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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
The three will join NASAs Jack Fischer and Peggy Whitson as well as the veteran Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Russias Ryazansky is the crews most experience astronaut with 160 days in space under his belt. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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Read the rest here: 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. Continue reading
\nRetired Marine colonel one of 3 astronauts en route to space station - Military Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"