![\"July](\"https:\/\/blogs.nasa.gov\/spacestation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/240\/2019\/08\/ISS_07-31-19.jpg\")
<\/a>The International Space Station<\/a> is hosting five spaceships today as August ramps up for more orbital traffic activity. Six Expedition 60<\/a> crewmembers are also unloading U.S. and Russian cargo, activating new science experiments and stocking the station\u2019s galley.<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s Progress 73<\/a> (73P) cargo craft completed a fast-track delivery mission early Wednesday docking to the Pirs Docking Compartment<\/a> just three hours and nineteen minutes after launching from Kazakhstan. Cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov<\/a> opened the 73P hatch shortly afterward starting its four-month stay. He and station Commander Alexey Ovchinin<\/a> then began unloading nearly three tons of new consumables, fuel and supplies.<\/p>\n Two U.S. space freighters occupy the station\u2019s Earth-facing Harmony<\/a> and Unity<\/a> module ports. Harmony will open up Tuesday when Northrop Grumman\u2019s Cygnus<\/a> resupply ship departs after 109 days in space. The Canadarm2 robotic arm<\/a> installed the SpaceX Dragon<\/a> to Unity on Saturday after its arrival and capture beginning a month of cargo operations.<\/p>\n NASA astronauts Christina Koch<\/a> and Nick Hague<\/a> are tending to mice today shipped aboard Dragon for ongoing biological research. The reusable vehicle will return the mice back to Earth at the end of the month, including other cargo, so scientists can analyze a variety of changes that only occur in microgravity.<\/p>\n Dragon also delivered a new commercial crew vehicle port, the International Docking Adapter-3<\/a> (IDA-3), in its unpressurized trunk. Robotics controllers will soon extract the IDA-3 before two spacewalkers install it to Unity\u2019s space-facing port a few days later.<\/p>\n A few days before Dragon departs, Russia will launch an unpiloted Soyuz MS-14 crew ship to the orbiting lab for a test of its upgraded 2.1a Soyuz booster. It will dock to the Poisk module for a two-week stay before parachuting back to Earth in the vast steppe of Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n Get The Details…<\/a><\/p>\n Mark Garcia <\/p>\n Powered by WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The International Space Station<\/a> is hosting five spaceships today as August ramps up for more orbital traffic activity. Six Expedition 60<\/a> crewmembers are also unloading U.S. and Russian cargo, activating new science experiments and stocking the station\u2019s galley.<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s Progress 73<\/a> (73P) cargo craft completed a fast-track delivery mission early Wednesday docking to the Pirs Docking Compartment<\/a> just three hours and nineteen minutes after launching from Kazakhstan. Cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov<\/a> opened the 73P hatch shortly afterward starting its four-month stay. He and station Commander Alexey Ovchinin<\/a> then began unloading nearly three tons of new consumables, fuel and supplies.<\/p>\n Two U.S. space freighters occupy the station\u2019s Earth-facing Harmony<\/a> and Unity<\/a> module \u2026 Continue reading August Brings More Spaceship Traffic and a Spacewalk<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
<\/a>July 31, 2019: International Space Station Configuration. Five spaceships are parked at the space station including the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft, Northrop Grumman\u2019s Cygnus space freighter, and Russia\u2019s Progress 73 resupply ship and Soyuz MS-12 and MS-13 crew ships. <\/p>\n