Oct 19 2016

From The Space Library

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Current revision

NASA Astronaut Shane Kimbrough, Crewmates Launch to Space Station to Continue Research

Three crew members representing the United States and Russia are on their way to the International Space Station after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:05 a.m. EDT Wednesday (2:05 p.m. Baikonur time).

The Soyuz spacecraft carrying astronaut Shane Kimbrough of NASA, and cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, is scheduled to dock to the Poisk module of the space station at 5:59 a.m. Friday, Oct. 21. NASA Television coverage of docking will begin at 5:15 a.m. Hatches are scheduled to open about 8:35 a.m., with NASA TV coverage starting at 8 a.m.

The arrival of Kimbrough, Ryzhikov and Borisenko returns the station's crew complement to six. The three join Expedition 49 Commander Anatoli Ivanishin of Roscosmos, Flight Engineers Kate Rubins of NASA and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The Expedition 49 crew members will spend a little over four months conducting more than 250 science investigations in fields such as biology, Earth science, human research, physical sciences and technology development.

Kimbrough, Ryzhikov and Borisenko are scheduled to remain aboard the station until late February. Rubins, Ivanishin and Onishi will return to Earth Oct. 30.

The Expedition 49 crew will welcome a variety of cargo deliveries to the space station, including Orbital ATK’s Cygnus, which launched Monday from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the orbital laboratory Sunday, Oct. 23, with more than 5,100 pounds of science and research equipment, as well as crew supplies and hardware.

Included in the Cygnus shipment are payloads that will study fires in space, the effect of lighting on sleep and daily rhythms, collection of health-related data, and a new way to measure neutrons.

A Japanese cargo craft is scheduled to deliver new lithium ion batteries in December to replace the nickel-hydrogen batteries currently used to store electrical energy generated by the station’s solar arrays. The crew members also are scheduled to receive SpaceX’s 10th commercial resupply ship and two Russian Progress resupply missions delivering several tons of food, fuel, supplies and research.

For more than 15 years, humans have been living continuously aboard the space station to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies, making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth that also will enable long-duration human and robotic exploration into deep space. A truly global endeavor, more than 200 people from 18 countries have visited the unique microgravity laboratory that has hosted more than 1,900 research investigations from researchers in more than 95 countries.

MEDIA ADVISORY M16-123 NASA, Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Host Discussion on Solar Hazards in Exploration

Understanding the hazards of space weather on crewed and robotic missions is vital to informing plans for NASA’s Journey to Mars and other missions into our solar system, and beyond. Veteran NASA astronaut John Grunsfeld and solar experts will discuss that and more during a panel discussion at 1 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, Oct. 25. The event will air live on NASA Television and stream on the agency’s website.

The panel discussion will take place at the National Air and Space Museum’s Moving Beyond Earth gallery at 6th Street and Independence Avenue S.W. in Washington.

The event also will mark the 10th anniversary of the launch of NASA’s two Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft. The twin probes have advanced space weather forecasting more than any other spacecraft or solar observatory and enabled previously impossible early warnings of threatening conditions posed by the sun.

The discussion participants are:

• David DeVorkin, senior curator for the National Air and Space Museum
• Madhulika Guhathakurta, heliophysicist at NASA Headquarters
• Barbara Thompson, solar scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
• John Grunsfeld, space shuttle astronaut, scientist and former head of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
• Janet Luhmann, STEREO principal investigator and senior research fellow at the University of California Berkeley’s *Space Sciences Laboratory
• Tamitha Skov, research scientist for The Aerospace Corporation

Media interested in attending should contact Alison Mitchell at mitchellac@si.edu or 202-633-2376. Media may ask questions during the event in person and by phone. To participate by phone, media must email their name, media affiliation and phone number to Dwayne Brown at dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov by noon Oct. 25. The public also can ask questions on social media using #AskNASA