Exploration 69 Flight Engineers (from left) Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos and Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, both from NASA, are imagined in the SpaceX pressure suits they will wear when they return to Earth aboard the businesss Dragon Endeavour spacecraft in September. Credit: NASA
The eleven orbital locals aboard the International Space Station (ISS) spent Thursday getting ready for a crew split as the four latest members continue to settle into their daily routines in weightlessness and four other Expedition 69 team members get ready for their ride home to Earth.
Crew Handover and Responsibilities
2 teams are in the process of swapping locations as NASA astronauts Woody Hoburg and Stephen Bowen, UAE (United Arab Emirates) Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos Flight Engineer Andrey Fedyaev invested the majority of their day handing over responsibilities, including training new team members on station procedures and making use of station exercise equipment.
Sunday saw the arrival of NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov to the station as the SpaceX Dragon Endurance Spacecraft docked to the Harmony module. The worldwide quartet is quickly adapting to orbital tasks and spent some of Thursday on the firsts of many science and maintenance activities theyll perform in microgravity throughout their six-month stay.
After breakfast, Moghbeli completed a round of eye tests with NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, Commander Sergey Prokopyev, and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin of Roscosmos. Later in the night, the first-time orbital resident continued to unpack Dragon, which will stay docked to the station for 6 months up until Crew-7 returns to Earth. Mogensen deployed dosimeters in the Columbus Laboratory Module that will find levels of radiation doses inside the station, while Furukawa brought out some maintenance on the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device or ARED.
Routine Medical Checks and Maintenance Tasks
After breakfast, Moghbeli finished a round of eye examinations with NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, Commander Sergey Prokopyev, and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin of Roscosmos. Later in the night, the first-time orbital resident continued to unpack Dragon, which will remain docked to the station for 6 months until Crew-7 returns to Earth. Meanwhile, Mogensen released dosimeters in the Columbus Laboratory Module that will identify levels of radiation dosages inside the station, while Furukawa brought out some maintenance on the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device or ARED.
The four Crew-6 members– Hoburg, Bowen, Alneyadi, and Fedyaev– are nearing the end of their six-month research mission and spent the afternoon prepping and packing SpaceXs Dragon Endeavour spacecraft for departure no earlier than September 2. This will bring the spaceport stations population down to 7 before more crew swaps occur in September.
After lunch break, Alneyadi scheduled some time for maintenance activities, examining the station and setting ups new Potable Water Dispenser. Hoburg gathered biological samples for the continuous Standard Measures investigation, while Bowen finished freight tasks in the Cygnus spacecraft which has been docked to the station given that August 4.
Rubio, Prokopyev, and Petelin will quickly reach a year in space after getting here at the station on September 21, 2022, and are gearing up for their trek home in late September. The three veteran station locals continued to assist with team handover activities on Thursday and finished some station upkeep tasks of their own.