Tag: Soyuz

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Peggy Whitson ends record-setting space trip

Peggy Whitson
NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson is helped out of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft just minutes after she and two fellow spacefliers landed in a remote area Kazakhstan. (NASA Photo / Bill Ingalls)

NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and two other spacefliers capped off a record-setting orbital mission today with their return from the International Space Station.

The trio, also including NASA’s Jack Fischer and Russia’s Fyodor Yurchikhin, landed in the steppes of Kazakhstan aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule, about four and a half hours after their undocking.

Fischer and Yurchikhin had been on the station since April, but Whitson was in space much longer – since last November, 288 days ago. That brought her cumulative time in space to 665 days, setting the record for NASA astronauts.

This mission also made Whitson the oldest woman to fly in space (age 57) and the most experienced woman spacewalker (with 10 orbital outings).

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French-Russian crew leaves space station

Soyuz descent
A Russian Soyuz craft descends with two spacefliers aboard. (Roscosmos Photo)

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy landed safely on Earth today after leaving the International Space Station in their Russian Soyuz spacecraft – and leaving behind the NASA astronaut who accompanied them on the way up. The Soyuz touched down in the steppes of Kazakhstan at 8:10 p.m. local time (7:10 a.m. PT).

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U.S.-Russian duo joins space station crew

Today there are 67 percent more people working in space than there were the day before, now that NASA astronaut Jack Fischer and Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin have arrived at the International Space Station. The two spacefliers were launched from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early today and took a six-hour ride aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft – using a fast-track trajectory that’s more efficient than the alternative two-day route.

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Space station trio makes ‘bull’s-eye’ landing

Soyuz touchdown
A Russian Soyuz craft touches down in Kazakhstan, marking the return of a U.S.-Russian crew from the International Space Station. (NASA Photo / Bill Ingalls)

NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and Russian crewmates Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko landed back on Earth today after spending almost six months on the International Space Station. The three left the station overnight in a Russian Soyuz craft and made what NASA spokesman Rob Navias called a “bull’s-eye touchdown” on the steppes of Kazakhstan at 5:20 p.m. local time (4:20 a.m. PT).

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NASA buys Russian space rides from Boeing

Image: Soyuz docking
An upgraded Soyuz spacecraft nears the International Space Station for docking. (Credit: NASA)

NASA has agreed to purchase at least two trips to and from the International Space Station on Russian Soyuz spacecraft, from an unlikely ticket-seller: the Boeing Co.

The arrangement follows through on a convoluted plan laid out back in January, and provides a cushion for the space agency in case Boeing and SpaceX can’t provide space taxis for NASA’s use by 2019.

Ever since the shuttle fleet’s retirement in 2011, NASA has been buying trips from the Russians at escalating prices. The latest purchase, for seats on Soyuz craft to be launched in 2018, amounted to $82 million per seat.

The per-seat price for the Boeing buy will be $74.7 million.

Boeing picked up the rights to the additional Soyuz seats as part of the settlement for a $320 million-plus debt owed by Russia’s Energia space company. Those debts were incurred while Energia subsidiaries were working with Boeing on the Sea Launch joint venture. (Boeing is no longer part of that venture.)

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Boeing is in the middle of NASA-Russia deal

Soyuz
A Russian Soyuz craft approaches the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA)

NASA is considering a convoluted arrangement to reserve five more seats on Russian Soyuz capsules heading to and from the International Space Station, with the Boeing Co. as the middleman.

The plan to reserve more trips to orbit would give NASA additional breathing room as it waits for Boeing and SpaceX to complete the development of their commercial space taxis.

The first crewed test flights of those space taxis aren’t scheduled to occur until 2018. And in a procurement notice issued today, NASA acknowledged that they are “not expected to begin fully operational flights to the ISS until 2019.”

NASA has made a limited number of reservations on Soyuz craft in 2018, at a cost of more than $80 million per seat. But there’s not much of a margin to deal with further delays in the commercial crew schedule.

By a strange set of circumstances, Boeing could help fill the gap, even if its own CST-100 Starliner spacecraft isn’t yet ready to fly.

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Space station trio gets warm reception

Kate Rubins' return
NASA astronaut Kate Rubins is all smiles as she is carried from the Soyuz landing site to a medical tent shortly after touchdown. The Soyuz sits in the background of the picture. (Credit: Bill Ingalls / NASA)

Just a week after a fresh trio of spacefliers moved into the International Space Station, three other crew members returned to Earth tonight, closing out a 115-day stay in orbit.

NASA biologist-astronaut Kate Rubins, Russia’s Anatoly Ivanishin and Japan’s Takuya Onishi touched down safely in their Russian Soyuz capsule at 8:58 p.m. PT today (9:58 a.m. local time Oct. 30) in the steppes of Kazakhstan.

A Russian-led recovery team hustled the crew out of the Soyuz amid near-freezing temperatures. All were reported in good health.

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U.S.-Russian trio moves into space station

Soyuz craft
A Russian Soyuz craft approaches the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA)

Three new crew members were welcomed aboard the International Space Station today, just in time to help out with a big moving job.

NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and his Russian crewmates, Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko, floated out of their Russian Soyuz capsule and through the hatch into the station’s Zvezda service module at 5:20 a.m. PT.

They went through a gauntlet of handshakes and hugs from the three spacefliers who have been living aboard the orbital complex since July: NASA’s Kate Rubins, Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russia’s Anatoly Ivanishin, the station’s commander.

“We had a great flight,” Kimbrough said during a post-arrival news conference.

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Trio gets to space station after two-day trip

Image: Soyuz docking
An upgraded Soyuz spacecraft nears the International Space Station for docking. (Credit: NASA)

The first craft in Russia’s upgraded fleet of Soyuz spaceships reached the International Space Station tonight, delivering a trio of U.S., Russian and Japanese spacefliers for their four-month tour of duty.

NASA’s Kate Rubins, Russia’s Anatoly Ivanishin and Japan’s Takuya Onishi lifted off two days earlier from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Soyuz trips to the station typically take only six hours, but Russian mission planners passed up the express route this time to give the crew more time to check out the systems on the upgraded Soyuz MS model.

Compared with past models of the Soyuz, going back almost 50 years, the MS boasts more efficient solar panels; a lighter, faster computer system; more shielding against space debris; and improvements in the docking and navigational systems.

The systems checked out just fine during orbital tests, and tonight’s docking proceeded smoothly over the South Pacific at 9:06 p.m. PT today. “A textbook arrival for the brand-new Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft,” NASA commentator Rob Navias said.

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Space station crew begins shakedown cruise

Image: Soyuz launch
Photographers line up to take pictures of Russia’s Soyuz rocket as it rises from its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. (Credit: Bill Ingalls / NASA)

Three spacefliers from three countries – the United States, Russia and Japan – began a longer-than-usual flight to the International Space Station tonight in the first of a new breed of Russian Soyuz spaceships.

The Soyuz MS-01 mission lifted off at 6:36 p.m. PT from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, Russia’s Anatoly Ivanishin and Japan’s Takuya Onishi. NASA TV aired live launch coverage.

“We are feeling fine and everything is good onboard,” Ivanishin reported minutes after launch. The crew members exchanged fist bumps after reaching orbit.

This version of the Soyuz capsule is expected to be the last major upgrade of Russia’s space workhorse, a buglike craft that Russia plans to replace with its next-generation Federatsiya (Federation) spaceship sometime in the next decade.

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