The Expedition 68 mission officially began on the International Space Station (ISS), with seven astronauts living and working together, the crew swap is not over, and the countdown to the upcoming launch of the four SpaceX Crew-5 members to the orbiting laboratory has begun.
Samantha Cristoforetti, commander of the European Space Agency, will lead the operation of the space station for about two weeks until she and other crew members, Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins return to Earth aboard the SpaceX Dragon Liberty crew spacecraft. The foursome have been on the space station since April 27. They spent the day on Friday checking their pressure suits, packing personal items and reviewing departure and landing procedures.
Expedition 67 flight engineers (from left) Jessica Watkins, Bob Hines and Frank Rubio, three NASA astronauts pose for a photo inside the International Space Station’s “Window to the World“.
The crew of the space station awaits a replacement from SpaceX Crew-5, which is currently scheduled to launch no earlier than noon ET on Wednesday, Oct. 5. SpaceX Crew-5 commander Nicole Mann and pilot Josh Cassada, along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission specialists Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos’ Anna Kikina, will arrive at the space station a day after launch aboard the Endeavour Dragon spacecraft. They’ll spend a few days adjusting to life in orbit before Christopher Letty and her three Liberty crew end their mission and return to Earth.
Meanwhile, NASA’s first-ever spaceflighter, Frank Rubio, is in his second week as a flight engineer on the orbiting laboratory. On September 21, he arrived in the Soyuz MS-22 crew vessel with fellow flight engineers Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petrin (both cosmonauts from Roscosmos). space station.
Rubio conducted research on smart glass optics this weekend, exploring how artificial intelligence could be used to make materials such as optical fibers fit into the vacuum of space. He swapped and observed fiberglass samples pulled inside a microgravity science glovebox. Petrin and Prokopyev collaborated with Petrin on a study exploring how microgravity affects the heart and blood vessels.
