ROSCOSMOS - Soyuz MS-06 Mission patch.
February 27, 2018
Image above: Expedition 55 Commander Anton Shkaplerov (foreground) says farewell to his Expedition 54 crewmates inside the Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft that will return them to Earth today. Image Credit: NASA TV.
NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba and Commander Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos undocked from the International Space Station at 6:08 p.m. EST to begin their voyage home to Earth.
The deborbit burn is targeted for 8:38 p.m., and will lead to a landing at 9:31 p.m. NASA Television coverage of deorbit and landing begins at 8 p.m. Watch their return to Earth online at NASA website.
Their time on station marked the beginning of the first long-term increase in crew size on the U.S. segment from three people to four, enabling NASA to double the time dedicated to research and achieve a record-setting week of research that surpassed 100 hours. Highlights from this research include investigations into the manufacturing of fiber optic filaments in microgravity, improving the accuracy of an implantable glucoses biosensor, and measuring the Sun’s energy input to Earth.
Image above. Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft in free flight after undocked International Space Station (ISS). Image Credit: NASA TV.
This mission was the first spaceflight for Vande Hei, the second for Misurkin, and the third for Acaba. Their cumulative time in space, respectively, is 168 days, 334 days, and 306 days.
With the undocking, Expedition 55 has now begun aboard the station with Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos as the Commander and Flight Engineers Scott Tingle of NASA, and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Three additional crew members arrive on March 23. Ricky Arnold and Drew Feustel of NASA and Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 21 for a two-day journey to join Expedition 55 on station.
Related links:
NASA TV: http://www.nasa.gov/live
Fiber optic filaments: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7388
Implantable glucoses biosensor: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7703
Sun’s energy input to Earth: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1907
Expedition 54: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition54/index.html
Expedition 55: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition55/index.html
Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/index.html
International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia.
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