Week Wraps with Space Biology, Spacewalk Preps, and Space Station Reboost

Science hardware maintenance filled the day for the Expedition 74 crew after two cargo spacecraft departed the International Space Station in less than a week. Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL was released by the Candarm2 robotic arm into Earth orbit at 7:06 a.m. EDT on Thursday, March 12, and will reenter the atmosphere for a fiery, but safe demise above the South Pacific Ocean on Saturday.

JAXA’s HTV-X1 left the station on Friday, March 6, when the Canadarm2 released it; it will orbit Earth for several more weeks of remotely controlled science experiments before reentering above the South Pacific. Inside the Kibo laboratory module, NASA flight engineers Chris Williams and Jack Hathaway spent the workweek servicing research gear to keep microgravity science running.

expedition 74, iss, cygnus xl, canadarm2, htv-x1, kibo module, microgravity science, south pacific, chris williams, jack hathaway