The four American and European astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will observe a Labor Day holiday on September 7, while their Russian counterparts continue working. NASA confirmed the schedule adjustment on Friday, allowing crew members Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir, and Anil Menon, along with European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, to rest from their daily duties.
Conversely, Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, Andrey Fedyaev, and Anna Kikina are scheduled to work as usual. Their duties center on monitoring the undocking of the Progress 94 resupply spacecraft from the Poisk module on Monday. The cargo vessel is set to depart loaded with trash and obsolete equipment, to be replaced by Progress 96, which will launch from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome on September 9.
NASA emphasized that long-duration crews typically follow a schedule similar to Earth-based norms, with weekends and major holidays off. This downtime is considered vital for maintaining the physical health, mental well-being, and productivity of spaceflight participants.
Crew members Hathaway, Meir, and Adenot arrived at the station in mid-February via SpaceX’s Crew-12 mission, while Dubrov, Kikina, and Menon joined them after arriving on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on July 14. Although the international crew does not always share the same days off, they make efforts to celebrate major holidays together, such as Christmas, to strengthen interpersonal bonds and cope with the distance from loved ones on Earth.
While the astronauts cannot partake in traditional American Labor Day festivities involving open-flame grills—which are prohibited on the ISS—the break offers a necessary pause in their rigorous routine.
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