Marshall honors Expedition 69 astronauts for record space mission and looks ahead at exciting 2024 launches

Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) hosted NASA astronauts Stephen (“Steve”) Bowen, Warren (“Woody”) Hoburg, and Frank Rubio, as well as Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi, on Thursday to celebrate the crew’s record-breaking mission, Expedition 69, to the International Space Station (ISS). 

The 182-day mission began in March 2023 and concluded on 27 September 2023. Expedition 69’s Crew-6 also included three Russian cosmonauts, who were not in attendance. 

Joseph Pelfrey, Deputy Director of NASA’s MSFC, introduced the four astronauts to NASA personnel, members of the media, and spaceflight enthusiasts who gathered in the Marshall Space Flight Activities Center to learn more about the missions of these crewmembers. Pelfrey noted that this occasion was a time to honor the amazing accomplishments of the astronauts of Expedition 69, as well as all of those at NASA who worked in various capacities to support the voyage.

Frank Rubio opened the conversation by discussing the importance of the ISS for future missions. 

Rubio stated that the ISS is central to support human presence in outer space, which has been maintained continuously on the station since November 2000. The second purpose of the ISS is to serve as a staging ground where life-enhancing science experiments can be conducted. Rubio stated that the scientific research which occurs on the ISS is meant to improve the way that humans function on Earth. 

To this end, the astronauts were asked which results from research experiments conducted by Expedition 69 are most promising for Earth-bound humans. Hoburg gave a few highlights of their time on the ISS.

“There was a day when Sultan was working with our heart muscle cells up there and we actually got to see them beating under the microscope and that was just kind of this amazing day when we realized what a cool time in humanity’s history where we’re in low Earth orbit. We’re doing research to improve life back on Earth, to look at heart disease, and potential treatments for heart disease, and we’ve got these beating heart cells up on the space station,” responded Hoburg.

Hoburg went on to explain that crewmembers on Expedition 69 also experimented with 3D printing biological materials, specifically meniscus, in space. Hoburg explained that 3D printing in space allows astronauts to take “advantage of the weightless environment, where you don’t have sedimentation. So on Earth this stuff would become a puddle but up there we can print these complex biological structures.” 

Hoburg stated that researchers hope to move on from meniscus to more complex prints such as cardiac tissue and, eventually, blood vessels.

In addition to producing critical scientific applications, the ISS is noteworthy because of the multinational collaboration that occurs both in space and on Earth. Astronaut Stephen Bowen spoke to this phenomenon when asked about the process of working with an international crew. 

Bowen described the experience of working with Russian, Canadian, European, and Japanese astronauts on the ISS. He noted, as other astronauts have mentioned, the striking fact that no borders are visible from space. 

Bowen also related a specific post-flight experience of doing outreach in a classroom in Tajikistan. Bowen laughingly explained that, just as in any classroom in the world, some children were paying rapt attention while others were cutting up and acting silly. 

“People are the same everywhere; that’s the basics of humanity. At the very intimate, singular level people are people. Regardless of everything else that is going on in the world, we’re people and we’re absolutely capable of doing absolutely amazing things,” remarked Bowen. 

Deputy Director Pelfrey encouraged NASA personnel to use the upcoming holidays to recharge before preparing to launch into an exciting 2024. It seems that more amazing things are around the corner for NASA and their multinational partners on the ISS.