Daily Archives: July 31, 2017

The Soyuz MS-05 rocket is launched with Expedition 52 flight engineer Sergei Ryazanskiy of Roscosmos, flight engineer Randy Bresnik of NASA, and flight engineer Paolo Nespoli of ESA (European Space Agency), Friday, July 28, 2017 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

An all veteran multinational trio of astronauts and cosmonauts rocketed to orbit aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule and safely arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) after a fast track rendezvous on Friday, July 28.

NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, Sergey Ryazanskiy of Roscosmos and Paolo Nespoli of ESA (European Space Agency) docked at the orbital outpost at 5:54 p.m. EDT (2154 GMT) Friday just six hours after departing our Home Planet.

The three crewmates launched aboard the Russian Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan during a typically hot mid-summers night at 9:41 p.m. Baikonur time, or 11:41 a.m. EDT.

The entire launch sequence aboard the Soyuz rocket performed flawlessly and delivered the Soyuz capsule to its targeted preliminary orbit flowing by the planned opening of the vehicles solar arrays and antennas.

The Russian Soyuz MS-05 carrying NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, Sergey Ryazanskiy of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, and Paolo Nespoli of ESA (European Space Agency) docked to the International Space Station at 5:54 p.m. on Friday, July 28, 2017. Credits: NASA Television

Following a rapid series of orbit raising maneuvers, the Soyuz reached the ISS after 4 orbits and six hours to successfully complete all the rendezvous and docking procedures.

The Soyuz docked at the Earth-facing Russian Rassvet module as the spaceships were flying some 250 mi (400 km) over Germany.

The Soyuz MS-05 rocket is launched with Expedition 52 flight engineer Sergei Ryazanskiy of Roscosmos, flight engineer Randy Bresnik of NASA, and flight engineer Paolo Nespoli of ESA (European Space Agency), Friday, July 28, 2017 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Following the standard pressurization and leak checks, the hatches between the spacecraft and station were opened from inside the ISS at about 9:45 p.m. EDT.

The new trio of Bresnik, Ryazanskiy and Nespoli then floated one by one from the Soyuz into the station and restored the outpost to a full strength crew of six humans.

The veteran space flyers join Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of Roscosmos and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer of NASA who are already serving aboard.

Thus begins Expedition 52 aboard the million pound orbiting science complex.

The Soyuz MS-05 rocket is launched with Expedition 52 flight engineer Sergei Ryazanskiy of Roscosmos, flight engineer Randy Bresnik of NASA, and flight engineer Paolo Nespoli of ESA (European Space Agency), Friday, July 28, 2017 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

This is the second space flight for both Bresnik and Ryazanskiy and the third for Nespoli.

The new Expedition 52 crew will spend a four and a half month stint aboard the station and continue over 250 ongoing science investigations in fields such as biology, Earth science, human research, physical sciences and technology development.

Bresnik, Ryazanskiy and Nespoli are slated to stay aboard until returning to Earth in December.

Whitson, Fischer and Yurchikhin are in the home stretch of their mission and will retun to Earth in September. Shortly after their departure, NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Joseph Acaba and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin will launch on the next Soyuz from Kazakhstan to join the Expedition 53 crew.

Whitson is the most experienced US astronaut with time in space. Her record setting cumulative time in space will exceed 600 days and include a 9 month stay on this flight upon her return to Earth.

The newly-expanded Expedition 52 crew expect to welcome a pair of unmanned US cargo ships carrying new research experiments and supplies, namely the SpaceX Dragon as soon as August and Orbital ATK Cygnus a month or two later, on NASA-contracted commercial resupply missions.

The SpaceX CRS-12 mission will carry investigations the crew will work on including a study developed by the Michael J. Fox Foundation of the pathology of Parkinsons disease to aid in the development of therapies for patients on Earth. The crew will use the special nature of microgravity in a new lung tissue study to advance understanding of how stem cells work and pave the way for further use of the microgravity environment in stem cell research. Expedition astronauts also will assemble and deploy a microsatellite investigation seeking to validate the concept of using microsatellites in low-Earth orbit to support critical operations, such as providing lower-cost Earth imagery in time-sensitive situations such as tracking severe weather and detecting natural disasters.

Watch for Kens onsite space mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

Stay tuned here for Kens continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news.

