NASA astronaut Megan McArthur described the situation on November 5th as “under the best circumstances” but manageable. The four astronauts on the Crew-2 mission are set to spend 20 hours within the SpaceX spacecraft, from the closing of the hatch to their touchdown on Earth on the morning of November 8th.
“Spaceflights come with various minor challenges. This is just another issue we encounter and need to address on the mission. Hence, we are not overly concerned,” shared the NASA astronaut during an online press conference from the ISS.
Astronauts aboard the ISS also had to deal with a toilet leak incident within the SpaceX spacecraft. The issue was first identified in the toilet of another SpaceX spacecraft for the Inspiration 4 civilian mission back in September. In that mission, four civilian astronauts orbited Earth for three days.
SpaceX fixed the toilet in the spacecraft awaiting launch but found that the toilet of the orbiting spacecraft was not usable.
Engineers confirmed that the SpaceX spacecraft was not leaking urine, and this incident did not affect the structure and the safe return of the astronauts to Earth. According to NASA, the astronauts would have to rely on “absorbent garments” for the return on November 7th.
Joining astronaut McArthur in returning to Earth are NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet from the European Space Agency. SpaceX launched these astronauts to the ISS on April 23rd in the Crew-2 mission.
The ISS Crew-2 capsule’s operational time in space is a maximum of 210 days, and November 5th marks the 196th day the capsule has spent in orbit. Therefore, NASA is eager to bring the astronauts back as soon as possible.
Notable Mission Developments on the ISS
According to AP, after a series of meetings, U.S. space mission managers decided to return astronaut McArthur and others in the group back to Earth before sending replacements up.
The launch of the SpaceX spacecraft to bring astronauts to the ISS instead of this group was delayed by more than a week due to adverse weather conditions and a medical issue related to an astronaut that was not disclosed. The Crew-3 astronaut group consists of Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron from NASA, along with Matthias Maurer from the European Space Agency. SpaceX currently plans for the spacecraft to launch as early as the evening of November 10th, 2021.
Astronaut Thomas Pesquet noted that the past six months on the ISS have been intense. The astronauts conducted a series of spacewalks to upgrade the station’s power grid and also dealt with incidents caused by the Russian spacecraft’s thrusters, which caused the ISS to spin and welcomed a Russian film crew for the first-ever space movie shoot.
As a result, there will only be one American astronaut, two Russian astronauts, and the return of the four astronauts via SpaceX’s spacecraft to the ISS this weekend.
According to Space.com, with the return of Crew-2 astronauts and the delayed arrival of Crew-3 astronauts, the handover of responsibilities will be conducted online by NASA. According to astronaut Kimbrough, not having a direct handover isn’t a significant issue, but ideally, the Crew-2 astronauts would share some insights for the incoming crew’s life on the ISS. However, the remaining NASA astronaut on the ISS will take over to support the new incoming crew.
Joy from Harvesting Peppers in Space
One of the major projects that the Crew-2 astronauts carried out during their time in Earth’s orbit was an experiment to grow Hatch peppers in microgravity. Last week, the crew harvested the first batch of peppers on the space station and enjoyed tacos with fresh peppers.
“It’s a really nice experiment ongoing with us. We can come and check on the plants, and every now and then come smell the plants and see the peppers grow,” said astronaut McArthur.
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SpaceX Launches 4 Astronauts to the ISS as Early as November 10th. Photo: NASA
According to the NASA astronaut, growing peppers on the ISS isn’t just an interesting scientific project, but it also boosts the spirits of the astronauts.
NASA astronaut McArthur revealed that the peppers grown on the ISS include red and green peppers, and enjoying space-grown peppers brings “a fantastic spicy taste” to the astronauts.