Restart shuttle: Fwd: Soyuz TMA-14M Lands in Kazakhstan

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: March 12, 2015 at 9:56:01 AM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Soyuz TMA-14M Lands in Kazakhstan

The 41/42 crew of International Space Station is ready for landing
11.03.2015 15:46
In accordance to the flight program of ISS tomorrow, March 12, the 41/42 crew will finish it`s long-term mission on aloft. The crewmates of 41/42 expedition, Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexander Samokutayev and Elena Serova, as well as NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore are now getting ready to go home after 169 days aboard of International Space Station.
On March 10 the official ceremony of passage of command of ISS from Barry Wilmore to Terry Virts had occurred. On Russian part of ISS after Alexander Samokutayev the person on-duty became Anton Shkaplerov.
The undocking of the TMV Souyz TMA-14M with the International Space Station is scheduled on March 12 at 01:44 a.m. Moscow time. The landing of descent vehicle is planed out at 05:08 a.m. MT in 147 km far from the town Zhezkazgan.
3 crewmembers will stay on aloft before the coming of the next expedition, there will be Terry Virts (NASA), Anton Shkaplerov (Roscosmos) and Samantha Cristoforetti (ESA).
Press-service of Roscosmos

TPK "Soyuz TMA-14M" undocked from the ISS
03.12.2015 1:45
Manned transport spacecraft (TPC) "Soyuz TMA-14M" with the Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Alexander Samokutyaevym, Elena Serov and NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore, today, March 12 at 01:44 Moscow time nominally undocked from the research module "Search" Russian segment of the International Space Station .
Landing lander TPK "Soyuz TMA-14M" scheduled for 5:08 MSK March 12 at 147 km southeast of Zhezkazgan (Kazakhstan).
Press Service of the Russian Federal Space Agency

The crew of the WPK "Soyuz TMA-14M" returned to Earth
12.03.2015 05:25
Today, March 12, after half-year space mission ISS-41/42 as part of the commander of the manned spacecraft "Soyuz TMA-14M" Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Samokutyaeva, astronaut Ellen Serov and NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore returned safely to Earth. Lander manned transport spacecraft (TPC) landed at 05:14 MSK 147 km southeast of Zhezkazgan (Kazakhstan).
Before the arrival of the ISS expedition party should continue to work on the station crew of Anton Shkaplerova (Roscosmos), Terry Vertsa (NASA) and Samantha Cristoforetti (ESA).
Spacecraft "Soyuz TMA-14M" was launched on 26 September 2014 by a rocket "Soyuz-FG" from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. A total duration space flight ISS-41/42 was 167 days.
Complete the project became the second in the career of Alexander Samokutyaeva. His first job in orbit as commander of the WPK "Soyuz TMA-21" and ISS-27/28 lasted 164 days from April to September 2011. During the flight, Alexander Samokutyaev carried out its first spacewalk lasting 6 hours 23 minutes.After the flight, in 2012, Alexander Samokutyaev was awarded the title of Hero of Russia. Now the total length of stay Alexander Samokutyaeva orbit is 331 days, and the work outside the International Space Station - 10:00 4 minutes.
For Elena Serova flight as ISS-41/42 was the debut. Elena - the fourth in the domestic aerospace woman to orbit the Earth and the first Russian woman to the ISS. The path to the realization of the dream took Elena about 8 years - in December 2006, she was enrolled in the cosmonaut RSC "Energy" as a candidate for test cosmonauts.
During ISS-41/42 Alexander Serov Samokutyaev and Elena have been working over 50 scientific experiments, and maintains health station resupply the ISS and equipment delivered by cargo ships.
In addition, according to the International Space Station for the expedition were performed with cargo vehicle (THC) "Progress M-24M", "Progress M-25M", "Progress M-26M" cargo ship European ATV- 5 «Georges Lemaitre», preparation for return to Earth of three members of the crew of ISS-40/41 at TPK "Soyuz TMA-13M", participation in operations management docking TPK "Soyuz TMA-15M" with the ISS to a small research module "Dawn "(MRM1), as well as a spacewalk by the Russian program.
A few weeks later, March 27, 2015, the International Space Station crew will travel transport manned spacecraft "Soyuz TMA-16M."

