New Station Trio Resting Today After Crew Departure
Expedition 64 crew members (from left) NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov pose for a crew portrait.
Three Expedition 64 crew members are sleeping in today following the departure of their Expedition 63 crewmates the day before. Back on Earth, NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner have begun the flight back to their home space agencies.
The International Space Station is quiet today as Commander Sergey Ryzhikov and Flight Engineers Kate Rubins and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov rest after preparing their crewmates for the short ride to Earth on Wednesday. The trio will resume their normal schedule on Friday and begin revving up advanced space science to improve life for humans on and off the Earth.
The next crew to visit the orbiting lab is targeting early to mid November to launch aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft from Florida. Four Commercial Crew astronauts, Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker of NASA with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, are planned to live and work on the station until Spring.
NASA Astronaut Chris Cassidy and Crewmates Return Safely to Earth
The Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft is seen as it lands in Kazakhstan with Expedition 63 crew. Credit: NASA TV
NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner of the Russian space agency Roscosmos landed on Earth at 10:54 p.m. EDT in Kazakhstan. The trio departed the International Space Station in their Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft at 7:32 p.m.
Cassidy now has spent a total of 378 days in space, the fifth highest among U.S. astronauts.
After post-landing medical checks, the crew will split up to return home; Cassidy will board a NASA plane back to Houston, and Vagner and Ivanishin will fly home to Star City, Russia.
Remaining aboard the station is the three-person crew of Expedition 64 with NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, and station commander Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of Roscosmos. Upon the arrival of the SpaceX Crew-1 mission targeted to launch in November, the station’s long-duration crew will expand to seven people for the first time with the addition of NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, and Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
The Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft is seen as it lands in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan with Expedition 62 crew.
NASA Television and the agency’s website are now broadcasting live coverage of the return to Earth of NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner of the Russian space agency Roscosmos. The Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft carrying the trio is expected to make its deorbit burn at 10 p.m. to set the spaceship on its re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere for a landing in Kazakhstan at 10:55 p.m.
While on station, Cassidy contributed to hundreds of experiments, including a study of the influence of gravity on electrolytic gas evolution, a complex electrochemical process with multiple applications on Earth and in space. Electrolysis generates bubbles that can be used to create pressure differentials in microfluidic devices, such as skin patches, used to deliver medications. Microgravity makes it possible to single out bubble growth and study its effect on the process.
During this latest mission, Cassidy served as commander of Expedition 63, contributed to hundreds of experiments, and welcomed SpaceX Demo-2 crew members Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley of NASA– the first astronauts to launch to the space station on an American spacecraft from American soil since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011.
Cassidy and Behnken completed four spacewalks, totaling 23 hours and 37 minutes, to upgrade station batteries. The final spacewalk was the 10th for both astronauts, making them two of only four only U.S. astronauts to complete 10 spacewalks. Cassidy now has spent a total of 378 days in space, the fifth highest among U.S. astronauts.
Cassidy also worked with Astrobee, cube-shaped, free-flying robots that may one day assist astronauts with routine duties, and conducted research for the Onco-Selectors experiment, which leverages microgravity to identify targeted cancer therapies.
The Soyuz MS-16 crew ship with the Expedition 63 crew inside is pictured just after undocking from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA TV
The Soyuz spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station at 7:32 p.m. EDT, carrying three people back to Earth. NASA Television will air live coverage beginning at 9:30 p.m. for the deorbit burn at 10 p.m. and the spacecraft’s parachute-assisted landing.
NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner of the Russian space agency Roscosmos are expected to land in their Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft at 10:55 p.m. on the steppe of Kazakhstan southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan (8:55 a.m. Oct. 22 Kazakhstan time).
Cassidy’s mission was filled with milestones for space exploration as well as numerous science experiments helping benefit life back on Earth. Take a look at his time as a space scientist in this video: https://youtu.be/u8L66TSXSxY
(From left) Expedition 63 Commander Chris Cassidy and Flight Engineers Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner.
NASA is providing live coverage on NASA TV and its website of the undocking and departure from the International Space Station of the Soyuz spacecraft that will return NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner of the Russian space agency Roscosmos to Earth later this evening.
The three crew members are concluding a 196-day mission spanning 3,136 orbits of Earth and 83 million miles. Cassidy is completing his third flight for a total of 378 days in space, the fifth highest total among U.S. astronauts. Ivanishin is completing his third flight into space, totaling 476 days. This was Vagner’s first spaceflight.
During this latest mission, Cassidy served as commander of Expedition 63, contributed to hundreds of experiments, and welcomed SpaceX Demo-2 crew members Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley of NASA– the first astronauts to launch to the space station on an American spacecraft from American soil since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011.
Cassidy and Behnken completed four spacewalks, totaling 23 hours and 37 minutes, to upgrade station batteries. The final spacewalk was the 10th for both astronauts, making them two of only four only U.S. astronauts to complete 10 spacewalks. Cassidy now has spent a total of 378 days in space, the fifth highest among U.S. astronauts.
