![\"Roscosmos](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/exp75-change-of-command-100426.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>Expedition 75<\/a> is in the middle of a crew swap aboard the International Space Station<\/a> as four new crew members get used to life in microgravity and another quartet prepares for its return to Earth. The 11 crew members have been busy packing and unpacking the two SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked to the orbital outpost\u2019s Harmony module<\/a> and preparing for upcoming cargo mission activities.<\/p>\n New Expedition 75 crew members Jessica Watkins<\/a> and Luke Delaney<\/a> of NASA, Josh Kutryk of CSA (Canadian Space Agency), and Sergey Teteryatnikov of Roscosmos have been living and working on the space station since Thursday, Oct. 1. They began their mission as NASA\u2019s SpaceX Crew-13<\/a> after launching<\/a> aboard a SpaceX Dragon and docking<\/a> to Harmony\u2019s forward port on the orbital outpost the same day. The four crewmates have been unpacking Dragon and familiarizing themselves with space station systems as they begin a six-month space research mission.<\/p>\n Now, the SpaceX Crew-12<\/a> quartet, which has been aboard the orbital outpost since Feb. 14<\/a>, is packing up for its departure scheduled for 8:05 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, Oct. 7. NASA astronauts Jessica Meir<\/a> and Jack Hathaway<\/a> will respectively command and pilot Dragon alongside mission specialists Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency) and Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos. The foursome will undock from Harmony\u2019s space-facing port then orbit Earth for just over a day inside Dragon. Crew-12 will reenter Earth\u2019s atmosphere then parachute inside the spacecraft to a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at 11:34 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8, ending a nearly eight-month stay in space.<\/p>\n Roscosmos cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov accepted command of the International Space Station from Meir on Sunday, Oct. 4, during a traditional change of command ceremony. Dubrov will be staying in space with flight engineers Anna Kikina of Roscosmos and Anil Menon<\/a> of NASA until spring 2027.<\/p>\n The next spacecraft to depart from the orbiting complex will be Northrop Grumman\u2019s uncrewed Cygnus XL resupply ship which has been attached to the Unity module<\/a> since April 13<\/a>. NASA flight engineers Menon and Hathaway loaded trash and discarded gear inside Cygnus XL on Monday. The cargo spacecraft is scheduled to be released from the station into Earth orbit with the Canadarm2 robotic arm<\/a> at the end of the week.<\/p>\n Soon after that, SpaceX will launch Dragon on its 35th<\/sup> commercial resupply mission to deliver science and supplies to the Expedition 75 crew. Kutryk on Monday studied tools and procedures to monitor Dragon\u2019s approach and rendezvous following its upcoming launch from Florida. Meir reorganized the Kibo laboratory module<\/a> where some of Dragon\u2019s cargo will be stowed after its arrival.<\/p>\n Learn more about station activities by following the <\/em>space station blog<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>@space_station<\/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. <\/em>Subscribe here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Powered by WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Get The Details…<\/a><\/p>\n Mark A. Garcia <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Expedition 75 is in the middle of a crew swap aboard the International Space Station as four new crew members get used to life in microgravity and another quartet prepares for its return to Earth. The 11 crew members have been busy packing and unpacking the two SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked to the orbital outpost\u2019s Harmony module and preparing for upcoming cargo mission activities. Continue reading