Three members of the Expedition 33 crew undocked from the
International Space Station and returned safely to Earth Sunday, wrapping up a
mission lasting more than four months.
Expedition 33 Commander Sunita Williams of NASA, Flight
Engineer Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Russian
Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko undocked their Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft from
the space station at 4:26 p.m. CST and landed north of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, at
7:56 p.m. (7:56 a.m., Nov. 19, Kazakhstan time). The trio arrived at the
station July 17 and spent 127 days in space, 125 of which were aboard the
orbiting laboratory. This was the first pre-dawn landing in darkness for a
station crew since April 9, 2006, when Expedition 12 crew members returned.
NASA astronaut Kevin Ford took command of the space
station on Nov.
18. When the Soyuz spacecraft undocked from the space
station, Expedition 34 began. Ford and his crewmates, Russian cosmonauts Oleg
Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin, will tend to the station as a three-man crew for
one month until the arrival of three new crew members, including NASA astronaut
Tom Marshburn.
Expedition 33 advanced the scope of research aboard the
station by conducting a wide range of physical science, Earth observation and
technology demonstration investigations. Research included testing radiation
levels on the orbiting outpost, assessing how microgravity affects the spinal
cord, and investigating dynamic processes on Earth, such as melting glaciers,
seasonal changes and human impacts on the ecosystem.
The crew also participated in the Integrated Resistance
and Aerobic Training Study-Sprint, which evaluates the use of high-intensity,
low-volume exercise training to minimize loss of muscle, bone and cardiovascular
functions during long-duration missions. The expedition also managed a number
of visits by international and commercial spacecraft, including the first
contracted commercial resupply flight by SpaceX, and conducted several
challenging spacewalks to sustain the productive operation of the orbiting
complex.
Williams, Hoshide and Malenchenko orbited Earth 2,032
times and traveled 54,090,628 miles. Williams, who has spent 322 days in space
on two missions, now ranks sixth on the all-time U.S. endurance list, and
second all-time for a female. Malenchenko has spent 642 days in space on his
five flights, which ranks him seventh on the all-time endurance list. During
their mission, Williams and Hoshide performed three spacewalks to replace a
component that relays power from the space station's solar arrays to its
systems and repair an ammonia leak on a station radiator. With 50 hours and 40
minutes, Williams holds the record for total cumulative spacewalk time by a
female astronaut. Hoshide holds the record for total cumulative spacewalk time
by a JAXA astronaut at 21 hours and 23 minutes.
For more information about the International Space
Station and its crew, visit:
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