Crew Packs Dragon for Thursday Departure as Human Research Continues

NASA and SpaceX have scheduled the SpaceX Dragon to undock from the Harmony module at 12:05 p.m. EST Thursday, and the Expedition 74 crew packed research samples and station hardware for return while continuing human research aboard the ISS.

The Expedition 74 crew is finalizing the packing of a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft ahead of its planned departure later this week, while science operations aboard the International Space Station continue. Crew members moved research samples and station hardware into Dragon for return to Earth. Flight engineers and cosmonauts also ran human research and space-physics experiments to study how microgravity affects the body and materials. Live coverage of the undocking is scheduled to begin before the planned departure time. Known details: - Dragon is scheduled to undock from the Harmony module's forward port at 12:05 p.m. EST on Thursday, with live streaming starting at 11:45 a.m. on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and NASA's YouTube channel. - The spacecraft will carry research samples and hardware back to Earth, including materials exposed to space, flat liquid crystal films, and stem cells prepared to become cardiac and brain cells; a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of California is expected about half a day later and will not be broadcast. - NASA Flight Engineers Chris Williams and Jessica Meir transferred portable science freezers with samples, and Flight Engineer Sophie Adenot helped load and secure station hardware and collected saliva samples for immunological analysis. - Flight Engineer Jack Hathaway worked in the Kibo module on the small satellite deployer and reviewed station systems and procedures with colleagues. - Roscosmos crew members Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev participated in cardiac monitoring and virtual-reality balance tests, while Andrey Fedyaev recorded breathing data, ran a semiconductor-growth experiment, and set up overnight Earth observation imaging. Summary: Dragon will return completed experiments and exposed materials for analysis on Earth, which the agency reports could inform future technology and health research. The next scheduled step is Dragon's planned undocking from Harmony at 12:05 p.m. EST on Thursday; subsequent splashdown operations are expected about half a day later.