Crewed Soyuz Spacecraft Undocking Live on NASA TV

Crewed Soyuz Spacecraft Undocking Live on NASA TV

The Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft, docked to the station's Prichal module, orbits Earth as crew prepares to undock. Credit: NASA TV
The Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft, docked to the station’s Prichal module, orbits Earth as crew prepares to undock. Credit: NASA TV

NASA Television coverage of NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and two Roscosmos cosmonauts’ departure from the International Space Station is underway.

Rubio, along with Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, closed the hatch to the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft about 12:41 a.m. EDT. The Soyuz spacecraft will undock at 3:54 a.m. from the Prichal module, heading for a parachute-assisted landing at 7:17 a.m. (5:17 p.m. Kazakhstan time) on the steppe of Kazakhstan, southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan.

Rubio arrived at the International Space Station on Sept. 21, 2022, spending 371 days in low Earth orbit, and breaking the previous American record held by NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei by 16 days.

While clocking the single longest spaceflight by a NASA astronaut, Rubio has contributed to dozens of scientific studies.

Rubio helped nurture and monitor vegetables harvested with the space station’s Vegetable Production System, or Veggie. The Veggie study evaluates protocols for growing produce in space, and whether plants grown in microgravity can help satisfy the dietary needs of astronauts on more distant spaceflight missions.

In addition, Rubio provided biological samples, completed surveys, and performed tests for a study that collects a core set of measurements from astronauts, called Spaceflight Standard Measures. The measurements serve as a baseline for how multiple systems in the body react to spaceflight, from human cognition to the immune system. Other biological samples will be frozen and archived for future life science studies.

Rubio also became the first astronaut to participate in a study examining how exercising with limited gym equipment affects the human body. Recognizing that crew members traveling to the Moon and elsewhere will not have enough room in their spacecraft for a treadmill, researchers are eager to determine whether other exercise regimens could keep crews healthy on long missions. So rather than running on the space station’s treadmill, Rubio exercised only on the space station’s bicycle and weightlifting machine.

At the time of undocking, Expedition 70 will formally begin aboard the station with NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara and Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut and new station commander Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, and Konstantin Borisov.

 


Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

Get weekly video highlights at: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here: www.nasa.gov/subscribe

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…

Abby Graf

Soyuz Hatch Closed, Crew Awaits Undock

Soyuz Hatch Closed, Crew Awaits Undock

The Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft is docked to the station's Prichal module as NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and two cosmonauts prepare for departure. Credit: NASA TV
The Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft is docked to the station’s Prichal module as NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and two cosmonauts prepare for departure. Credit: NASA TV

At 12:41 a.m. EDT, the hatch closed between the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft and the International Space Station in preparation for undocking. NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin of Roscosmos are scheduled to undock their Soyuz spacecraft at 3:54 a.m. to begin their journey back home.

Mission coverage will continue live on NASA TV, the agency’s website, and the NASA app at the following times (all EDT):

  • 3:30 a.m. – Undocking coverage begins (undocking scheduled at 3:54 a.m.)
  • 6 a.m. – Deorbit burn and landing coverage begins (landing scheduled at 7:17 a.m. / 5:17 p.m. Kazakhstan time)

The Soyuz will undock from the Prichal module, heading for a parachute-assisted landing at 7:17 a.m. (5:17 p.m. Kazakhstan time) on the steppe of Kazakhstan, southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan.


Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

Get weekly video highlights at: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here: www.nasa.gov/subscribe

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…

Abby Graf

NASA TV Live With Crew Farewell and Hatch Closure

NASA TV Live With Crew Farewell and Hatch Closure

The Soyuz MS-23 crew ship approaches the International Space Station's Prichal docking module after undocking earlier from the Poisk module.
The Soyuz MS-23 crew ship approaches the International Space Station’s Prichal docking module after undocking earlier from the Poisk module.

NASA Television coverage of NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and two Roscosmos cosmonauts’ end of mission aboard the International Space Station is underway.

