NASA updates Artemis timeline and preps station spacewalk

This is a new development in a story we reported earlier: NASA and CSA astronauts prepare for two ISS spacewalks to install solar arrays.

NASA announced the status of upcoming crewed Moon missions during a NASA+ broadcast at 2 p.m. EDT on Oct. 23, 2026, and said it is accelerating efforts to return astronauts to the lunar surface by 2028.

Expedition 75 crew members worked aboard the International Space Station at the end of the week on a 3D bioprinter and a levitation furnace to advance health and high-temperature physics research. NASA flight engineers Luke Delaney and Anil Menon used the BioFabrication Facility, a 3D bioprinter, to convert vascular cell samples into newly printed blood vessels. Delaney prepared the printing equipment while Menon handled tissue samples intended for nourishing and cultivation after printing. CSA flight engineer Joshua Kutryk swapped sample hardware inside a levitation furnace that uses an electric field to hold samples and lasers to heat them for high-temperature physics research.

Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, Anna Kikina, and Sergey Teterytatnikov completed a plasma crystal study on Friday that explored the interaction of highly charged gases and microscopic particles. The same trio serviced radiation detection gear, collected blood pressure measurements, and explored superintelligence tools as part of their research and maintenance schedule. NASA said the station’s end-of-week science schedule included these separate hardware tasks.

NASA flight engineers Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney practiced Canadarm2 robotic arm operations to support the spacewalkers next week. NASA scheduled the training to prepare the operators to support the spacewalkers during their extravehicular activity next week. Watkins and Delaney prepared to use the arm to assist Menon and Kutryk during the extravehicular activity. Menon and Kutryk will depart the Quest airlock on Thursday, Oct. 29 to attach a roll-out solar array to the station’s truss structure.

The four astronauts—Delaney, Menon, Kutryk, and Watkins—gathered after lunch for a spacewalk procedures conference with engineers on the ground. Watkins also tested backup water quality-testing hardware and a gas-flow controller. She was among the four crew members who later met with ground engineers for a spacewalk briefing.

NASA said the orbital outpost is important for preparing missions to the Moon and later Mars, and the same update linked the station’s current operations to future lunar and Mars exploration goals. The agency is accelerating its effort to return crews to the lunar surface by 2028.