New Station Trio Launches to Expand Expedition 41 to Six

ROSCOSMOS - Soyuz TMA-14M Mission patch.

September 25, 2014

Image above: The Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft launches on time carrying a new Expedition 41 trio to their new home on orbit. Image Credit: NASA TV.

A new Expedition 41/42 trio is on its way to the International Space Station after lifting off at 4:25 p.m. EDT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev and Flight Engineers Barry Wilmore and Elena Serova are on a six-hour, four-orbit ride to the International Space Station inside the Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft.

Expedition 41/42 Launches to the International Space Station

There will soon be five spacecraft docked to the station reaching its maximum visiting vehicle capacity. There will be two Soyuz vehicles, one Progress 56 resupply ship, Europe’s “Georges Lemaître” ATV-5 and the SpaceX Dragon commercial space freighter which arrived Tuesday morning.

The Poisk docking compartment will host the new Soyuz when it docks at 10:15 p.m. Hatches between the Soyuz and the station will open around 11:55 p.m. after leak and pressure checks.

The new crew will then float into their new home for a welcoming ceremony and congratulatory calls from family, friends and mission officials in Baikonur. After the ceremony has ended the new crew will undergo a mandatory safety orientation to familiarize themselves with escape paths and procedures and locations of safety gear.

Wilmore is starting his second visit to the space station. He piloted space shuttle Atlantis in November 2009 which delivered two EXPRESS Logistics Carriers carrying station gear and returned Expedition 20/21 Flight Engineer Nicole Stott back to Earth.

Image above: Expedition 41 crew members pose for a photo at the conclusion of the press conference held at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan on Sept. 24, 2014. Image Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani.

Samokutyaev is beginning his second stint at the orbital laboratory having served as an Expedition 23/24 Flight Engineer. He is replacing Skvortsov, who left the station two weeks ago, who also served as his crewmate in 2010.

Serova is on her first mission as a cosmonaut. She is Russia’s first female cosmonaut to live and work on the International Space Station.

They will join their orbiting Expedition 40/41 crewmates Commander Max Suraev and Flight Engineers Reid Wiseman and Alexander Gerst. The international crew from Roscosmos, NASA and the European Space Agency has been aboard the orbital complex since May 28 and are due to return home Nov. 9.

Image above: The Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft is seen after being raised into a vertical position on the launch pad on Sept. 23, 2014 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.Image Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani.

Some of the cargo flown aboard this Soyuz will be used in research investigations that are either ongoing or planned aboard the International Space Station. Items such as questionnaires will be delivered to obtain in-flight data about crew member characteristics, such as day-to-day changes in health or incidence of pain or pressure in microgravity.

One such investigation is Space Headaches which uses questionnaires to collect information about the prevalence and characteristics of crew members' headaches in microgravity. This information is used to develop future countermeasures for headaches often caused by intracranial pressure change.

Read more about Space Headaches: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/181.html

Read more about intracranial pressure change: http://www.nasa.gov/content/it-s-all-in-your-head-nasa-investigates-techniques-for-measuring-intracranial-pressure/

Researchers will also use biological sample kits delivered by the Soyuz spacecraft to obtain samples of blood, saliva or urine. The ongoing collection of biological samples from crew members help scientists determine if immune system impairment caused by spaceflight increases the possibility for infection or poses a significant health risk during life aboard the space station.

Expedition 41/42 is scheduled to return home March 11, 2015. Upon their undocking, Expedition 43 will have officially begun with Commander Anton Shkaplerov and Flight Engineers Terry Virts and Samantha Cristoforetti staying behind and taking the helm.

For more information about the International Space Station (ISS), visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Images (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: NASA / NASA TV.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

A galaxy of deception

ESA - Hubble Space Telescope logo.

