Ongoing Crew Return Preps and Biology, Earth Science Top Crews Day
Dragon configurations topped the schedule once again on Thursday as four Expedition 72 crewmates target a return to Earth next week. Meanwhile, critical space research and lab maintenance filled the rest of the day for the International Space Station's orbital residents.
The SpaceX Crew-8 mission that began with a launch to the orbital outpost on March 3 is coming to an end and its four crew members will share their farewell message at 9:55 a.m. EDT on Sunday live on NASA+. NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin will return to Earth aboard SpaceX Dragon Endeavour next week on a date soon to be announced by NASA and SpaceX officials. The Commercial Crew quartet is completing a six-and-a-month space residency that saw dozens of science investigations promoting advanced therapies, technology demonstrations, and more benefitting humans on and off the Earth.
Dominick spent Thursday inside Dragon Endeavour checking seat configurations and synchronizing computer tablets with SpaceX networks ahead of Earth return. Barratt joined NASA Flight Engineer Nick Hague inside Dragon Freedom, docked adjacent to Endeavour on the Harmony module, and set up the spacecraft with standard emergency hardware.
Hague's SpaceX Crew-9 crewmate, Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, kicked off his shift setting up hardware to monitor Earth's nighttime atmosphere in near-ultraviolet wavelengths. Later, the first-time space flyer studied space station systems and procedures then serviced an oxygen generator
Epps and Grebenkin have also been preparing for the ride back to Earth. Epps packed personal items and cargo inside Dragon. Grebenkin completed testing the Roscosmos-designed lower body negative pressure suit that may speed up a crew member's adjustment to Earth's gravity.
Expedition 72 Commander Suni Williams, who will be staying in space until February 2025, began her day with a cognition test measuring how microgravity affects characteristics such as memory, attention, reasoning, and more to ensure safe and successful space missions. Afterward, she assembled stem cell research hardware in the Life Science Glovebox then installed new wireless hardware aboard Harmony.
NASA Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore, who will return to Earth with Williams, documented his meals for the day in a nutrition tracker. Afterward, he assisted with cargo packing inside the homebound Dragon Endeavour.
NASA astronaut Don Pettit and his Soyuz MS-26 crewmates, cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner had their day full of science maintenance and health research. Pettit, on his fourth spaceflight, swapped gas bottles inside research hardware that explores how fires spread in weightlessness to improve fire safety in space. Ovchinin and Vagner paired up for blood pressure measurements and hearing exams helping inform doctors how living in microgravity affects humans.
On Friday at 11 a.m., NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson will discuss on NASA+ her recently completed mission aboard the orbiting lab. She launched to the station on March 23 and returned to Earth aboard the Soyuz MS-25 crew ship with cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub on Sept. 23.
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