All eight ISS docking ports occupied for the first time, Expedition 74 begins

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After the arrival of the MS-28 spacecraft on Nov. 27, all eight docking ports on the International Space Station (ISS) were occupied for the first time in its 27-year history. November also marked 25 years of continuous human presence on the orbiting laboratory.

With seven vehicles currently docked at the Station and seven crew members living onboard, multiple agencies and companies continue to support a consistent human presence through government and commercial contracts. The Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft arrived at the end of November, and several vehicles are scheduled to depart in December. What’s more, Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft’s departure on Dec. 9 marked the end of Expedition 73 and the beginning of Expedition 74.

A render of the spacecraft at the International Space Staton on Dec. 1 (Credit:NASA)

Crew rotations

Roscosmos launched its Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Nov. 27 at 9:27 UTC. A Soyuz 2.1a rocket, with its three stages powered by kerosene and liquid oxygen, lofted the capsule into low-Earth orbit. After completing just two orbits of Earth, Soyuz completed an automated rendezvous sequence and successfully docked to the Russian Rassvet module at 12:38 UTC on Nov. 27.

Onboard were two cosmonauts, commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and flight engineer Sergei Mikayev, along with one NASA astronaut, flight engineer Christopher Williams. The crew will spend around eight months aboard the Station.

After launch, damage was observed at Site 31/6, Soyuz MS-28’s launch pad, in Kazakhstan. According to Roscosmos and Russian news reports, a maintenance cabin underneath the launch mount collapsed, significantly damaging the pad. Site 31/6 is the only Russian launch site capable of supporting ISS launches, and without it, Russia is essentially unable to access the Station. However, Roscosmos reportedly has spare parts for the damaged structure and is expected to begin modifications soon.

A little over a week after Soyuz MS-28’s arrival, the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft undocked from the Prichal module and returned to Earth on Dec. 9. The crew, consisting of Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov (commander) and Alexey Zubritsky (flight engineer), and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim (flight engineer), landed on the Kazakh steppe several hours after undocking from the Station.

These Soyuz are not the only crewed spacecraft at the Station, with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour having occupied the Harmony module’s zenith port since its arrival on Aug. 2. Crew-11 is comprised of two NASA astronauts, commander Zena Cardman and pilot Michael Fincke, plus two mission specialists: Oleg Platonov of Roscosmos and Kimiya Yui of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

NASA and Boeing announced in November a reduction in the number of Boeing Starliner missions to the ISS under the Commercial Crew Program. The original plan included six crewed missions for Starliner; however, due to significant delays and spacecraft issues during the Crewed Flight Test (CFT) mission in 2024, the agency elected to reduce the number of Starliner missions. Furthermore, NASA announced that the next Starliner mission, Starliner-1, which is scheduled for April 2026, will fly uncrewed.

B1094 launching Crew-11 from LC-39A). (Credit: Sawyer Rosenstein for NSF)

Cargo spacecraft

In addition to the two crewed spacecraft, five cargo vehicles also remain docked to the ISS following the departure of Soyuz MS-27. Notably, when both Soyuz MS-27 and Soyuz MS-28 were docked to the Station, the total number of visiting vehicles at the ISS reached eight for the first time for the first time in the history of the orbiting laboratory.

SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon C211, which arrived on Aug. 25 and will depart in December, remains docked as part of the CRS-33 cargo resupply mission. Another cargo resupply vehicle is JAXA’s HTV-X1, which arrived on Oct. 30 and is docked to Harmony’s nadir port. This is the first variant of the new HTV-X vehicle.

Two Russian resupply vehicles, Progress 92 and Progress 93, are also docked at the Russian segment. Progress 92 docked with the Poisk module’s zenith port on July 5. After six months at the Station, it will return in December. Progress 93 arrived on Sep. 13 and docked to Zvezda’s aft port. It is expected to depart in February.

