International Space Station Receives New Crew

A new crew of astronauts arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on May 28 after launching from Kazakhstan at 4:31 p.m. ET.

The astronauts completed the trip from the launch pad to the orbiting complex in less than six hours.

Karen Nyberg of NASA, Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency and Fyodor Yurckikhin of the Russian Federal Space Agency successfully docked with and boarded the ISS.

The trio was welcomed by the ISS’s current crew: Engineer Chris Cassidy, Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Alexander Misurkin – all of whom arrived at the ISS on March 28 and are planned to return to Earth in September.

During the coming months the astronauts are scheduled to conduct five spacewalks to prepare the complex for the installation of the Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module in December, as well as a Nov. 9 spacewalk to take the Olympic torch outside.

Furthermore, the crew will welcome the arrival of several visiting cargo vehicles throughout the summer.

Meanwhile, they will continue to oversee a diverse portfolio of experiments, including one designed to evaluate countermeasures to prevent the loss of bone density seen during long-duration space missions. The experiment, which uses 3D analyses to evaluate the astronauts’ hip bones, is also tasked with increasing scientists’ understanding of osteoporosis on Earth.

Other experiments include researching how plants grow, which researchers hope will lead to more efficient crops on Earth and offer insight into how future crews may be able to grow their own food in space.

Additionally, the crew will test a new portable gas monitor designed to help analyze the environment inside the spacecraft and continue to fuel combustion experiments that past crews have worked on..

According to NASA, such an experiment could have multiple outcomes.

“Studying how fire behaves in space will have a direct impact on future spaceflight and could lead to cleaner, more efficient combustion engines on Earth,” a press release issued by the agency states.

This is Nyberg’s second space mission, previously visiting the ISS in 2008 aboard space shuttle Discovery. For Yurchikhin, this marks his fourth spaceflight, having first visited the station in 2002 aboard the shuttle Atlantis; it is the first space flight for Parmitano who previously flew as a major in the Italian Air Force.

To watch a video of the crew preparing for the launch, click here.