Departing Crew Talks to Journalists, Keeps Up Human Research and Lab Maintenance
Crew departure preparations and cargo unloading topped the schedule for the Expedition 72 crew aboard the International Space Station on Tuesday. The orbital residents also kept up their human research activities ensuring crews stay healthy while living in space.
Three NASA astronauts and one Roscosmos cosmonaut joined each other on Tuesday and practiced the procedures they will use when they depart the orbital outpost in mid-March. Nick Hague will command the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft with Mission Specialists Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Aleksandr Gorbunov during the ride back to Earth. They used Dragon computer tablets and reviewed the steps they will use when Dragon backs away from the orbital outpost and reenters Earth’s atmosphere for a splashdown off the coast of Florida. Hague and Gorbunov have been at the station since Sept. 29, 2024. Williams and Wilmore arrived at the orbital outpost on June 6.
Williams and Wilmore, along with Hague, called down to Mission Control today and discussed their upcoming departure with journalists on the ground. Hague stated at the beginning of the pre-departure news conference, “Here in a few short days Crew-10 is going to arrive. And we are going to hand the baton to Crew-10 and we are going to return to Earth at the end of a successful long-duration mission aboard the space station.”
Their replacements, the SpaceX Crew-10 members, are targeted to launch on March 12. The next Dragon spacecraft will carry Commander Anne McClain and Pilot Nichole Ayers, both NASA astronauts, and Mission Specialists Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Kirill Peskov of Roscosmos. The new quartet will join Expedition 72 before becoming the Expedition 73 crew in mid-April.
Advanced space research continued apace as the orbital residents helped scientists on the ground understand how weightlessness affects the human body. Hague was back on exercise research working out on the advanced resistive exercise device, which mimics free weights on Earth, and pedaling on an exercise cycle as a sensor-packed vest and headband recorded his health data. Pettit set up a microscope and a science laptop computer in the Kibo laboratory module to learn how cells sense gravity and possibly treat space-caused muscle atrophy and osteoporosis.
Williams and Wilmore focused on housekeeping throughout Tuesday. Williams packed trash and discarded gear inside the Cygnus space freighter before setting up a camera to photograph the Moon illuminated by sunshine reflected from Earth. Wilmore swapped out a water resupply tank in the Destiny laboratory module then reorganized cargo stowed in the Columbus laboratory module.
Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner continued unloading some of the nearly three tons of food, fuel, and supplies that arrived inside the Progress 91 cargo craft on March 1. The duo also joined Gorbunov and participated in a test for a study to improve how international crews communicate with mission controllers from around the world.
Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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