by NASA astronaut Josh Cassada had a bad Monday morning.
Working on the International Space Station (ISS) has its glamorous moments, including mandatory bathroom stops to collect samples for human health studies. But just before this “miserable process” began, Cassada said on Wednesday (March 1), his colleague Nicole Mann told him to look out the dome window next door.
Glorious green aurora blanketed the earth below. Cassada quickly grabbed a camera on Monday (February 27) to snap a picture that has since piled up 3.3 million views on Twitter (opens in new tab).
“We just soaked it all up,” Cassada recalled during a live press conference with SpaceX Crew-5 astronauts from the ISS. “I just felt a little guilty that we weren’t able to … describe what we received. It was really remarkable.”
Early Thursday morning (March 2), another group of astronauts should be on their way to join Cassada and his ISS crewmates: SpaceX’s Crew 6 mission is scheduled to depart from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 12:34 a.m. EST take off in Florida (0534 GMT). You can watch it live here on Space.com.
Related: Live updates on SpaceX’s Crew 6 mission for NASA
More: Meet the SpaceX Crew 6 astronauts
(opens in new tab)
Swapping spacecraft has been on Cassada’s mind lately, as he had to take a wrench off his Crew Dragon, a pod called Endurance, to accommodate an extra crew member in January.
Stamina required to accommodate a potential fifth passenger in an emergency – NASA astronaut Frank Rubio. Its voyage home, the Russian spacecraft Soyuz MS-22, was paralyzed on December 14, 2022 by a leak that spilled all of its coolant into space.
If an emergency evacuation of the ISS were required, Russia noted, two of the MS-22’s three crew members could return home safely in the Soyuz; As uncomfortable as they would be, heat would not be a safety issue. But Rubio had to find a way to squeeze into Endurance under the four seats already occupied by Cassada and his fellow Crew 5s.
“Frank and I worked together to install this,” Cassada told Space.com. “It was really cool to work through that.”
Related: How many astronauts can fly on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule?
(opens in new tab)
Cassada helped Rubio retrieve a seat cushion from the Soyuz, along with some straps from a docked SpaceX Dragon cargo ship; both were needed to keep Rubio securely fixed to the ground. During the installation, they spoke to Japanese Akihiko Hoshide, a Crew 2 astronaut, who conducted the entire procedure as a ground practice lap.
“We were able to work very closely with him. There were some differences when attaching the wrenches,” continued Cassada. “We had a lot of clearance issues that weren’t obvious and uncomfortable. We worked it through and got Frank a great little seat.”
On the ground, Rubio’s eyes would be mostly limited to feet and spacesuits, but Cassada said the pole “looks pretty comfortable” nonetheless. The real benefit during landing would be a bit of quiet, Cassada added. “He doesn’t need to hear us talk. He doesn’t have a headset…so he won’t hear us slurring up there in that seat.”
Fortunately, a fresh and unmanned Soyuz safely arrived on Saturday (February 26), and the seat fairing for Rubio is now in place alongside the fairings of his Russian counterparts in the new spacecraft. (The ISS mission of Rubio and his Soyuz MS-22 crewmates will be delayed until September to complete a crew rotation that will require another Soyuz with three people on board to be sent aloft from Russia.)
As the end of Crew-5 neared, Cassada and his crewmates contemplated lighter moments while representing their countries in space.
(opens in new tab)
Japan’s Koichi Wakata told Space.com he is delighted to welcome two new astronauts from his country, who are likely to take part in lunar missions for NASA-led Artemis program: “They are joining us to explore the human.” expanding frontier in space, so really expect them to work hard,” he joked.
Russian Anna Kikina shared her recipe for keeping long hair clean and fluffy in space: Take an hour of your allotted free time, lather it up, and then rinse your hair with water three times. “Rinse, rinse, rinse after shampoo.”
Most importantly, the four Crew 5 astronauts spoke about their willingness to come home, be with friends and family, and feel some fresh air again. “I’m really excited to feel the wind on my face, smell the weed in the air and taste all the delicious food on Earth,” said Nicole Mann, commander of NASA’s Crew-5.
Crew-5 launched to the ISS on October 5, 2022. The mission is expected to return to Earth approximately five days after Crew-6 arrives at the station.
Elizabeth Howell is co-author of “why am i taller (opens in new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; starring Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a book on space medicine. Follow her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
