Today, Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) Commander Michael López-Alegría, Pilot Walter Villadei, Mission Specialist Alper Gezeravcı, and Mission Specialist Marcus Wandt completed their thirteenth full day (flight day 16) on the International Space Station (ISS).
The Ax-3 crew is preparing for their departure from the ISS and focused on readying the Dragon for return to Earth, as well as tending to housekeeping activities to clean up after their two-week stay. As for packing, the crew is collecting payloads, hardware, and personal items. The crew also completed a departure conference with Axiom Space, NASA, and SpaceX on upcoming dynamic operations for undocking.
The Ax-3 astronauts are scheduled to undock no earlier than Feb. 3 at 6:05 a.m. ET from the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module to begin the journey home in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and splashdown off the coast of Florida. Mission managers from Axiom Space, SpaceX, and NASA are monitoring weather conditions at the splashdown site off the coast of Florida. Click here for updates on crew return coverage.
MLA transferred emergency equipment from the Dragon back into the ISS. He also uninstalled the Polar and Microgravity Experiment Research Locker Incubator (MERLIN) from the ISS Express Rack and installed them in Dragon.
Wandt completed the final Orbital Architecture assessments with the fNIRS headcap to document his cognitive performance, stress levels, and stress recovery rate.
The Ax-3 crew successfully completed more than 30 research projects during their time on the ISS, to include the first time studying metastatic breast cancer organoids and first demonstration of conjunction analysis software for tracking space debris from the ISS.
The Ax-3 crew was joined by the NASA Expedition 70 crew for a farewell ceremony. Watch the event below.
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