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The Worldwide Area Station and the Expedition 72 crew have transitioned from an eventful summer season right into a extra regular, operational routine in the previous few months, though the Station has handled sudden points in latest weeks.
Station commander Suni Williams and her Boeing Crewed Flight Take a look at crewmate Butch Wilmore, each veteran NASA astronauts and take a look at pilots, have been transitioned onto the Expedition 72 crew for a full tour of responsibility aboard ISS after NASA determined to return Starliner Calypso to Earth with out the crew aboard following points with the spacecraft’s thrusters. Crew Dragon Freedom flew the Crew-9 mission to the ISS with NASA’s Nick Hague and Roscosmos’ Aleksandr Gorbunov in September, and can function Williams and Wilmore’s return spacecraft when the tip of their mission arrives.
Crew Dragon Freedom docked on the ISS Concord module’s zenith port. (Credit score: NASA TV)
The revised Crew-9 complement made their first operational spacecraft flight motion aboard Freedom once they moved the spacecraft from the ahead port on the Station’s Concord node to the zenith (upward-pointing) port on Nov. 3. The transfer was made to make method for the CRS-31 Cargo Dragon spacecraft, which is able to use the ahead port for docking upon its arrival to the Station.
All 4 crew members — Hague, Gorbunov, Wilmore, and Williams — wanted to be aboard Freedom because it was their “lifeboat” if something occurred throughout the relocation course of that may render the spacecraft unable to redock with the ISS. In such an occasion, the spacecraft could be pressured to make an emergency return to Earth.
Luckily, all went effectively, and Freedom is now positioned on the zenith port of Concord. The CRS-31 cargo ship, C208, docked with the ahead port of the Concord module on Nov. 5 and have become the primary Cargo Dragon to carry out a reboost maneuver on the ISS. The spacecraft wanted to be docked on the ahead port to carry out the reboost take a look at, which was efficiently carried out on Nov. 8. Cargo Dragon is now certainly one of three spacecraft that may reboost the ISS, together with the Cygnus and Progress spacecraft.
The present configuration of visiting autos at ISS as of the tip of November 2024. (Credit score: NASA)
The CRS-31 mission introduced up 2,762 kg of cargo to the Station, together with experiments associated to Antarctic moss and its tolerance to radiation and microgravity, chilly welding to restore injury to the Station’s hull, materials publicity to area, and photo voltaic wind measurement. Spacewalk tools, crew provides, and {hardware} have been additionally aboard C208.
CRS-31 was not the one resupply mission to succeed in the Station in November. On Nov. 21, the Progress MS-29 spacecraft launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with roughly 2,500 kg of cargo. MS-29 efficiently docked with the Russian phase’s Poisk module on Nov. 23 after a two-day journey, changing Progress MS-27, which undocked from Poisk for a damaging reentry on Nov. 19.
Progress MS-29 throughout its strategy to the ISS Russian Phase’s Poisk module. (Credit score: NASA+)
Nonetheless, not all the things has gone easily for the Station just lately. After MS-29’s docking to the Station, throughout the spacecraft’s preliminary opening, crew members seen a odor that Expedition 72 astronaut Don Pettit likened to spray paint.
The Russian Roscosmos crew members additionally seen small “droplets” emanating from the open hatch between MS-29 and the Station’s Poisk module. They donned protecting fits and closed the hatch, delaying the unpacking of the cargo ship, whereas the odor was reportedly described as poisonous.
The Expedition 72 crew members activated air scrubbers to dissipate the odor. Air high quality aboard ISS was reported to be regular on Nov. 24, and the odor was discovered to be brought on by the outgassing of supplies aboard the pressurized part of the Progress spacecraft. This outgassing didn’t contain propellant, as per a NASA spokesperson. The crew has now been in a position to reopen MS-29’s hatch and cargo its provides.
Suni Williams (left) and Aleksandr Gorbunov (proper) sporting protecting tools whereas opening the Cargo Dragon spacecraft on Nov. 5. (Credit score: NASA)
The Progress outgassing concern was not the one concern the Station, its crew, and its controllers have needed to cope with just lately. Two days earlier than MS-29’s launch, the ISS wanted to carry out a pre-planned particles avoidance maneuver to distance itself from the remnants of a protection meteorological satellite tv for pc — the U.S. Air Power’s DMSP F13 — that broke up in 2015 attributable to a battery rupture.
This maneuver, lasting 5 minutes and 31 seconds, was carried out by the Progress MS-28 spacecraft. With out the maneuver, the fragment might have come inside 4 kilometers of the Station. The Station has needed to carry out 39 particles avoidance maneuvers throughout its operational lifetime, and it’s doubtless it must carry out extra of those maneuvers earlier than its operations are scheduled to stop in 2030.
Your entire Expedition 72 crew, together with the Roscosmos members, did get time to have fun the standard U.S. Thanksgiving vacation on Nov. 28 whereas taking the day without work. The 4 NASA members despatched a Thanksgiving video message, which included them exhibiting their meal of packed freeze-dried smoked turkey, Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, and apples with spice.
Whereas the vacation season continues in lots of components of Earth, the Expedition 72 crew is packing Cargo Dragon C208 with {hardware}, finalized experiments, and important analysis samples prematurely of CRS-31’s undocking from the Station.
Undocking is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 5, at 16:05 UTC, with a splashdown off the coast of Florida hours later. That is anticipated to be one of many final Dragon missions to return to the East Coast, with Crew and Cargo Dragon splashdowns within the Pacific set to start out subsequent 12 months. After Cargo Dragon’s departure, the Cygnus NG-21 S.S. Francis R. Scobee is scheduled to depart the Station in January 2025.
Following CRS-31’s return to Earth, a spacewalk is scheduled for the ISS earlier than the tip of 2024. Aleksey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner of Roscosmos are scheduled to carry out Russian EVA 63 on Dec. 19 at 15:30 UTC. This EVA is scheduled to final six hours and 40 minutes and additional particulars on its aims are anticipated to be launched nearer to the date of the spacewalk.
NSF can have the chance to conduct an in-flight media occasion discussing images with astronaut Don Pettit on Monday, Dec. 9 at 16:45 UTC. That is certainly one of quite a lot of media occasions which have occurred throughout the expedition; each ISS expedition periodically has media occasions that includes crew members discussing their mission with media, college students, and different members of the general public.
(Lead picture: Atmospheric airglow and star trails from the ISS as taken by NASA astronaut Don Pettit. Credit score: NASA)