25 September 2014

Hubble snaps what looks like a young galaxy in the local Universe

Dwarf galaxy DDO 68

Astronomers usually have to peer very far into the distance to see back in time, and view the Universe as it was when it was young. This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of galaxy DDO 68, otherwise known as UGC 5340, was thought to offer an exception. This ragged collection of stars and gas clouds looks at first glance like a recently-formed galaxy in our own cosmic neighbourhood. But, is it really as young as it looks?

Astronomers have studied galactic evolution for decades, gradually improving our knowledge of how galaxies have changed over cosmic history. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has played a big part in this, allowing astronomers to see further into the distance, and hence further back in time, than any telescope before it — capturing light that has taken billions of years to reach us.

The area around dwarf galaxy DDO 68 (ground-based image)

Looking further into the very distant past to observe younger and younger galaxies is very valuable, but it is not without its problems for astronomers. All newly-born galaxies lie very far away from us and appear very small and faint in the images. On the contrary, all the galaxies near to us appear to be old ones.

DDO 68, captured here by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, was one of the best candidates so far discovered for a newly-formed galaxy in our cosmic neighbourhood. The galaxy lies around 39 million light-years away from us; although this distance may seem huge, it is in fact roughly 50 times closer than the usual distances to such galaxies, which are on the order of several billions of light years.

By studying galaxies of various ages, astronomers have found that those early in their lives are fundamentally different from those that are older. DDO 68 looks to be relatively youthful based on its structure, appearance, and composition. However, without more detailed modelling astronomers cannot be sure and they think it may be older than it lets on.

Zooming in on dwarf galaxy DDO 68

Elderly galaxies tend to be larger thanks to collisions and mergers with other galaxies that have bulked them out, and are populated with a variety of different types of stars — including old, young, large, and small ones. Their chemical makeup is different too. Newly-formed galaxies have a similar composition to the primordial matter created in the Big Bang (hydrogen, helium and a little lithium), while older galaxies are enriched with heavier elements forged in stellar furnaces over multiple generations of stars.

DDO 68 is the best representation yet of a primordial galaxy in the local Universe as it appears at first glance to be very low in heavier elements — whose presence would be a sign of the existence of previous generations of stars.

Panning across DDO 68

Hubble observations were carried out in order to study the properties of the galaxy’s light, and to confirm whether or not there are any older stars in DDO 68. If there are, which there seem to be, this would disprove the hypothesis that it is entirely made up of young stars. If not, it would confirm the unique nature of this galaxy. More complex modelling is needed before we can know for sure but Hubble's picture certainly gives us a beautiful view of this unusual object.

The image is made up of exposures in visible and infrared light taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys.

Notes:

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.

Link:

Images of Hubble: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/archive/category/spacecraft/

Image credit: NASA & ESA/Acknowledgement: A. Aloisi (Space Telescope Science Institute)/Digitized Sky Survey 2 (Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin)/Video:  NASA, ESA, Digitized Sky Survey 2, N. Risinger (Skysurvey.org)/Acknowledgement: A. Aloisi (Space Telescope Science Institute).

Cheers, Orbiter.ch

MAVEN Spacecraft Returns First Mars Observations

NASA - MAVEN Mission logo.

September 24, 2014

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft has obtained its first observations of the extended upper atmosphere surrounding Mars.

MAVEN Spacecraft Returns First Mars Observations

The Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) instrument obtained these false-color images eight hours after the successful completion of Mars orbit insertion by the spacecraft at 10:24 p.m. EDT Sunday, Sept. 21, after a 10-month journey. 

The image shows the planet from an altitude of 36,500 km in three ultraviolet wavelength bands.  Blue shows the ultraviolet light from the sun scattered from atomic hydrogen gas in an extended cloud that goes to thousands of kilometers above the planet’s surface.  Green shows a different wavelength of ultraviolet light that is primarily sunlight reflected off of atomic oxygen, showing the smaller oxygen cloud. Red shows ultraviolet sunlight reflected from the planet’s surface; the bright spot in the lower right is light reflected either from polar ice or clouds.

