Expedition 73 actions continued this week with bone loss and cardio research, in addition to a first-of-its-type reboost operation for the orbital complicated.
Orbital statement
College students from the Laptop Faculty in New York had an opportunity to file questions for Expedition 73 crewmates Jonny Kim of NASA and Kimiya Yui of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) to answer during a live broadcast from the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday (Sept. 5). Among the topics that the middle school students asked about was why we explore.
“Personally I think humankind is always in need of a frontier in order to live happily, so that’s why you keep doing exploration,” said Yui.
“I think exploring that frontier is so important to inspiring the next generation,” added Kim.
Another student asked if, given a choice between living in space or on Earth, which would they choose?
“I have a lot of fun up here in space,” said Kim. “We enjoy the views of Earth together, sharing stories over dinner, and the work we do is very rewarding. But Earth is still my favorite place to be. It’s my home, and it’s where everyone I love is still there. And so of course for me, I’d rather live on Earth.”
You can watch the entire Q&A below.
Science standing
Among the many analysis that was carried out by the Expedition 73 crew aboard the space station this week was:
Cardiobreath — Flight engineer Mike Fincke helped collect data to improve future crews’ exercise regimes by wearing a headband and vest connected to sensors while he rode a stationary bike in the U.S. Destiny laboratory.
Microgravity Associated Bone Loss-B — Jonny Kim prepared bone stem cell samples that were being treated with a therapeutic agent. The study may improve our understanding why astronauts’ skeletal systems undergo changes over the course of their missions.
Station keeping
The Expedition 73 crewmates also took part in activities to maintain the space station’s systems and prepare for future research.
Multi-use Variable-g Platform — Kimiya Yui of JAXA swapped out the moisture-absorbing cassettes for this microwave-size device that can be used to spin up scientific samples to up to twice the force of Earth’s gravity.
European Enhanced Exploration Exercise Device — Yui also gave a the 34D a good look over for its ability to support bicycling, rowing and resistive capabilities, as well as train with rope pulling and climbing.
CRS-33 — Jonny Kim and Zena Cardman worked on unloading science and logistical supplies from the Dragon cargo spacecraft that arrived at the space station last week.
Ground controllers also reoriented the station and tested the new Dragon reboost kit to increase the orbiting complex’s altitude above Earth. This was the one of the first times a SpaceX spacecraft had been used to reboost the station.
Astronaut activity
How do we translate large heavy objects in space? Carefully and with the slightest of inputs. pic.twitter.com/crMMKcrZDkSeptember 3, 2025
NASA astronaut Jonny Kim used a spacesuit to display the distinction between being weightless and having mass within the microgravity surroundings of house.
“How can we translate giant heavy objects in house? Fastidiously and with the slightest of inputs,” he posted on his social media accounts.
By the numbers
As of Friday (Aug. 15), there are 7 folks aboard the Worldwide Area Station: Expedition 73 commander Sergey Ryzhikov of the Russian house company Roscosmos; fellow cosmonauts Alexey Zubritsky and Oleg Platonov; Jonny Kim, Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke of NASA; and Kimiya Yui of JAXA, all flight engineers.
There are two docked crew spacecraft: SpaceX’s Dragon “Endeavour” attached to the zenith port of the Harmony module and Roscosmos’ Soyuz MS-27 attached to the Earth-facing port of the Prichal node.
There are three docked cargo spacecraft: Roscosmos’ Progress MS-30 (91P) attached to the aft port of the Zvezda service module, and Progress MS-31 (92P) docked to the space-facing port of the Poisk module. SpaceX’s CRS-33 Dragon spacecraft is docked to the forward port of Harmony Node 2.
As of Friday, the space station has been continuously crewed for 24 years and 10 months and 3 days.
