Archivos de la categoría ISS News

Astronauts Rest After Starliner Lands; Soyuz Crew Nears Launch

Six of the nine orbital residents living and working aboard the International Space Station relaxed on Monday following last week’s departure of Boeing’s uncrewed Starliner spacecraft. The trio on duty today readied for the next crew to launch to the orbital outpost and tested a negative pressure suit.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams congratulated flight teams and said goodbye to the Starliner spacecraft (listen to the audio on X) that launched the duo to the station on June 5. The uncrewed Starliner undocked from the Harmony module’s forward port at 6:04 p.m. EDT on Friday, Sept. 6, and parachuted to a landing in New Mexico nearly six hours later. Wilmore and Williams will remain in low-Earth orbit until February when they are scheduled to return to Earth aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with the Crew-9 mission.

The two veteran station residents relaxed today enjoying a three-day weekend along with fellow NASA astronauts Tracy C. Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, and Jeanette Epps. However, Wilmore, Williams, and Epps spent a few moments during Monday afternoon setting up hardware for human research activities planned for all day Tuesday. The trio prepared a specialized thigh cuff being studied for its ability to reverse the space-caused headward fluid shifts in astronauts potentially preventing vision issues and helping crews adjust to different gravity environments.

Expedition 71 Commander Oleg Kononenko readied the Rassvet module for the docking of the Soyuz MS-26 crew ship planned for 3:33 p.m. EDT on Wednesday. Kononenko organized tools and cargo making space inside Rassvet and set up crew sleep stations for the new crewmates. The Soyuz rocket will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:23 p.m. on Wednesday carrying NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Wagner to the space station for a six-and-a-half month mission.

Kononenko also joined fellow cosmonauts Nikolai Chub and Alexander Grebenkin and tested the lower body negative pressure suit for its ability to counter the effects of weightlessness on the human body and help crews adjust quicker to the return to Earth’s gravity. Kononenko and Chub are due to return to Earth with Dyson inside the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft in late September. Grebenkin is targeting his return to Earth in early October with SpaceX Crew-8 crewmates Dominick, Barratt, and Epps.

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Mark Garcia

Starliner Lands in New Mexico

At 12 a.m. EDT, Boeing’s uncrewed Starliner spacecraft landed at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.

NASA will provide coverage of a post-landing news conference at 1:30 a.m. on NASA+, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.

The following will participate in the news conference:

• Joel Montalbano, deputy associate administrator, Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington
• Steve Stich, manager, Commercial Crew Program, NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida
• Dana Weigel, manager, International Space Station, NASA Johnson

Learn more about the mission by following the commercial crew blog, @commercial_crew on X, and @NASACommercialCrew on Facebook.

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Stephanie Plucinsky

NASA’s Coverage Underway, Starliner Prepares for Deorbit Burn

NASA’s coverage is underway on NASA+, the NASA app, and YouTube, and the agency’s website as Boeing’s uncrewed Starliner spacecraft prepares for deorbit burn, entry, and landing.

Starliner autonomously undocked from the forward-facing port of the International Space Station’s Harmony module at 6:04 p.m. EDT, and mission managers gave a “go” for the spacecraft to proceed for a deorbit burn.

Starliner’s deorbit burn is expected at 11:17 p.m. EDT and involves the spacecraft firing its larger orbital maneuvering and attitude control thrusters, providing the power necessary to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere.

Learn how to stream NASA programming through a variety of platforms including social media.

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Stephanie Plucinsky

Uncrewed Starliner Undocks from Station for Return to Earth

At 6:04 p.m. EDT, Boeing’s uncrewed Starliner spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station. Starliner is headed for a deorbit burn at 11:17 p.m. and a targeted landing at 12 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.

NASA’s coverage will begin at 10:50 p.m. for deorbit burn, entry, and landing on NASA+, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.

Learn more about the mission by following the commercial crew blog, @commercial_crew on X, and @NASACommercialCrew on Facebook.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

Get weekly updates from NASA Johnson Space Center at: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/

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Mark Garcia

Starliner “Go” for Departure, Research and Upkeep Top Friday’s Schedule

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is “go” to undock from the International Space Station at 6:04 p.m. EDT today, Sept. 6. On orbit, the Expedition 71 crew wrapped the week with health and climate research and penciled in some time for orbital cleaning.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams closed the hatch on Starliner for the final time at 1:29 p.m. Thursday. The duo will be on deck to monitor the spacecraft’s departure later this evening as it undocks from the forward-facing port of the Harmony module at 6:04 p.m. EDT and lands about six hours later in New Mexico.

Wilmore and Williams will remain aboard the orbital outpost until February when they are scheduled to return to Earth aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with Crew-9. Starliner’s departure coverage begins at 5:45 p.m. on NASA+, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.

Ahead of departure operations, Wilmore and Williams spent the day unloading cargo from Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft, which arrived to the orbital outpost in early August. Later on, the duo received an ultrasound exam of their necks, clavicles, and shoulders, guided by NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps.

Epps spent the day on a multitude of upkeep tasks. She configured masks for station residents to use in case of an emergency, then moved into the Columbus module to inspect and clean air duct screens, the cabin depressurization assembly, and air quality monitor vents.

NASA astronauts Mike Barratt, Matthew Dominick, and Tracy C. Dyson spent their day on an array of payload operations. Barratt and Dominick removed and stowed robotics hardware for the Nanoracks-GITAI S2 investigation. Meanwhile, Dyson removed samples from the Soft Matter Dynamics experiment container then replaced the gas trap plug on the thermal control system in the Tranquility module.

Dominick also spent some time in the cupola, pointing his camera toward the Moon to photograph illuminations from Earth reflecting off the lunar surface for the Earthshine investigation. Measuring changes in Earth’s light reflected from the Moon may help scientists update their climate models and inform the design of future atmosphere-observing satellites.

Current station Commander Oleg Kononenko and Flight Engineer Nikolai Chub worked separately to assess microbial growth in microgravity. Kononenko collected surface samples in the Zarya module for analysis while Chub photographed station surfaces being treated with an experimental disinfectant. Their crewmate, Flight Engineer Alexander Grebenkin, completed some orbital cleaning throughout the Roscosmos segment. Later on, Kononenko used the Ultrasound 2 hardware to scan Grebnekin’s eyes and afterward, assisted Chub with a cardiovascular scan.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

Get weekly updates from NASA Johnson Space Center at: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/

Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here: www.nasa.gov/subscribe

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Abby Graf