ISS Expedition 75 Schedules August Spacewalks and Advances Bioprinting Research

Expedition 75 of the International Space Station is preparing for three spacewalks in August. The first EVA on Aug. 6 will be performed by NASA flight engineers Jessica Meir and Anil Menon to work on a solar array. Additional spacewalks are planned for Aug. 13 and Aug. 25 to service communications and electronics systems, with crews to be announced.

The crew, now seven members strong after the arrival of Soyuz MS‑29, includes NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot, who are conducting bioprinting experiments in the Kibo laboratory. Adenot mixed cartilage cells with bio‑ink, which Hathaway loaded into the InSPA‑Auxilium bioprinter; the printed samples will be frozen and returned to Earth for analysis. The same team also tested new exercise equipment, including the EasyMotion‑2 suit and the COLBERT treadmill, to improve fitness in microgravity.

Command of the station transferred from Sergey Skvortsov to Jessica Meir on July 25, marking the first time a female astronaut has led the ISS crew during this expedition.