Expedition 74 is getting ready to separate up as 4 crew members flip their consideration to Wednesday’s departure. The homebound quartet—representing NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission—spent Tuesday packing cargo, reviewing return to Earth procedures, and transferring {hardware} aboard the Worldwide House Station.
Mission managers have given the “go” for the return to Earth of NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Company) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov aboard the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft. Cardman will command and Fincke will pilot Dragon alongside Mission Specialists Yui and Platonov when it undocks from the Concord module’s space-facing port at 5:05 p.m. EST on Wednesday. Climate is trying wonderful for Dragon’s parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of California at 3:41 a.m. on Thursday.
NASA+ begins its stay protection at 3 p.m. on Wednesday when the foursome enters Dragon, says goodbye to the crew on the orbital outpost, and closes the hatch. NASA+ returns at 4:45 p.m. for Dragon undocking protection. Subsequent, NASA+ will likely be again on the air at 2:15 a.m. on Thursday when Dragon begins its descent towards Earth. Lastly, at 5:45 a.m. NASA+ will broadcast the post-splashdown information convention. All of the actions may be seen on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the company’s YouTube channel.
Cardman started Tuesday along with her departing crewmates and skilled to make use of respirators throughout unlikely occasions similar to an ammonia leak. Subsequent, she transferred normal emergency gear from Dragon and stowed it contained in the house station with help from NASA Flight Engineer Chris Williams. Fincke and Yui partnered collectively and uninstalled science {hardware} from the station and loaded it inside Dragon. All 4 crew members, together with Platonov, continued packing private objects, practiced Dragon deorbit procedures on a pc, and mentioned their mission readiness with mission controllers on the bottom. Three crew members will stay aboard the orbital outpost after Crew-11 leaves.
Expedition 74 will likely be commanded by Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov main Flight Engineers Sergei Mikaev and Williams. Kud-Sverchkov and Mikaev began their shift on Tuesday taking a check assessing how crews make selections and work collectively in house. Subsequent, Kud-Sverchkov participated in a blood stress examine then jogged on a treadmill for a bodily health check. Mikaev additionally took half within the blood stress examine then inventoried cargo and {hardware} stowed all through the station’s Roscosmos section. Williams spent the day supporting his departing crewmates.
Be taught extra about station actions by following the house station weblog, @space_station on X, in addition to the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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