After a 6 months long expedition in space conducting scientific research and technology demonstrations, 3 astronauts from International Space Station returned home safe and sound aboard Soyuz TMA-14M.
Expedition 42 Commander Barry Wilmore of NASA passed the command of the ISS to NASA astronaut Terry Virts on March 10th. The hatch was closed between Soyuz and the space station at 1934 UTC. The formal commencement of Expedition 42 started under the command of Virt at 1144 UTC on Wednesday when Wilmore along with the 2 flight engineers Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) unanchored Soyuz from the space station.
The 3 astronauts made a landing 147km away from Zhezkazgan in Kazakhstan at 0307 UTC after a 167 days expedition commencing September 26th covering a distance of 71 million miles.
Expedition 42 consisted of research projects on the effect of microgravity on cells, Earth observation, physical science, and biological and molecular science. Three U.S. spacewalks had been carried out for the preparation of the station’s future commercial spacecraft.
These three astronauts conducted a study which evaluated the effect of physical body shape and size variations on suit-sizing which consisted of gathering body measuring via digital still and video images as well as tape measure for measuring data of all body segments of astronauts in preceding, subsequent to and in-flight conditions.
178 days has been logged by Wilmore in 2 flights so far with the first one being STS-129 in 2009. Samokutyev has been on space for 331 days on 2 of his flights too, the first one being Expedition 27/28 in 2011 while this was the first space flight of Serova.
Virts and his crew of ESA Anton Shkaplerov of Roscomos and Samantha Cristoforetti will be operating the station for 2 weeks till NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka arrives on March 27th from Kazakhstan.
Padaka is posted in space till September whereas Kelly and Kornienko will be the first ones to experience a whole year on the ISS. These two will be onboard will March 2016 which is the double of a usual mission. Their research will be based on the study of psychological, medical and biomedical challenges that astronauts go through during long spaceflights.
Along with that NASA is presented with a rare opportunity to conduct researches on identical twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly. These examinations will present an extensive insight of the delicate effects and changes that takes place on spaceflights in comparison to Earth by studying the twins who has the same genetics but are in diverse surroundings for a year.