ISS receives new cargo from Dragon as Crew-12 hands over to Crew-13

4 min read · reported by NASASpaceflight

Expedition 75 aboard the International Space Station gained four new crew members at the beginning of October before Crew-12 left the station. Meanwhile, the Cygnus XL resupply craft left the ISS, and a SpaceX Cargo Dragon delivered new supplies on Oct. 15. NASA is also looking ahead to the planned decommissioning of the orbiting laboratory in 2030, with the agency releasing its final Request for Proposals for a commercial space station successor.

Expedition 75 saw the arrival of Crew-13 after it launched from Florida on Oct. 1 at 11:10 AM EDT (15:10 UTC). Falcon 9 lofted Crew Dragon Grace into orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Onboard Grace were two NASA astronauts, Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, as well as Joshua Kutryk from the Canadian Space Agency and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov.

The capsule docked to the ISS’s Harmony forward port on Oct. 1 at 23:05 UTC, marking the fastest arrival to the station for a U.S. spacecraft, with the journey taking seven hours and 55 minutes. After the vehicle attached itself to the orbital outpost, the crew performed standard leak checks and pressurization before Dragon’s hatch was opened at 01:19 UTC and the four new Expedition 75 members entered the station. Crew-13 will spend approximately six months aboard the orbiting laboratory before undocking in March 2027.

Following the arrival of Crew-13, there was a change of command, with Jessica Meir being handing over to Roscosmos’s Pyotr Dubrov (Soyuz MS-29) before Crew-12 undocked on Oct. 7 at 12:05 UTC. Crew-12 launched to the station on Feb. 13 from SLC-40 and docked to the Harmony module’s zenith port the following day. After undocking from the station on Oct. 7, Crew Dragon Freedom splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Oct. 8 at 08:34 AM PDT and was recovered by SpaceX’s recovery vessel Shannon .

Following the crew rotation, the Cygnus XL spacecraft of the NG-24 mission departed the station on Oct. 9. The cargo spacecraft was unberthed from the Unity nadir port at 16:44 UTC using Canadarm2. Ahead of its departure, Station crew filled the craft with several thousand kilograms of waste and unnecessary cargo items that will harmlessly burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. The vehicle launched atop a Falcon 9 from SLC-40 on April 11 and docked with the station on April 13, carrying 5,000 kg of cargo for Expeditions 74 and 75.

On Oct. 13 at 06:33 AM EDT, SpaceX launched Commercial Resupply Services 35 (CRS-35) from SLC-40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Cargo Dragon vehicle docked to the Harmony zenith port on Oct. 15. The spacecraft carried 1,671 kg of pressurized and 1,195 kg of unpressurized cargo to the ISS to supply the current Expedition 75 crew, as well as a new ISS Roll Out Solar Array (iROSA). The vehicle will depart the station no earlier than November 2026.

Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk will install the iROSA during U.S. Spacewalks 100 and 101, planned for On Oct. 29 and Nov. 5 respectively.

Science and technology demonstrations

Dozens of experiments and technology demonstrations are conducted aboard the International Space Station every week, with the effects of microgravity on astronauts regularly studied.

On Sep. 28, NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Anil Menon spent time in the Columbus laboratory module conducting vein scans. Meir utilized the Ultrasound 3 device to scan Menon’s jugular vein and measured his blood pressure for the Venous Flow investigation. Scientists will use the data to detect potential space-caused blood conditions such as blood clots or changes to blood chemistry. The results from this could potentially improve astronaut health and safety during long-term spaceflight.

Before returning from the Station with the rest of the Crew-12 crew, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut decommissioned the agency’s Fluid Science Laboratory (FSL). Originally designed to operate for 10 years, the facility had been running inside the Columbus module since its launch in 2008.

On Oct. 16, cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina wrapped up a week of studies exploring the use of an exoskeleton suit to control robots remotely. The duo wore the suit while using virtual reality goggles and operating hand controls to manipulate tools in a space environment. Results from the mission may help future decision-making and crew training for remote robotic operations on future long-term spaceflight.

. @NASA is advancing American leadership in space by taking the next step toward a future where commercial space stations lead the way in low Earth orbit. On Friday, the agency released its final Request for Proposals inviting industry to submit plans for the next generation of… pic.twitter.com/e6hzwAuI78

— NASA Space Operations (@NASASpaceOps) October 9, 2026

With the expected decommissioning of the ISS by the end of 2030, NASA is preparing to select at least two companies to develop, build, and operate a Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) station that will serve as a successor to the ISS. On Oct. 9, the agency released its final Request for Proposal for the CLD program, with the deadline for final proposals on Dec. 8. NASA will announce approximately two companies in spring 2027 that will receive crucial CLD funding.

Reported by NASASpaceflight. Reproduced unedited by Everything Space. View the original →