 72 crew will change commanders on Friday as four crewmates prepare for their return to Earth. Meanwhile, the International Space Station residents continued their ongoing human research activities while unpacking supplies from a new cargo craft. Continue reading