ISS043E257296 (05/26/2015) — Sparkling cities below the International Space Station are haloed by an aurora on the Earth’s horizon on May 26, 2015.
The International Space Station got an orbital boost this morning after a docked Russian resupply craft fired its engines for four minutes and eight seconds. One more reboost is scheduled for July 10 when the station will be at the proper altitude for a new Soyuz crew to dock at the end of July.
The crew onboard the orbital laboratory conducted a wide array of experiments today looking at such things as radiation, liquid crystals and life science. The trio of station residents also continued more eye checks with assistance from specialists on the ground.
One-Year crew member Mikhail Kornienko participated in the Matroyshka and RADI-N studies monitoring space radiation and exploring how it affects station crew members. Commander Gennady Padalka explored the behavior of liquid crystals in microgravity for the OASIS experiment with results potentially benefitting future space helmets with small display screens. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly worked in the Microgravity Science Glovebox cleaning up after earlier work with the Rodent Research study.
NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko are the next crew preparing to launch to the space station and join Expedition 44. Their launch aboard a Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft is planned for July 22 when they will take a six-hour ride to their new home in space.
Astronaut Scott Kelly works inside the Kibo laboratory. Credit: NASA
The three-member Expedition 44 crew is conducting biomedical science today to study the effects of living in space on a crew member’s body. The International Space Station will raise its orbit tomorrow to allow another trio of space residents to join the orbiting residents at the end of July.
Commander Gennady Padalka and One-Year crew members Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko took part in the Ocular Health study today. They looked at the interior of each other’s eyes with a tonometer and checked their blood pressure. Scientists are exploring how microgravity affects an astronaut’s vision and the eye’s physiology.
Back on Earth, astronauts from the U.S., Russia and Japan are counting down to their July 22 lift-off on a Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft to join Expedition 44. The docked ISS Progress 58 spacecraft will fire its engines Thursday morning staging the space station for the new crew’s arrival.
ISS042E037847 (12/15/2014) — Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti captured this image while on the International Space Station. It shows cloud cover over England, Baltic Sea and the Persian Gulf.
SpaceX engineers are in the final weeks of processing of the Falcon 9 rocket that will launch their Dragon commercial cargo craft to the International Space Station late next week. On orbit, a pair of Expedition 44 crew members reviewed the procedures they will use when the Dragon supply ship arrives a few days later.
During ongoing orbital station maintenance today, advanced microgravity science took place as the orbiting trio continues to explore phenomena that can only be observed in space. The crew researched acoustic methods to locate micrometeoroid impacts on the station for the Proboy study. They also explored the effects of weightlessness in the carotid artery and the redistribution of blood in the upper half of a crew member’s body.
SpaceX will launch the Falcon 9 rocket carrying the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft to the station June 26. It will arrive June 29 to be captured by the Canadarm2 with One-Year crew member Scott Kelly at the controls. Kelly will capture Dragon with the assistance of station commander Gennady Padalka who will monitor Dragon systems before it is berthed to the Harmony Node.
ISS043E279114 (05/30/2015) — NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly works aboard the International Space Station on May 30, 2015 on a number of science experiments and maintenance of the stations equipment.
The three residents aboard the International Space Station conducted advanced microgravity science and trained for the arrival of the seventh SpaceX Dragon mission scheduled for the end of the month.
One-Year crew members Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko partnered up for the Fine Motor Skills study, part of a suite of yearlong studies planned for the pair. That experiment explores how astronauts operate and repair interactive, touch-based and sensitive technologies in space. Kornienko later studied the possibility of using 3-D manuals, or virtual manuals, to improve training techniques on science hardware.
Kelly joined Commander Gennady Padalka in the afternoon for rendezvous training as they prepare for the next SpaceX Dragon launch scheduled for June 26. The duo will be in the cupola monitoring Dragon and waiting to capture it with the Canadarm2 when it arrives June 29.
201506110001HQ — The Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 43. Credit: Bill Ingalls
Three Expedition 43 crew members are readapting to Earth’s gravity after returning home Thursday morning. The trio still onboard the International Space Station is working advanced microgravity science, orbital maintenance and exercise to remain fit and counter the effects of living in space.
Expedition 44 started early Thursday morning after the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft undocked from the Rassvet module. NASA astronaut Terry Virts, ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov parachuted to a landing in Kazakhstan a few hours later.
Remaining in space and waiting for a new crew are cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly. Kornienko and Kelly are the One-Year crew members and Padalka is the new Expedition 44 commander.
The orbiting trio looked ways to improve performance in space with the Sprint experiment. They also explored methods to detect pressure leaks and radiation in the space station for the Bar and Matroyshka experiments.
Russian mission managers have chosen July 22 as the launch date for three new Expedition 44 crew members. Soyuz TMA-17M Commander Oleg Kononenko will be joined by astronauts Kjell Lindgren from NASA and Kimiya Yui from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency for the ride to space and return home in December.
The Soyuz spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Terry Virts, European astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov is seen just a few seconds from landing in the steppe of Kazakhstan. Credit: NASA TV
Expedition 43 Commander Terry Virts of NASA, Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA and Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos landed their Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft in Kazakhstan at 9:44 a.m. EDT. Russian recovery teams will help the crew exit the Soyuz vehicle and adjust to gravity after their stay in space.
The trio arrived at the International Space Station on Nov. 24, 2014, and spent more than six months conducting research and technology demonstrations. Virts, Cristoforetti and Shkaplerov spent 199 days aboard the space station and clocked almost 84 million miles during their time in space.
