After the SpaceX Crew-9 docking, Expedition 72 members undertook tasks from exercise routines to scientific research and started preparations for the return of Crew-8 after over six months in space.
Following Sunday’s arrival of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission, the seven astronauts and four cosmonauts representing the Expedition 72 crew slept in on Monday working half a day during the afternoon.
The International Space Station’s two newest crew members, Nick Hague of NASA and Aleksandr Gorbunov of Roscosmos, launched to the orbital outpost aboard the SpaceX Dragon at 1:17 p.m. EDT on Saturday. The duo docked to the Harmony module’s forward port at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday beginning a five-month space research mission.
Day-to-Day Activities in Space
Hague, on his second spaceflight, began his day on Monday afternoon joining NASA Flight Engineer Jeanette Epps as she demonstrated how to operate the advanced resistive exercise device to maintain muscle and bone mass in weightlessness. Afterward, he joined NASA Flight Engineer Matthew Dominick and transferred standard emergency gear inside the newly arrived Dragon spacecraft.
Gorbunov kicked off his first full day on the orbital lab getting familiar with life on the space station and learning its systems and procedures. Next, he joined fellow cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin who began handing over his mission responsibilities to Gorbunov.
Ongoing Station Maintenance and Research
Flight Engineers Mike Barratt and Butch Wilmore with Commander Suni Williams, all three from NASA, helped unpack cargo and fresh scientific samples from Dragon. The trio removed and stowed a variety of crew supplies and station hardware then transferred portable science freezers containing the research samples and installed them inside station science freezers for preservation and later analysis.
Having been aboard the space station since September 11, NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit spent his shift on orbital plumbing duties, analyzing station water for microbes, and configuring specialized watches that monitor a crew member’s sleep/wake cycle. His Soyuz MS-26 crewmates, Flight Engineers Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, spent the day servicing electronics systems and Earth observation hardware.
Preparation for Crew Departure
The next crew to depart the orbital outpost, SpaceX Crew-8, has been stepping up its cargo packing duties and mission handover responsibilities the last several days. NASA and SpaceX are evaluating departure opportunities before Dominick leads Barratt, Epps and Grebenkin back to Earth inside Dragon ending a six-and-a-half-month mission orbiting Earth.