Press Service of the Russian Federal Space Agency

March 11, 2015
RELEASE 15-038

Space Station Crew Returns to Earth, Lands Safely in Kazakhstan
ЕСТЬ ПОСАДКА! They have landed! This message was posted to the center screen of the Russian Federal Space Agency's Mission Control Center in Korolev, Russia, the moment confirmation was received that the Soyuz carrying three crew members of the International Space Station's Expedition 42 had landed on time and target in Kazakhstan.
Image Credit:
NASA
Three crew members returned to Earth Wednesday after a 167-day mission on the International Space Station (ISS) that included hundreds of scientific experiments and several spacewalks to prepare the orbiting laboratory for future arrivals by U.S. commercial crew spacecraft.
Expedition 42 commander Barry Wilmore of NASA and flight engineers Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) touched down at approximately 10:07 p.m. EDT (8:07 a.m. March 12, Kazakh time) southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan. [image-51]
During their time on station, the crew members participated in a variety of research focusing on the effects of microgravity on cells, Earth observation, physical science and biological and molecular science. One of several key research focus areas during Expedition 42 was human health management for long-duration space travel, as NASA and Roscosmos prepare for two crew members to spend one year aboard the space station. [image-69]
The space station also serves as a test bed to demonstrate new technology. The Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) arrived and was installed during Expedition 42, and already is providing data to improve scientists' understanding of the structure and evolution of Earth's atmosphere. This may lead to enhancements to spacecraft launches, landings and communications systems; help guide future atmospheric investigations of Mars, Jupiter or other worlds; and help researchers model and predict climate changes on Earth. [image-85]
The newly installed Electromagnetic Levitator will allow scientists to observe fundamental physical processes as liquid metals cool, potentially leading to lighter, higher-performing alloy, mixtures of two or more metals or a metal and another material, for use on Earth and in space.
The station crew also welcomed three cargo spacecraft with several tons of scientific investigations, food, fuel and other supplies. In January, the trio helped grapple and connect a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on the company's fifth contracted commercial resupply mission to the station. The Dragon returned to Earth in February with critical science samples. Two Russian ISS Progress cargo craft docked to the station in October and February. The fifth and final European Automated Transfer Vehicle, bearing the name of Belgian physicist Georges Lemaître, considered the father of the big-bang theory, departed the station in February.
During his time on the orbital complex, Wilmore ventured outside the space station with NASA astronaut Terry Virts on three spacewalks to prepare for new international docking adapters and future U.S. commercial crew spacecraft. Wilmore also completed a spacewalk in October with fellow NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman to replace a failed voltage regulator. Samokutyaev conducted one spacewalk during his time in space.
Having completed his second space station mission, Samokutyaev now has spent 331 days in space. Wilmore, having previously flown as a shuttle pilot on STS-129, has spent 178 days in space. Serova spent 167 days in space on her first flight.
Expedition 43 currently is operating the station, with Virts in command. Flight engineers Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos and Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA (European Space Agency), are continuing station research and operations until three new crewmates arrive in two weeks. NASA's Scott Kelly and Roscosmos' Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka are scheduled to launch from Kazakhstan March 27, Eastern time. Kelly and Kornienko will embark on the first joint U.S.-Russian one-year mission, an important stepping stone on NASA's journey to Mars.
For more information about the International Space Station and its crews, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/station
For b-roll and other media resources, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/stationnews
Follow the station on Twitter at @Space_Station
-end-
Stephanie Schierholz
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov
Dan Huot
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
daniel.g.huot@nasa.gov
Expedition 42 commander Barry Wilmore of NASA makes his way out of the Soyuz spacecraft following the crew's 167-day mission aboard the space station.
Image Credit:
NASA

Her first mission to the space station, Expedition 42 flight engineer Elena Serova of the Russian Federal Space Agency is assisted in her exit from the Soyuz that returned her and her team members from the ISS.
Image Credit:
NASA

With the end of this mission, flight engineer Alexander Samokutyaev of the Russian Federal Space Agency now has accrued 331 days in space.
Image Credit:
NASA

Soyuz TMA-14M Undocks From ISS
© instagram.com/roscosmosofficial/Sergey Ryazanskiy
Tech
01:56 12.03.2015(updated 03:03 12.03.2015)
16820

The representative of the Mission Control Center annouced that Russian piloted spaceship Soyuz TMA-14M, bringing back Russian cosmonauts Elena Serova and Alexander Samokutyaev and NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian piloted spaceship Soyuz TMA-14M, bringing back Russian cosmonauts Elena Serova and Alexander Samokutyaev and NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore, has successfully undocked from the International Space Station (ISS), the representative of the Mission Control Center told RIA Novosti Thursday.
"Soyuz TMA-14M with Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev, Elena Serova and NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore undocked from the station at planned time," the spokesperson for the Mission Control Center said.
The Mission Control Center spokesperson added that the spaceship's engine is due to begin the braking at 01:16 GMT and enter the dense layers of the atmosphere at 01:45 GMT. The command to release the parachute is to be given at 01:54 GMT.
"The planned time of landing is 05:08 a.m. Moscow time [02:08 GMT], [the spacecraft is due to land] about 149 kilometers southeast of the city of Zheskazgan in Kazakhstan," the spokesperson said.
The expedition 41/42 has spent a total of 169 days at ISS. US astronaut Terry Virts, Roscosmos cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will continue working at ISS until the new expedition arrives at the station.

Descent Capsule of Soyuz TMA-14M Lands in Kazakhstan
© Sputnik/ Pavel Lisitsyn

05:25 12.03.2015(updated 06:37 12.03.2015)
14010

Mission Control Center said that the descent capsule of Russian Soyuz TMA-14M manned spacecraft with international crew on board has successfully landed in the pre-planned area in Kazakhstan.
KOROLYOV (Sputnik) — The descent capsule of Russia's Soyuz TMA-14M manned spacecraft with international crew on board has successfully landed in the pre-planned area in Kazakhstan, the representative of the Mission Control Center told RIA Novosti on Thursday.
The first female cosmonaut in Russia's modern history, Elena Serova, Russian cosmonaut Alexander Samokutyaev and NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore have returned from a 169-days long expedition to the International Space Station (ISS). They are currently being evacuated from the descent capsule. While at the ISS, the crew has conducted more than 50 scientific experiments.
© Photo: Russian Federal Space Agency
NASA Hopes to Continue Cooperation on International Space Station Until 2024
The safety of the Soyuz spacecraft crew is being ensured by about 300 servicemen, 14 Mi-8 helicopters, two AN-26 aircraft and six cross-country vehicles.
US astronaut Terry Virts, Roscosmos cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will continue work at ISS until the new expedition arrives at the station.
The ISS-43/44 crew of Russian Space Agency cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, will travel to the ISS on the transport spacecraft "Soyuz TMA-16M" at the end of March. Kornienko and Kelly are expected to work on board the ISS for an entire year while Padalka is due to return to Earth after a six-month mission.

