Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev rounds out the crew, bringing recent ISS experience. Fedyaev previously flew on SpaceX Crew-6 in 2023, spending 186 days in orbit as a flight engineer.
Life Aboard the International Space Station
Once on board, the four astronauts will integrate into the ISS’s established routine of maintenance, scientific research, and daily operations. “There’s no ceremony to that part,” the agency emphasized, noting that the station has been continuously occupied for more than 25 years.
According to NASA, the ISS remains “a critical testbed” for understanding long-duration spaceflight and advancing research that cannot be conducted on Earth. These missions also help prepare for future exploration under the Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon and eventually send crews to Mars.
As commercial providers like SpaceX manage human transportation to low Earth orbit, NASA is reallocating resources toward deep-space exploration. For now, however, the work continues about 250 miles above Earth, orbiting the planet every 90 minutes.
