Now heres a picture you wont see very often: nine astronauts on the International Space Station at the same time!

Usually, the crew size is three or six, depending on the sequence of flights to and from the orbiting outpost. But due to rather unusual circumstances for about a week it will be pretty crowded on the ISS until three astronauts leave again. Normally it would be the three who have been in space the longest, and two of them are indeed going home next week. However, Christina Kochs residency has been extended another six months into February 2020, which will push her into first place for the longest duration spaceflight for a female astronaut.

In her place, a very special visitor will return to Earth.

Hazzaa Ali Almansoori is the first-ever astronaut from the United Arab Emirates. He has diligently completed all the required training for a short duration spaceflight and will enjoy a special guest status on the ISS. But like any guest there he will have to pull his weight and hes prepared to work hard for the privilege. He is officially classified as a Spaceflight Participant, which sounds a lot better than space tourist, and is also far more accurate since he will be working during his time in space.

Nine people will use up 50% more resources on the ISS for eight days. But its not just food and water its also air. The ISS was always meant for about half a dozen people, and all its capabilities are geared towards that number. From air to accommodations, from water use to water recycling, it works best for six people. But that doesnt mean it wont be able to handle nine astronauts for a week!

Having extra people is actually coming in very handy right now: a cargo transport from Japan will arrive on Saturday, and all the good stuff will have to be unpacked and stowed. Along with food and water and other supplies, the spacecraft will also carry parts to repair a cosmic ray detector, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, and brand new batteries to replace the aging ones on the space station. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer was not designed to be repaired in orbit, so it will take about half a dozen spacewalks to get back to business. Like the Hubble Telescope repairs, these will be very complex and the astronauts working on them had to receive special training, as its not as easy as pulling out a filter for your AC and snapping a new one in place.

The stations batteries are rechargeable of course, and they have to be, as all the stations electricity is generated by solar panels, and the electricity has to be stored somewhere to keep the place running when it swings around the night side of the Earth. But like all rechargeable batteries, they dont last forever and eventually, they will suffer from battery fatigue, when they simply cant hold a full charge anymore. Lives depend on these batteries so they must be regularly replaced well before their performance declines. The new batteries will be the Lithium-Ion kind, which pack a far greater punch than the ones currently in place, so fewer of them are needed for the same task. Its a win-win situation!

Almost a dozen spacewalks are planned before the end of the year. Doing repairs outside the station isnt as easy as ambling out to your garden shed. Every spacewalk is a dangerous undertaking that requires extensive training and many hours of preparation as well as other crew members waiting in the airlock, ready to go outside and assist in an emergency.

If all goes as planned well also have the first commercial crew capsules arriving, and possibly even the first commercial crewed spaceflights. And we really need those now, as Russia has only two flights to the ISS scheduled for next year. To maintain a proper crew rotation, we need far more crewed missions than that, so keep your fingers crossed that both the SpaceX Crew Dragon and the Boeing Starliner test flights go well and regularly scheduled commercial flights can commence. Besides, its been far too long since the U.S. has launched astronauts into space from American soil!

Beate Czogalla is the Professor of Theater Design in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Georgia College & State University. She has had a lifelong interest in space exploration and has been a Solar System Ambassador for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/ NASA for many years. She can be reached at our_space2@yahoo.com

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OUR SPACE: It's getting crowded on the ISS - The Union-Recorder