The arrival of Williams, Ovchinin and Skripochka returns the station’s crew complement to six.
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NASA astronaut Jeff Williams, member of the main crew of the expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), waves prior to the launch of Soyuz TMA-20M space ship at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Friday, March 18, 2016.
By the time Williams returns to Terra firma, he will become the new US record holder for the most cumulative days in space-534-surpassing Scott Kelly’s recently set record of 520 days.
The two Russians, on the other hand, are far less experienced; Skripochka has made one spaceflight, while Ovchinin is making his first. NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, Briton Tim Peake and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko have had the space station to themselves since March 1, when fellow space fliyers Scott Kelly, Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov departed for Earth. “A year’s actually a long time-I just realized how long a year is”, he said, chuckling.
The three crew members are Roscosmos’s Oleg Skriprochka and Alexey Ovchinin and NASA’s Jeff Williams.
The men will spend about six months living and working aboard the $100 billion research laboratory that flies about 400 km (250 miles) above Earth.
Russian Gennady Padalka holds the world record at 878.
The study will also test a gecko-inspired adhesive gripping device that can stick on command in the harsh environment of space, and add a new 3D printer for use on station. That launch ended in failure, when SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket disintegrated a little over two minutes after take off. The accident prompted SpaceX to ground its rocket fleet, but the company returned to flight in December and his since performed three successful launches. This is Ovchinin’s first mission to the ISS, Skripochka’s second, and Williams’ fourth.
‘Enjoy yourself, and take very good care of the space station for us, ‘ Bill Gerstenmaier, director of space operations at NASA Headquarters, told the crew shortly before launch.
Six hours after this evening’s launch, the crew will arrive at the ISS, connecting with the Poisk module at 11:12 p.m. NASA coverage of the hatch opening is scheduled for 12:30 a.m. Friday marked his third space station trip – another record, according to NASA.
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Williams is also now the first American to be a three-time, long-term ISS resident, the U.S. agency said. The Cygnus cargo spacecraft, built by American company Orbital ATK, is all set to reach the ISS on a resupply mission scheduled to launch next week Tuesday.