Soyuz TMA-14M Crew Feeling Well After Landing
© REUTERS/ Bill Ingalls/NASA/Handout via Reuters

07:42 12.03.2015(updated 10:24 12.03.2015)
118090

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said that the landing of the capsule of Russia's Soyuz TMA-14M manned spacecraft with Russian cosmonauts Elena Serova, Alexander Samokutyaev and NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore went as planned and the crew is feeling well.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The landing of the capsule of Russia's Soyuz TMA-14M manned spacecraft with Russian cosmonauts Elena Serova, Alexander Samokutyaev and NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore went as planned and the crew is feeling well, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Thursday.
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© Photo: Roscosmos
ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst, Roscosmos cosmonaut Elena Serov, Maxim Shur, Alexander Samokutyaev, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Barry Wilmore (left to right) on board the ISS
At about 02:08 GMT Thursday the descent capsule of Russia's Soyuz TMA-14M with international crew on board has successfully landed some 149 kilometers (92 miles) southeast of the city of Zheskazgan in Kazakhstan.
© Sputnik/ Pavel Lisitsyn
Descent Capsule of Soyuz TMA-14M Lands in Kazakhstan
"Everything goes as planned here. The crew was evacuated from the capsule. They are feeling well," Rogozin said on Twitter.
The ISS expedition 41/42 has spent a total of 169 days at ISS and conducted more than 50 scientific experiments.
The 43/44 expedition comprising of Russian Space Agency cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly will arrive at the ISS at the end of March. Until then, NASA'a Terry Virts, ESA's Samantha Cristoforetti and Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos will continue working at the station.

© 2015 Sputnik All rights reserved.

Russia's first female cosmonaut in past 20 years to return to Earth from ISS
March 12, 1:13 UTC+3
The Soyuz TMA-14M reentry module is to land some 146 kilometres southeast of Kazakhstan's city of Dzhezkazgan

© EPA/YURI KOCHETKOV
© TASS/Donat Sorokin
Soyuz reentry module with ISS crew lands in Kazakhstan steppe
MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/. The crew of the Soyuz TMA-14M piloted spaceship returns from the International Space Station /ISS/ to the Earth on Thursday.
Russian cosmonauts Aleksandr Samokutyayev and Yelena Serova (Russia's first female cosmonaut in the past twenty years) and their American crew mate, NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore, are returning after a six-month mission onboard the ISS. Their space mission started in late September 2014.
"The Soyuz TMA-14M reentry module is to land at 05:08 Moscow time some 146 kilometres southeast of Kazakhstan's city of Dzhezkazgan," a spokesman for the Mission Control Centre told TASS.
The Soyuz will undock from the International Space Station at 01:44 Moscow time.
About 200 servicemen, 14 Mi-8 helicopters, three An-12 and An-26 planes and six amphibious transport vehicles of the rescue team of the Central military district will backup safe landing of the space vehicle and evacuation of the crew, the press service of the military district told TASS earlier.
On the following day after the landing, after a medical examination the crew will receive presents from the company Kentavr-Nauka, the key supplier of space garments. "We have prepared souvenir polo shirts with embroidered emblem of the expedition for Samokrutyayev and Serova to remind them of their space flight," Alexander Yarov, the company's director, told TASS.
Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, US astronaut Terry Virts and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will stay at ISS. Virts has taken over as the ISS commander from Wilmore.
The Soyuz TMA-14M crew fulfilled a number of works with Russia's Progress cargo spacecraft, the European cargo spaceship ATV-5, which after undocking from the ISS was drowned in the Pacific in February. Also, they carried out a wide scientific programme.
Samokutyayev and Maksim Surayev, a member of the previous ISS expedition, made a spacewalk under the programme of the station's Russian segment.
Four spacewalks were performed under the American programme. Wilmore took part in all of them.
The next expedition — Roscosmos (Russian Federal Space Agency) cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly — will take off onboard a Soyuz TMA-16M spaceship from the Baikonur space center on March 27.

Soyuz TMA-14M crew feeling well after returning from ISS — Russian deputy PM
March 12, 8:42 UTC+3
The crew of Russian cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyayev and Yelena Serova and NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore has landed in Kazakhstan's steppe after spending about 170 days onboard the ISS
© EPA/NASA / Bill Ingalls
© TASS/Donat Sorokin
Soyuz reentry module with ISS crew lands in Kazakhstan steppe
MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/. The crew of the Soyuz TMA-14M spaceship who returned to the Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) early on Thursday are feeling well, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin wrote in his Twitter microblog.
"The situation is all right. The crew members were taken out of the reentry module. They are feeling well. Serova is better than others in terms of blood pressure," he wrote.
The Soyuz TMA-14M reentry module with a crew of Russian cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyayev and Yelena Serova and NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore has landed in Kazakhstan's steppe some 146 kilometers southeast of the city of Dzhezkazgan at designated time. The crew's mission onboard the ISS lasted for about 170 days.
The Soyuz TMA-14M undocked from the ISS at 01:44 a.m. Moscow time (22:44 GMT). Its crew fulfilled a number of works with Russia's Progress cargo spacecraft, the European cargo spaceship ATV-5, which after undocking from the ISS was drowned in the Pacific in February. Also, they carried out a wide scientific program.
Samokutyayev and Maxim Surayev, a member of the previous ISS expedition, made a spacewalk under the program of the station's Russian segment.
Four spacewalks were performed under the American program. Wilmore took part in all of them.
Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, US astronaut Terry Virts and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti are staying at the ISS. Virts has taken over as the ISS commander from Wilmore.
The next expedition — Roscosmos (Russian Federal Space Agency) cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly — will take off onboard a Soyuz TMA-16M spaceship from the Baikonur space center on March 27.

