Weekly ISS update: Crew-12 departs as Dubrov takes command

NASA's Spacex Crew-12 and Crew-13 pose together for a portrait. In the front row are the members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew‐12 mission with, from left, Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway and Jessica Meir, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot.

Hathaway and Meir hold a photograph of SpaceX personnel standing in front of a Falcon 9 rocket. In the back are the Crew‐13 members with Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov, NASA astronauts Luke Delaney and Jessica Watkins, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Joshua Kutryk.

Credit: NASA/Anil Menon Four crew members of SpaceX’s Crew-12 mission splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off Los Angeles on Oct. 8, days after cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov took command of the International Space Station , leaving Canada’s Joshua Kutryk among seven residents aboard the orbiting lab.

Command changes hands Roscosmos cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov accepted command of the space station from NASA’s Jessica Meir in a change-of-command ceremony Oct. 4, NASA said. Dubrov, fellow cosmonaut Anna Kikina and NASA astronaut Anil Menon, who have been aboard since mid-July, are scheduled to stay until spring 2027.

Crew-12 splashes down Meir then commanded the SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying her home, undocking from the station’s Harmony module at 8:05 a.m. EDT on Oct. 7 and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the Los Angeles coast at 11:34 a.m.

EDT the next day, NASA confirmed . Joining Meir on the trip home were NASA pilot Jack Hathaway and mission specialists Sophie Adenot of the European Space Agency and Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos. Their mission lasted 237 days and included four spacewalks.

It was the first spaceflight for Hathaway and Adenot. For Meir, it pushed her career total to 440 days in space, placing her among NASA’s 10 most experienced astronauts, the agency said. The departure trimmed the station’s population back to seven.

Kutryk, NASA’s Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, and Roscosmos’s Sergey Teteryatnikov arrived Oct. 1 aboard the Dragon capsule Grace, completing the fastest docking run yet by a U.S. spacecraft ; SpaceQ covered the arrival in last week’s update . They now share the station with Dubrov, Kikina and Menon.

Canadian connection In Ottawa, Industry Minister Mélanie Joly discussed a possible new astronaut-recruitment campaign and a new Canadian space strategy in a conversation with SpaceQ while she was at the Crew-13 launch in Florida. On the station, Kutryk spent part of the week preparing for Crew-12’s departure, studying the tools and procedures used to monitor a Dragon spacecraft’s approach and rendezvous, NASA said in an Oct.

5 mission update . On Oct. 6, he had his veins scanned by Adenot with a device called Ultrasound 3.

Canada’s robotic arm was also at work. Ground controllers used Canadarm2 to release Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft from the station at 12:44 p.m. EDT on Oct.

9, NASA said . The spacecraft had been berthed at the Unity module since April 13. Science and technology experiments With Crew-12 preparing to leave, the station crew ran a full slate of health research in the final days before departure.

NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins collected and analyzed her own blood samples for a study on blood-clot risk in weightlessness, while Luke Delaney tracked his sleep and wore a smartwatch logging data for a study called RelaxPro, NASA said in its Oct. 6 mission update . Sergey Teteryatnikov wore an acoustic sensor around his neck to record his breathing rate, and Anil Menon wore a sensor-equipped vest and headband that tracked his heart rate and breathing during workouts on the station’s exercise bike.

Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina set up hardware to test Teledroid, a body-worn controller that simulates operating robots remotely. Eight Expedition 75 crew members gather inside the International Space Station’s Destiny laboratory module for a daily planning conference at the end of their shift.

Clockwise from left are NASA astronaut Jessica Meir, Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Teteryatnikov and Anna Kikina, CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Joshua Kutryk, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins, Luke Delaney, and Jack Hathaway.

Credit: NASA/Anil Menon Looking ahead Kutryk will take questions from Canadian media on Oct. 13 in the Canadian Space Agency’s first live space-to-Earth press conference. The event begins at 11 a.m.

ET at the John H. Chapman Space Centre in Longueuil, Que., hosted by Mathieu Caron, director of the astronauts’ office. The 20-minute video link with the station starts at 11:25 a.m.

ET and will be livestreamed on the CSA’s YouTube channel. The same day, SpaceX is scheduled to launch its 35th commercial resupply mission to the station at 6:33 a.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The Dragon is to dock to Harmony’s space-facing port at about 11 a.m. EDT on Oct. 15 with more than 6,300 pounds of cargo, including the final ISS Roll-Out Solar Arrays, and remain until mid-November, NASA said .

Cygnus XL, released from the station Oct. 9, is expected to deorbit Oct. 12.

Marc Boucher is an entrepreneur, writer, editor, podcaster and publisher. He is the founder of SpaceQ Media. Marc has 30+ years working in various roles in media, space sector not-for-profits, and internet content development.

Marc started his first Internet creator content business in 1992 and hasn't looked back. When not working Marc loves to explore Canada, the world and document nature through his photography. More by Marc Boucher Post navigation