Author Topic: Expedition 73 thread (Read 278827 times)

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #1220 on:** 11/26/2025 05:02 am »

i-SEEP 3B is currently on EFU-12, despite the preflight planning documents mentioning EFU-5. At present, EFU-5 hosts the original i-SEEP that arrived back in 2016. (It's usually not visible since it's small and on the forward edge of the JEM EF away from the cameras on the truss, but you can see it in the attached screenshot from early November.) EFU-12 tends to only be used for temporary stowage (looking through my notes, I don't believe it has ever hosted an operational payload), so I would not be surprised if the two i-SEEPs get swapped at some point.

jcm is correct that STP-H8 and STP-H9 switched places via EFU-12 as the open slot (in late August 2025, sometime from the 27th to the 29th) - H9 went from 7 to 12, then H8 went from 2 to 7, then H9 went from 12 to 2.

theonlyspace · « **Reply #1221 on:** 11/27/2025 11:40 am »

Soyuz has docked 3 new crew members on board

StraumliBlight · « **Reply #1222 on:** 11/27/2025 11:48 am »

Three New Crew Members Aboard Soyuz Dock to Station [Nov 27]

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At 7:34 a.m. EST, the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft docked with the International Space Station’s Rassvet module. NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev launched at 4:27 a.m. (2:27 p.m. Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Hatch opening is scheduled for 10:10 a.m. NASA’s live hatch-opening coverage will begin at 9:50 a.m. on NASA+, Amazon Prime, YouTube, and more. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

StraumliBlight · « **Reply #1223 on:** 11/27/2025 05:51 pm »

There's currently 8 vehicles attached 'attached' to the ISS, is that a record?

Guiness Records: Most spacecraft docked to a Space Station

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Total Number: 7
When: 25 March 2024

The most spacecraft docked or berthed to the ISS simultaneously is seven, achieved between 25 March (arrival of Soyuz MS-25) and 5 April (departure of Soyuz MS-24) in 2024. During this time, the docking and berthing ports on the ISS were home to the Russian Soyuz MS-24 and MS-25 crew vehicles, the Progress MS-25 and MS-26 cargo vehicles (also Russian), US cargo vehicles Cygnus 21 Patricia "Patty" Hilliard Robertson and Cargo Dragon 30, as well as Crew Dragon Endeavour.

EDIT: New record.

https://twitter.com/Space_Station/status/1995565826490204607

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #1224 on:** 11/27/2025 05:52 pm »

The camera on the ISS live feed on YouTube moved for the first time in a bit, which gives us a view of where Cygnus NG-23 is currently being held out of the way for the Soyuz arrival.

Targeteer · « **Reply #1225 on:** 11/28/2025 06:38 pm »

Yet another example showing my belief that are two separate space stations that just happened to be attached. The Cosmonauts transferred an "em-vay" to the US segment as they were instructed by Moscow according to Spanky. He asked Houston where to store it. Houston just replied they were not expecting the transfer at all and currently have no idea where to store it. It will be next week before they have an answer. With the storage thrash currently going on in the US segment with 3 cargo vehicles being unpacked and packed, Houston cannot appreciate a Russian monkey wrench being thrown into the mix...

Targeteer · « **Reply #1226 on:** 12/01/2025 12:28 pm »

Cygnus has been bolted into place and CAPCOM notes that all 8 visiting vehicle ports are in use for the first time.

Targeteer · « **Reply #1227 on:** 12/01/2025 01:02 pm »

Crew given a go to start Cygnus re-entry operations

Space Pete · « **Reply #1228 on:** 12/01/2025 09:02 pm »

Pretty cool to see all eight Visiting Vehicle ports in use simultaneously!

(Image credit: orbital-velocity.com)

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #1229 on:** 12/02/2025 04:01 am »

Some screenshots from this morning's Cygnus installation.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #1230 on:** 12/02/2025 04:08 am »

Also, within the last couple of hours, the Nanoracks CubeSat Deployer was sent out of the JEM Airlock and was grappled by the JEM RMS. First deployment is set for 3:10 am US/Eastern (about 3 hours from now).