Rubio, along with Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, will close the hatch to the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft at 12:40 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Sept. 27, to begin the journey back to Earth. The Soyuz will undock from the Rassvet module, heading for a parachute-assisted landing at 7:17 a.m. (5:17 p.m. Kazakhstan time) on the steppe of Kazakhstan, southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan.

Mission coverage will air live on NASA TV, the agency’s website, and the NASA app at the following times (all EDT):

  • 3:30 a.m. – Undocking coverage begins (undocking scheduled at 3:54 a.m.)
  • 6 a.m. – Deorbit burn and landing coverage begins (landing scheduled at 7:17 a.m. / 5:17 p.m. Kazakhstan time)

Rubio, Prokopyev, and Petelin launched Sept. 21, 2022, on Soyuz MS-22, and will wrap up a 371-day mission spanning 5,936 orbits of Earth and more than 150 million miles. During the year-long mission, Rubio broke the record for the longest single spaceflight by an American astronaut, previously held at 355 days. This was the first space flight for Rubio and Petelin, and the second space flight for Prokopyev who is ending the mission with 568 cumulative days spent in space.

Following the undocking of the Soyuz with the trio aboard, Expedition 70 will formally begin aboard the station with NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara and Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut and new station commander Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, and Konstantin Borisov.

After landing, the Soyuz MS-23 crew will split up, as per standard crew return practice, with Rubio returning to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.


Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

Get weekly video highlights at: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here: www.nasa.gov/subscribe

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…

Abby Graf

Change of Station Command as Three Crew Members Prepare to Depart Early Wednesday

Change of Station Command as Three Crew Members Prepare to Depart Early Wednesday

iss068e036064 (Jan. 2, 2023) --- NASA astronaut and Flight Engineer Frank Rubio peers through one of the seven windows in the cupola, the International Space Station's
NASA astronaut and Flight Engineer Frank Rubio peers through one of the seven windows in the cupola, the International Space Station’s “window to the world.”

A change of command is underway aboard the International Space Station as three crew members are preparing to depart the orbiting laboratory in the early hours of Sept. 27 after spending 371 days in space.

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio is set to return home on Wednesday, Sept. 27 following a record-breaking mission on orbit. The hatch will close on the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft at 12:20 a.m. EDT with Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin aboard. Following hatch closure, the spacecraft will undock from the Prichal module at 3:55 a.m., beginning the trio’s short ride back to Earth and starting Expedition 70 for those still aboard the station. Rubio, Prokopyev, and Petelin will take a two-hour ride aboard Soyuz MS-23 before deorbit burn at 6:24 a.m. and landing around 7:17 a.m. in Kazakhstan.

Rubio, now the record-holder for the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut, launched to the station on Sept. 21, 2022. His year-long mission was comprised of dozens of scientific investigations and technology demonstrations including testing new space gardening techniques, taking on a space-based diet packed with nutrients, 3D printing knee cartilage tissue, and more.

As three crew members are nearing the end of their mission, the other seven orbital residents stayed busy with an array of microgravity tasks. Now Expedition 70 Commander, Andreas Mogensen of ESA (European Space Agency) worked with the food processor he installed last week. Mogensen made another batch of chocolate mousse in the morning, later taste-testing it in the evening.

Two first-time station Flight Engineers Loral O’Hara and Jasmin Moghbeli of NASA worked in tandem to remove and replace the science module and heat exchanger from the Cold Atom Lab that Moghbeli prepped for repairs yesterday. Meanwhile, Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) conducted maintenance in the Japanese Experiment Module.

Flight Engineers Konstantin Borisov and Nikolai Chub of Roscosmos also worked in tandem on Tuesday to take documentary-style photos and videos of life aboard the station, while Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko, also of Roscosmos, continued crew orientation tasks following his arrival to the station on Sept. 15.


Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

Get weekly video highlights at: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here: www.nasa.gov/subscribe

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…

Abby Graf