Virts has logged 212 days in space on two flights, the first of which was on space shuttle mission STS-130 in 2010. Shkaplerov has spent 364 days in space on two flights, the first of which was on Expedition 29/30 in 2011. This was Cristoforetti’s first flight into space.
Expedition 43 crew members Terry Virts, Anton Shkaplerov and Samantha Cristoforetti rest in seats surrounded by support personnel shortly after being extracted from the Soyuz spacecraft after its landing. Credit: NASA TV
The station now is occupied by Expedition 44 Commander Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Flight Engineer Scott Kelly of NASA and Mikhail Kornienko of Roscosmos. Kelly and Kornienko are two and half months into their year aboard the complex collecting valuable biomedical data that will inform future deep space, long-duration missions.
The remainder of the Expedition 44 crew, NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, is scheduled to launch from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, in late July.
Some items returning on this Soyuz were used as part of research investigations aboard the International Space Station. Equipment that supports various studies which use dosimeters will return with the crew. Dosimeters are devices that measure radiation. Several investigations employ the dosimeters to gather information about space radiation to help manage exposure and provide protection to crew members.
Both the Area Passive Dosimeter for Life-Science Experiments in Space (Area PADLES) and the Dosimetric Mapping (DOSMAP) investigations aboard the space station help researchers collect data to design radiation monitoring equipment for astronauts. This knowledge may improve design for spacecraft structures that shield internal occupants from radiation. Scientists also may use the data to develop protection devices for people who work in medical or industrial areas with potential radiation exposure.
Samples from the ongoing Study of the Impact of Long-Term Space Travel on the Astronauts’ Microbiome investigation also will return. The Microbiome study looks at the impact of space travel on the immune system and on human microbiomes – microbes living in and on the human body at any given time. Samples from crew members’ bodies and the space station environment are taken periodically to monitor changes in the immune system and microbiomes. The results of this study may add to research on health impacts to people who live and work in extreme environments on Earth, and help with research on early disease detection, metabolic function and immune system deficiency.
The Soyuz spacecraft carrying Expedition 43 backs away from the International Space Station after undocking on time. Credit: NASA TV
After spending 199 days aboard the International Space Station, Terry Virts, Samantha Cristoforetti and Anton Shkaplerov undocked from the station at 6:20 a.m. EDT to begin their voyage home. Shkaplerov, the Soyuz commander, is at the controls of the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft.
They will perform a separation burn to increase the distance from the station before executing a 4-minute, 35-second deorbit burn at 8:51 a.m. The crew is scheduled to land at 9:43 a.m. southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.
The departure of Virts, Cristoforetti and Shkaplerov marks the end of Expedition 43. The Expedition 44 crew members, Commander Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Scott Kelly of NASA and Mikhail Kornienko of Roscosmos will continue research and maintenance aboard the station and will be joined next month by three additional crew members, NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
NASA Television will air live coverage of the Soyuz TMA-15M deorbit burn and landing beginning at 8:30 a.m. at https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv.
Astronaut Terry Virts (left foreground) ceremoniously hands over command of the International Space Station to cosmonaut Gennady Padalka (right foreground). Credit: NASA TV
Three Expedition 43 crew members are busy preparing for their homecoming during their last full day in space. Commander Terry Virts ceremoniously handed over control of the International Space Station this morning to veteran cosmonaut Gennady Padalka.
Virts and Flight Engineers Anton Shkaplerov and Samantha Cristoforetti will end their stay tomorrow at 6:20 a.m. EDT when they undock from the Rassvet module. The trio in their Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft will parachute to a landing in Kazakhstan at 9:43 a.m. after 199 days in space. NASA TV will cover the undocking and landing activities live.
Science, the main purpose of the space station, is still ongoing today as One-Year crew member Scott Kelly collected his urine and saliva samples for the Twins study. Scientists are comparing his body in weightlessness with his Earth-bound identical twin brother and ex-astronaut Mark Kelly.
Thrusters on a Soyuz spacecraft inadvertently fired Tuesday morning momentarily changing the station’s orientation. Russian flight controllers quickly corrected the situation and the crew was never in any danger nor is there any impact on the Expedition 43 undocking Thursday morning.
Astronaut and One-Year crew member Scott Kelly talks to the press Wednesday morning from the Quest joint airlock. Credit: NASA TV
ISS043E190604 (05/13/2015) — SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule is seen here docked to the Earth facing port of the Harmony module. SpaceX’s sixth commercial resupply flight to the International Space Station launched on April 14th and arrived three days later. It will depart with over 3,100 pounds of research samples and equipment and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on May 21.
The USOS crewmembers worked a reduced day today as they prepare to sleep shift in preparation for SpaceX-6 departure on Thursday.
The crew performed a checkout of the Commercial Orbital Transport Services (COTS) UHF Communication Unit (CUCU) that the crew will use to communicate with the Dragon capsule while it is flying free in the vicinity of the station. They also continued loading the final cargo items onto Dragon which will return about 3,100 pounds of experiment samples and other hardware.
One-Year crew member Mikhail Kornienko took samples for the Fluid Shifts experiment, an investigation into the suspected cause of astronaut vision changes while in microgravity. ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti also performed eye scans on NASA astronaut Terry Virts for an astronaut vision study known as Ocular Health which tests microgravity-induced visual impairment, as well as changes believed to arise from elevated intracranial pressure, to characterize how living in microgravity can affect the visual, vascular and central nervous systems. The investigation also measures how long it takes for crew members to return to normal after they return to Earth.
