At 5:10 p.m. EST, the hatch closed between the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft and the International Space Station in preparation for undocking and return to Earth.
Hatches Closed, Crew Inside Soyuz Ready to Depart
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At 5:10 p.m. EST, the hatch closed between the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft and the International Space Station in preparation for undocking and return to Earth.
NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky will close the hatch between the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft and the International Space Station at 5:10 p.m. EST.
Expedition 73 will swap commanders this weekend before three crew members return to Earth on Monday. Expedition 74 officially begins once the home bound trio undocks from the Rassvet module inside the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft the following day.
Three Expedition 73 crewmates will end their stay aboard the International Space Station when they undock Dec. 8 and return to Earth a few hours later. In the meantime, blood research took precedence on Thursday ensuring astronauts stay healthy while living long-term in weightlessness.
Space biology and physics topped the research schedule aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday to improve human health and the space industry. The Expedition 73 residents also helped three new crewmates adapt to orbital life as another trio turns its attention to returning to Earth next week.
The International Space Station’s three newest crewmembers are getting used to living and working in microgravity. The rest of the Expedition 73 crew assisted the new trio while continuing an array of space biology research and orbital maintenance on Tuesday.
For the first time in International Space Station history, all eight docking ports aboard the orbital outpost are occupied following the reinstallation of Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft to the Earth-facing port of the station’s Unity module. The eight spacecraft attached to the complex are: two SpaceX Dragons, Cygnus XL, JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) HTV-X1, two Roscosmos Soyuz crew spacecraft, and two Progress cargo ships.
Expedition 73 wrapped up the work week At 10:16 a.m. EST, the hatch opened between the International Space Station and the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft.
NASA’s live hatch opening coverage is underway on NASA+, Amazon Prime, YouTube, and more. Hatch opening is scheduled to begin at 10:10 a.m. EST.
At 7:34 a.m. EST, the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft docked with the International Space Station’s Rassvet module. NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev launched at 4:27 a.m. (2:27 p.m. Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
