All eight docking ports on the International Space Station (ISS) are occupied for the first time in its 25-year history, according to NASA. This rare 'orbital traffic jam' occurred after Northrop Grumman's Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft was repositioned to the station's Unity module, filling the final open port. The ISS is currently hosting a diverse array of visiting spacecraft, including multiple SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, the Cygnus XL cargo craft, JAXA's new HTV-X1 cargo vehicle, two Russian Soyuz crew spacecraft, and two Progress cargo ships. This unusual configuration is a result of recent supply deliveries and crew movements, including the arrival of NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on Thanksgiving. The Cygnus spacecraft was temporarily moved to make room for their docking. On Monday morning, it was reattached to the ISS, and astronauts began unpacking science experiments and supplies that arrived on September 18. Next week, astronaut Jonny Kim will depart the station with Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky aboard the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft to return to Earth.