© 2015 TASS

Station trio returns to Earth after 167 days aloft
03/11/2015 01:21 PM

Editor's note...
Posted at 11:00 AM, 03/11/15: Three station fliers prep for return to Earth
Updated at 06:50 PM, 03/11/15: Soyuz undocks from space station (complete writethru; moving up remaining station crew; adding quotes)
Updated at 11:15 PM, 03/11/15: Soyuz lands in Kazakhstan; crew in good shape
By WILLIAM HARWOOD
CBS News

Three space station fliers -- the outgoing NASA commander and two Russian cosmonauts -- undocked and returned to Earth Wednesday, ending a 167-day stay in space with a nail-biting communications blackout that left the crew out of contact with Russian flight controllers during much of the trip home.

The cause of the communications dropout was not immediately known, but during a brief exchange with recovery crews during the final stages of the descent, spacecraft commander Alexander Samokutyaev reported all three crew members were in good shape and proceeding to an on-target touchdown on the snowy steppe of Kazakhstan.

Landing was expected around 10:08 p.m., but low clouds and icy fog blocked a clear view of the touchdown and it took another nine minutes or so before Russian recovery crews confirmed the descent module was on the ground and in a vertical orientation. An exact landing time was not immediately known.
The Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft descends toward landing in Kazakhstan Wednesday with the waning moon shining in the background. (Credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)

As always with Soyuz landings, Russian recovery forces and a team of U.S. and Russian flight surgeons were standing by near the landing zone to help the returning station fliers -- Samokutyaev, flight engineer Elena Serova and Barry "Butch" Wilmore -- out of the cramped descent module for initial medical checks and satellite calls home to friends and family.

Carried to recliners near the descent module and quickly bundled in blankets, all three crew members appeared healthy and in good spirits, smiling and chatting with recovery crews before they were hustled away to a nearby medical tent for more extensive checks.

Before leaving the space station, Wilmore said he looked forward to re-entry aboard the Soyuz.

"It's not many jobs that you have the opportunity to return from work in a 17,000-mile-an-hour fireball," Wilmore, a fighter pilot with a shuttle mission to his credit, joked a few days ago. "This is one of those opportunities! To be honest, I'm not a thrill seeker by any means, but a unique experience like that, I do look forward to it, literally coming back in a fireball."

At touchdown, Samokutyaev had logged a combined 331 days in space during two space flights. Wilmore's total, including one shuttle flight, stood at 178 days while Serova, completing her first mission, had logged 167 days aloft.

All three planned to fly by helicopter to Karaganda before splitting up for separate trips home. Wilmore will board a NASA jet and fly back to Houston while Samokutyaev and Serova will head for home in Star City near Moscow for debriefing.

Left behind aboard the space station were Expedition 43 commander Terry Virts, cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. During a change-of-command ceremony Tuesday, Wilmore thanked his crewmates for a successful stay in space.

"I can't say enough about our crew on board," he said. "What a blessing to have this group of people assembled together. The joy, the fun that we've had together, the work that we've done together has just truly been amazing."

Virts thanked Wilmore for "the amazing job you've done as commander."

"You have been a perfect example for us, you're exactly what a space station commander should be, and it's been a real blessing to have you," he said.

Virts and his crewmates will have the lab to themselves until March 27 when another Soyuz, TMA-16M, carries veteran cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko to the lab complex.
The Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft descended to a parachute and rocket-assisted landing on the snowy steppe of Kazakhstan Wednesday, bringing commander Alexander Samokutyaev (center), flight engineer Elena Serova (left) and Barry "Butch" Wilmore (right) back to Earth after a 167-day stay aboard the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA TV)

Padalka, who has logged 711 days in space during four previous flights, plans to return to Earth in September, becoming the world's most experienced spaceman in the process and pushing his total time to 877 days. Kelly and Kornienko plan to spend nearly a full year aboard the laboratory, serving as test subjects for a variety of medical experiments to learn more about the long-term effects of the space environment, from prolonged weightlessness to higher levels of radiation.

While four cosmonauts flew for a year or longer during the Mir era, Kelly and Kornienko will set a new duration record for the International Space Station while Kelly will set the endurance mark for U.S. astronauts.

Asked if he might one day be interested in a year-long flight like Kelly's, Wilmore said he wasn't so sure.

"My wife, my family would say go, but I've got a seven year old and a ten year old, and I've got to think about them as well," he said. "So, yeah, part of me says I'll go, but there'd be a lot of discussion and a lot of decisions made within my household before I could actually sign up for something like that."

The Soyuz TMA-14M return to Earth began with undocking from the lab's Russian Poisk module at 6:44 p.m.

After moving about 12 miles away from the lab complex, Samokutyaev monitored a computer-orchestrated deorbit rocket firing to drop the ship out of orbit. The "burn" was expected to last four minutes and 41 seconds, slowing the ship by about 286 mph, but communications were cut off about 90 seconds after ignition.

