Russia's Soyuz spacecraft brings in three astronauts to ISS for a four-month mission

Russia's Soyuz spacecraft has ferried in three astronauts arrived at the International Space Station orbiting outpost for a four-month mission - they are a European, a Russian and an American astronaut. The three are Frenchman Thomas Pesquet, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and American astronaut Peggy Whitson.
They had been launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
This has been reported in deccanherald.com dated 20 November 2016.

Thomas Pesquet is a rookie astronaut and an amateur saxophone player. He is the first French national to be sent to the ISS by the European Space Agency since 2008.
Peggy Whitson (56) is an experienced veteran and biochemistry expert.She will break records with this space mission which will give her the title of the most days in space by a US astronaut. She is expected to surpass NASA astronaut Jeff Williams' 534 days on April 24.
In addition, she will become the first woman to command the space station twice. Dhe had previously commanded the International Space Station in 2007, when she became the first woman to hold this post.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Three new crew members from US, Russia and Japan on their way to the International Space Station

Three new crew members from US, Russia and Japan were on their way to the International Space Station (ISS). One of them is a NASA biologist. They were successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The three are Kate Rubins of NASA, Soyuz Commander Anatoly Ivanishin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. They are traveling in an upgraded Soyuz spacecraft.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 7 July 2016.

The three of them will spend two days along with 34 Earth orbits in the course of testing modified systems before docking to the space station's Rassvet module on Saturday. With their arrival, the station's crew complement will come back to six.
Kate Rubins, Anatoly Ivanishin and Takuya Onishi will join Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams of NASA and Flight Engineers Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos. The plan for the Expedition 48 crew members is to spend four months conducting more than 250 science investigations in fields ranging from biology, Earth science, human research, physical sciences and technology development. Rubins holds a bachelor's degree in molecular biology and is also a doctorate in cancer biology.
Ivanishin and Onishi would remain aboard ISS till late October while Williams, Skripochka and Ovchinin will return to Earth in September.
One of the assignments for Expedition 48 crew members is to receive and install the station's first international docking adapter which will accommodate future arrivals of US commercial crew spacecraft. Among the various experiments are capabilities for sequencing DNA in space, regulating temperatures aboard spacecraft, understanding bone loss and tracking ships around the world and studying how to protect computers from radiation in space and also test out an efficient, three-dimensional solar cell.


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Sarah Brightman scheduled to visit the International Space Station for 10 days

#internationalspacestation #Baikonur #Soyuzrocket #Reignwood #Kazakhstan Yes, it is now known that the ISS would soon get a British visitor – she will be Sarah Brightman, a British soprano and she would be there for a period of ten days as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 26 February 2015.
It is understood that on Septemvber1, Sarah Brightman, the big haired Phantom Of The Opera star, would blast off in a mighty Soyuz FG rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome deep in the desert steppes of Kazakhstan.
Along with her on board the space capsule would be three highly-trained cosmonauts and all of them would be bound for the International Space Station (ISS).
42-year-old Colonel Sergei Volkov will be commander and he would be leading his third mission into space. He will be accompanied by 35-year-old Danish Flight Engineer Andreas Mogensen, the holder of a doctorate in engineering from the University of Texas.
55-year-old English soprano Sarah Brightman would be the third member of the team. She has plans to hold a press conference on March 10 to discuss the mission. As per estimates, her ten-day sojourn on the ISS will cost her £34 million.
There is a big mystery on who is funding her trip – but, as per reports, she has agreed to perform a concert during her time in the International Space Station that would be streamed live back to Earth ‘during an event organized by Reignwood’ – this is a Chinese firm that has plenty of interests in England like luxury clubs, resorts, apartment blocks etcetera.
Obviously, a concert from the ISS would be a huge publicity program for the sponsors Reignwood.