Current weeks aboard the Worldwide Area Station have been busy, with the Expedition 74 crew overseeing two automobile arrivals, a departure, and an orbital reboost. The crew additionally accomplished a number of know-how demonstrations, science experiments, and routine Station upkeep.
NASA additionally introduced the crew for its upcoming Crew-13 mission, which is predicted to launch to the Station in September on a SpaceX Crew Dragon. The four-person crew consists of NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins (commander) and Luke Delaney (pilot), with mission specialists Joshua Kutryk from the Canadian Area Company and Sergey Teteryatnikov from Roscosmos.
Automobile departures, arrivals, and reboosts
On April 11 at 07:41 AM EDT (11:41 UTC), Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Area Launch Advanced 40 (SLC-40) in Florida on the CRS NG-24 mission. Canadarm2 captured the automobile on April 13 at 17:20 UTC, and the automobile was berthed on the Unity nadir port at 20:00 UTC. Cygnus XL carried 11,000 kilos of science and analysis to the Station and is predicted to depart the Station for a damaging reentry in Oct. 2026.
Cygnus XL approaches the ISS for berthing. (Credit score: NASA)
The Russian Progress 93 cargo automobile fired its engines for simply over 5 minutes on April 16 to spice up the Worldwide Area Station’s (ISS) orbit.
The burn raised the Station’s orbital altitude — which slowly decays because of drag from hint quantities of Earth’s ambiance in low-Earth orbit — getting ready it for the arrival of the Progress 95 cargo automobile. After the burn, Progress 93 departed from the Station’s Zvezda aft port on April 20 at 22:08 UTC and reentered Earth’s ambiance hours later. The cargo automobile was launched atop a Soyuz-2.1a from Website 31/6 on the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Sep. 11, 2025, and spent 219 days docked on the ISS.
One other cargo automobile, Progress 95, launched from Website 31/6 on the Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 25 at 22:21 UTC aboard a Soyuz 2.1a rocket. The spacecraft docked with the ISS at Zvezda’s aft port on April 28 at 00:00 UTC and is predicted to stay docked for about eight months. The spacecraft carried 2,515 kg of cargo, provides, and contemporary meals to the orbiting outpost.
The newest cargo resupply mission to the Station, SpaceX’s CRS-34, launched on Might 15 from SLC-40 in Florida. The Cargo Dragon spacecraft, loaded with practically 3,000 kg of cargo for Expedition 74, efficiently docked autonomously with the Concord module’s ahead port on Might 17 at 10:37 UTC.
Science, know-how demonstrations, and upkeep
With every cargo resupply mission to the ISS, dozens of recent scientific experiments arrive for analysis within the Station’s microgravity surroundings. One standout payload that Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL spacecraft delivered on April 11 was the Fluorescent Deep Area Petri-Pod, developed by the College of Exeter and the College of Leicester.
The compact miniature laboratory homes dozens of microscopic C. elegans worms, that are used to review how dwelling organisms reply to the stresses of long-term spaceflight, using superior fluorescent imaging methods. The experiment shall be positioned outdoors the Station on an experimental platform and monitored utilizing photographic stills, time-lapse photos captured with white gentle, and laser-based fluorescence stimulation.
The Fluorescent Deep Area Petri-Pod experiment. (Credit score: Area Park Leicester)
On April 2, NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway and Chris Williams frolicked within the Columbus laboratory learning adjustments within the mind, together with stability and orientation, throughout spaceflight. Hathaway wore specialised goggles that use high-speed video to check an astronaut’s sense of movement and stability. After the examine, the astronauts switched roles, and Hathaway scanned Williams’s eyes utilizing medical imaging gear contained in the Concord module.
Hathaway and Williams additionally frolicked within the cupola module on April 6, training maneuvering Canadarm2 to seize Cygnus NG-24 on April 11. After the robotic arm captured the spacecraft, floor controllers remotely put in the automobile on the Unity nadir port.
Earlier within the day, each astronauts have been joined by NASA astronaut Jessica Meir for spacesuit upkeep. Hathaway and Meir cleaned and flushed the go well with’s water-cooling loops, which regulate astronauts’ temperature throughout extravehicular actions (or spacewalks). In the meantime, Williams swapped a pair of lithium-ion batteries that energy the spacesuits within the Quest airlock’s battery stowage compartment.
On April 15, Chris Williams started unpacking pc {hardware} that helps the European Area Company’s (ESA) European Enhanced Exploration Machine (E4D). Williams and Meir then changed parts on the brand new microgravity exercise machine to make sure correct movement, alignment, and system longevity. The exercise machine is being evaluated for its use on future deep-space missions to the Moon and Mars.
Progress 93 fires its engines to spice up the Station’s orbit. (Credit score: NASA)
Additionally on the fifteenth, Hathaway added a brand new quantum physics module to the Future laboratory module’s EXPRESS rack. This module enhances the Chilly Atom Lab (CAL), which makes use of quantum physics to enhance our understanding of normal relativity and help in darkish matter analysis.
The CAL cools clouds of atoms to roughly one-ten-billionth of a level above absolute zero, forming Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). Not like gases, liquids, solids, and plasmas, BECs exhibit quantum properties on a macroscopic scale, making them simpler for scientists to watch.
Williams gathered {hardware} and samples for the Veg-06 area botany examine on April 17. The experiment investigates how vegetation and microbes work together in microgravity, probably enabling the automation of plant development by way of nitrogen fixation. The examine additionally examines adjustments in lignin, the fabric that enables vegetation to face upright on Earth. The astronaut blended vitamins for an alfalfa plant with microbe samples contained in the Columbus laboratory’s Veggie facility. The examine goals to advance meals manufacturing practices for future deep-space missions.
Williams and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot labored within the Japanese Kibo laboratory module on April 22, processing genetic samples for the DNA Nano Therapeutics-3 experiment. The experiment is learning DNA-inspired meeting methods for manufacturing nano-therapies, together with chemotherapies, to kill most cancers cells and activate the immune system. After the samples are analyzed with a spectrophotometer aboard the Station, they are going to be returned to Earth for additional examine.
Williams and Adenot work within the ISS’s Kibo module. (Credit score: NASA)
In one other DNA experiment, Meir swapped scientific {hardware} within the BioLab contained in the Columbus laboratory module. The incubator helps analysis into the consequences of microgravity on small organisms. Meir additionally targeted on the Lux in Area investigation, which examines how DNA broken by area radiation repairs itself.
Adenot explored utilizing the Station’s potable water to provide medical-grade Intravenous Fluids (IV) and saline options on April 27 to deal with medical situations in area. The Intravenous Fluid Era-Mini medical experiment goals to scale back a crew’s reliance on cargo resupply missions for medical provides and assist keep away from the expiration of in-space medicines — a functionality that shall be essential for future long-duration area missions.
With extra cargo resupply missions anticipated in Might, the Worldwide Area Station continues to advance our understanding of human well being throughout long-duration spaceflight and to supply key scientific research that profit life on Earth.
(Lead picture: The ISS, with a Soyuz automobile docked to its Russian phase, orbits Earth with aurora australis within the background. Credit score: NASA)
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