Trio Nears Departure During Biology Research, Spacesuit, and Cargo Work

The last rays of an orbital sunset illuminate Earth's atmosphere as the space station 267 miles above off the coast of Australia.

Three crewmates are preparing to end their stay aboard the International Space Station and return to Earth next week. Meanwhile, the rest of the Expedition 71 crew spent Monday exploring how space affects their bodies, working on a spacesuit, and transferring cargo.

NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson is nearing her mission's completion along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub. Dyson packed personal items that will be going back to Earth with her on the Soyuz MS-25 crew ship and on future SpaceX Dragon missions. Dyson started her mission when she launched to the orbital outpost on March 23 aboard the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft. Kononenko and Chub practiced piloting the Soyuz MS-25 on a simulator for a descent to Earth. The Roscosmos duo also tested the lower body negative pressure suit that may alleviate the symptoms of living in space and help crews adjust quicker to the return Earth's gravity. Kononenko and Chub have been orbiting Earth since Sept. 15, 2023, when they lifted off toward the space station on the Soyuz MS-24 crew ship.

At the end of her crew shift, Dyson set up medical imaging hardware and viewed NASA Flight Engineer Mike Barratt's eyes with ground doctors observing his optic nerve, retina, cornea to understand and counteract potential space-caused vision issues. Barratt also attached sensors to his chest before ground doctors remotely guided the Vascular Echo device and scanned his abdomen in the Columbus laboratory module. He also worked out on the advanced resistive exercise device while wearing electrodes that recorded his heart rate.

Cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner attached sensors to their foreheads and fingers on Monday to monitor how blood flows throughout their bodies in weightlessness. The duo also continued unpacking cargo delivered aboard the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft that transported them and NASA astronaut Don Pettit to the space station on Sept. 11. Pettit continued familiarizing himself with station operations and orbital medical procedures and equipment during Monday.

NASA Flight Engineer Matthew Dominick tested the performance of lithium-ion battery chargers in the Quest airlock before installing a battery on a spacesuit. NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps and Butch Wilmore took turns throughout Monday unpacking cargo from inside the Cygnus space freighter that was captured and installed to the Unity module on Aug. 6, 2024.

Expedition 71 Flight Engineers Suni Williams of NASA and Alexander Grebenkin of Roscosmos focused most of their day on orbital maintenance. Williams worked mostly on cleaning and inspecting hatch seals while also joining Wilmore for a short SpaceX Dragon spacecraft systems review. Grebenkin checked out ventilation systems in the Nauka science module before assisting Ovchinin and Vagner during their blood flow study.

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.

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