Three long-term astronauts working on the International Space Station, including NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, left yesterday and returned to Houston this morning. Today, the seven crew members still living and working in microgravity completed a series of maintenance activities.

On November 8, 2021, a photo of the International Space Station was taken while SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endeavor was flying around the orbiting laboratory after undocking from the space-facing port of the Harmony module. Image source: NASA

NASA flight engineer Jasmin Moghbeli, who arrived at the space station a month ago, spent the morning performing maintenance on the Columbus laboratory module and testing the connection function of the power socket. After lunch, she changed places and worked in the Cold Atom Laboratory. It's an ongoing activity for Mogberg, who's been on the space station for the first time this week, as she checks cables and ports in preparation for completing the replacement payload assembly tomorrow. At night, she began training for the upcoming spacewalk, going over spacesuit operations and procedures.

The Expedition 70 badge designed by ESA graphic designers Hugo Simões and Hugo Dias is based on the theme of "Yin and Yang". "Yin and Yang" is a famous philosophical symbol that symbolizes the balance between the two complementary forces of Yin and Yang, which constitute all aspects of life and various phenomena. In this pattern, the red and orange in the lower half represent science, and the dark blue in the upper half represents space exploration. Image source: ESA

NASA flight engineer Loral O'Hara, who arrived at the space station two weeks ago, begins her day with an ISAFE eye exam as part of a new set of experiments called CIPHER. This eye exam examines changes in an astronaut's eyes and brain caused by fluid changes in microgravity. CIPHER is a comprehensive, whole-body approach that studies how multiple systems of the body respond to spaceflight before, during and after a mission. O'Hara is the first of as many as 30 astronauts to participate.

After the eye exam, O'Hara trained for spacewalk emergencies using SAFER (EVA Simplified Aid for Rescue), just in case. Before bed, she reconfigured the microgravity science glove box.

Animation of a celestial probe on the space station. Source: NASA

Expedition 70 commander Andreas Mogensen from the European Space Agency (ESA) spent a day completing some training with Astrobee, the space station's free-flying robot that helps astronauts perform daily tasks. Afterwards, he repaired the docking station where the Cubebot was used for charging.

Satoshi Furukawa, a flight engineer at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), spends much of the day working in the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM). In the station's first expandable habitat, Furukawa stores hardware and reconfigures sensors.

Three of Roscosmos's flight engineers - Konstantin Borisov, Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub - had an easy day, completing their required two hours of exercise, which helps combat the effects of bone and muscle loss in microgravity.