The fifth cargo vehicle, the NG-23 Cygnus XL from Northrop Grumman, was temporarily unberthed from the Station with Canadarm2 on Dec. 1. It was reberthed to the Unity module’s nadir port for waste collection.

Progress 92 approaches the station (Credit:NASA)

Science and operations

The scientific experiments and technological demonstrations conducted on the ISS are vital to station operations. Crew members complete several experiments and maintenance tasks per day.

On Nov. 13, the crew focused on cardiovascular research and performed spacesuit maintenance. NASA astronaut Jonny Kim ran on the COLBERT treadmill and then trained on the advanced resistive exercise device. During the exercise, Kim wore a heart rate monitor to help doctors understand cardiovascular risks for astronauts on future long-duration missions. Zena Cardman and Michael Fincke worked on spacesuit maintenance in the Quest airlock, replacing a life-support system that enables efficient cooling and ventilation during spacewalks.

On Nov. 14, Kim and Fincke used the Kermit fluorescent microscope to treat stem cells. The data will be used to observe how programmed cells develop into heart and brain cells in microgravity. This research aims to aid understanding of heart and neurological conditions on Earth and to offer potential treatments. Fincke and Kim also spent time unpacking cargo from two cargo resupply vehicles. Kim handled items from HTV-X1 while Fincke unpacked the Cygnus XL spacecraft, which brought approximately 11,000 pounds of research and supplies to the Station.

Canadarm2 prepares to capture HTV-X1 (Credit NASA)

On Nov. 17, Kim and Fincke tested methods to pull body fluids back towards their feet while in microgravity. The duo used a thigh cuff that moves fluids away from the brain and eyes, reducing pressure in these areas. Fincke also scanned Kim’s eyes during the experiment.

The Progress 93 cargo spacecraft fired its thrusters for 14 minutes on Nov. 19 to reboost the ISS’s orbit. The reboost increased the ISS’s altitude by around 1.6 km at apogee and 3.7 km at perigee. This maneuver placed the Station at the correct inclination for the arrival of Soyuz MS-28 a few weeks later. The ISS’s orbit slowly decays over time due to atmospheric drag, thus requiring visiting vehicles to perform reboosts.

An essential aspect of microgravity research is understanding how the human body reacts to low-gravity environments. To this end, NASA has the Complement of Integrated Protocols for Human Exploration Research (CIPHER) suite. This comprises 14 instruments designed to assess various human systems in space, preparing the agency and its partners for future long-duration crewed missions. Jonny Kim and Zena Cardman participated in one such experiment on Nov. 27, which studied Kim’s cardiac capacity. During the experiment, Kim had electrodes attached to his chest, while Cardman scanned it with the Ultrasound 2 device. Doctors on the ground received all the data for analysis.

Oleg Platonov also photographed microbial samples collected by the crew to understand their lifespan in microgravity, which will help prevent contamination on future spacecraft. Zena Cardman spent time installing fluids into a fluorescent microscope, aiding scientists in understanding particle behavior inside fluids, which could improve future commercial manufacturing.

Anniversaries

The ISS celebrated 25 years of continuous human presence on Nov. 2, 2025, marking a significant milestone in the Station’s history. The first long-duration crewed mission to the ISS, Expedition 1, began with the arrival of the Soyuz TM-31 mission and lasted 186 days. The crew consisted of NASA’s William Shepherd and two Russian cosmonauts: Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev. The first module of the ISS, Zarya, launched on Nov. 20, 1998, atop a Proton-K rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The ISS would then be constructed in orbit over the next several years, with aid from the Space Shuttle and its crews.

However, this was not the only anniversary celebrated in November. Michael Fincke celebrated 500 total days in space on Nov. 27, having previously flown to the Station three times on the Soyuz TMA-4, Soyuz TMA-13, and STS-134 missions. In addition to Expedition 73/74, Fincke has served on the Expedition 8 and Expedition 19 long-duration missions.

(Lead image: NG-23 attached to Canadarm2. Credit: NASA)

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