Four astronauts will take part in a welcome home ceremony at Space Center Houston after recently returning from a mission aboard the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara, along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, will share highlights from their mission beginning at 5:30 p.m. CDT on Thursday, May 16 during a free, public event at NASA Johnson Space Center’s visitor center. The crew will also recognize key contributors to its mission success in an awards ceremony following their presentation. The astronauts will be available for media interviews immediately before the event. Reporters may request an in-person interview no later than 5 p.m. on May 16 by emailing Dana Davis at dana.l.davis@nasa.gov.
Moghbeli, Mogensen, Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov launched as part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission, lifting off on August 26, 2023. The crew spent 199 days in space, completing hundreds of scientific experiments and maintaining the orbiting laboratory. Mogensen served as commander for Expedition 70. Mogensen and Furukawa have logged 209 and 366 days in space, respectively, over the course of their careers. It was the first spaceflight for Moghbeli and Borisov. Crew-7 returned to Earth on March 12.
O’Hara flew with an international crew, launching aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft on September 15, 2023. The six-month research mission was the first spaceflight of her career, and she logged 204 days in space across Expeditions 69 and 70. She conducted one spacewalk alongside Moghbeli, spending 6 hours and 42 minutes suited up outside of the space station. Over the course of her mission, she saw the arrival of eight visiting vehicles and the departure of seven. She returned to Earth on April 6.
Members of the Expedition 70 crew participated in the CIPHER (Complement of Integrated Protocols for Human Exploration Research on Varying Mission Durations) investigation, which examines the physiological and psychological changes that humans undergo during spaceflight. The crew also tended tomato plants grown for the Plant Habitat-06 investigation to see how spaceflight affects plant immune function and production. Expedition 70 also saw the release of two small satellites called CubeSats from the space station. Both were created by students in Japan.
