A Soyuz capsule with three astronauts on board has successfully connected to the International Space Station (ISS), and this mission marks the first time two of the crew members will remain on the space outpost 342 days, the longest uninterrupted period of the launch ISS .
Soyuz capsule (TMA16M mission) with a crew consisting of a US astronaut Scott Kelly, and two Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko, was released on Friday evening at 19.42 GMT from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, and has successfully connected to the ISS Saturday at 01.33 GMT, according to images broadcast live on NASA Television.
The crew of the Soyuz capsule was welcomed aboard the station of the three team members present the ISS, American Terry Virts (current-command), the Russian Anton Shkaplerov and Italian Samantha Cristoforetti, the European Space Agency. Virts and fellow Italian will return to Earth in May.
Scott Kelly, aged 54, and Mikhail Kornienko, aged 51, will return to Earth, but only in March 2016 and will be the longest uninterrupted period spent on the ISS from her first visitor in 2000.
Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov holds the record for the longest stay in orbit, with over 14 consecutive months spent on board former Mir space station between 1994 and 1995.
Thanks to this mission, Scott Kelly will become American who will spend the longest uninterrupted space.
Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko already have a long experience in space flights, each previously spent six months on the ISS.
Before this mission, Kelly said he was concerned the effects of radiation and microgravity, which during long space missions, weaken the immune system, reduce bone density and muscle atrophy. Also, the state of weightlessness affects vision.
"I hope it will not be too hard and that we can live and work in space for long periods," he said. "But we will not know that until we end this experiment," added the American astronaut.
His twin brother, Mark, a retired astronaut who in turn conducted several missions on the ISS, he will participate in this experiment. He will do regular medical examination on the ground that medical teams be able to compare its clinical parameters with those of Scott, the period during which the latter is aboard the ISS.
Genomic tests are also under way to determine how long a space one can affect the body.
Moreover, the Russian Space Agency provided the experiment coordinators all data collected during long-term human missions in space, aboard the station Mir made, even though many advances and scientific discoveries have been made since then.
For NASA, this test aims to prepare biomedical data collection manned missions of long duration, for example, those to Mars, expected to debut around the 2030s.
As during his previous visits to the ISS, Mark Kelly will spend some time reading, on television shows and basketball and hockey matches. But this time, he intends to keep a journal in which to talk about his experiences and impressions, saying also that he will miss his family. American astronaut is divorced and has two children.
Mikhail Kornienko, married and father of a daughter, says that "the water flowing and where you can swim, not in the form of bubbles floating in space" is one of the things that will be most missed the ISS.
Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka According to who will be the master ISS for the first six months of his mission and Mikhail Kornienko Scott Kelly, the toughest hurdle will be to test not physical but psychological in that. "Do you find yourself away from Earth and live in a confined space with few people to talk to will be after me, the hardest thing for them," said Russian cosmonaut.
In December, in Paris, Mikhail Kornienko Scott Kelly and held a joint press conference. They explained that occasion that US-Russian tensions caused by the crisis in Ukraine does not have any influence on the relations between them.
"We must look each other. Our lives depend on it. Michael should be able to count on me in case of risk. Do not talk about political issues between our countries," said Scott Kelly.
"There is no boundary in space," said Mikhail Kornienko. "ISS is a nice example of how to work together, especially politicians on Earth," added the Russian cosmonaut.
"I would not want my best professionals for this mission, we are all good friends," said Kelly.
The mission of the Russian-American research has symbolic value in the context of conflict Ukrainian relations between the US and Russia are the worst since the end of the Cold War in 1991.
Since its launch in 1998, ISS was financed largely by Russia and the US, each of the two states depending on each other, and space cooperation remains one of the few areas where the Russian-American cooperation has not suffered.
ISS is a space project worth 100 billion dollars, the achievement of which 16 countries participate. The station is continuously occupied since November 2000 by joint teams.
ISS is in orbit at an altitude of 400 kilometers, making a complete revolution around the Earth every 90 minutes, sailing with average speed of 28,000 km / h. Weighing over 408 tons, ISS offers a living area equivalent to that of a Boeing 747.
Source: mediafax
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