Two different crews prepare for life aboard the International Space Station
In short: While one group of explorers readies for liftoff from Kazakhstan, another is already deep in the technical rigors of orbital life. From testing emergency jetpacks to simulating Earth-bound weights, the work required to sustain human presence in microgravity is as much about maintenance as it is about discovery.
The logistics of space habitation involve two distinct phases of crew rotation. Flight Engineers Dmitry Kondratyev, Paolo Nespoli, and Cady Coleman are currently in Kazakhstan, completing their preparations for a Soyuz mission departing the Baikonur Cosmodrome. This mission marks the arrival of the Expedition 26 crew, a transition that occurs alongside the ongoing activities of the Expedition 75 crew already orbiting Earth.
For those already on the station, the workload is a meticulous blend of hardware maintenance and physiological monitoring. At the beginning of August, station commander Jessica Meir and flight engineer Anil Menon focused on preparing for a spacewalk scheduled for 8:3<0xA0>am EDT on a Thursday. Their tasks included configuring supplies for a future rollout solar array platform and reviewing procedures alongside flight engineers Jack Hathaway and Sophie Adenot. A critical component of their safety training involved the Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue, or SAFER—emergency jetpacks designed to maneuver an astronaut back to the station if they become untethered.
Beyond structural maintenance, the crew serves as a living laboratory. To combat the effects of weightlessness, engineers use the European Enhanced Exploration Exercise Device (E4D) and the COLBERT treadmill, with some testing specialized suits like the EasyMotion-2 that use electrical impulses to trigger muscle contractions. Meanwhile, Roscosmos engineers Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina have been monitoring the physiological toll of orbit, using specialized cuffs to track blood pressure changes and conducting computerized hearing tests in the Quest airlock. This intense period of preparation sets the stage for the incoming SpaceX Crew-13, led by Commander Jessica Watkins, who is scheduled to launch no earlier than September 12 aboard a Dragon spacecraft.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Expedition 26 Crew's Final Launch Preps on This Week @NASA
- Also: Spacewalk Preps, Health Research on Station as NASA Introduces SpaceX Crew-13 - NASA
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