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft

The oxygen gas is held close to the planet by Mars’ gravity, while lighter hydrogen gas is present to higher altitudes and extends past the edges of the image. These gases derive from the breakdown of water and carbon dioxide in Mars’ atmosphere. Over the course of its one-Earth-year primary science mission, MAVEN observations like these will be used to determine the loss rate of hydrogen and oxygen from the Martian atmosphere.  These observations will allow us to determine the amount of water that has escaped from the planet over time.

MAVEN is the first spacecraft dedicated to exploring the tenuous upper atmosphere of Mars.

Related Links:

NASA's MAVEN website: http://www.nasa.gov/maven

Image without labels: http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/IUVS-final-image-not-annotated.png

Images, Text, Credits: NASA / Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics,  University of Colorado.

Cheers, Orbiter.ch

Smallest exoplanet ever found to have water vapour

ESA - Hubble Space Telescope logo.

24 September 2014

Clear skies on exo-Neptune

Artist Illustration of planet HAT-P-11b

Astronomers using data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Kepler Space Telescope have discovered clear skies and steamy water vapour on a planet outside our Solar System. The planet, known as HAT-P-11b, is about the size of Neptune, making it the smallest exoplanet ever on which water vapour has been detected. The results will appear in the online version of the journal Nature on 24 September 2014.

The discovery is a milestone on the road to eventually finding molecules in the atmospheres of smaller, rocky planets more akin to Earth. Clouds in the atmospheres of planets can block the view of what lies beneath them. The molecular makeup of these lower regions can reveal important information about the composition and history of a planet. Finding clear skies on a Neptune-size planet is a good sign that some smaller planets might also have similarly good visibility.

Artist Illustration showing clear skies on planet HAT-P-11b

"When astronomers go observing at night with telescopes, they say 'clear skies' to mean good luck," said Jonathan Fraine of the University of Maryland, USA, lead author of the study. "In this case, we found clear skies on a distant planet. That's lucky for us because it means clouds didn't block our view of water molecules."

HAT-P-11b is a so-called exo-Neptune — a Neptune-sized planet that orbits another star. It is located 120 light-years away in the constellation of Cygnus (The Swan). Unlike Neptune, this planet orbits closer to its star, making one lap roughly every five days. It is a warm world thought to have a rocky core, a mantle of fluid and ice, and a thick gaseous atmosphere. Not much else was known about the composition of the planet, or other exo-Neptunes like it, until now.

Parent star HAT-P-11

Part of the challenge in analysing the atmospheres of planets like this is their size. Larger Jupiter-like planets are easier to observe and researchers have already been able to detect water vapour in the atmospheres of some of these giant planets. Smaller planets are more difficult to probe — and all the smaller ones observed to date have appeared to be cloudy.

The team used Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 and a technique called transmission spectroscopy, in which a planet is observed as it crosses in front of its parent star. Starlight filters through the rim of the planet's atmosphere and into the telescope. If molecules like water vapour are present, they absorb some of the starlight, leaving distinct signatures in the light that reaches our telescopes.

Ground-based image of the area around HAT-P-11

"We set out to look at the atmosphere of HAT-P-11b without knowing if its weather would be cloudy or not," said Nikku Madhusudhan, from the University of Cambridge, UK, part of the study team. "By using transmission spectroscopy, we could use Hubble to detect water vapour in the planet. This told us that the planet didn't have thick clouds blocking the view and is a very hopeful sign that we can find and analyse more cloudless, smaller, planets in the future. It is groundbreaking!"

Before the team could celebrate they had to be sure that the water vapour was from the planet and not from cool starspots — "freckles" on the face of stars — on the parent star. Luckily, Kepler had been observing the patch of sky in which HAT-P-11b happens to lie for years. Those visible-light data were combined with targeted infrared Spitzer observations. By comparing the datasets the astronomers could confirm that the starspots were too hot to contain any water vapour, and so the vapour detected must belong to the planet.

