International Space Station Reaches Eight-Port Occupancy Milestone

The International Space Station (ISS) achieved a significant operational milestone on December 1, 2025, when all eight of its available docking ports were simultaneously utilized for the first time since the station's construction began in 1998. This configuration was established following a precise, temporary repositioning of Northrop Grumman's Cygnus XL cargo vehicle, which was executed by NASA's Johnson Space Center Mission Control using the Canadarm2 robotic arm.

This strategic relocation was necessary to ensure adequate clearance for the late November arrival of the Roscosmos crew taxi, Soyuz MS-28. The Soyuz MS-28, carrying NASA astronaut Chris Williams alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, docked at the Russian Rassvet module on November 27, 2025. This trio is scheduled for an extended eight-month expedition aboard the orbital outpost, concluding around July 2026, a duration reflecting an agency trend to maximize crew time and potentially reduce launch cadence for cost efficiency.

The eight docked vehicles representing this historic configuration included two SpaceX Dragon capsules, the Cygnus XL, the newly arrived Soyuz MS-28, the older Soyuz MS-27, the Japanese HTV-X1 cargo craft, and two Russian Progress resupply ships, Progress 92 and Progress 93. The HTV-X1, which launched on October 26, 2025, aboard an H3 rocket, is the first of its series and functions as a technology demonstrator capable of carrying up to 5,820 kg of cargo.

The temporary Cygnus XL relocation, supporting the Northrop Grumman-23 commercial resupply services mission, was coordinated by NASA, Northrop Grumman, and Roscosmos. The Cygnus XL is currently scheduled to undock no earlier than March 2026, at which point it will dispose of up to 11,000 pounds of refuse during atmospheric reentry. In contrast, the Soyuz MS-27, which arrived in April 2025, is preparing for its departure on December 8, 2025, returning NASA's Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky to Earth.

This crew rotation marks the transition from Expedition 73 to Expedition 74, reducing the station's temporary peak crew complement from ten members down to seven. The continued operation of the ISS, which celebrates 25 years of permanent occupancy, relies on this complex choreography of arrivals and departures, underscoring the vital international partnership supporting advanced research.