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<\/a>A cargo craft is orbiting Earth today heading toward the International Space Station<\/a> as the seven Expedition 69<\/a> crew members studied how weightlessness affects cardiac tissue and the digestive system. Meanwhile, a new crew counts down to its launch early Friday.<\/p>\n Three tons of space supplies are packed aboard the Roscosmos Progress 85 cargo craft<\/a> and on the way to the orbital residents for a delivery scheduled at 11:50 p.m. EDT on Thursday. Station commander Sergey Prokopyev<\/a> and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin<\/a> will be on duty Thursday night monitoring the Progress 85 when it automatically docks to the Zvezda service module<\/a>\u2019s aft port. The duo will wait about two hours during standard leak and pressure checks before opening the resupply ship\u2019s hatch and begin unpacking the new food, fuel, and other cargo.<\/p>\n While the cargo activities get underway, the SpaceX Crew-7<\/a> mission will launch at 3:50 a.m. on Friday from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center. Four Commercial Crew astronauts will be seated inside the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft atop the company\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket awaiting a 24-hour trip to their new home in space.<\/p>\n NASA astronaut and Crew-7 Commander Jasmin Moghbeli<\/a> will be leading Pilot Andreas Mogensen<\/a> of ESA (European Space Agency) and Mission Specialists Satoshi Furukawa<\/a> of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Konstantin Borisov<\/a> of Roscosmos aboard Endurance during the ride to the station. Endurance, with the quartet inside, will automatically dock to the Harmony module<\/a>\u2019s space-facing port at 2:02 a.m. on Saturday. The foursome will open the hatch about two hours later, enter the station, greet the Expedition 69 crew, and begin a six-month microgravity research mission.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the crewmates living in space explored how microgravity affects cardiac cells and the digestive system to benefit humans living on and off the Earth. NASA Flight Engineers Frank Rubio<\/a> and Woody Hoburg<\/a> treated samples of stem-cell derived heart micro-tissues on Wednesday in the Kibo laboratory module<\/a>. The Project EAGLE<\/a> biology study takes place in Kibo\u2019s Life Science Glovebox<\/a> and may reveal potential therapies for space-caused cardiac abnormalities and Earth-bound heart diseases.<\/p>\n Prokopyev and Petelin started the day with ultrasound scans after breakfast to observe how the digestive system<\/a> adapts to weightlessness. Prokopyev then partnered with Flight Engineer Andrey Fedyaev<\/a> in the afternoon for more tests of the lower body negative pressure suit<\/a> that may help crew members readjust to Earth\u2019s gravity environment.<\/p>\n Fedyaev will be returning to Earth soon with Hoburg and astronauts Stephen Bowen<\/a> of NASA and Sultan Alneyadi<\/a> of UAE (United Arab Emirates). The quartet will enter the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft one week after Crew-7 arrives, undock from Harmony\u2019s forward port, and splashdown off the coast of Florida to complete a six-month space mission. During Wednesday afternoon, the four crewmates inspected their SpaceX pressure suits they will wear inside Endeavour when they depart the station for the ride back to Earth.<\/p>\n Learn more about station activities by following the\u00a0space station blog<\/a>,\u00a0@space_station<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0@ISS_Research<\/a>\u00a0on X, as well as the\u00a0ISS Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0ISS Instagram<\/a>\u00a0accounts.<\/p>\n Get weekly video highlights at:\u00a0https:\/\/roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov\/videoupdate\/<\/a><\/p>\n Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here:\u00a0www.nasa.gov\/subscribe<\/a><\/p>\n Powered by WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Get The Details…<\/a><\/p>\n Mark Garcia <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A cargo craft is orbiting Earth today heading toward the International Space Station as the seven Expedition 69 crew members studied how weightlessness affects cardiac tissue and the digestive system. Meanwhile, a new crew counts down to its launch early Friday. Three tons of space supplies are packed aboard the Roscosmos Progress 85 cargo craft \u2026 Continue reading
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