Image above: A plot of the transmission spectrum for exoplanet HAT-P-11b, with data from NASA's Kepler, Hubble and Spitzer observatories combined. The results show a robust detection of water absorption in the Hubble data. Transmission spectra of selected atmospheric models are plotted for comparison. Image Credit: NASA/ESA/STScI.

The results from all three telescopes demonstrate that HAT-P-11b is blanketed in water vapour, hydrogen gas, and other yet-to-be-identified molecules. So in fact it is not only the smallest planet to have water vapour found in its atmosphere but is also the smallest planet for which molecules of any kind have been directly detected using spectroscopy [1]. Theorists will be drawing up new models to explain the planet's makeup and origins.

Although HAT-P-11b is dubbed as an exo-Neptune it is actually quite unlike any planet in our Solar System. It is thought that exo-Neptunes may have diverse compositions that reflect their formation histories. New findings such as this can help astronomers to piece together a theory for the origin of these distant worlds.

Zoom into HAT-P-11

"We are working our way down the line, from hot Jupiters to exo-Neptunes," said Drake Deming, a co-author of the study also from University of Maryland, USA. "We want to expand our knowledge to a diverse range of exoplanets."

The astronomers plan to examine more exo-Neptunes in the future, and hope to apply the same method to smaller super-Earths — massive, rocky cousins to our home world with up to ten times the mass of Earth. Our Solar System does not contain a super-Earth, but other telescopes are finding them around other stars in droves and the NASA/ESA James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in 2018, will search super-Earths for signs of water vapour and other molecules. However, finding signs of oceans and potentially habitable worlds is likely a way off.

This work is important for future studies of super-Earths and even smaller planets. It could allow astronomers to pick out in advance the planets with atmospheres clear enough for molecules to be detected. Once again, astronomers will be crossing their fingers for clear skies.

Notes:

[1] Molecular hydrogen has been inferred to exist in many planets, including planets smaller than HAT-P-11b, but no molecule has actually been detected, using spectroscopy, in a planet this small, until now.
Notes for editors

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.

The international team of astronomers in this study consists of J. Fraine (University of Maryland, USA; Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile; California Institute of Technology, USA); D. Deming (University of Maryland, USA; NASA Astrobiology Institute, USA); B. Benneke (California Institute of Technology, USA); H. Knutson (California Institute of Technology, USA); A. Jordán (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile); N. Espinoza (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile); N. Madhusudhan (University of Cambridge, UK); A. Wilkins (University of Maryland, USA); K. Todorov (ETH Zürich, Switzerland).

Links:

Images of Hubble: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/archive/category/spacecraft/

STScI release: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2014/42

Link to science paper: http://www.spacetelescope.org/static/archives/releases/science_papers/heic1420a.pdf

Link to science paper in Nature: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v513/n7519/full/nature13785.html

More information about Hubble, Kepler and Spitzer is online at: http://www.nasa.gov

Images, Text, Credit: ESA/J. Fraine/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Digitized Sky Survey 2/Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin/Video: NASA, ESA, J. Fraine.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

India's spacecraft reaches Mars orbit

ISRO - Mars Orbiter Mission logo.

September 24, 2014

India's Mars Orbiter Mission successfully entered Mars' orbit Wednesday morning, becoming the first nation to arrive on its first attempt and the first Asian country to reach the Red Planet.

"We have gone beyond the boundaries of human enterprise and human imagination," declared India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who watched from the space agency's nerve center in Bangalore. "We have accurately navigated our spacecraft through a route known to a very few."

The staff at the Indian Space Research Organization erupted into applause and cheers after learning that the Mars Orbiter Mission, also known as Mangalyaan, reached the planet's orbit and made history.

Before Wednesday, only the United States, Europe and the Soviets have successfully sent spacecraft to Mars.

Artist's rendering of the MOM orbiting Mars. Image Credit: Wikipedia

"The odds were stacked against us," Modi said. "Of the 51 missions attempted so far, a mere 21 had succeeded. But we have prevailed."

