Don Pettit, Andre Kuypers and the Russian commander of the 31st crew of the space station Oleg Kononoko left the space station and landed safely yesterday, July 1 after six and a half months in orbit
Don Pettit, Andre Kuypers and Russian Space Station 31st Crew Commander Oleg Kononoko left the space station and landed safely yesterday, July 1 after six and a half months in orbit. They landed in the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft in Kazakhstan at 11:14 Israel time after leaving the Rasvet anchor three and a half hours earlier. In the video you can see the descent of the Soyuz, as well as the hard landing.
The three arrived at the station on December 23, 2011 and spent 193 days in space, including 191 days on the space station.
During their stay at the station, the team members performed over 200 scientific studies in collaboration with over 400 researchers from around the world. The studies ranged from the study of the cardiovascular system and the immune system. and to the research of liquids, water bubbles in space, fire and robotic applications. They also took part in hosting the first private spacecraft on SpaceX's Dagon space station (which was unmanned).
Before leaving the station, Kononenko passed the baton of command of the 32nd crew to his Russian counterpart Gennady Padalka, who remained aboard the station along with astronaut Joe Abaka and cosmonaut Sergey Ravin. American astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Melanchenko and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshida will join them on July 17, following a planned July 14 launch from Baikonur.
During the 31st crew mission, Pettit used the products every day on the station to perform physics experiments in a series of videos known as "Extra-Spherical Science" such as his latest film showing water bubbles in space. Through these photographs, Petit revealed to over a million viewers how space affects the principles of physics.
On June 25, Pettit reached the milestone of having spent a cumulative year in space on the 30th Flight, 31th/126st Crew and Space Shuttle Endeavor missions on mission STS-2008 to the Space Station in November 370. Pettit now has XNUMX days in space, fourth most among American astronauts.
Kuypers performed 50 scientific experiments for the European Space Agency and distributed daily reports almost every day from his stay in space. The next European astronaut to arrive at the station will be Luca Parmitano from Italy who will fly in the Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft in 2013 as the 36th/37th crew member.
