Category Archives: Space Station

Space Triathlon Runner Sunita Williams

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams completed a triathlon from space Sept. 16, 2012, using an orbital treadmill to complete the running portion, a stationary bicycle for the biking leg, and a resistance machine to simulate swimming.

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams (front left) takes command of the International Space Station from cosmonaut Gennady Padalka (front right) during a ceremony marking the start of the Expedition 33 increment aboard the space station on Sept. 15, 2012.

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Expedition 32 flight engineer and commander of the International Space Station's Expedition 33 crew, poses for a photo with her spacesuit ahead of an Aug. 30, 2012, spacewalk.

The International Space Station's Expedition 33 crew. From left: NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, Japannese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, Russian cosmonauts Evgeny Tarelkin and Oleg Novitskiy and NASA astronaut Kevin Ford.

The Expedition 33 patch depicts the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting around the Earth, and into the future. Image released December 2011.

The Soyuz TMA-05M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on July 15, 2012. Crewmembers for Expeditions 32 & 33 were flying to the International Space Station.

The Soyuz TMA-05M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on July 15, 2012.

Expedition 32/33 crew members leave building 254 following their suited up for launch July 15, 2012 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The grid structure at the upper side of each Aquatic Habitat, an aquarium for the International Space Station, captures air in each grid, while preventing water from escaping. Air will be injected with special syringe by the crew prior to the start of an investigation in 2012.

The rest is here:
Photos: Space Station's Expedition 33 Mission

Hide caption

The Soyuz capsule floats as it brings Commander Gennady Padalka of Russia, NASA Flight Engineer Joe Acaba and Russian Flight Engineer Sergei Revin to a landing area near the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan. When it detached from the space station, the capsule was over Kenya.

Carla Cioffi/NASA

The capsule lands, after its braking engines ease its final meter of descent.

Carla Cioffi/NASA

The Soyuz TMA-04M capsule lands in a remote area near the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, Monday. Padalka, Acaba and Revin returned from five months onboard the International Space Station, where they served as members of the Expedition 31 and 32 crews.

Carla Cioffi/NASA

U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams is now in command of the International Space Station, after receiving control of the facility this weekend. Three departing astronauts whose capsule left the station early Monday landed safely three and a half hours later.

For NPR's Newscast, Peter van Dyk filed this report from Moscow:

"The Soyuz capsule carrying American Joe Acaba and Russians Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin touched down in Kazakhstan as scheduled, almost four hours after leaving the space station. Before leaving, Padalka turned command of the orbiter over to Sunita Williams, making her just the second woman to lead an ISS expedition. She will celebrate her birthday on Wednesday with her two colleagues - a Japanese astronaut and Russian cosmonaut."

See original here:
Astronauts Return From Space Station, As An American Takes Command

'I'm happy to be done,' Williams said from the International Space Station Sunday after she crossed the orbital finish line. 'It wasn't easy, and I'm sure everybody in California's very happy to be done too.'

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams has completed the first triathlon in space, running, biking and "swimming" along with athletes in the Nautica Malibu Triathlon held in Southern California over the weekend.

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition

"I'm happy to be done," Williams said from the International Space Station Sunday (Sept. 16) after she crossed the orbital finish line. "It wasn't easy, and I'm sure everybody in California's very happy to be done too."

Sunita Williamsis the U.S. commander of the Expedition 33 crew aboard the space station, which is orbiting Earth about 240 miles (386 km) overhead. She used exercise equipment, including a stationary bike, treadmill and strength-training machine specially formulated for weightlessness, to simulate thetriathlon experience in space.

After "swimming" half a mile (0.8 km), biking 18 miles (29 km), and running 4 miles (6.4 km), Williams finished with a time of one hour, 48 minutes and 33 seconds, she reported. [Astronaut Runs Triathlon In Space | Video]

The space station has its own treadmill and stationary bike, which use harnesses and straps in place of gravity to keep astronauts from floating away. To simulate the swimming portion of the race, Williams used what's called the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) to do weightlifting and resistance exercises that approximate swimming in microgravity.

"It's critically important to understand human physiology and how to keep you strong on orbit," NASA's flight director in Mission Control said after Williams completed the triathlon, congratulating her on a race "well done."

Exercise is mandatory for all astronauts, because without it spaceflyers' muscles and bones would deteriorate in weightlessness.

See the original post here:
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams completes first-ever space triathalon

16-09-2012 10:33 Expedition 32 Commander Gennady Padalka ceremonially hands over control of the International Space Station to Expedition 33's Suni Williams. . Report by Sophie Foster. Like us on Facebook at and follow us on Twitter at . Subscribe to ITN News!

More:

International Space Station: Formal handover of power - Video

Three International Space Station crew have made it safely back home, landing early this morning in Kazakhstan in the Soyuz TMA-04M.

Cosmonauts commander Gennady Padalka, flight engineer Sergei Revin and NASA astronaut and flight engineer Joe Acaba touched down just before 4am BST (8:53 local time), after decoupling from the International Space Station's Poisk module five hours earlier.

