4 Expedition 72 crew members are making ready take a brief experience to a unique International Space Station port this weekend to make means for an upcoming cargo mission. Within the meantime, the orbital residents wrapped up the workweek with life science experiments and lab upkeep.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov reviewed procedures on Friday for the SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft’s relocation maneuver scheduled to start at 6:35 a.m. EST on Sunday after they undock from the Harmony module’s ahead port. They are going to be joined inside Freedom by station Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore, each NASA astronauts, as they redock to Concord’s space-facing port at 7:18 a.m. Hague and Gorbunov launched as SpaceX Crew-9 members to the orbital outpost on Sept. 28 aboard Dragon Freedom. Nevertheless, they’ll return to Earth in February subsequent yr bringing residence Williams and Wilmore.
Concord’s vacated ahead port will await the arrival of the subsequent Dragon cargo mission set to launch at 9:29 p.m. on Monday from Kennedy House Middle in Florida. Dragon will dock to Concord at 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday delivering practically 6,000 kilos of latest science experiments and station provides. Hague and Wilmore shall be on obligation monitoring Dragon’s arrival
NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit joined the 4 Dragon crewmates on the finish of Friday’s shift and known as all the way down to mission controllers to debate Sunday’s Dragon relocation. Pettit shall be on obligation Sunday contained in the area station monitoring Dragon because it completes its automated relocation maneuver.
Pettit earlier joined Hague drawing their blood samples, spinning them in a centrifuge, then stowing the specimens in a science freezer for preservation and later evaluation. Pettit later eliminated elements from the Cell Biology Experiment Facility making ready the analysis machine for brand new experiments being delivered aboard the subsequent Dragon cargo mission. Hague spent the remainder of Friday reviewing procedures to command Dragon throughout Sunday’s relocation maneuver.
Williams and Wilmore began their Friday shift on orbital upkeep. Williams changed filters on the Tranquility module’s water recycling system as Wilmore put in an instrumentation field on the advanced resistive exercise device. The duo later educated for the 2 upcoming Dragon missions rounding out the day.
Within the Roscosmos phase of the orbiting lab, Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner assisted Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin with upkeep actions within the aft finish of the Zvezda service module. Earlier, Ovchinin explored spacecraft and robotic piloting methods future crew members may use on planetary missions. Gorbunov began his day closing operations for an experiment that pictures Earth’s nighttime environment in near-ultraviolet wavelengths earlier than becoming a member of Hague for Dragon relocation process opinions.
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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