And India reached Mars with significantly less money.

With a price tag of $74 million, the Mars Orbiter Mission cost a mere fraction of the $671 million NASA spent on its MAVEN spacecraft, which arrived to Mars earlier this week. Some space observers noted that India's Mars orbiter cost less than the $100 million budget for the space thriller film "Gravity."

"It shows how optimal is the design, that way we're able to cut cost and we're not compromising quality," said S. Satish, a space expert based in Bangalore.

The groundbreaking Mars mission wasn't without controversy -- with some critics who said India should spend the money on other issues.

The spacecraft launched on November 5, and has traveled over 650 million kilometers to enter Mars orbit. Its mission is to orbit the Red Planet, mapping its surface and studying the atmosphere. The Mars Orbiter kicked off its interplanetary debut with its own Twitter account.

Trajectory of the Mars Orbiter Mission. Graphic Credit: ISRO

The mission has been freighted with patriotic significance for India since its inception and is seen as a symbolic coup over its rival, China, which is also ramping up its space ambitions.

Once nears Mars' orbit, India's spacecraft had to execute a series of complicated and critical maneuvers. About half of all spacecraft sent on missions to the planet have veered off course, malfunctioned or crashed.

India's Mars Orbiter Mission is in the company of NASA's two Mars rovers on the ground, a European orbiter and NASA orbiters including the MAVEN, which has been there since Sunday.

The United States has expressed interest in cooperating with India as their spacecraft gather data about the planet. NASA congratulated India via Twitter.

For more information about Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), visit: http://www.isro.org/

For more information about Mars Orbiter Mission, visit: http://www.isro.org/mars/home.aspx

Images (mentioned), Text, Credit: CNN.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Coronal Mass Ejections at Mars

NASA - MAVEN Mission logo.

September 23, 2014

Two main types of explosions occur on the sun: solar flares and coronal mass ejections. Unlike the energy and X-rays produced in a solar flare – which can reach Earth at the speed of light in eight minutes – coronal mass ejections are giant clouds of solar material that take one to three days to reach Earth. Once at Earth, these ejections, also called CMEs, can impact satellites in space or interfere with radio communications. During CME Week from Sept. 22 to 26, 2014, we explore different aspects of these giant eruptions that surge out from the star we live with.

Mars Evolution

Video above: This video is an artist's concept showing the transition from an ancient, habitable Mars capable of supporting liquid water on its surface to the cold desert world of today. Video Credit: NASA Goddard Conceptual Image Lab/Michael Lentz.

Looking across the Mars landscape presents a bleak image: a barren, dry rocky view as far as the eye can see. But scientists think the vista might once have been quite different. It may have teemed with water and even been hospitable to microbial life. What changed?

One theory is that the continuous blast of solar particles from the sun – the constant stream of solar wind, coupled with more extreme explosions such as coronal mass ejections – might have been the culprit. On Sept. 21, 2014, a new NASA mission, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, reached Mars after a 10-month journey.  Now safely in orbit around Mars, MAVEN will observe the Martian upper atmosphere, including keeping an eye on just what effect the solar wind and CMEs have on the red planet. Such observations not only help us understand the history of what led to the desert surface we see today, but also pave the way for protecting astronauts on future visits.

Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN spacecraft

The sun was once substantially more active than it is today.  Our young sun is thought to have frequently – perhaps even daily -- blasted out intense bursts of radiation that are more rare in modern times.  Here on Earth, our atmosphere is largely protected from the solar wind by Earth’s magnetic field, but the evidence indicates that Mars's magnetic field nearly vanished early in the planet’s history.  So, over hundreds of millions of years, the particles from the sun could have worn away the Martian atmosphere, ultimately ripping most of it away and blowing it off into space.  Testing that theory poses problems, though, as it's tough to replicate such extreme conditions. MAVEN's observations of an intense CME hitting Mars, however, could hold clues to what Mars endured, and how it was affected, eons ago.