The 'nauts spent 123 days aboard the station to finish Expedition 32, which featured multiple spacewalks to prep the Pirs module for its replacement and attach a new power-switching unit.

Flicking that switch proved to be harder than the expedition expected when a bolt kept sticking, forcing the crew to take a second run at it.

Japanese 'naut Akihiko Hoshide and NASA 'naut Sunita Williams took those two walks, before lining up to take control of the station and move into Expedition 33 after the Soyuz left.

Williams takes over as commander, while flight engineers Hoshide and Yuri Malenchenko make up the rest of the crew until 12 November.

The station will get a bit more crowded up when flight engineers Kevin Ford, Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin launch on 15 October for a rendezvous with the ISS on 17 October.

Continue reading here:

Space Station 'nauts touch down on Kazakh steppe

Three members of the Expedition 32 crew undocked from the International Space Station and returned safely to Earth on Sunday, wrapping up a mission lasting more than four months.

Flight Engineer Joe Acaba of NASA, and Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Sergei Revin of the Russian Federal Space Agency, undocked their Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft from the space station at 7:09 p.m. EDT and landed north of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, at 10:53 p.m. (8:53 a.m., Sept. 17, Kazakhstan time). The trio arrived at the station May 17 and spent 125 days in space, 123 of which were aboard the orbiting laboratory.

After the Soyuz spacecraft separated from the space station, NASA astronaut Sunita Williams took command of Expedition 33. Williams is the second woman to command the station. She and her crewmates, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will work aboard the station as a three-person crew until the arrival of three new crew members, including NASA astronaut Kevin Ford, in mid-October.

Acaba, Padalka and Revin orbited Earth 2,000 times and traveled 52,906,428 miles. Padalka now ranks fourth for the most days spent in space -- a total of 711 days during four flights.

To follow Twitter updates from NASA's Expedition 33 astronauts, visit: http://twitter.com/Astro_Suni and https://twitter.com/Aki_Hoshide

For more information about the International Space Station and its crew, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.

See the rest here:

International Space Station Astronauts Land Safely in Kazakhstan

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying three station fliers returned to Earth from the International Space Station Sunday, dropping to a bullseye landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan.

Two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA flight engineer bid their three space station crewmates farewell Sunday, strapped into their Soyuz ferry craft, undocked from the lab complex and fell back to Earth, making a pinpoint landing in Kazakhstan to close out a 125-day voyage.

Descending through a clear blue sky under a large orange-and-white parachute, the charred Soyuz TMA-04M descent module settled to a rocket-assisted touchdown near the town of Arkalyk at 10:53 p.m. EDT (8:53 a.m. Monday local time).

NASA astronaut Joseph Acaba relaxes and pumps his fist after being helped out of the Soyuz TMA-04M descent module following a flawless landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan

The final stages of the descent were carried live on television relayed through the Russian mission control center and NASA's satellite network, showing the last-second firing of the crew's braking rockets and billowing clouds of dust and smoke as the module touched down and the parachute collapsed.

Russian recovery teams deployed near the landing site quickly rushed in, reporting the descent module had tipped over on its side, a relatively common occurrence.

They quickly got to work opening the main hatch to help Soyuz commander Gennady Padalka, flight engineer Sergei Revin and Joseph Acaba out of the cramped module after four months in the weightlessness of space. Padalka, the first out, looked relaxed and in good spirits as he rested in a recliner and enjoyed a cup of tea. Revin and Acaba quickly followed suit and all three were given quick medical exams before a two-hour helicopter flight to Kustanai.

At that point, the crew planned to split up, with Padalka and Revin flying back to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City near Moscow while Acaba flies back to the Johnson Space Center in Houston aboard a NASA jet.

Touchdown on the steppe of Kazakhstan marked the conclusion of a 53-million-mile 2,000-orbit voyage that began with liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on May 15.

It also moved Padalka up to No. 4 on the list of most experienced space fliers, with 711 days in orbit over four space flights. Acaba has now logged 138 days aloft during two missions while Revin's mark will stand at 125 days for his first flight.

Here is the original post:

Soyuz brings three station fliers home to pinpoint landing

Three astronauts are preparing to leave the International Space Station tonight (Sept. 16), returning to Earth after a four-month stay aboard the huge orbiting lab.

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Joe Acaba and Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin is slated to undock from the space station at 7:09 p.m. EDT (2309 GMT) Sunday and land in the steppes of Kazakhstan nearly four hours later, at 10:53 p.m. EDT (0253 GMT Monday).

The astronauts' departure will bring the space station's Expedition 32 to a close. Padalka commands the expedition, while Acaba and Revin serve as flight engineers. Padalka will hand the orbiting lab's reins over to NASA's Sunita Williams, commander of the new Expedition 33.

