While We Were Watching Polaris Dawn, Just Another Day for the ISS

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Russian Soyuz rocket launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstanon September 11 to bring the Expedition 72 crew to the ISS. (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

While all eyes were on the Polaris Dawn mission this week, the Russian Roscosmos Soyuz MS-26 was busy bringing a crew of three cosmonauts and one US astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS). Crewed and uncrewed launches to the ISS have been pretty routine for years, which is a good thing.

NASA reports that its astronaut Don Pettit, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, are now safely aboard the space station. Expedition 72 will officially start on Monday, September 23. Members of the Expedition 71 crew – NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson and cosmonauts Nikolai Chub and Oleg Kononenko – will be departing the station shortly.

Let’s remember that while the Polaris Dawn crew will be playing in space for about 5 days, these crews are in space for 6-12 months.