Expedition 74 Expands to Seven as Science Speeds Up
The seven-member Expedition 74 crew is in its first full week together aboard the International Space Station following Saturday’s arrival of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission. The orbital septet is resuming its full complement of advanced space science and lab maintenance as the Crew-12 quartet familiarizes itself with station operations.
Crew-12 members Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway of NASA, Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency), and Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos began their mission with a launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon on Friday, Feb. 13, and docked to the orbital outpost a day-and-a-half later. After a standard safety review, the commercial crew foursome spent the weekend and worked into Monday unpacking science and cargo from Dragon and getting used to life in weightlessness. The new crew members are also beginning their advanced research duties to benefit humans living on and off the Earth.
Meir, on her second spaceflight, swapped a camera inside the Destiny laboratory module‘s Microgravity Science Glovebox to explore ways to control a spacecraft’s fuel tank pressure due to cryogenic fuel propellants evaporating. First-time space flyer Hathaway readied gear that will measure how a crew member’s body temperature adapts to microgravity then reviewed operations with the Kibo laboratory module’s Life Science Glovebox with assistance from NASA Flight Engineer Chris Williams.
Adenot, France’s second female astronaut to fly in space, swapped out computer hardware supporting research into manufacturing medicine in space then exercised for research as advanced video gear monitored her musculoskeletal system during her microgravity workout. Fedyaev, who last rode to space in March of 2023 aboard a Dragon to join Expedition 69, began exploring how his sense of balance, orientation, and cognition, as well as his breathing, are affected by living in weightlessness.
Williams, who has been aboard the station since November with Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, began the week helping Crew-12 get used to station hardware, systems, and procedures. On Tuesday, he continued helping the new crew unpack Dragon then investigated using ultraviolet light as a method to disinfect spacecraft inhibiting microbial growth to protect crew health and space equipment.
Station Commander Kud-Sverchkov and Flight Engineer Mikaev uninstalled hardware and wrapped up a session of automated Earth photography taken in a variety of wavelengths as the crew slept. Kud-Sverchkov then worked on orbital plumbing and life support maintenance tasks inside the Nauka science module. Mikaev located and inventoried a variety of Roscosmos station hardware then explored using artificial intelligence-assisted tools to boost crew efficiency aboard the orbital outpost.
Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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