The International Space Station finally answered the question we’ve all had on our minds: what would it look like if there were a Trader Joe’s parking lot in space?
That is to say, for the first time in its 25-year history, all eight of the International Space Station’s docking ports are taken up with visiting vehicles, NASA confirmed.
The famed space station officially hit max capacity when Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL cargo capsule had to be pushed out of the way with a robot arm so a fresh trio of astronauts could squeeze in — NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev. Their Soyuz MS-28 docked on November 27. Once everyone was inside, the arm put Cygnus back where it was parked.
In total, the station is now hosting two SpaceX Dragons, the Cygnus XL, Japan’s HTV-X1 cargo hauler, two Russian Soyuz crew capsules, and two Progress supply ships. Ten astronauts and cosmonauts are onboard, transforming the International Space Station into a sitcom set in orbit.
Cygnus XL won’t be there long. It’s heading back out in March 2026. It’s stuffed with 11,000 pounds of trash that it will dump and burn in our atmosphere.
On December 8, Russia’s Soyuz MS-27 is set to return NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky to Kazakhstan. That departure opens up a port, but a structural collapse at Baikonur Cosmodrome’s Site 31/6, the only pad Russia currently uses for ISS launches, has knocked it out of commission. Until repairs are made, Russia’s ability to send up new crews or cargo is stuck in limbo.
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