The seven-member Expedition 70 crew relaxed on Friday following a busy week of area analysis and cargo transfers starting a three-day weekend. The orbital septet will go into the ultimate days of February persevering with its microgravity science whereas additionally getting ready to welcome 4 new Business Crew members to the International Space Station.
On Sunday, Feb. 25, 4 SpaceX Crew-8 members will arrive on the Kennedy Area Heart (KSC) for a five-day quarantine interval. The Falcon 9 rocket with the Dragon spacecraft atop may also roll out to its launch pad at KSC’s Launch Complicated 39A the identical day. NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin are in ultimate preparations for his or her elevate off aboard Dragon focused for 12:04 a.m. EDT on Friday, March 1. The quartet will rendezvous with the orbital outpost simply over a day later and dock to the Harmony module’s ahead port on Saturday, March 2.
The 4 Dragon crewmates will probably be greeted by the station residents, name right down to Earth for a welcoming ceremony with household and mission officers, then take part in a compulsory onboard security briefing. The industrial quartet will turn out to be Expedition 70-71 crew members and stay in area till mid-summer.
Throughout a six-month keep aboard the orbital lab, the Crew-8 foursome will analysis a multitude of space phenomena to enhance life for people dwelling on and off the Earth. The quartet will discover the mechanisms behind neurological disorders, methods to prevent fluid shifts that happen in astronauts dwelling in area, how microgravity impacts plant growth, and the way algae could enhance spacecraft life help techniques.
A few week later, 4 SpaceX Crew-7 crew members who’ve been aboard the area station since Aug. 27, 2023, will undock from the Concord’s space-facing port aboard the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft. Astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli, Andreas Mogensen, and Satoshi Furukawa together with cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov are deliberate to take a day’s experience orbiting Earth inside Endurance earlier than splashing down off the coast of Florida ending a six-and-a-half-month mission in area.