NASA also cares about CMEs at Mars for another reason: These giant clouds of speeding solar material can impact computers aboard spacecraft and expose astronauts to dangerous radiation.  We must understand such space weather events before sending humans to take their first step on this planet that still holds so many secrets.

Related Link:

More on CME week: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/cmeweek-2014.html

More on MAVEN and space weather:

MAVEN Solar Wind Ion Analyzer Will Look at Key Player in Mars Atmosphere Loss: http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/maven-solar-wind-ion-analyzer-will-look-at-key-player-in-mars-atmosphere-loss/

What MAVEN Would See on Mars on Halloween: http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/what-maven-would-see-on-mars-on-halloween/

For more information about MAVEN mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/maven/main/

Image, Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Karen C. Fox.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Fourth Dragon for Commercial Resupply Services Arrives at Station

SpaceX - Falcon 9 / CRS-4 Mission patch.

September 23, 2014

The Dragon commercial cargo craft has completed a two day trip to the International Space Station after launching early Sunday morning. NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman and European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst were at the controls of the robotics workstation in the Cupola when the Canadarm2 grappled Dragon at 6:52 a.m. EST Tuesday.

Image above: Alexander Gerst and Reid Wiseman watch the approach of the SpaceX Dragon from the Cupola. Image Credit: NASA TV.

Dragon will spend the next four weeks attached to the Harmony node as the Expedition 41 trio unloads 4,885 pounds of (2,216 kg) crew supplies, hardware, experiments, computer gear and spacewalk equipment. This is the fourth SpaceX mission for NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract, designated SpaceX CRS-4, with eight more missions slated to deliver a minimum of 20 metric tons to the station.

One of the new Earth science experiments Dragon has delivered is the ISS-Rapid Scatterometer to be installed outside the Columbus laboratory. The remote sensing instrument will use radar pulses to observe the speed and direction of winds over the ocean for the improvement of weather forecasting.

Read more about ISS-Rapid Scatterometer: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1067.html

ISS-RapidScat replaces a similar device, QuickScat, which is an inoperable satellite orbiting Earth that performed the same functionality. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory partnered with the International Space Station Program Office to quickly deploy RapidScat which is actually a spare QuickScat device modified for operations on the space station.

Image above: The SpaceX Dragon private space freighter approaches the International Space Station. Image Credit: NASA TV.

Another experiment, one designed by students, will observe fruit flies as a research model for learning how diseases work at the cellular and molecular levels. Ames Research Center has partnered with NanoRacks, a private firm with research facilities on the station, and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) to support the Ames Student Fruit-Fly Experiment (AFEX) on the orbital laboratory.

Read more about NanoRacks AFEX: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1360.html

At the end of its stay Dragon will be filled with cargo to be returned to Earth where it will be retrieved in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California after splashdown. Nearly 3,300 pounds (1,486 kg) of cargo will be packed inside Dragon including research for analysis by scientists and computer parts and vehicle hardware to be checked out by engineers.

U S Cargo Ship Arrives and Grapples at the International Space Station

The next Commercial Resupply Services mission to the space station is Orbital-3 which is targeted to begin Oct. 14 when Orbital Sciences will launch its Cygnus spacecraft from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. SpaceX is scheduled to make another flight, SpaceX CRS-5, at the beginning of December for a one month stay, the final mission of the year to the station.

View upcoming missions to the International Space Station: http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights/schedule.html

Three new Expedition 41 crew members will arrive at the station after they launch Thursday at 4:25 p.m. EDT. Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev and Flight Engineers Barry Wilmore and Elena Serova are at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan making final preparations for their six-hour, four-orbit ride to the station’s Poisk docking compartment inside the Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft.

Right now the station is home to three space residents, Commander Max Suraev of Roscosmos, Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman of NASA and Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency. They are scheduled to return home Nov. 10 Kazakh time after a 5-1/2 month mission that began May 28.

For more information about the International Space Station (ISS), visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Images (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: NASA/NASA TV.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch