Aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday, 4 new crew members are adjusting to their first week orbiting Earth. In the meantime, one other quartet of Expedition 69 flight engineers is making ready to finish their six-month keep in area.
Eleven crew members from 5 international locations live and dealing collectively on the orbital outpost as two of its crews are in the midst of swapping locations. New station flight engineers Jasmin Moghbeli and Andreas Mogensen, of NASA and ESA (European Area Company) respectively, continued unpacking the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft all through the day. Within the afternoon, the duo joined NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio, who has been aboard the station for practically a 12 months, and reviewed station operations, programs, and procedures.
The opposite two new flight engineers, Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Company) and Konstantin Borisov of Roscosmos, additionally continued familiarizing themselves with life in weightlessness. The pair is studying tips on how to make meals, train on the exercise amenities, sleep within the crew quarters, and use the station’s toilet, also called the waste and hygiene compartment.
The station crew will fall again to seven members no sooner than Sept. 2 when the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour is because of return 4 flight engineers, who’ve been in area since March, again to Earth. NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen will command Endeavour main NASA Pilot Woody Hoburg and Mission Specialists Sultan Alneyadi of UAE (United Arab Emirates) and Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos to a splashdown off the coast of Florida.
The Earth-bound foursome has been handing over its obligations to the newly arrived crew whereas making ready for the return to Earth’s gravity setting. The 4 crew mates this week have been packing Endeavour, reviewing deorbit and splashdown procedures, and speaking to NASA and SpaceX floor assist personnel.
Bowen and Hoburg nonetheless had time on Wednesday for ongoing analysis actions. Bowen rounded up science {hardware} for an upcoming area biology experiment. Hoburg inspected and activated an Astrobee free-flying robotic helper as engineers on the bottom monitored its efficiency.
The longest-serving crew aboard the station has been orbiting Earth since Sept. 21, 2022. Rubio together with Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin are aiding with the crew swap actions. The trio from NASA and Roscosmos has additionally labored on cargo actions, area science, and commonplace well being checks this week.
Be taught extra about station actions by following the area station weblog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, in addition to the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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