Station crew wraps up a busy year as Soyuz review continues

Research and maintenance activities aboard the International Space Station continue into the new year while engineers and managers discuss Soyuz capabilities and potential next steps in response to the Soyuz MS-22's external cooling loop leak.

The Expedition 68 crew remains in good condition, performing a variety of maintenance and research activities and looks forward to some time off on New Year's Day. NASA astronauts Frank Rubio, Josh Cassada, and Nicole Mann continued work to service the spacesuits used by Rubio and Cassada to install a new International Space Station Roll-out Solar Array.

On Dec. 29, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata monitored the deployment of eight Cubesats from JAXA's Kibo module. Cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitri Petelin and Anna Kikina worked on a variety of maintenance and research tasks.

With integrated crews on each other's spacecraft, NASA and Roscosmos work jointly on any decisions related to crew safety including crew transportation. NASA and Roscosmos are continuing to conduct a variety of engineering reviews and are consulting with other international partners about methods for safely bringing the Soyuz crew home for both normal and contingency scenarios. A final decision on the path forward is expected in January.

As a part of the analysis, NASA also reached out to SpaceX about its capability to return additional crew members aboard Dragon if needed in an emergency, although the primary focus is on understanding the post-leak capabilities of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft.

Station teams also are preparing for the undocking and departure of the SpaceX CRS-26 cargo spacecraft on Monday, Jan. 9. The cargo Dragon is scheduled to return valuable scientific research samples through a splashdown off the Florida coast. Undocking is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. EST, with splashdown planned for Wednesday, Jan. 11. Live coverage of the undocking and departure will begin at 4:45 p.m. on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website.

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Russian space chief praises US after ISS coolant leak
Moscow (AFP) Dec 20, 2022
The head of Russian space agency Roscosmos on Tuesday praised Russia-US cooperation at the International Space Station following a major coolant leak from a Soyuz crew capsule. "Say hello to the entire American team. They proved themselves to be very worthy in this situation and lent us a helping hand," Borisov said, speaking to the Russian crew on board the ISS. "But I hope we will manage on our own" in the future. "You set an example for the whole world on how to work together in the most chal ... read more