Twenty-three minutes later, with the crew still out of contact with Russian flight controllers, the three modules making up the Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft separated as planned and the central descent module, carrying the returning station fliers, oriented itself heat shield first before slamming into the discernible atmosphere about 62 miles above the south Atlantic Ocean.

Intermittent communications were restored well after atmospheric entry began and Samokutyaev reported the crew was in good shape a few minutes before touchdown. There as no immediate word on what caused the communications blackout, but whatever it was, it had no apparent effect on the re-entry as the spacecraft made a near bullseye landing.

Wilmore's crew helped kick off a busy year aboard the station as NASA carries out a major reconfiguration of the lab complex, installing new docking mechanisms, wiring and antennas needed by commercial crew capsules being built by Boeing and SpaceX. Seven U.S. spacewalks are planned, including three carried out earlier this month by Wilmore and Virts.

The crew also accepted delivery of two Russian Progress cargo ships, a SpaceX Dragon supply capsule and carried out dozens of experiments. And along the way, Wilmore, a diehard SEC football fan, enjoyed watching the Tennessee Volunteers in games beamed up from mission control.

But Wilmore's top priority was the science.

"Much of what we have done, preparing the station for the future, that's a lot about what Expeditions 41 and 42 have been about," he said. "We've done some cutting-edge science, initial rodent research and dealing with zebra fish and various other animals up here, also capillary flow experiments, combustion science, vegetation growth.

"And it's all looking to the future, to prepare ourselves to go farther, beyond low-Earth orbit into the far reaches, perhaps one day, of the solar system."

While he looked forward to experiencing landing aboard a Soyuz spacecraft, Wilmore said he was particularly eager to see his family and friends.

"That's one of the great things that NASA affords us with IP phone, email and other things that are pretty much real time up here, and it's to share the experience with those we care about and those we love," he said. "And that's been very special. To be able to do that face to face, I'm really looking forward to that."

© 2015 William Harwood/CBS News

Photos: Soyuz landing craft touches down in wintry Kazakhstan
Posted on March 12, 2015 by Stephen Clark
A three-member space crew returned to Earth just after sunrise Thursday in Kazakhstan, descending through a sun-splashed sky under an orange and white parachute before dipping through fog for a rocket-cushioned touchdown on the snowy steppes of Central Asia.
Soyuz TMA-14M commander Alexander Samokutyaev, flight engineer Elena Serova and NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore landed at about 0208 GMT Thursday (10:08 p.m. EDT), or around 8:08 a.m. local time in Kazakhstan. The trio concluded a 167-day mission on the International Space Station and appeared in good health and spirits after ground crews extracted them from the landing capsule.
Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Soyuz flight engineer Elena Serova. Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Soyuz commander Alexander Samokutyaev. Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Expedition 42 commander Butch Wilmore. Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

© 2015 Spaceflight Now Inc.

AmericaSpace
For a nation that explores
March 12th, 2015
Soyuz TMA-14M Crew Returns to Earth After 167-Day Mission
By Ben Evans

