One NASA astronaut and two Roscosmos cosmonauts are on the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan counting right down to a carry off on Thanksgiving Day to the Worldwide Area Station to start an eight-month microgravity analysis mission. The seven-member Expedition 73 crew will broaden to 10 when the brand new trio arrives simply over three hours after launch.
NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev are in remaining preparations forward of their launch aboard the Soyuz MS-28 crew spacecraft set for 4:27 a.m. EDT (2:27 p.m. Baikonur time) on Thursday, Nov. 27. Williams and Mikaev are starting their first spaceflight whereas Kud-Sverchkov shall be on his second mission to the orbital outpost.
The trio will orbit Earth twice contained in the Soyuz spacecraft earlier than its automated rendezvous and docking to the Rassvet module at 7:38 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day. The hatches will open about an hour-and-a-half later after a collection of strain and leak checks the brand new station trio will enter the station for a welcome ceremony after which a security briefing with the Expedition 73 crew.
Onboard the station Wednesday, NASA Flight Engineers Zena Cardman, Jonny Kim, and Mike Fincke joined JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Company) Flight Engineer Kimiya Yui for an off-duty day on Wednesday. In the meantime, Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritsky, and Oleg Platonov stayed busy all through the day. All seven crewmates shall be busy on Thanksgiving welcoming the brand new arrivals and serving to them get used to their new dwelling in area.
Ryzhikov and Zubritsky partnered collectively readied crew quarters for the arrival crew. Ryzhikov additionally continued packing cargo contained in the Soyuz MS-27 crew spacecraft that he, Zubritsky, and Kim will journey again to Earth in subsequent month. Zubritsky participated in a blood circulation examine then started amassing his private gadgets for stowage aboard the Soyuz MS-27. Zubritsky, with help from Platonov, additionally examined the lower body negative pressure suit for its potential to reverse the space-caused circulation of physique fluids towards a crew member’s head. Outcomes might stop microgravity-induced head and eye strain and assist crews modify faster to the return to Earth’s gravity.
Study extra about station actions by following the area station weblog, @space_station on X, in addition to the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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