NASA and SpaceX Prepare for Launch: Dragon Cargo Craft to Bring New Investigations and SuppliesBusy Week Ahead for ISS: Three New Crew Members and a Shipment of Supplies Arrive. Credit: scitechdaily.com

This week is proving to be a hectic one for the International Space Station (ISS) as the Expedition 70 team will welcome three new crew members and receive a shipment of new scientific supplies. Meanwhile, the NASA residents on board had a relatively light day as they prepared for upcoming mission events, while the cosmonauts took care of routine station maintenance and training.

NASA and SpaceX have set a target of 4:55 p.m. EDT on Thursday, March 21 for the launch of SpaceX's 30th commercial resupply mission from the Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida. The Dragon cargo craft will bring new scientific investigations, food, and supplies to the crew when it docks autonomously to the zenith port of the Harmony module at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 23.

Prior to the launch of Dragon, three crew members - NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson, cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, and Flight Engineer Marina Vasilevskaya from Belarus - will take off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9:21 a.m. on Thursday, March 21. They will dock to the station just a few hours later at 12:39 p.m. and join the Expedition 70 team in microgravity. Dyson will spend the next six months living and working in low Earth orbit, while Novitsky and Vasilevskaya will stay for approximately two weeks before departing with NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara.

O'Hara and her three NASA crewmates, Jeanette Epps, Michael Barratt, and Matthew Dominick, had a rest day on Monday as they prepared for a busy week ahead. However, they did schedule in their mandatory two hours of exercise using the station's treadmill, Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED), and bicycle, CEVIS. Epps and O'Hara also set up equipment for the Standard Measures investigation to be used later in the week.

The three cosmonauts - Commander Oleg Kononenko and Flight Engineers Nikolai Chub and Alexander Grebenkin - had a busy day on Monday with various tasks. Grebenkin and Chub took care of routine plumbing in the orbital complex, while Kononenko inspected equipment that will be brought back to Earth on a Soyuz spacecraft in a few weeks. Grebenkin also collected equipment and surface samples around the Roscosmos segment for ongoing microbiology research, while Chub practiced his piloting skills during a Pilot-T session.

David Lamy
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David Lamy owns the Bachelor in Atmospheric Science Degree. He is associated with Industry News USA from last 2 years. With proficiency in his work, David obtained a strong position at Industry News USA and heads the Science section. “Weather forecasting” is the field of his interest. He bags total 5 years of experience in this field. Apart from his routine work, David loves to explore his cooking skills. He has participated in various cookery shows.