US-Russian Space Crew Returns to Earth Tonight: Watch It Live

[Buster's Uncle]

US-Russian Space Crew Returns to Earth Tonight: Watch It Live
SPACE.com
by Tariq Malik, Managing Editor  1 hour ago



Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov (center), Soyuz commander; NASA astronaut Steve Swanson (left), Expedition 40 commander; and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, flight engineer, conduct a suit leak check in their Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft



A trio of space travelers will return to Earth tonight (Sept. 10) to end a months-long expedition to the International Space Station, and you can watch the landing live online.

American astronaut Steve Swanson and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev are due to land their Russian-built Soyuz space capsule on the Central Asian steppes of Kazakhstan at 10:23 p.m. EDT (0243 Sept. 11 GMT), after more than five months in orbit.

You can watch the space crew's landing on Space.com in a live webcast provided by NASA. The webcast will include a series of broadcasts for each stage of the landing. The landing webcast begins at 3:15 p.m. EDT (1915 GMT) with a farewell ceremony, then resumes at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT) for live views of undocking. The landing coverage will begin at 9:15 p.m. EDT (0115 GMT).

Swanson and his crewmates launched to the International Space Station on March 25, with Swanson commanding the outpost's Expedition 40 mission. Three other station crewmembers — NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, cosmonaut Maxim Suarev and German astronaut Alexander Gerst — arrived at the station in late May.

"We've accomplished a lot. We've had a lot of fun," Swanson said Tuesday (Sept. 9) as he handed control of the space station over to Suarev. "This was a team effort. We got together and did it as a team.

During the Expedition 40 mission, the station astronauts and cosmonauts watched over a flurry of robotic cargo ship arrivals and departures by Russian, European and commercial American spacecraft. Skvortsov and Artemyev performed two spacewalks, and tossed a tiny Peruvian satellite into space on their second excursion.



The International Space Station's Expedition 40 crew poses for a portrait in the outpost's Harmony node. They are (clockwise from bottom): NASA astronaut Steve Swanson (bottom), commander; Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, European Space A


Swanson made a bit of space history by becoming the first astronaut to post Instagram photos from space. And then there were the science experiments. Many, many experiments.

"We actually set the record for the number of hours of science in a week," Swanson said.

The return of Swanson, Skvortsov and Artemyev tonight will mark the official start of Expedition 41 on the International Space Station. Suarev will command that mission.

Later this month, on Sept. 25, three new spaceflyers will launch to the space station to join the Expedition 41 flight. That launch will ferry NASA astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Russian cosmonauts Elena Serova and Alexander Samoukutyaev to the station.

Serova will become Russia's fourth female cosmonaut to fly in space when she launches this month. She will also be the first female Russian cosmonaut to visit the International Space Station.

The $100 billion International Space Station was built by more than 15 different nations and is overseen by the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan. It has been continuously occupied by rotating crews of astronauts and cosmonauts since 2000.

NASA has relied on Russia's Soyuz space capsules to fly American astronauts to the space station since the retirement of the U.S. space shuttle fleet in 2011.

Visit Space.com tonight to follow the live landing coverage of the Expedition 40 crew.


http://news.yahoo.com/us-russian-space-crew-returns-earth-tonight-watch-155342190.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Astronaut, cosmonauts depart space station for Earth
Reuters
By Irene Klotz  24 minutes ago



CAPE CANAVERAL Fla. (Reuters) - Two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut left the International Space Station on Wednesday and headed back to Earth after nearly six months in orbit.

Former station commander Steve Swanson and cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev strapped themselves inside the Russian Soyuz capsule that carried them to the station in March and pulled away from the outpost at 7:01 p.m. EDT/2301 GMT as the station soared about 260 miles (418 km) over eastern Mongolia.

"We accomplished a lot. We've had a lot of fun," Swanson said during a change-of-command ceremony on Tuesday that was broadcast on NASA Television.

In addition to a pair of Russian spacewalks, the crew tackled a record number of science experiments, upgraded the station's prototype humanoid robot and repaired broken equipment.

"We did a lot of maintenance, which is good and bad," Swanson said. "I love doing maintenance, but it means things broke."

New station commander Max Suraev remains aboard the orbital outpost along with NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman and the European Space Agency’s Alexander Gerst. Returning crewmates Swanson, Skvortsov and Artemyev are due to touch down southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan at 10:23 p.m. EDT.

"From what I've been told it's definitely the big ride at Disney World," Swanson, a two-time shuttle astronaut making his first landing in a Soyuz, said during an inflight interview. During the descent through the atmosphere, the crew will experience forces equivalent to four times the pull of Earth's gravity. They also will spin as the capsule’s parachutes unfurl.

Three replacement crewmembers, including the first Russian woman to serve on the station, are due to launch on Sept. 25."Getting three new faces up here will be lots of fun," Wiseman said an inflight interview.

The newcomers are NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore and cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova. Serova will become only the fourth Russian woman to fly in space and the first to serve on the International Space Station, a $100 billion research complex owned by 15 nations.

The last Russian woman to fly in space was Yelena Kondakova, who was part of a NASA space shuttle crew in May 1997.

(Editing by Eric Walsh)


http://news.yahoo.com/astronaut-cosmonauts-depart-space-station-earth-232843094.html