9 Apr 2025
Ten residents are living aboard the International Space Station today following the arrival of a NASA astronaut and two Roscosmos cosmonauts on Tuesday. The new Expedition 72 crewmates are beginning an eight-month research mission in low Earth orbit and getting used to life in microgravity.
New station flight engineers Jonny Kim of NASA and Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, both from Roscosmos, are in their second day aboard the orbital outpost. They arrived aboard the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft docking to the Prichal module at 4:57 a.m. EDT on Tuesday after a three-hour, ten-minute trip that began with a lift off from Kazakhstan.
The new trio will spend the next several days getting up to speed with space station systems, orbital safety procedures, and living and working in weightlessness. On Wednesday, they joined the other seven orbiting crew members and reviewed roles and responsibilities in the unlikely event of an emergency such as a fire or pressure and chemical leaks. Kim, on his first spaceflight, also got to work checking life support gear and servicing spacesuit batteries. Ryzhikov, a veteran cosmonaut on his third station mission, and first-time space flyer Zubritsky partnered together wearing sensors measuring how blood flows from the head to the limbs and back. Scientists will use the data to understand how living long-term in microgravity affects the cardiovascular system and protect crews living in space.
The other space station residents kept up ongoing advanced space research and lab maintenance. Flight Engineers Don Pettit, Anne McClain, and Nichole Ayers, all three from NASA, and Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) took turns on Wednesday for scanning each other’s neck, shoulder, and leg veins using the Ultrasound 2 device. McClain also trained to use virtual reality gear while Onishi tested the operations of a free-flying, spherical robot camera. Ayers wore electrodes for another experiment monitoring how blood flows from the brain to the heart. Pettit loaded items for stowage inside a decommissioned life support rack.
Station Commander Alexey Ovchinin and Flight Engineers Ivan Vagner and Kirill Peskov of Roscosmos trained to use the lower body negative pressure suit that may prevent space-caused head and pressure. The specialized suit may also help crews quickly readjust to Earth’s gravity after living in space for months or years at a time. Ovchinin also participated in the circulatory system study with Ryzhikov and Zubritsky. Vagner explored how spaceflight affects fungus cell cultures for a Roscosmos biotechnology experiment. Kirill focused on life support maintenance collecting drinking water samples for analysis.
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NASA astronaut Jonny Kim enters the International Space Station shortly after docking to the Prichal module aboard the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft. Kim is greeted by Expedition 72 crew members welcoming him aboard the orbital outpost.