By Ken Kremer - Dr. Ken Kremer is a speaker, research scientist, freelance science journalist (Princeton, NJ) and photographer whose articles, space exploration images and Mars mosaics have appeared in magazines, books, websites and calendars including Astronomy Picture of the Day, NBC, FOX, BBC, SPACE.com, Spaceflight Now, Science and the covers of Aviation Week & Space Technology, Spaceflight and the Explorers Club magazines. Ken has presented at numerous educational institutions, civic & religious organizations, museums and astronomy clubs. Ken has reported first hand from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, NASA Wallops, NASA Michoud/Stennis/Langley and on over 70 launches including 8 shuttle launches. He lectures on both Human and Robotic spaceflight - http://www.kenkremer.com. Follow Ken on Facebook and Twitter

Baikonur Cosmodrome, esa, Expedition 52, Featured, International Space Station (ISS), ISS, NASA, paolo nespoli, Peggy Whitson, Randy Bresnik, Roskosmos, Soyuz, Soyuz MS-05

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Veteran Multinational Trio Launches on Soyuz and Arrives at ... - Universe Today

A Russian Soyuz rocket launched three veteran space travelers from the U.S., Russia and Italy into orbit Friday (July 28), kicking off a five-month mission tothe International Space Station.

The trio successfully launched at 11:41 a.m. EDT (1541 GMT) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which borders Russia in the north and west. It was 9:41 p.m. local time at the launch site.

The Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft was helmed by experienced Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy,alongside Randy Bresnik (NASA) from California and Paolo Nespoli (European Space Agency) from Milan, Italy. After a 6-hour orbital chase, the Soyuz docked at the space station's Rassvet module at 5:54 p.m. EDT (2154 GMT).

The Soyuz MS-05 rocket carrying Expedition 52 flight engineer Sergei Ryazanskiy of Roscosmos, flight engineer Randy Bresnik of NASA and flight engineer Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency launches into space from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on Friday, July 28, 2017.

Throughout the NASA launch broadcast, Public Affairs spokesperson Dan Huot said ground control in Houston and Moscow were"continuing to get good reports," and confirmed "we had a successful launch."

All three space travelers have been to space before. Cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy first trained for space flights as the commander of a crew during Russia's 105-dayMars500isolation experiment in 2009. He ultimately served as flight engineer aboard the Soyuz TMA-10M spacecraft in 2013, and spent 166 days in space this will be his second launch and long-duration mission. Since last year, he has also served as the chairman for the youth organization Russian Movement of Schoolchildren.

Astronaut Randy Bresnik also experimented in simulation missions early in his career. He commanded the underwater NEEMO 19 mission(the name's short forNASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) in 2014. This will be his second spaceflight and his first long-duration mission: He flew to the space station aboard a NASA shuttle in 2009. In fact, Bresnik experienced some baby jitters when his daughter was scheduled to be born the day of his first spacewalk. In one bit of trivia, Bresnik's grandfather was the photographer for famed female pilot Amelia Earhart. For this flight, Bresnik told Space.com that he's looking forward toseeing the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse from the space station.

Astronaut Paolo Nespoli is heading to space for the third time: He flew for two weeks on the space shuttle in 2007 to help install a module of the space station, and he revisited the space station in 2010 for a 160-day mission. Nespoli is an Italian astronaut with the European Space Agency (ESA). His science mission for ESA is called Vita (short for Vitality, Innovation, Technology and Ability) and was selected by Italy's ASI space agency. Vita is Italian for "life."

Expedition 52 flight engineer Randy Bresnik of NASA, top, flight engineer Paolo Nespoli of ESA (European Space Agency), middle, and flight engineer Sergei Ryazanskiy of Roscosmos wave farewell before boarding their Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft for a launch to the International Space Station from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on July 28, 2017.

The trio will join the Expedition 52 crew, which includes Peggy Whitson (NASA) of Iowa, Fyodor Yurchikhin (Roscosmos) from the country of Georgia and Jack Fischer (NASA) of Colorado. The latter three have been studying how microgravity impacts cancer therapies since April, and have been measuring the composition of meteors orbiting Earth's atmosphere.

The three new arrivals will participate in many research projects, including a phenomenon that is perhaps of special interest to the astronauts already in orbit: the "puffy face" appearance that astronauts have in microgravity. According to NASA's space station blog, one of the effects of living in space is a tendency of bodily fluids to move up toward the head, which may lead to vision damage.

They will also undertake research projects that pertain to biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science. This new crew will remain at the space station until mid-December, according to NASA.

They will also undertake research projects that pertain to biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science. This new crew will remain at the space station until mid-December, according to NASA.The three new arrivals will participate in many research projects, including a phenomenon that is perhaps of special interest to the astronauts already in orbit: the "puffy face" appearance that astronauts have in microgravity. According to NASA's space station blog, one of the effects of living in space is a tendency of bodily fluids to move up toward the head, which may lead to vision damage.

This story was updated at 6:15 p.m. EDT.

Follow Doris Elin Salazar on Twitter @salazar_elin.Follow us@Spacedotcom,FacebookandGoogle+. Original article onSpace.com.