Tired but healthy and undoubtedly glad to be home, the Soyuz TMA-14M crew of (from left) Yelena Serova, Aleksandr Samokutyayev and Barry "Butch" Wilmore spent 167 days in orbit during Expedition 41/42. Photo Credit: NASA
In the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the No. 42 may be the answer to the unknowable question, but the curtain has finally fallen on Expedition 42—the most recent long-duration increment to the International Space Station (ISS)—with the safe return to Earth of Russian cosmonauts Aleksandr Samokutyayev and Yelena Serova and U.S. astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore. The trio touched down in central Kazakhstan, just to the south-east of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, at 8:07 a.m. local time Thursday, 12 March (10:07 p.m. EDT Wednesday, 11 March), some 167 days, 5 hours and 44 minutes since their launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome last 25/26 September. Their landing marks the official start of Expedition 43, under the command of U.S. astronaut Terry Virts. Joined by Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov and Italy's first woman in space, Samantha Cristoforetti, they will operate as a trio until 27/28 March, when the Soyuz TMA-16M crew of Russian cosmonauts Gennadi Padalka and Mikhail "Misha" Kornienko and U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly arrive to kick off the first year-long expedition of the ISS era.
As outlined in AmericaSpace's Expedition 41/42 overview article, Samokutyayev, Serova and Wilmore blasted into orbit from Baikonur Cosmodrome last September and, despite the failure of one of Soyuz TMA-14M's electricity-generating solar arrays to properly unfurl, they docked successfully at the space-facing (or "zenith") Poisk module about six hours later. The stubborn array jolted successfully open with the impact of docking. For their first six weeks, they worked with the Expedition 41 crew—Commander Max Surayev of Russia, NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman and Germany's Alexander Gerst—supporting dozens of research experiments, SpaceX's fourth Dragon cargo ship (CRS-4), the arrival of Russia's Progress M-25M freighter and three EVAs in the October timeframe. Their work was hampered, however, on 29 October, when Orbital Sciences' third Cygnus cargo mission (ORB-3) was lost in the catastrophic failure of its Antares launch vehicle.
With the return to Earth of Surayev, Wiseman and Gerst aboard Soyuz TMA-13M in the first half of November, Wilmore took command of Expedition 42, which endured as a three-member crew for two weeks, until the arrival of Shkaplerov, Virts and Cristoforetti aboard Soyuz TMA-15M on 24 November. During their four months together, the astronauts and cosmonauts welcomed the fifth Dragon (CRS-5) in January 2015, bade farewell to the European Space Agency's (ESA) final Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) in February and supported three U.S. EVAs by Wilmore and Virts in February-March to lay cables and utilities in readiness for the installation of two International Docking Adapters (IDAs) and the expansive Common Communications for Visiting Vehicles (C2V2) architecture.
Incoming Expedition 43 Commander Terry Virts (front left) accepts the microphone from outgoing Expedition 42 Commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore during Tuesday's change-of-command ceremony. Photo Credit: NASA
In readiness for the return of Wilmore's crew to Earth, the six-strong team assembled aboard the orbiting laboratory on Tuesday, 10 March, for the traditional change-of-command ceremony. With incoming Expedition 43 Commander Virts at his side—and beaming Samokutyayev, Serova, Shkaplerov and Cristoforetti looking on—Wilmore began his address by thanking the entire Expedition 42 support team on the ground for their sterling work. "It's no small task to take the lead and take all the Program requirements from around the globe and implement them here on board," he told his audience. "Our congratulations to you and thanks for making our job really easy." He paid tribute to his own crew, noting that it was "a blessing to have this group of people assembled together", and jokingly singled out Cristoforetti as "the only person who can say I'm sorry, Thank you and Job well done in five different languages, fluently!"
Without further ado, Wilmore turned the microphone over to Virts. Clapping his comrade and former spacewalking buddy on the back, he commented: "As we say in the Navy, you have the helm!" The softly-spoken Virts began with warm praise for his outgoing commander and described his excitement for the months ahead, which will see him lead Expedition 43 until mid-May. "We're looking forward to doing world-class science, like we've been doing," he said. "We're looking forward to keeping the station running and getting it reconfigured for the future vehicles that we're going to have and we're looking forward to getting Scott and Misha off on the right foot for their year-long mission."
Virts was, of course, referring to the impending 26/27 March launch from Baikonur of U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, who will remain aboard the ISS through March 2016. This will make them the first ISS crew to spend about a year in space and will mark the first mission of such ultra-marathon duration since the era of Russia's Mir station. Not since the return to Earth of cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev in August 1999, after 379 days aloft, has such an ultra-long-duration expedition been attempted. Kelly and Kornienko will be accompanied into orbit by veteran cosmonaut Gennadi Padalka, who is expected to remain aboard for a nominal six months, before he changes places with the incoming Soyuz TMA-18M's Sergei Volkov in September, who will join the year-long duo for the remainder of their ISS stay.
Clad in their royal-blue Expedition 43 polo shirts, Terry Virts, Anton Shkaplerov and Samantha Cristoforetti will form the new "core" ISS crew through mid-May 2015. Photo Credit: NASA
Perhaps paying tribute to this dramatic start to 2015, Virts described Expedition 43 as "a short expedition, but it's going to be busy". He will command the station until shortly before the scheduled return to Earth of himself, Shkaplerov and Cristoforetti on 14 May, whereupon he will—in his turn—relinquish command to Padalka to inaugurate Expedition 44. "But first," said Virts, with a twinkle in his eye, "we need to get in proper uniform." And without missing a beat, he pulled out and passed around royal-blue Expedition 43 polo shirts for his crew, which they donned, to a chorus of "All right!" from Wilmore. Shaking the space station's new skipper by the hand, Wilmore said: "Colonel, you have the helm!"
By this stage, Samokutyayev, Serova and Wilmore were well into the homestretch of packing their equipment and personal effects aboard Soyuz TMA-14M. Clad in their launch and entry suits, the trio undocked from the ISS at 6:44 p.m. EDT Wednesday to kick off their 3.5-hour return to Earth. During this period of free flight, they executed a 4.5-minute deorbit "burn" of their spacecraft's engines at 9:16 p.m., then jettisoned their spherical orbital module and cylindrical instrument module. With the three crew members ensconced inside the beehive-shaped Soyuz descent module, they plunged base-first into the "sensible" atmosphere, attaining Entry Interface (EI) at an altitude of 400,000 feet (122 km) about a half-hour later. Despite a lengthy communications gap, which began towards the end of the deorbit burn, the re-entry was executed without incident.
The early phases of re-entry were highlighted by the rapid heating of the spacecraft's outer surfaces—caused by friction with the steadily thickening atmospheric gases—and Soyuz TMA-14M streaked, meteorically, across the sky, heading for a touchdown in Kazakhstan. Eight minutes after EI, the spacecraft was traveling in excess of 515 mph (830 km/h), but this rate of descent was shortly arrested by the deployment of four parachutes. The first of these were unfurled about 15 minutes before touchdown and took the form of two "pilot" canopies, followed by the 258-square-foot (24-square-meter) drogue, which slowed Samokutyayev, Serova and Wilmore to about 180 mph (290 km/h). Finally, the main chute deployed to its fully inflated surface area of 10,764 square feet (1,000 square meters) to shift Soyuz TMA-14M's attitude to a 30-degree angle, relative to the ground.
Under Wilmore's command, the Expedition 42 crew spent almost four months together in orbit. Clockwise from top are Wilmore, Yelena Serova, Samantha Cristoforetti, Terry Virts, Anton Shkaplerov and Aleksandr Samokutyayev. Photo Credit: NASA
This steadily dissipated heat, then shifted the spacecraft back to a straight-vertical profile for landing. The main canopy slowed the Soyuz to a more stately 16.4 mph (26.4 km/h), although this was still too fast for a safe touchdown. It was left to the solid-fueled rockets in the descent module's base—which ignited a couple of seconds before landing—to cushion the impact on the desolate Kazakh steppe. Touchdown occurred at 8:07 a.m. local time Thursday, 12 March (10:07 p.m. EDT Wednesday, 11 March), closing out a mission of 167 days, 5 hours and 44 minutes, more than 71 million miles (114 million km) traveled and 2,599 orbits of Earth. Early indications are that the crew are healthy after more than 5.5 months living and working in the microgravity environment.
Thus has concluded the 42nd expedition to the ISS, which continues an unbroken line of U.S., Russian, German, French, Japanese, Belgian, Canadian, Italian and Dutch long-duration residents of the space station, stretching back to the arrival of Expedition 1 crewmen Bill Shepherd, Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko in November 2000. Returning to Earth at the end of Expedition 42, Aleksandr Samokutyayev has now accrued 331 days, 11 hours and 25 minutes at the end of his second mission, which establishes him as the 41st most experienced spacefarer in the world. Barry "Butch" Wilmore—who became the first former shuttle pilot since 2003 to participate in an EVA during this expedition—has accumulated a personal total of 178 days and 1 hour exactly, when taking into account his 11-day STS-129 mission, back in November 2009. This will make him the world's 89th most experienced spacefarer. Lastly, Yelena Serova, who became Russia's fourth female cosmonaut, has positioned herself as the world's 99th most experienced spacefarer and the ninth most experienced woman space traveller as she wraps up her first mission.

