Awaiting Dragon’s Arrival: Expedition 70 Readies for Four Private Ax-3 Astronauts

The seven-member Expedition 70 crew will welcome the third private astronaut mission from Axiom Space to the International Space StationThe International Space Station (ISS) is a large spacecraft in orbit around the Earth that serves as a research laboratory and spaceport for international collaboration in space exploration. It was launched in 1998 and has been continuously occupied by rotating crews of astronauts and cosmonauts from around the world since 2000. The ISS is a joint project of five space agencies: NASA (USA), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada). It orbits the Earth at an altitude of approximately 400 kilometers (250 miles), and provides a unique platform for scientific research, technological development, and human space exploration.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>International Space Station on Saturday. The Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) mission lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday carrying four astronauts aboard the SpaceXCommonly known as SpaceX, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is a private American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company that was founded by Elon Musk in 2002. Headquartered in Hawthorne, California, the company designs, manufactures, and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. SpaceX's ultimate goal is to reduce space transportation costs and enable the colonization of Mars.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. The foursome will conduct a two-week research and education mission on the orbital outpost.

Station Flight Engineers Loral O’Hara and Jasmin Moghbeli, both from NASAEstablished in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government that succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). It is responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. Its vision is "To discover and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity." Its core values are "safety, integrity, teamwork, excellence, and inclusion." NASA conducts research, develops technology and launches missions to explore and study Earth, the solar system, and the universe beyond. It also works to advance the state of knowledge in a wide range of scientific fields, including Earth and space science, planetary science, astrophysics, and heliophysics, and it collaborates with private companies and international partners to achieve its goals.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>NASA, will be on duty monitoring Dragon when it begins its automated approach and rendezvous. Dragon will dock to the forward port on the station’s Harmony module at around 4:19 a.m. ESTEST is an abbreviation for Eastern Standard Time, the time zone for the eastern coast of the United States and Canada when observing standard time (autumn/winter). It is five hours behind Coordinated Universal Time. New York City, Washington, D.C., Boston, and the Kennedy Space Center are in the Eastern Time Zone (ET).” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>EST on Saturday. About an hour-and-a-half later, the hatches will open and Ax-3 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria will enter the space station followed by Pilot Walter Villadei and Mission Specialists Alper Gezeravci and Marcus Wandt.

The SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft is pictured docked to the space-facing port on the International Space Station’s Harmony module. Dragon Freedom carried four Axiom Mission-2 astronauts to the orbital lab on May 22, 2023, including Commander Peggy Whitson, Pilot John Shoffner, and Mission Specialists Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi. Credit: NASA

Coverage will air live beginning at 2:30 a.m. Saturday on the NASA+ streaming service, NASA TV, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms, including social media.

Lopez-Alegria, a dual citizen of the United States and Spain, is making his second visit to the station as a private astronaut from Axiom Space. This will be Lopez-Alegria’s sixth time to space. The three other Ax-3 crew members, Villadei from Italy, Gezeravci from Turkey, and Wandt from Sweden, are each making their first flight to space.

O’Hara and Moghbeli had light duty on the orbital outpost on Friday ahead of a busy day of dual crew operations on Saturday. The two NASA astronauts began Friday with housecleaning tasks and computer maintenance before taking the afternoon off. Astronauts Andreas Mogensen from ESA (European Space AgencyThe European Space Agency (ESA) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to the exploration and study of space. ESA was established in 1975 and has 22 member states, with its headquarters located in Paris, France. ESA is responsible for the development and coordination of Europe's space activities, including the design, construction, and launch of spacecraft and satellites for scientific research and Earth observation. Some of ESA's flagship missions have included the Rosetta mission to study a comet, the Gaia mission to create a 3D map of the Milky Way, and the ExoMars mission to search for evidence of past or present life on Mars.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>European Space Agency) and Satoshi Furukawa from JAXAFormed in 2003, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was born through the merger of three institutions, namely the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan (NAL) and the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA). JAXA performs various activities related to aerospace, from basic research in the aerospace field to development and utilization and is responsible for research, technology development, and launch of satellites into orbit, and is involved in advanced missions such as asteroid exploration and possible human exploration of the Moon.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) helped out with the lab tidying duties before splitting up to service science hardware and tablet computers. The ESA and JAXA duo also had a light duty day taking half the day off at the end of the week.

A cloud-covered Indian Ocean, illuminated about an hour before sunset, is pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 260 miles above just off the northeast coast of the island nation of Madagascar. Credit: NASA

The station’s three cosmonauts from RoscosmosRoscosmos, also known as the Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities, is the Russian government agency responsible for space activities, including the development and operation of spacecraft, launch vehicles, and space stations. It was formed in 2015 through the merger of the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and the United Rocket and Space Corporation. Roscosmos is responsible for Russia's space program and works closely with other international space agencies on joint projects, such as the International Space Station. The agency is also involved in a wide range of space-related activities, including scientific research, earth observation, telecommunications, and manned spaceflight.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]” tabindex=”0″ role=”link”>Roscosmos stayed busy throughout Friday focusing on their schedule of science and maintenance. Five-time station flight engineer Oleg Kononenko started his day installing software on a computer in the Nauka science module and then inspected surfaces inside the Zvezda service module. Flight Engineer Nikolai Chub jogged on a treadmill for a fitness assessment before studying how magnetic and electrical fields affect fluid physics. Flight Engineer Konstantin Borisov spent his day on a variety of life support and orbital plumbing work in the space station’s Roscosmos segment.