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Veteran 3-Man Crew Launches to International Space Station - Space.com

New Delhi: From the hot, parched deserts of Africa and the high and magnificent peaks of France and Swiss Alps to gorgeous night and day views of various cities across the globe, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have taken it upon themselves to take us on our personal ISS ride through breathtaking photographs.

Their vantage point in the cupola has now become our favourite place too, since we know where all the beautiful views come from.

The images beamed back from high above are truly a sight for sore eyes and astronaut Jack Fischer it seems, just can't get enough of the grandeur of the views.

The space first-timer has been treating his followers on a regular basis with some of the most breathtaking photographs, ever since he joined the ISS crew in April 2017.

His excitement is pretty much credible as much as it is palpable to be cruising 250 kilometres above the Earth and that comes forth through the lens of his camera.

In his latest post on Twitter, Fischer has posted a stunning space view video of the ISS' journey from San Diego to Denver at night.

He wrote: San Diego to Denverat nightfrom space. It always amazes me how fast were cruisin around the planet, but I sure love the view!

Needless to say, the view is awe-inspiring and we can only imagine how it might look in person.

Check out the video below:

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ISS astronaut Jack Fischer takes us on an enrapturing space station ride from San Diego to Denver! - Watch video - Zee News

Robbi Gregory, with PR-B Community Education, said they applied to the program after one community education class met via Skype with a NASA employee.

"We were learning about physics and microgravity and all of this stuff," Gregory said. "It ended with NASA's digital learning network program where educators will talk to kids and it's like a Skype classroom. The kids were ridiculously excited about that even though it was just a guy behind a desk. The fact that someone from NASA wanted to talk to them was huge in their world. Some kids still talk about it and it's been five or six months."

One student asked if girls could work for NASA, and ever since being given a resounding yes, she has decided she wants to be an astrophysicist. The enabling power of that one answer inspired Gregory to look into an even bigger program and apply for the NASA In-flight Education Downlink program, which requires a comprehensive plan and evidence of a clear impact the program would make.

PR-B was selected from 65 educational organizations that submitted letters of intent to take part in this program, in part because of the life-changing impact the program could have on local students.

"It was astounding that these kids were learning about all of this stuff," Gregory said. "They are capable and a lot of them still don't realize they can be a part of it. I think our kids, being low income and rural, I think the impact was pretty phenomenal and compelling to them."

The downlink is still being scheduled. The exact time and date will not be known until Sept. 8, though the tentative plan is to hold the event during a 9-11:30 a.m. window.

"Their time is scheduled up to the five minutes," Gregory said. "Everything they do is scheduled. The fact that they give us 20 minutes is pretty awesome."

The program is no cost to PR-B. If the school elects to have a NASA exhibit at the event, then the school district would be expected to pay for shipping costs. This is still being decided.

Students will be asked to submit questions for the event, and 20 questions will be selected from those submitted. The students who submitted those questions will get the chance to ask them over Skype. The astronauts in question will be Randy Bresnik and Mark Vande Hei.

"This is a really big deal for us," Gregory said. "It's a very big honor for our school to be chosen."

This year the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph and St. John's University in Collegeville are scheduled for a downlink in January. Otherwise the Henning School District, the Boy Scouts of America Northern Star Council in St. Paul and Crossroads Elementary School in St. Paul are the only Minnesota groups to have hosted downlinks in the past.

Nationally more than 200 In-flight Education Downlinks have occurred, according to NASA representatives.

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PR-B School: Students to communicate with International Space Station astronauts - The Lake Country Echo

A retired Marine officer was one of three astronauts aboard a Soyuz space capsule that successfully blasted off for the International Space Station on Friday.

NASAs Randy Bresnik, Russias Sergei Ryazansky and Italys Paolo Nespoli lifted off from the Russia-leased launch pad in Kazakhstan shortly after sunset, around 11:41 a.m. Eastern. They were to travel about six hours before docking at the space station.

The three will join NASAs Jack Fischer and Peggy Whitson as well as the veteran Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin.

Bresnik, a retired colonel, previously logged 10 days in space when he flew on a mission in 2009, performing two spacewalks. While in the Marine Corps, he served as an F/A-18 test pilot and flew combat missions in support ofOperation Southern Watch and Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to his NASA bio.

Hes flown more than 6,000 hours in more than 80 types of aircraft, per his bio. He was selected for the astronaut program in 2004 and completed training in 2006.

Russias Ryazansky is the crews most experience astronaut with 160 days in space under his belt.

The incoming crew will contribute to more than 250 experiments conducted at the orbiting lab in fields such as biology, human research, physical sciences and technology development.

Flight Engineer Whitson earlier this week was doing research for a cancer study that may help develop more effective treatments for cancer patients, NASA reported.

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Retired Marine colonel one of 3 astronauts en route to space station - Military Times