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  • Crew Works on Biomedicine, Spacesuits Day Before Swapping Commanders

    Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov hands over command of the International Space Station to NASA astronaut Jessica Meir.

    The Expedition 74 crew is wrapping up its final weekend together with biomedical checks, spacesuit cleaning, and cargo packing inside the Soyuz MS-28 crew spacecraft. The orbital residents will swap commanders on Saturday the day before three crewmates depart the International Space Station for a ride back to Earth.

  • Science and Spacesuit Work Before Crew Changes Commanders

    NASA astronaut and Expedition 74 flight engineer Anil Menon services a spacesuit and its components inside the International Space Station's Quest airlock.

    The International Space Station will change commanders on Saturday before three Expedition 74 crew members return to Earth on Sunday. As the homebound trio prepares for departure, the rest of the orbital crewmates is keeping up microgravity research and checking out spacewalking gear.

  • Expedition 74 Turns Attention to Departing Crewmates

    The aurora australis streams across the southern Indian Ocean with an airglow outlining Earth's atmosphere in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 274 miles above.

    Three Expedition 74 crew members are packing up cargo and handing over their responsibilities with less than one week to go before returning to Earth. The International Space Station’s three newest crewmates are already in the second week of their mission getting used to life on orbit and researching how microgravity affects the human body.

  • Week Wraps with New Crew Adjustments and Human Research Studies

    The Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft, carrying NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina, approaches the International Space Station for an automated docking while both spacecraft were orbiting 264 miles above the Mediterranean Sea in between Spain and Italy.

    Crew swap activities are underway aboard the International Space Station as three new crewmates continue getting up to speed with living and working in microgravity and another Expedition 74 trio prepares to return to Earth. Meanwhile, scientific operations are back in full swing aboard the orbital outpost with lab residents studying how weightlessness affects the human body.

  • What’s a Chase Plane and Why Does the X-59 Have One?

    The X-59 and it's chase plane in flight with a photo of Nils Larson and the text The chase plane acts as an extra set of eyes.

    You may have noticed that NASA’s X-59 has a shadow – another aircraft trailing it from a safe distance. That sidekick is known as a “chase plane,” and it has an important role in NASA’s Quesst mission. Chase planes are commonly used during the flight testing of major experimental aircraft, providing an extra layer of observation and support for test pilots. […]

  • NASA Taps SpaceX’s Starlink to Deliver Artemis III Imagery from Orion

    NASA has selected SpaceX to deliver laser communications capabilities for next year’s Artemis III mission, enabling the agency to provide a front row seat for viewers from the Orion spacecraft as four astronauts test rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and test versions of commercial human landing systems needed to return astronauts to the Moon in 2028.  To supplement Orion’s existing communications system, NASA will install two of SpaceX’s Starlink mini laser terminals – the same laser […]