How the ISS Crew Juggles Computer Upgrades and Growing Food in Space

The astronauts aboard the International Space Station are currently doing two major things at once: upgrading the station's computer systems and continuing experiments that grow fresh vegetables in microgravity. A recent cargo delivery from Northrop Grumman added new scientific equipment to the mix. Together, these activities show how the ISS has matured into a platform that can handle infrastructure maintenance and cutting-edge research at the same time.

Updating the Station's Aging Computing Systems

The ISS computers need modernization. The station originally flew with IBM 760 laptop computers—machines from the 1990s that handled basic tasks during early operations. Now, with 20+ years of continuous use, it's time to swap in newer hardware.

The upgrades are happening in phases. Phase A focuses on updating three Command and Control (C&C) units—essentially the station's routing and control systems—plus two navigation units that guide the ISS. Phase B will update two Payload units that manage all the scientific experiments running at any given time. Think of it like replacing the electrical panel and control center of a building, piece by piece, without shutting the building down.

Flight engineers Chris Williams, Jack Hathaway, Sophie Adenot, and Jessica Meir are leading the preparation work. Coordinating these upgrades while the crew is actively doing science experiments is a logistical puzzle the ISS has learned to solve over decades of operation.

Growing Fresh Food While Upgrading Hardware

While the crew prepares for those computer upgrades, they are also advancing plant research in space. Flight engineer Chris Williams is gathering samples and equipment for the Veg-06 experiment, which studies how plants and microbes interact when there's no gravity. That research helps scientists understand whether we can reliably grow food on future missions to the Moon or Mars.

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir recently harvested and ate fresh Mizuna mustard greens aboard the station. It sounds simple, but it represents a major capability: the ISS can now grow food that astronauts eat during their missions. That wasn't possible in the early days of the station.

The informal side of space agriculture is equally telling. Astronaut Don Pettit, who has spent 590 days in space across four missions, grew potatoes as an off-duty hobby project during Expedition 72. His unofficial space garden shows how far the ISS has come—crew members now have enough time and resources to experiment beyond the formal research schedule.

New Equipment Arrives from Orbit

The recent Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft from Northrop Grumman brought fresh supplies, crew provisions, and new scientific equipment. Before the spacecraft arrived, the crew carefully prepared spacesuits and scientific gear, and the ISS actually raised its orbit slightly to be in the right position to rendezvous with the incoming cargo.

The crew is now unpacking and setting up this new equipment while the computer upgrades continue. The station's research portfolio is diverse: the crew is studying infectious diseases, running materials experiments, and conducting Earth observation work—all while the behind-the-scenes infrastructure gets modernized.

Why This Matters: A Maturing Space Laboratory

Analysis: The current work reflects how much the ISS has evolved. In the early 2000s, major system updates would have meant halting most science. Now the station runs smoothly enough that infrastructure maintenance and active research happen in parallel. It's a sign of operational maturity.

The Russian Segment of the ISS runs its own complementary computing systems, including notebook computers that process and store photos and videos for transmission to Earth. This distributed architecture means if one system has a problem, others can keep working—a safety feature built into the station's design.

Worth flagging: The ability to do major computer upgrades while keeping the station's science productive shows the ISS has become a genuinely reliable platform. That's a big deal. It means the station can be used more efficiently and can take on more ambitious research.

What This Enables: Stepping Stone to Deep Space

In this author's view: What we're watching with Expedition 74 is the ISS serving two roles at once: it's a working research lab today, and it's a testing ground for systems we'll need beyond Earth orbit. The agricultural research—both formal and informal—is teaching us how to feed crews on long missions. The computer upgrades ensure that future spacecraft will have modern, reliable systems.

The rhythm of the work—balancing maintenance with science, cargo with experiments, crew routines with innovation—gives us a preview of what sustained human spaceflight will look like. Twenty-five years into continuous ISS operations, the crew is demonstrating that humans and machines can work together in space in ways that are productive, reliable, and even occasionally surprising (like growing potatoes for fun at 250 miles above Earth).

The infrastructure the station is building now, both digital and agricultural, won't just serve researchers in low Earth orbit. It will be essential to the systems that eventually enable long-duration missions to the Moon and beyond.