Expedition 33 will be a three-person operation for about a month. Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Japanese spaceflyer Akihiko Hoshide will have the station to themselves until mid-October, when the arrival of three new astronauts will bring the $100 billion orbiting complex back up to its full complement of six crewmates.

Space news from NBCNews.com

Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: NASA's Opportunity rover has found a new kind of geological "berry" on Mars that has the experts scratching their heads ... and licking their chops.

Acaba, Padalka and Revin launched toward the station on May 14 and arrived three days later. They were originally scheduled to blast off in late March, but a botched pressure test cracked their Soyuz capsule, forcing a six-week delay while a new spacecraft was prepared.

The astronauts' four-month stint marked the first long-term stay aboard the orbiting lab for both Acaba and Revin. Padalka, however, had lived on the station for long durations during two previous missions.

Acaba, Padalka and Revin got to be part of history shortly after they first floated through the space station's hatch. They were there to welcome SpaceX's robotic Dragon capsule, which on May 25 became the first private spacecraft ever to visit the 430-ton orbiting complex.

Dragon's historic flight was a demonstration mission, to see if the capsule and SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket are ready to begin a series of 12 contracted supply runs to the station for NASA. Everything went well, and the first of these bona fide cargo missions is likely to blast off next month.

Read more:

3 space station astronauts return to Earth tonight

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, who holds the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman, took charge of the International Space Station Saturday, becoming only the second female commander in the orbiting lab's 14-year history.

Williams took charge of the space station from Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, who is returning to Earth on Sunday after months commanding the outpost's six-person Expedition 32 crew. Williams launched to the station in July and will command its Expedition 33 crew before returning to Earth in November.

"I would like to thank our [Expedition] 32 crewmates here who have taught us how to live and work in space, and of course to have a lot of fun up in space," Williams told Padalka during a change of command ceremony. She will officially take charge of the station on Sunday, after Padalka and two crewmates board their Soyuz spacecraft for the trip home.

Padalka, NASA astronaut Joe Acaba and cosmonaut Sergei Revin are scheduled to undock from the space station Sunday at 7:09 p.m. EDT (2309 GMT) and land in the Central Asian steppes of Kazakhstan at 10:53 p.m. EDT (0253 on Sept. 17). The trio is wrapping up a five-month mission to the space station and Padalka thanked his crewmates and flight controllers on the ground for their help during the flight.

Space news from NBCNews.com

Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: NASA's Opportunity rover has found a new kind of geological "berry" on Mars that has the experts scratching their heads ... and licking their chops.

Sunita Williams arrived at the space station on July 17 on a Soyuz spacecraft with two crewmates: Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko. They will be joined by three new crewmembers in October.

Williams, 46, is a captain in the U.S. Navy and flying on her second long-duration space mission. She first launched into space in 2007 and spent 195 consecutive days in space, setting a record for the longest single spaceflight by a female astronaut. On Sept. 19, she'll celebrate her birthday in space.

In a NASA interview before launch, Williams said a friend asked her if she was nervous about commanding the space station. She said no, adding that the more than two years of training alongside her Expedition 32 and 33 crewmates, as well as the Mission Control team, prepared all the space station crewmembers for life in space.

"When you get up on the space station, you know what to do, so Im not nervous about it all," Williams said. "Im psyched."

Read the original here:

Female astronaut takes command of space station

It's hard to think of many spinoffs from the $100 billion project to build and launch the International Space Station. In fact, there is precious little done on the ISS that isn't focused on just keeping the thing in orbit.

One exception is the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, which is designed, among other things, to determine whether cosmic ray particles are made of matter or antimatter.

The spectrometer consists of a giant magnet that deflects charged particles and a number of detectors that characterise the mass and energy of these particles. It was bolted to the ISS last year and is currently bombarded by about 1000 cosmic rays per second.

Today, Roberto Battiston at the University of Perugia in Italy and a few pals say that the technology developed for the spectrometer could be used for protecting astronauts from radiation during the long duration spaceflights in future.

The journey to the asteroids, Mars or beyond is plagued with technological problems. Among the most challenging is finding a way to protect humans from the high energy particles that would otherwise raise radiation levels to unacceptable levels.

On Earth, humans are protected by the atmosphere, the mass of the Earth itself and the Earth's magnetic field. In low earth orbit, astronauts loose the protection of the atmosphere and radiation levels are consequently higher by two orders of magnitude.

In deep space, astronauts loose the protecting effect of the Earth's mass and its magnetic field, raising levels a further five times and beyond the acceptable limits that humans can withstand over the 18 months or so it would take to get to Mars or the asteroids.

An obvious way to protect astronauts is with an artificial magnetic field that would steer charged particles away. But previous studies have concluded that ordinary magnets would be too big and heavy to be practical on a space mission.

However, superconducting magnets are more powerful, more efficient and less massive. They are much better candidates for protecting humans.

The only problem is that nobody has built and tested a superconducting magnet in space.

Continued here:

Space Station Spin-Off Could Protect Mars-Bound Astronauts From Radiation