The Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft with three cosmonauts aboard departs the space station on time to return the crewmates to Earth. Credit: NASA TV
Yesterday, September 29, the Soyuz spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) at 3:34 a.m. EDT (12:34 a.m. PDT), carrying Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev, and Sergey Korsakov back to Earth.
Expedition 68 officially began onboard the station at the time of undocking. Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA (European Space Agency) is the station commander for the crew consisting of NASAEstablished in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government that succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). It is responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. Its vision is "To discover and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity." Its core values are "safety, integrity, teamwork, excellence, and inclusion."” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>NASA astronauts Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren, Frank Rubio, and Jessica Watkins, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin.
The trio of cosmonauts landed backon Earth at 6:57 a.m. EDT in Kazakhstan (4:57 p.m. Kazakhstan time), southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan.
The Soyuz MS-21 crew ship with three cosmonauts aboard is seen parachuting to a landing in Kazakhstan less than three-and-a-half hours after undocking from the space station. Credit: NASA TV
The trio of Russian comonauts arrived at the station on March 18 aboard the Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft. The trio returns to Earth after 195 days in space that spanned 3,120 orbits of Earth and over 78 million miles.
This was the first flight for both Matveev and Korsakov. At the time of landing, the two cosmonauts will have each logged 195 days in space.
Artemyev completed five spacewalks totaling 33 hours, 12 minutes during the mission. He has now logged a combined 561 days in space on his three flights.
During the mission, Matveev completed four spacewalks totaling 26 hours, 7 minutes. He logged 195 days in space on his first flight.
On his first voyage, Korsakov spent 195 days in space as well.
The trio will return to the recovery staging city in Karaganda, Kazakhstan via Russian helicopters, before boarding a Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center aircraft to return to their training base in Star City, Russia.
Remaining aboard the station is the seven-person crew of Expedition 66. This includes Station Commander Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA (European Space Agency), NASA astronauts Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren, Frank Rubio, and Jessica Watkins, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin.
In October, NASA’s SpaceXCommonly known as SpaceX, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is a private American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company that was founded by Elon Musk in 2002. Headquartered in Hawthorne, California, the company designs, manufactures, and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>SpaceX Crew-5 members will join the Expedition 68 members aboard the station. This four person team is comprised of NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, JAXAFormed in 2003, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was born through the merger of three institutions, namely the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan (NAL) and the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA). JAXA performs various activities related to aerospace, from basic research in the aerospace field to development and utilization and is responsible for research, technology development, and launch of satellites into orbit, and is involved in advanced missions such as asteroid exploration and possible human exploration of the Moon.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina. Crew-5 will be the fifth crew rotation mission of SpaceX’s human space transportation system, and its sixth flight with astronauts, to the ISS for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
The ISS has already surpassed 20 years of continuous human presence, providing opportunities for unique technological demonstrations and research that help prepare for long-duration missions to the Moon and MarsMars is the second smallest planet in our solar system and the fourth planet from the sun. It is a dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin atmosphere. Iron oxide is prevalent in Mars' surface resulting in its reddish color and its nickname "The Red Planet." Mars' name comes from the Roman god of war.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>Mars while also improving life on Earth. Thus far, 260 people from 20 countries have visited the orbiting laboratory that has hosted more than 3,000 research investigations from scientists in more than 100 countries and areas.
Source: SciTechDaily
