A First: All Docking Ports Used for Eight Spacecraft | International Space Station

A First: All Docking Ports Used for Eight Spacecraft | International Space Station

International Space Station Configuration on Dec. 1, 2025

For the first time in International Space Station history, all eight docking ports aboard the orbital outpost are occupied following the reinstallation of Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft to the Earth-facing port of the station’s Unity module. The eight spacecraft attached to the complex are: two SpaceX Dragons, Cygnus XL, JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) HTV-X1, two Roscosmos Soyuz crew spacecraft, and two Progress cargo ships.

This milestone follows the reattachment of the Cygnus XL spacecraft, supporting the Northrop Grumman-23 commercial resupply services mission for NASA. It was removed last week by the robotics officer at the agency’s Mission Control Center in Houston using the space station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm. The Cygnus XL movement was coordinated between NASA, Northrop Grumman, and Roscosmos to provide appropriate clearance for the arriving crewed Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft on Nov. 27, 2025.

Cygnus will remain attached to the orbiting laboratory until no earlier than March 2026, when it is scheduled to safely depart and dispose of up to 11,000 pounds of trash and unneeded cargo when it harmlessly burns up in Earth’s atmosphere.

Three new residents are living aboard the space station following the arrival of the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev will stay in space until July 2026, conducting advanced space research benefiting humans living on and off Earth.

On Dec. 8, the orbital outpost will return to seven members and become the Expedition 74 crew when NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky enter the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft, undock from the Prichal module, and parachute to a landing in Kazakhstan. Kim, Ryzhikov, and Zubritsky are nearing the end of an eight-month space science mission that began on April 8, 2025.

Follow Expedition 73:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 73 Crew

Station Commander: Sergey Ryzhikov (Roscosmos)

JAXA Flight Engineer (Japan): Kimiya Yui

Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Alexey Zubritskiy, Oleg Platonov, Sergey-Kud Sverchkov, Sergei Mikaev

NASA Flight Engineers: Jonny Kim, Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke, Chris Williams

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
Release Date: Dec. 1, 2025

#NASA #Space #ISS #Earth #Spacecraft #Astronauts #Cosmonauts #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #JSC #UnitedStates #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Japan #日本 #JAXA #宇宙航空研究開発機構 #Expedition73 #Expedition74 #Infographics #STEM #Education