Dragon Packed With Science and Now Targets Friday Undocking
Packing research samples and station hardware for return to Earth were the top tasks aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday. The seven-member Expedition 72 crew also serviced a variety of science hardware and electronics gear throughout the orbital lab.
NASA astronauts are finishing up the loading of completed science experiments and lab hardware inside the Dragon spacecraft for retrieval and analysis on Earth. NASA and SpaceX now are targeting Friday, Dec. 6, for the return of the resupply spacecraft. Mission managers waved off the planned return on Thursday, Dec. 5, due to forecasted high winds at the splashdown site off the coast of Florida. NASA's live coverage of Dragon's undocking and departure begins at 10:50 a.m. EST on NASA+ as the spacecraft autonomously undocks from the Harmony module's forward port around 11:05 a.m. on Friday. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
NASA astronaut and station commander Suni Williams kicked off her day installing the sample-packed Space Automated Lab Incubator inside Dragon. NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Butch Wilmore continued her work loading and securing portable science freezers filled with research samples and powered lockers containing finalized experiments inside the Earthbound spacecraft.
Williams and Hague also had time to join each other in the Quest airlock replacing components and resizing a spacesuit ahead of a series spacewalks planned for early next year. Wilmore spent all day Wednesday loading cargo from the station into Dragon.
NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit started his day in the Kibo laboratory module configuring a small satellite orbital deployer that will soon be placed into the vacuum of space to release a series of CubeSats. Pettit, a four-time space station visitor, wrapped up his shift replacing experiment samples inside the Combustion Integrated Rack readying the research device for a spacecraft fire safety investigation.
Roscosmos Flight Engineer Aleksandr Gorbunov also worked on cargo duties but on the other side of the orbital outpost. Gorbunov unpacked some of the nearly three tons of cargo launched aboard the Progress 90 cargo craft on Nov. 21 and docking to the Poisk module on Nov. 23. The first-time space flyer completed his day inspecting and photographing air conditioning hardware in the Zvezda service module.
Cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner partnered together throughout the day Wednesday servicing a host of communications and electronics hardware in the orbital outpost's Roscosmos segment. Ovchinin then moved on and checked ventilation equipment inside the Zarya module. Vagner conducted a photo-inspection of windows inside Zvezda then collected his hair samples for biological analysis.
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