Four crew members aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are still waiting for their return date as mission managers keep a close watch on weather conditions off the coast of Florida. Meanwhile, the rest of the Expedition 72 team remained focused on space biology research and lab maintenance.
Crew-8’s Seven-Month Space Mission Nears End
NASA and SpaceX teams are currently monitoring unfavorable weather near Florida that is affecting plans for the splashdown of the SpaceX Crew-8 mission. This crew includes NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin.
The four astronauts, preparing for their journey home, spent Monday largely relaxing while continuing pre-departure activities. Mission teams are awaiting a weather briefing scheduled for Wednesday, October 16, at 11 a.m. EDT, with Dragon Endeavour’s undocking tentatively set for no earlier than 3:05 a.m. on Friday, October 18. The Crew-8 team has been aboard the ISS for seven months, having started their space research mission on March 3.
Remaining Crew to Stay Until 2025
The other seven orbital residents will stay aboard the orbital outpost until early 2025. NASA astronaut Don Pettit is scheduled to return to Earth first in February with Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner aboard the Soyuz MS-26 crew ship. Next, station Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore are targeted to return home aboard SpaceX Dragon Freedom with SpaceX Crew-9 Commander Nick Hague, all three NASA astronauts, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.
Light Duty Day for NASA Astronauts
Williams had a light duty day on Monday disassembling life support gear before working out for a cardio fitness study. Wilmore installed a new oxygen recharge tank and began transferring oxygen into tanks located in the Quest airlock. Hague collected his blood and saliva samples for incubation and cold stowage to learn how microgravity affects cellular immunity. Pettit also had a light-duty day servicing biology hardware including the Cell Biology Experiment Facility, a research incubator with an artificial gravity generator, and the BioLab, which supports observations of microbes, cells, tissue cultures, and more.
Roscosmos Crew Focuses on Maintenance and Research
In the Roscosmos segment of the orbital outpost, Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin started his day on electronics maintenance before disconnecting and stowing student-controlled Earth observation hardware. Flight Engineers Ivan Vagner and Alexander Grebenkin spent their day cleaning smoke detectors, filling an oxygen generator with condensate water, and servicing ventilation systems. Flight Engineer Aleksander Gorbunov started his day with a computer test measuring his adaptation to weightlessness then spent the rest of his shift photographing crew activities for documentation.
Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser Prepares for First ISS Mission
The first flight of Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser to the International Space Station is now scheduled for no earlier than May 2025 to allow for the completion of spacecraft testing. Dream Chaser, which will launch atop a ULA (United Launch Alliance) Vulcan rocket and later glide to a runway landing at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will carry cargo to the orbiting laboratory and stay on board for approximately 45 days on its first mission.