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Viewing Posts from February 2018

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    Touchdown! Three Expedition 54 Crewmates Back on Earth

    Expedition 54 Soyuz MS-06 Landing

    Three members of the Expedition 54 crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS), including NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba, have returned to Earth after months of performing research and spacewalks in low-Earth orbit. Vande Hei, Acaba and cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos landed at 9:31 p.m. EST (8:31 …

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    Expedition 54 Trio Undocks from Station, Begins Ride Home

    Expedition 53-54 Crew Members

    NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba and Commander Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos undocked from the International Space Station at 6:08 p.m. EST to begin their voyage home to Earth. The deborbit burn is targeted for 8:38 p.m., and will lead to a landing at 9:31 p.m. NASA Television coverage of deorbit and landing begins …

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    Station Hatches Closed, Trio Prepares to Head Home

    Station Hatches Closed, Trio Prepares to Head Home

    At 2:58 p.m. EST, the hatch closed between the Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft and the International Space Station in preparation for undocking. Expedition 54 crewmates Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba of NASA and Commander Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos are scheduled to undock their Soyuz at 6:08 p.m. NASA Television will air live coverage of undocking beginning …

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    Cosmonauts Swap Command Today Before Trio Comes Home

    Expedition 54 Commander Alexander Misurkin, far left, hands over command of the space station to Anton Shkaplerov, far right.

    Expedition 54 Commander Alexander Misurkin handed over control of the orbital laboratory today to fellow cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov during a traditional Change of Command ceremony. Misurkin is returning to Earth tomorrow with NASA astronauts Joe Acaba and Mark Vande Hei after 168 days in space. Landing day begins Tuesday when Misurkin, Acaba and Vande Hei …

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    Crew Goes into Weekend Preparing to Split Up on Tuesday

    Expedition 54 Crew Members

    Three Expedition 54 crew members are going into the weekend packing up and preparing to return to Earth on Tuesday. Commander Alexander Misurkin will lead fellow crew members Joe Acaba and Mark Vande Hei back to Earth inside the Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft Tuesday for a landing in south central Kazakhstan at 9:31 p.m. EST. NASA …

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    Astronauts Open BEAM and Prepare for Crew Departure

    Expedition 53-54 Crew Members

    Three Expedition 54 crew members continued preparing for their return to Earth next week. A pair of astronauts also opened up BEAM today to stow a robotic hand and to check for contaminants. Commander Alexander Misurkin joined his Soyuz MS-06 crewmates Joe Acaba and Mark Vande Hei and reviewed their procedures for next week’s descent …

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    Station Gets Ready for Crew Swap During Ongoing Human Research

    Progress resupply ship and Earth's limb

    As one crew is packing up for its return back to Earth another crew is training for its launch to the International Space Station. During the month long crew swap activities, human research is still ongoing aboard the orbital laboratory today. Expedition 54 Commander Alexander Misurkin is getting the Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft ready for its …

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    Station Trio Preps for Homecoming as Life Science Continues

    Expedition 54 Crew Members Alexander Misurkin and Joe Acaba

    Three Expedition 54 crew mates are in the final week of their mission and are packing up for a return to Earth. They and the rest of the crew also researched botany and biomedical science to support future crews on longer missions further into space. Commander Alexander Misurkin is readying the Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft that …

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    Spacewalkers Wrap Up Robotic Hand Transfers

    Spacewalkers Mark Vande Hei and Norishige Kanai

    Expedition 54 Flight Engineers Mark Vande Hei of NASA and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency have completed a spacewalk lasting 5 hours and 57 minutes. The two astronauts concluded their spacewalk at 12:57 p.m. EST with the repressurization of the Quest airlock. The spacewalkers moved two Latching End Effector (LEE), or hands, …

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    Spacewalkers Making Quick Work of Major Tasks

    Spacewalkers Mark Vande Hei and Norishige Kanai

    Approximately two and a half hours into today’s spacewalk, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Norishige Kanai completed the second major task of today’s spacewalk. They moved an aging, but functional, Latching End Effector (LEE) from its temporary storage outside the Quest airlock to a long-term storage location on the …

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