A new private cargo spacecraft from Orbital Sciences is waiting on Wallops Island for launch on September 17th
The three members of the International Space Station's 36th crew are preparing to return home on Tuesday. At the same time, a Japanese cargo ship left the space station on Wednesday and on Saturday it crashed over the Pacific Ocean. In the meantime, the six members of the station continue to focus on performing scientific experiments and maintaining the station and in particular they test the effect of the long stay in microgravity on the body.
Commander Pavel Vinogradov and flight engineers Chris Cassidy and Alexander Mysorkin completed Soyuz landing training on Friday. They are scheduled to land in their Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft on Tuesday at 22:59 (05:59 Israeli time on Wednesday).
Vinogradov will pass the baton of command to his colleague Fyodor Yurchikhin on Monday. After the members of the 36th team leave, the team led by Yurchikhin will become the 37th team. Together with him, the American Karen Nyberg and the Italian Luca Parmitano representing the European Space Agency will stay at the station, until the later joining of three new team members.
At the same time, a new private cargo spaceship - Cygnus, of the Orbital Sciences company, which is expected to take off to the International Space Station on September 17, is awaiting launch on Walfus Island near the coast of Virginia. In Russia, the members of the 37/38 team Oleg Kutov, Mike Hopkins and Sergey Ryasansky are waiting to be deported on September 25th.
