Cargo Mission and Crew-13 Updates; Station Research, Maintenance Continue

NASA's SpaceX Crew-12 members, including Andrey Fedyaev from Roscosmos, Jack Hathaway and Jessica Meir from NASA, and Sophie Adenot of ESA, held a conference with reporters on Earth on Wednesday, September 16. Supplies were en route to the International Space Station aboard a Progress 96 cargo spacecraft, which was scheduled to arrive on Saturday and dock with the Poisk module for an automated docking at 9:46 a.m. EDT. This shipment included nearly three tons of food, fuel, and other cargo for the Expedition 75 crew.

The mission team planned to launch Crew-13 as early as early October to complete necessary preparations, readiness reviews, and coordination of space station operations. Earlier in processing, they had fixed a leak in the Dragon's propulsion system by replacing an oxidizer valve.

On the station, seven residents focused on microgravity research, cargo operations, and lab maintenance throughout the day. Station commander Jessica Meir documented her sleep quality, collected a saliva sample, and downloaded biomedical data from her smartwatch to a computer tablet. Researchers will study Meir's health metrics in the RelaxPro investigation to improve stress reduction and sleep for astronauts in space.

Next, Meir transferred cargo between the Dragon and Northrop Grumman's Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft, which has been docked to Unity's Earth-facing port since April 14. NASA flight engineer Anil Menon practiced soldering components on a circuit board in Harmony under lead-free soldering conditions, with samples to return to Earth for comparison with ground-soldered samples. This research could reduce reliance on costly resupply missions.

Jack Hathaway installed new water filter cartridges in the oxygen generation system inside Destiny to keep water pure and clean as it passed through the spacecraft's systems. ESA flight engineer Sophie Adenot used the new European Enhanced Exploration Exercise Device (E4D) in Columbus to track her performance during exercise, providing valuable data for future long-duration missions.

The three cosmonauts – Pyotr Dubrov, Anna Kikina, and Andrey Fedyaev – maintained the station by testing power systems, cleaning vents in Zvezda, servicing oxygen generators, and inspecting laptop power supplies. Fedyaev and his crewmates also participated in a ground-based news conference, where Meir shared her reflections on a recent spacewalk, noting, "I felt like I was just there levitating above the Earth. I think that was the biggest eureka moment for me."