2.06.2018
Credit: NASA
-
Three spaceflyers are returning to Earth early Sunday morning (June 3), and you can watch their homecoming live.
Coverage starts at 1:30 a.m. EDT (0530 GMT), when NASA astronaut Scott Tingle, cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov and Norishige Kanai of Japan say goodbye to their fellow International Space Station (ISS) crewmembers and board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for the trip back to terra firma. You can watch this farewell, and all the action to follow, live at Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV.
Hatches between the ISS and the Soyuz are scheduled to close at 1:55 a.m. EDT (0555 GMT). If all goes according to plan, the Soyuz will depart at 5:16 a.m. EDT (0916 GMT), perform a deorbit burn at 7:47 a.m. EDT (1147 GMT) and touch down on the steppes of Kazakhstan at 8:40 a.m. EDT (1240 GMT), NASA officials said.
Undocking coverage will begin at 4:45 a.m. EDT (0845 GMT), and landing coverage will start about 30 minutes before the deorbit burn, at 7:15 a.m. EDT (1115 GMT).
Tingle, Shkaplerov and Kanai were part of the ISS' Expedition 55 mission, which will officially end when the trio's Soyuz undocks. Shkaplerov already handed the keys to the orbiting lab over to NASA astronaut Drew Feustel, during a ceremony on Friday (June 1). Feustel will command the new Expedition 56.
The three homecoming spaceflyers are wrapping up a 168-day orbital mission that featured 2,688 laps around Earth, which covered a total of 71.2 million miles (114.6 million kilometers), NASA officials said.
The departure of Tingle, Shkaplerov and Kanai will leave the ISS with just three residents — Feustel, fellow NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold and cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev. But this skeleton crew will soon have company: A Soyuz spacecraftcarrying cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev, NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor and the European Space Agency's Alexander Gerst is scheduled to launch atop a Russian Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early Wednesday (June 6). If all goes according to plan, the newcomers will arrive at the ISS on Friday morning (June 8).
Quelle: SC
+++
NASA Television to Air Return of One Space Station Crew, Launch of Another
Three of the crew members currently aboard the International Space Station are scheduled to end their mission on the orbiting laboratory on Sunday, June 3. A few days later, another trio of space travelers will depart for the station on a launch scheduled for Wednesday, June 6. Live coverage of both the landing and launch will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
In advance of the departure, the traditional change of command ceremony on Friday, June 1, will see Expedition 55 Commander Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos hand over command of the station to NASA’s Drew Feustel for Expedition 56.
Shkaplerov and Flight Engineers Scott Tingle of NASA and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will close the hatch to the Soyuz MS-07 spacecraft and undock from the Rassvet module as they head for a parachute-assisted landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan a little more than three hours later. The crew is completing a mission spanning 168 days, with 2,688 orbits of the Earth and a journey of 71.2 million miles. The mission also marks the first spaceflight for Tingle.
After landing, the crew will return by helicopter to the recovery staging city in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, where Tingle and Kanai will board a NASA plane for a flight back to Houston while Shkaplerov returns to his home in Star City, Russia.
At the time of undocking, Expedition 56 will begin formally aboard the station, with Feustel, NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold and Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos comprising a three-person crew for several days.
At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos, Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA and Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency) are preparing to launch in the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft Wednesday, June 6, on a two-day journey to dock to the station.
Coverage of Expedition 55 landing and Expedition 56 launch activities will be as follows (all times EDT):
Friday, June 1
- 2:25 p.m. – Change of command ceremony with Anton Shkaplerov handing over station command to NASA astronaut Drew Feustel
Sunday, June 3
- 1:30 a.m. – Farewell and hatch closure coverage (hatch closure at 1:55 a.m.)
- 4:45 a.m. – Undocking coverage (undocking scheduled for 5:16 a.m.)
- 7:15 a.m. – Deorbit burn and landing coverage (deorbit burn at 7:47 and landing at 8:40 a.m.)
Wednesday, June 6
- 6:15 a.m. – Soyuz MS-09 launch coverage (launch at 7:12 a.m.)
Friday, June 8
- 8:15 a.m. – Docking coverage (docking scheduled for 9:07 a.m.)
- 10:30 a.m. – Hatch opening and welcome coverage
A full complement of video of the crew’s prelaunch activities in Baikonur will air on NASA TV in the days preceding launch.
The crew members of Expedition 56-57 will continue work on hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science aboard the International Space Station, humanity’s only permanently occupied microgravity laboratory.
Quelle: NASA
---
Update: 3.06.2018 / 7.30 MESZ
.
My last night...goodnight @Space_Station! LAB at night, taken by @Astro_Feustel.
+++
+++7.50 MESZ
+++
+++19.00 MESZ
Expedition 55 Crew Returns Home from the International Space Station
The Soyuz MS-07 spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 55 crew members Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos, Scott Tingle of NASA, and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Sunday, June 3, 2018. Shkaplerov, Tingle, and Kanai are returning after 168 days in space where they served as members of the Expedition 54 and 55 crews onboard the International Space Station.
+++
Three members of the International Space Station Expedition 55 crew, including NASA astronaut Scott Tingle, returned to Earth Sunday after 168 days of living and working in low-Earth orbit.
Tingle, astronaut Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos landed at 8:39 a.m. EDT (6:39 p.m. in Kazakhstan) southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan.
This mission was the first for Tingle and Kanai, and Shkaplerov now has logged 532 days in space on three flights. The crew completed hundreds of experiments, including materials testing, a study of the effect of microgravity on the bone marrow and research into plant growth in space.
They also welcomed four cargo spacecraft delivering several tons of supplies and experiments. A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft arrived at the station in December, followed by another Dragon in April and Orbital ATK’s Cygnus resupply spacecraft in May. A Russian Progress cargo craft arrived at the station in February.
Tingle and Kanai ventured outside the station on separate spacewalks to perform work on parts of the Canadarm2 robotic arm. They also participated in dozens of educational events as part of NASA’s Year of Education on Station.
Shkaplerov conducted a record-setting spacewalk in February with fellow cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin to replace an electronics box for a communications antenna on the Zvezda service module. The spacewalk timed out at 8 hours and 13 minutes – the longest in Russian space program history.
The Expedition 56 crew – Commander Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold of NASA, and Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos – will operate the station and prepare for the arrival of three new crew members on Friday, June 8. Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA, Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency), and Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos are scheduled to launch Wednesday, June 6, from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. NASA Television will broadcast the launch and docking to the space station.
Quelle: NASA