From docking to handover: What the next 5 days aboard ISS will look like for UAE's Sultan AlNeyadi

After the ingress of Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi and his colleagues onboard the International Space Station on Friday, the handover activity will take place over five days for Crew 6.

Al Neyadi along with astronauts Stephen Bowen, Warren Hoburg, and Andrey Fedyaev, mark the sixth crew rotation mission of SpaceX’s human space transportation system flight under NASA’s Commercial Crew Programme.

Welcoming Crew 6 on Friday were seven members of Expedition 68: the four members of Crew-5 and three who arrived on Russia’s Soyuz MS-22.

The current commander on the ISS, Sergei Prokopyev greeted the astronauts. He said, “So glad to have our friends here. It's amazing to see your smiles and looking forward to working together. Steve, Sultan, Andrey and Woody…my congratulations for joining us. I would also like to congratulate those who are in space for the first time. They are real astronauts now and I wish you wellness here and a happy flight.”

Upon the completion of the safety briefing and post orientation for the newly-arrived crew members, 11 crew members get into an extended sleep period throughout the day, catching their breath after a hectic week.

Handover activities between Crew 6 and Crew 5 will span over the next five days in order to make sure that Crew 6 can begin its increment in earnest.

For a short time, all the crew members will live and work in space together until Crew-5 members return to Earth a few days later.

Getting Crew-5 back to Earth

Kathyrn Lueders, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate in Washington addressing Crew 6 (after their welcome) said: “One of the first critical events is to bring the Crew 5 crewmates back to Earth. We are looking forward to all the great science and hopefully a couple of EVAs, and you’ll have a few more crew vehicles coming on during this period of time too. We are proud of you.”

Meanwhile, the outgoing crew led by Commander Nicole Mann, consists of Josh Cassada, Koichi Wataka and Anna Kikina are scheduled to depart the ISS aboard their Dragon Endurance ship not before March 9 for a parachute-assisted splashdown off the Florida Coast.

They will be completing over 150 days in orbit, who have been aboard the ISS since their docking on October 6, 2022.

During their mission, the crew (5) contributed to hundreds of experiments and technology demonstrations, including cardiovascular health, bioprinting, and fluid behavior in microgravity to prepare for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and to benefit life on Earth.

Meanwhile, aboard the ISS, Crew-6, apart from witnessing Crew 5’s undocking, will also see the arrival of cargo spacecraft, including the SpaceX Dragon and Roscosmos Progress. They will also have the opportunity to welcome the NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts and the Axiom Mission-2 crew during their expedition.

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