NASA's Space Crew-11 Dragon Spacecraft Arrival | International Space Station

NASA's Space Crew-11 Dragon Spacecraft Arrival | International Space Station

NASA's Space Crew-11 Dragon spacecraft approaching the International Space Station

Expedition 73 flight engineer and NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers taking photos of NASA's Space Crew-11 Dragon spacecraft

Expedition 73 flight engineer and NASA astronaut Nichole “Vapor” Ayers: "I got the best wake-up call ever this morning when we found out Crew-11 was going to be a little early! They made it safely to the International Space Station, and it was a beautiful rendezvous (so naturally I had to take a few photos). So happy to have our friends on board! Congrats! Zena, Mike, Kimiya, and Oleg! We are so glad you’re here. 😊"

On Aug. 2, 2025, the Crew-11 quartet joined the seven-member Expedition 73 crew. NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov of Russia have started their seven-month research mission in low Earth orbit.

Crew-11 will conduct scientific research to prepare for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit and benefit humanity on Earth. Participating crew members will simulate lunar landings, test strategies to safeguard vision, and advance other human spaceflight studies led by NASA’s Human Research Program. The crew also will study plant cell division and microgravity’s effects on bacteria-killing viruses, as well as perform experiments to produce a higher volume of human stem cells and generate on-demand nutrients.

Follow Expedition 73:
https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 73 Crew

Station Commander: JAXA Flight Engineer Takuya Onishi

JAXA Flight Engineer: Kimiya Yui

Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Kirill Peskov, Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritskiy, Oleg Platonov

NASA Flight Engineers: Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Jonny Kim, Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada.

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center/N. Ayers/T. Onishi (JAXA)
Date: Aug. 2, 2025

#NASA #Space #ISS #SpaceX #NASASpaceXCrew11 #SpaceXDragonSpacecraft #Astronauts #NicholeAyers #MikeFincke #ZenaCardman #KimiyaYui #JAXA #Japan #日本 #Cosmonaut #OlegPlatonov #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #InternationalCooperation #Expedition73 #UnitedStates #STEM #Education