Soyuz Crew Ship with Russian Trio Undocks from Station
The Soyuz MS-18 crew ship departs the space station with three Russian crew members on their way home to Earth. Credit: NASA TV
The Soyuz spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station at 9:14 p.m. EDT, carrying three people back to Earth. Live coverage on NASA TV, the agency’s website, and the NASA app will resume at 11:15 p.m. for the deorbit burn and landing of the spacecraft carrying Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos and Russian actress Yulia Peresild and Russian producer-director Klim Shipenko at 12:36 a.m. (10:36 a.m. Kazakhstan time) Sunday, October 17.
Expedition 66 officially began aboard the station at the time of undocking. Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) is the station commander for the crew consisting of NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, and Mark Vande Hei, JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov.
A potential benefit to this extension is NASA gaining deeper insight into how the human body adapts to life in microgravity for longer periods of time. This research helps prepare for Artemis missions to the Moon and eventually long-duration missions to Mars, as well as provides critical opportunities for additional research to be conducted aboard the station that can benefit life on Earth.
Peresild and Shipenko have spent 12 days aboard station as spaceflight participants to film their movie, “Challenge.” They arrived at the station Oct. 5 aboard the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft with Shkaplerov.
NASA TV Live Now as Soyuz Crew Gets Ready to Undock
The Soyuz MS-18 crew ship is pictured docked to the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module.
NASA is providing live coverage on NASA TV, the agency’s website, and the NASA app of the undocking and departure from the International Space Station of the Soyuz spacecraft that will return Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos and Russian actress Yulia Peresild and Russian producer-director Klim Shipenko to Earth. The coverage will include a replay of hatch closure.
Novitskiy returns to Earth after 191 days in space on his third mission. At the time of landing, Novitskiy will have logged 531 days in space on his three flights.
Peresild and Shipenko arrived at the station Oct. 5 aboard the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft with Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov for 12 days of filming their movie, “Challenge,” under a commercial agreement between Roscosmos and Moscow-based media entities. They served as spaceflight participants during their stay on the orbital complex.
Departing Russian Trio Says Farewell to Station Crew
(From left) Spaceflight participants Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy are pictured moments before entering the Soyuz MS-18 crew ship.
At 4:41 p.m. EDT, the hatch closed between the Soyuz spacecraft and the International Space Station in preparation for undocking. Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos, Russian actress Yulia Peresild, and Russian producer-director Klim Shipenko are scheduled to undock in the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft at 9:14 p.m.
NASA Television will air live coverage of the undocking beginning at 9 p.m.; the coverage will include a replay of hatch closure. Coverage of the Soyuz deorbit burn and landing begins at 11:15 p.m. Their landing in Kazakhstan is targeted for approximately 12:36 a.m. (10:36 a.m. Kazakhstan time) Sunday, October 17.
When the Soyuz undocks, Expedition 66 will formally begin aboard the station. Remaining aboard the orbiting outpost will be commander Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency), NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, and Mark Vande Hei, JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov.
NASA TV Covers Russian Trio Leaving Station for Earth
(From left) Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and spaceflight participants Klim Shipenko and Yulia Peresild are returning to Earth inside the Soyuz MS-18 crew ship.
NASA is providing live coverage on NASA TV, the agency’s website, and the NASA app as Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos and Russian actress Yulia Peresild and Russian producer-director Klim Shipenko prepare to return to Earth from the International Space Station.
The trio will bid farewell to the Expedition 65 crew at 4:35 p.m. EDT and later will close the hatch to their Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft around 5:45 p.m. to begin the journey back to Earth. They will undock from the station’s Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module at 9:14 p.m., heading for a parachute-assisted landing at 12:36 a.m. (10:36 a.m. Kazakhstan time) Sunday, October 17, on the steppe of Kazakhstan.
Coverage of the farewells will be followed by undocking coverage at 9 p.m. that will include a replay of hatch closure, with coverage of the Soyuz deorbit burn and landing beginning at 11:15 p.m.
Crew Work and Station Attitude Update Before Soyuz Crew Departure
A aurora vividly streams over the Earth as the station orbited above the southern Indian Ocean in between Australia and Antarctica.
Three Russian inhabitants of the International Space Station are preparing to depart for Earth on Saturday night. Meanwhile, the rest of the Expedition 65 crew worked on a variety of life science activities as well as important orbital plumbing duties on Friday.
Russia’s Soyuz MS-18 crew ship will return to Earth just after midnight Eastern time on Sunday with Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy and spaceflight participants Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko. They will undock from the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module on Saturday at 9:14 p.m. EDT. Next, they will soar through the atmosphere in the Soyuz descent module. Finally, the Soyuz parachutes will deploy above Kazakhstan bringing the trio to a safe landing at 12:36 a.m. Sunday (10:36 a.m. Kazakh time).
Novitskiy spent Friday wrapping up packing station hardware, science experiments and personal items inside the Soyuz vehicle. The three-time station resident from Roscosmos also tested the lower body negative pressure suit that may help him more quickly adjust to gravity after returning to Earth.
Meanwhile, science and maintenance continued as usual aboard the orbital lab. The crew members had a busy schedule on their hands today working on vein scans, orbital plumbing, and microbial analysis.
Station Commander Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) scanned the leg, neck and heart veins of Flight Engineer Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration during the morning using an ultrasound device. Doctors on the ground assisted the duo in real time for the Vascular Aging study that is exploring why astronaut’s veins show accelerated aging characteristics after a long-term space mission.
NASA Flight Engineers Shane Kimbrough and Mark Vande Hei worked throughout the day configuring the station’s new toilet located in the Tranquility module. Kimbrough also performed simulated robotic maneuvers for a cognition test, while Vande Hei worked on a CubeSat deployer before transferring cargo inside the Cygnus space freighter. NASA Flight Engineer Megan McArthur spent the afternoon inside the U.S. Quest airlock installing a deck panel.
Cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov partnered together for a microbial study in the station’s Russian segment during the afternoon. The duo collected and stowed samples of microbes living on the station for further analysis.
At 5:02 a.m. EDT today, Russian flight controllers conducted a scheduled thruster firing test on the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft that is scheduled to return to Earth Saturday night with three crew members aboard. The thruster firing unexpectedly continued after the end of the test window, resulting in a loss of attitude control for the International Space Station at 5:13 a.m. Within 30 minutes, flight controllers regained attitude control of the space station, which is now in a stable configuration. The crew was awake at the time of the event and was not in any danger.
Flight controllers are continuing to evaluate data on the station’s brief attitude change due to the thruster firing. NASA and Roscosmos are collaborating to understand the root cause.
Coverage of the Soyuz MS-18 crew’s farewells, undocking, and landing will air live on NASA TV, the agency’s website, and the NASA app at the following times tomorrow (all EDT):
4:15 p.m. – Farewells (at about 4:35 p.m.)
9 p.m. – Soyuz undocking and a replay of hatch closure (undocking at 9:14 p.m.)
