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Dragon Crews Relax Ahead of Upcoming Crew-10 Departure [1]

['Mark A. Garcia']

Date: 2025-08-06

Dragon Crews Relax Ahead of Upcoming Crew-10 Departure

From left, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 members Kirill Peskov of Roscosmos, NASA astronauts Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain, and JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi share a light moment during a group portrait inside the Kibo laboratory module. NASA

Eight of 11 Expedition 73 crew members on the International Space Station enjoyed a light schedule on Wednesday following four busy days of Dragon departure and arrival activities for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 and Crew-11 missions. The other three orbital residents studied how the human body adapts to weightlessness, photographed crew operations, and maintained lab systems throughout the day.

Crew-11, with NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, is in its first week aboard the orbital outpost. The commercial crew joined Expedition 73 on Saturday, Aug.2, beginning their space research mission. With the exception of Platonov, they relaxed on Wednesday after an intense period of unpacking science experiments and cargo from their SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, familiarizing themselves with station hardware and procedures, and getting used to living and working in low Earth orbit.

First time orbital resident Platonov had a full day Wednesday with human research and keeping up life support maintenance. He attached acoustic sensors to his neck measuring the sound as he exhaled rapidly for a Roscosmos respiratory study. He also worked on oxygen and water systems throughout the station’s Roscosmos segment. Platonov kicked off his space studies at the beginning of the week wearing virtual reality goggles and responding to stimuli to observe how his balance and visual perception are adjusting to microgravity.

Four Expedition 73 crewmates, who have been orbiting Earth since March, are now handing over their mission responsibilities to the new arrivals and preparing to depart the orbital outpost no earlier than 12:05 p.m. EDT on Thursday. NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, along with JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov are preparing to return to Earth inside the Dragon they launched to the station in as Crew-10 members. The foursome cleared its schedule Wednesday taking time out for exercise to condition their bodies for return to Earth’s gravity, light maintenance duties, and quick Dragon computer configurations.

NASA Flight Engineer Jonny Kim, who is staying space until December, cleared his schedule on Wednesday having supported the Crew-10 and Crew-11 members since Saturday during their crew swap activities.

Also continuing their mission until the end of the year are new station Commander Sergey Ryzhikov and Flight Engineer Alexey Zubritsky, both from Roscosmos. They took turns on Wednesday wearing electrodes and the same virtual reality goggles Platonov wore earlier this week to test their sensory and balance adaption to weightlessness. Ryzhikov later partnered with Platonov and serviced the Elektron oxygen generator aboard the Zvezda service module. Zubritskiy photographed and videotaped the crew during the first half of his shift to document life aboard orbiting lab for mission controllers on Earth.

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

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[1] Url: https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2025/08/06/dragon-crews-relax-ahead-of-upcoming-crew-10-departure/

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