Copyright © 2015 AmericaSpace - All Rights Reserved

U.S.-Russian space trio land safely in Kazakhstan

By Dmitry Solovyov

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The International Space Station crew of (L to R) Barry Wilmore of the U.S., Alexander Samokutyaev and …
By Dmitry Solovyov
ALMATY (Reuters) - A NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts landed safely in a snow-covered Kazakh steppe on Thursday after a 167-day mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
A capsule carrying NASA station commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Russian flight engineers Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova landed in a vertical upright position shortly after sunrise at 0807 (2207 ET), some 147 km (92 miles) southeast of the town of Zhezkazgan in central Kazakhstan.
"Everything is going on by the book," said a NASA television commentator. "Expedition 42 is back on Earth."
Extracted from the capsule, which was charred on re-entry, the three were seated in semi-reclined chairs for a breath of fresh air and first medical checks, bundled up in blankets to protect them from frigid temperatures.
"Everything is great, thank you. The guys are great and worked very well," said a smiling Serova while a female doctor measured her pulse and blood pressure.
"Congratulations on the recent holiday," a rescue and recovery team officer said to Serova, referring to the International Women's Day marked on March 8.
Serova made her first space flight and became the first Russian woman to serve on the ISS, a $100 billion project of 15 countries. Wilmore and Samokutyaev completed their second flights.
"Everything is fine. I am drinking real tea with lemon," Samokutyaev said with a smile.
"I am glad to be here," Wilmore said in Russian before the three got into all-terrain vehicles and were taken to individual helicopters to be evacuated from the landing area.
NASA astronaut Terry Virts, who took over command of the station from Wilmore on Tuesday, remains aboard with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov and Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. They are due home in mid-May.
Wilmore partnered with Virts for a trio of spacewalks between Feb. 21 and March 1 to prepare parking spots for two new commercial space taxis hired by NASA to begin ferrying crew members to and from the station in 2017.
NASA expects future crews to make four more spacewalks before the end of the year to install docking ports and other equipment for the new spaceships.
With the arrival of the next crew, NASA and Russia will be doubling the mission durations in an attempt to learn more about how the human body responds to even longer stays in space.
NASA astronaut Mark Kelly and Russia's Mikhail Kornienko are due to spend a year aboard the station, which flies about 260 miles (418 km) above Earth. They are slated to launch, along with cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, on March 27 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
(Reporting by Irene Klotz and Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Alan Raybould)

Copyright © 2015 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

Astronauts return to Earth on Russian Soyuz spaceship

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Moscow (AFP) - Two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut on Thursday returned to Earth aboard a Soyuz space capsule after spending six months at the International Space Station.
Yelena Serova -- the first female Russian cosmonaut to have spent time on the ISS -- landed along with Alexander Samokutyaev and Barry Wilmore in snowy Kazakhstan just after sunrise.
"The Expedition 42 crew is back on Earth," said NASA commentator Rob Navias on the US space agency's live broadcast of the event.
"They have landed in a vertical position, upright," he added, citing Russian search and recovery forces which routinely go out to pick up the returning space-farers after they touch down on the remote steppe southeast of Dzhezkazgan.
Russia's space agency Roscosmos also confirmed that the crew had "successfully returned to Earth".
"The piloted descent craft completed its landing at 05:14 Moscow Time (0214 GMT)," the agency said in a statement.
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This February 21, 2015 NASA TV image shows NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore(L) and Terry Virts during a …
The trio left Earth on September 26. They spent 167 days in space and traveled more than 70 million miles (112 million kilometers) during that time, NASA said.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the space industry, said that the crew had been picked up and were all in good health.
"Everything is in order. The crew has been retrieved from the capsule. They're feeling good. Serova is best off in terms of blood pressure," Rogozin wrote on Twitter.
Television footage showed the smiling crew members being lifted out of the capsule by a recovery team and loaded into waiting vehicles wrapped in thick blankets.
The next crew launches from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on March 27, Roscosmos has said.
The men on board will be US astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka.
Kelly and Kornienko will stay at the research outpost for an entire year instead of the usual six months, "collecting valuable biomedical data that will inform future deep space, long-duration missions," NASA said.
Meanwhile, three crew members -- Russian Anton Shkaplerov, Italian Samantha Cristoforetti and American Terry Virts -- remain onboard the space station.
Russia last month confirmed that it will continue using the International Space Station in partnership with NASA until 2024.
NASA had already said the ageing ISS will remain operational until 2024 but Moscow had threatened to pull out and stop financing it by 2020.

