December 23, 2024

Science Surges on International Space Station Amid Crew-6 Departure Delays

The International Space Station is visualized from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour during a fly-around of the orbiting lab that took location following its undocking from the Harmony modules space-facing port on November 8, 2021. Credit: NASA
When 4 flight engineers return to Earth aboard the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft, the Expedition 69 crew is expected to split up quickly. Meanwhile, all crew members on the International Space Station (ISS) spent Friday maintaining their orbital research and upkeep jobs.
Unfavorable weather off the coast of Florida have pressed back Saturdays planned undocking and splashdown of the four Crew-6 astronauts a minimum of 24 hours. Mission managers from SpaceX and NASA are now targeting the undocking of Endeavour with four crewmates inside for no earlier than 7:05 a.m. EDT on Sunday.
Endeavour Crews Return Journey
Endeavour, commanded by NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen and piloted by NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg, is targeted to splash down in the waters off Floridas coast at 12:07 a.m. on Monday. Flanking the NASA duo during the 19-hour trip back to Earth will be UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. The quartet will be completing a six-month area research objective that began with a launch from NASAs Kennedy Space Center on March 2.

Endeavour, commanded by NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen and piloted by NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg, is targeted to splash down in the waters off Floridas coast at 12:07 a.m. on Monday. The quartet will be finishing a six-month area research mission that started with a launch from NASAs Kennedy Space Center on March 2.

From left, are Expedition 69 Flight Engineers Woody Hoburg, Jasmin Moghbeli, and Frank Rubio, all from NASA, posturing for a picture aboard the International Space Station. The 3 astronauts were picked as part NASAs 22nd group of astronauts, nicknamed “The Turtles”, in June of 2017.

From left, are Expedition 69 Flight Engineers Woody Hoburg, Jasmin Moghbeli, and Frank Rubio, all from NASA, posturing for a portrait aboard the International Space Station. The 3 astronauts were picked as part NASAs 22nd group of astronauts, nicknamed “The Turtles”, in June of 2017. Credit: NASA
New Arrivals and Their Activities
New station flight engineers Jasmin Moghbeli of NASA, Andreas Mogensen of ESA (European Space Agency), Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), and Konstantin Borisov of Roscosmos have been acquainting themselves with station systems all week. They are turning their attention now to full-time science, cargo, and health activities having actually been living on the spaceport station because August 27.
Moghbeli transferred research samples to science freezers that will be returned to Earth inside the Endeavour spacecraft with the departing crewmates. Borisov unpacked cargo from the Roscosmos Progress 85 freight craft and checked methods future crews might pilot spacecraft and robotics on planetary objectives.
Other Crew Activities
The area stations other three crewmates are due to leave the orbital lab at the end of September completing just over one year orbiting Earth. In the meantime, the trio from NASA and Roscosmos has actually continued its research and laboratory maintenance tasks.