Three new crew members and new science will arrive on the International Space Station this week for Expedition 70.
Before mission events, the four NASA residents enjoyed a light-duty day on the orbiting complex while the three cosmonauts performed station maintenance and training.
NASA and SpaceX plan to launch SpaceX's 30th commercial resupply mission from Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida at 4:55 p.m. EDT Thursday, March 21. At 7:30 a.m. Saturday,
March 23, the Dragon cargo vehicle will automatically dock to the Harmony module's zenith port and deliver new science, food, and supplies to the crew.
At 9:21 a.m. Thursday, March 21, NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson, cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, and Flight Engineer Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus will launch Dragon from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
After docking at 12:39 p.m., the international crew will open the hatch and join Expedition 70 in microgravity.
Dyson will live and work in low Earth orbit for six months, while Novitsky and Vasilevskaya will stay for two weeks before leaving with NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara.
O'Hara, her three NASA crewmates Jeanette Epps, Michael Barratt, and Matthew Dominick had Monday off to prepare for a busy week. The quartet planned to exercise for two hours on the station's treadmill, ARED, and bicycle, CEVIS. Epps and O'Hara set up Standard Measures investigation equipment for later in the week.