SpaceX CRS-34, the next mission to resupply the International Space Station, is now targeting its launch for no earlier than 6:05 p.m. EDT on Friday, May 15. A Falcon 9 rocket is slated to lift off from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida carrying a cargo-packed Dragon spacecraft to Earth orbit. Dragon will deliver about 6,500 pounds of science experiments, crew supplies, and lab hardware for the Expedition 74 crew when it docks to the Harmony module’s forward port at approximately 7 a.m. Sunday, May 17. 

Meanwhile, the seven-member crew aboard the orbital outpost stayed focused on microgravity research and lab maintenance throughout Thursday. The orbital residents are also gearing up for a spacewalk later this month.

NASA flight engineer Jessica Meir was on space botany duty watering and photographing alfalfa plants growing inside the Columbus laboratory module’s Veggie facility for the Veg-06 study. The space agriculture study is exploring plant-microbe interactions to help plants thrive in microgravity and promote food production off the Earth.

Flight engineer Sophie Adenot from ESA (European Space Agency) spent her day setting up an incubator for installation inside the KERMIT fluorescent microscope. Adenot tested the functionality of the scientific hardware ahead of future imaging sessions. KERMIT enables astronauts and ground scientists to conduct manual and remote imaging of biological, physical, and material research samples.

NASA flight engineers Chris Williams and Jack Hathaway worked throughout Thursday on a variety of maintenance and cargo tasks. Williams checked out and activated batteries on portable gas detection devices then tested the performance of pistol grip tools spacewalkers use during external assembly tasks. Hathaway replaced an oxygen sensor in the Quest airlock, continued unpacking supplies from the Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft, and swapped out drinking water filters inside the Unity module.

Station commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and flight engineer Sergey Mikaev, both from Roscosmos, spent their shift gathering and inspecting tools to be used on a spacewalk planned for later this month. Roscosmos flight engineer Andrey Fedyaev worked inside the Nauka science module replacing laptop computer batteries that support the operation of the European robotic arm.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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