Targeteer · « **Reply #1231 on:** 12/02/2025 08:03 pm »

Interesting note from yesterday following Cygnus re-entry. The ground noticed the crew had the hatch partially closed and wondered why. Zena answered "to limit the bad smell from Cygnus". CAPCOM responded the ground had a plan in place if the crew needed once the smell got intolerable. They then asked for a current assessment and the response was "medium stink". Sucks when you can't take the trash outside...

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #1232 on:** 12/02/2025 11:01 pm »

Screenshots from the NRCSD29 cubesat deployment this morning.

- Picture #1: JEM RMS in the extended position for the deployment.
- Picture #2: DUPLEX (6U) deployment at 3:10 am US/Eastern.
- Pictures #3 and #4: SilverSat (1U), RHOK-SAT (1U), ContentCube (1U), and Alpha (1U) deployment at 3:20 am US/Eastern.
- Pictures #5 and #6: EagleSat-2 (3U) and Foras Promineo (3U) deployment at 4:50 am US/Eastern.

More info on the CubeSats, which arrived at the station on Cygnus NG-23 on 18 September 2025:

- DUPLEX (Dual Propulsion Experiment): developed by CU Aerospace, testing two polymer fiber-based propulsion systems (one called a Fiber-fed Pulsed Plasma Thruster and the other called Monofilament Vaporization Propulsion)
- SilverSat: STEM enrichment project for middle and high schoolers (in the Silver Spring, Maryland area, hence the name) that will take pictures and send them to a Twitter account
- RHOK-SAT: joint project between Rhodes College and the University of Oklahoma to test perovskite photovoltaic cells
- ContentCube: built by inspireFly, a student team at Virginia Tech, to test an OLED screen in space. (It will extend a "selfie stick" with a mirror on the end, so that a camera in the satellite can take imagery of the screen.)
- Alpha: built by a team at Cornell, will deploy a small (0.575 meters on a side) light sail with ChipSats as its flight computers
- EagleSat-2: built by a team at Embry-Riddle, will test how various types of computer memory chips degrade in high-radiation environments
- Foras Promineo: built by the robotics club at Perkins High School (Sandusky, Ohio) as a STEM enrichment project, contains a game based on Earth-bound robotics competitions in which a robotic arm has to move balls to a target

catdlr · « **Reply #1233 on:** 12/03/2025 02:41 am »

Space Station First: All Docking Ports Fully Occupied, 8 Spacecraft on Orbit

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #1234 on:** 12/03/2025 01:32 pm »

Some screenshots from last night of JEM RMS bringing the Nanoracks CubeSat Deployer back inside the station.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #1235 on:** 12/04/2025 12:56 pm »

Zena Cardman is currently talking to ground controllers about the emergency return seat they're configuring for Chris Williams in Crew Dragon.

Targeteer · « **Reply #1236 on:** 12/04/2025 01:30 pm »

The crew is finishing up the Space X suit/seat fit checks for Chris Williams of the contingency seat in Dragon as mentioned above.

rdale · « **Reply #1237 on:** 12/06/2025 02:26 pm »

Sounds like some solar array alarms triggered this morning...

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #1238 on:** 12/06/2025 03:34 pm »

Quote from: rdale on 12/06/2025 02:26 pm

Sounds like some solar array alarms triggered this morning...

Ground: "So, big picture, everything is fine. What happened was, a slew of messages from channels 4B and 2B went briefly into alarm and then back out of alarm. We expect it's a data funny, and we've seen it before. So, those channels are healthy, there is no anomaly, and we apologize for the sounds."

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #1239 on:** 12/13/2025 11:09 pm »

https://twitter.com/NASASpaceOps/status/1999991356203389127

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.@NASA astronaut @JonnyKimUSA will recap his recent mission aboard the @Space_Station during a news conference at 3:30 p.m. EST Friday, Dec. 19, from @NASA_Johnson in Houston.

Watch the news conference live on NASA’s YouTube channel. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of online platforms, including social media.

More: https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-astronaut-jonny-kim-to-discuss-eight-month-space-station-mission/