Daily Archives: May 30, 2013

Three astronauts have completed their six-hour trip aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station.

The spacecraft carrying Russian Soyuz Cmdr. Fyodor Yurchikhin, American astronaut Karen Nyberg and Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano connected with the space station slightly ahead of schedule at about 10:10 p.m. ET on Tuesday night.

Ten minutes later, the docking procedure was complete.

The docking was "right on the money," said mission control after the Russian-made spacecraft arrived six minutes under the previous record time, though one of the many voices audible on the video feed noted the goal of such flights is "precision, not speed."

The three astronauts blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazahkstan at 4:31 p.m. ET Tuesday (12:31 a.m. local time Wednesday).

They orbited the Earth four times before docking with the space station's Rassvet module.

After docking, two hours passed before pressure equalized between the capsule and the station, allowing safe entry.

"It was a pretty cool ride," Nyberg said upon arrival.

Yurchikhin, 54, is a veteran of three previous spaceflights, while the 36-year-old Parmitano, a former test pilot, is making his first trip into space. Nyberg, 43, spent two weeks in space in 2008 as part of a U.S. space shuttle crew.

Onboard the space station they join Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin and NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, who arrived at the space station in March. Vinogradov is currently commander of the space station. He will hand over command to Yurchikhin in September, when Vinogradov, Misurkin and Cassidy head back to Earth.

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New crew arrives at International Space Station

A Soyuz capsule carrying three new crew members successfully docked with the International Space Station on Wednesday, welcoming NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg and two crewmates from Russia and Italy.

By Miriam Kramer Space.com

Three astronauts from Russia, the United States and Italy have become the newest residents of the International Space Station after a record-setting trip.

Five hours and 40 minutes after asuccessful Soyuz rocket launchfrom the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, NASA's Karen Nyberg and Italy's Luca Parmitano docked their Soyuz spacecraft at the orbiting laboratory at 10:10 p.m. ET Tuesday. The new crew will remain on the space station for the next six months.

"I've never felt better in my life," Yurchikhin said just after the Soyuz docked at the station while sailing high above the South Pacific.[See Photos from the Launch and Docking]

Fast track to spaceTuesday's same-day launch and docking was the second express flight to the International Space Station by an astronaut crew.

Unmanned cargo vessels have made this kind of trip several times before, but the one-day missions are a relatively new method of flying for manned Soyuz capsules. Typically, it takes astronauts about two days to reach the space station. The fast-track itinerary calls for the capsule to orbit the Earth only four times, shortening the amount of time the astronauts need to spend in the cramped spaceship.

Watch a Russian Soyuz rocket lift off from Kazakhstan, carrying a U.S.-Italian-Russian crew to the International Space Station.

The first Soyuz crew to fly to the station using this expedited technique were waiting to greet Nyberg, Parmitano and Yurchikhin after the opening of the capsule's hatch. The three newest space station residents will join NASA's Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Misurkin and Pavel Vinogradov to round out the Expedition 36 crew.

"[Your trip was] even faster than Pavel," a Russian mission controller joked with Yurchikhin after docking. The Russian Soyuz commander beat Vinogradov's time to the station by six minutes.

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Trio makes trip to space station in record time