The Russian crew members oversaw the automatic docking of the Progress, which arrived after circling Earth 34 times following its launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on July 3. The Friday launch of a a Russian rocket carrying supplies to the global Space Station is a prime example.
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Even though these missions usually are routine, past resupply missions have failed which is why this mission was that much more crucial. “The space station and Kibo also offer huge potential for benefitting humankind”.
Russian Federation was forced to postpone all space travel while it investigated the failure of an unmanned spaceship taking cargo to the ISS in late April after it lost communications with Earth and burned up in the atmosphere.
The trio will be joining Russia’s Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko, as well as Scott Kelly of NASA, who are continuing research and maintenance aboard the ISS. It had crew clothing, spacewalk hardware, propellant, oxygen and water, among other supplies. More Progress and an Orbital ATK Cygnus craft – returning to flight after a launch failure last October – are expected later this year.
Despite the failed launch, the astronauts say they are confident in Russia’s space program.
Training for spacewalks includes underwater simulations on life-size mockups of the Space Station in NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) in Houston Texas. “We’re in good shape from a food standpoint”. The crew would need to build a shelter and make a fire using only those things that are available in the Soyuz capsule and the surrounding environment while waiting for rescue.
NASA reassured the public that there were enough food and water supplies until October. The shutter speed was set at 1/1650th of a second, allowing him to capture the one-third second long moment during which the ISS – which orbits Earth at 28,000 km per hour (17,400 mph) – transits across the Moon.
Since it was first launched in November 2000, the global Space Station has been occupied by over 200 individuals and a multitude of commercial and global spacecraft. It circles the planet every 90 minutes.
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They will conduct a number of scientific experiments including controlling robots remotely.