Copyright © 2015 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.

US-Russian Space Crew Returns to Earth After 167 Days in Orbit
by Miriam Kramer, Space.com Staff Writer | March 11, 2015 11:40pm ET

Russian cosmonauts Elena Serova (left), Alexander Samokutyaev (center) and NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore are recline in blanket-covered chairs after landing on Earth on March 11, 2015 EDT (March 12 local time) on the steppes of Kazakhstan. The trio spent 167 days in space, most of that time on the International Space Station.
Credit: NASA TV View full size image
An American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts have landed safely on after 167 days in orbit at the International Space Station. The space travelers was all smiles despite below-freezing temperatures of their snow-covered landing site in Kazakhstan.
"I'm glad to be back," NASA astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore said after being pulled from the Soyuz space capsule alongside his Russian crewmates Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova. Wilmore wore a broad grin and gave a thumb's up sign to cameras.
The Soyuz landed on the frigid steppes of Kazakhstan in Central Asia at about 8:07 a.m. local time on Friday, March 12, (10:07 p.m. March 11 EDT) in a smooth landing despite sporadic communications with Russia's Mission Control during most of re-entry. The crew traveled 71 million miles during their nearly six-month mission to the space station. [See photos of their space station mission]
The landing site was covered in a thick blanket of fog, making visibility difficult for recovery crews. Temperatures hovered around 20 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 6 degrees Celsius), NASA spokesman Rob Navias said during the agency's landing commentary.
This mission marked Serova's first flight to space. She became the fourth Russian woman to fly in space during the spaceflight.
"I want to say hello to all my relatives," Serova said after the landing, which she said felt great. She waved and blew a kiss to video cameras while some recovery team members congratulated her on the recent International Women's Day, which occurred on March 8.
Good to know you're safe back on Earth! RT @Astro_Nicole: Есть посадка!! Welcome home Barry, Elena & Sasha! pic.twitter.com/oLPKBzKTAo
— Sam Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) March 12, 2015
Samokutyaev, meanwhile, took comfort in a simple pleasure.
"I am drinking tea with real lemon," he said as he sipped from a tin mug. "It's great."
The mission marked the second career flight for both Samokutyaev and Wilmore. In total, Samokutyaev has spent 331 days in space, and Wilmore has spent 178 days in orbit, according to NASA.
European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti (bottom center) snaps one final group photo of the Expedition 42 crew before they split up on March 11, 2015. NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore (bottom right) and Russian cosmonauts Elena Serova (top right) and Alexander Samokutyaev (top middle) returned to Earth on a Soyuz capsule to wrap up 167 days in space. Cristoforetti, NASA's Terry Virts (bottom left) and Russian Anton Shkaplerov stayed on the station.
Credit: Samantha Cristoforetti/ESA via Twitter
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Serova, Samokutyaev and Wilmore leave behind three other crewmembers on the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Terry Virts, cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will continue living and working on the orbiting outpost until later this year.
"What a blessing to have this group of people assembled together," Wilmore said as he was passing command of the space station to Virts during a ceremony Tuesday (March 10). "The joy, the fun that we've had together, the work that we've done together has just truly been amazing … It's been such a joy."
The space station's remaining crew apparently followed the Soyuz's landing from orbit, with Cristoforetti taking to Twitter to congratulate her colleagues' successful landing.
"Good to know you're safe back on Earth!" Cristoforetti wrote in the Twitter post. Earlier, the crew had posed for one final group photo before the Soyuz undocked from the space station for good.
Shkaplerov, Cristoforetti and Virts won't be alone on the space laboratory for long. Cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko, Gennady Padalka and NASA's Scott Kelly will join the other trio of crewmembers on March 27 when Kornienko, Padalka and Kelly fly up to the station aboard their own Soyuz.
Kornienko and Kelly's flight in March will mark the start of the space station's first year-long mission. While cosmonauts have spent full years in space before, this spaceflight will be the first yearlong mission for an American, and the first year-long mission for anyone on the space station.
NASA currently relies on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft to deliver astronauts to and from the space station, but that could change in the coming years. The private spaceflight companies SpaceX and Boeing are currently developing crewed vehicles that could ferry astronauts to the station from Earth and home again. NASA officials hope at least one of those vehicles will be available to fly astronauts to the station from U.S. soil by 2017.
A rotating crew of astronauts and cosmonauts have staffed the $100 billion International Space Station since 2000. Construction of the outpost began in 1998.Wilmore also performed four spacewalks during his time on the space station. Three of those spacewalks were part of a series of excursions planned to help install docking adaptors that will allow SpaceX and Boeing's vehicles to attach to the space station in the future.
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