Station Crew Cleans Up, Relaxes After Busy Month of Spacewalks

Expedition 75 commander Jessica Meir and fellow NASA astronaut Sophie Adenot wrapped up a month filled with spacewalk activities. After conducting four spacewalks, the crew took a break on Wednesday, dedicating time to exercise, personal relaxation, and participating in conference calls with mission control. Spacewalk duties were completed on September 1st, lasting six hours and 49 minutes, during which they installed a navigation aid, swabbed the exterior for microorganisms, and prepared a cosmic particle detector for future upgrades.

Upon returning to the station, Mission Control crew members Anil Menon and Jack Hathaway remained occupied with various tasks. Menon focused on refilling spacesuit tanks, photographing gloves, and managing cargo operations with the Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft since April 13. Hathaway, meanwhile, swapped orbital plumbing components and removed gear from inside a research incubator.

Throughout August, three spacewalks were conducted, with the first on August 6th involving Meir and Menon installing a modification kit on the station's starboard truss structure. The subsequent two spacewalks saw Menon and Adenot address issues with space-to-ground antennas and install spare equipment on Z1 truss segment. Meanwhile, the station's three cosmonauts from Roscosmos were occupied with a variety of duties, including research, cargo operations, and inspections.

The SpaceX Crew-13 mission is slated to launch to the International Space Station no earlier than late September. For updates on station activities, readers can follow the space station blog, @space_station on X, and the official Instagram and Facebook accounts of the ISS. NASA will share the new launch date for the mission once confirmed.