Image of the Day…Spacecraft Launch on March 27 2015…

One-year crew lift-off success

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will spend a year aboard the International Space Station.

Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft launch on March 27, 2015

Media photograph the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft as it launches to the International Space Station with Expedition 43 NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) onboard.

Liftoff was at 3:42 p.m. EDT Friday, March 27, 2015 (March 28 Kazakh time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016.

The goal of the mission is to help scientists better understand how the human body reacts and adapts to the harsh environment of space.

Source:::: http://www.earthskynews.org

Natarajan

 

Image of the Day…Soyuz Spacecraft Ready to be Launched on March 28…

The Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft is seen after having rolled out by train to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, March 25, 2015. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in the Soyuz at 3:42 p.m. EDT, Friday, March 27 (March 28, Kazakh time). As the one-year crew, Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth on the Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016.

Most expeditions to the space station last four to six months. By doubling the length of this mission, researchers hope to better understand how the human body reacts and adapts to long-duration spaceflight. This knowledge is critical as NASA looks toward human journeys deeper into the solar system, including to and from Mars, which could last 500 days or longer.

More: A Year in Space

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls 

source:::: http://www.nasa.gov

Image of the Day… ” Return of Expedition 42 to Earth ” …

The Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft is seen as it lands with International Space Station Expedition 42 commander Barry Wilmore of NASA, Alexander Samokutyaev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Elena Serova of Roscosmos near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. The landing took place on the evening of Wednesday, March 11 in the U.S, and early in the morning on Thursday, March 12, in Kazakhstan.

The three crew members returned to Earth after a 167-day mission on the orbital outpost that included hundreds of scientific experiments and several spacewalks to prepare the orbiting laboratory for future arrivals by U.S. commercial crew spacecraft.

SOURCE:::: http://www.nasa.gov

Natarajan