Coming Home to Our Fragile Oasis: Trio Lands Safely

The Expedition 33/34 crew aboard the International Space Station have returned home to Earth after spending 144 days in space.

The crew made up of NASA Astronaut Kevin Ford, and cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin were scheduled to return home on March 15th, but due to adverse weather conditions at the landing site in Kazakhstan, the return home was delayed, allowing the trio to spend an extra day in space.

The departing Soyuz as seen after undocking from the ISS

Finally, after 142 days aboard the ISS, it was time for Ford, Tarelkin and Novitskiy to return home. The trio bid farewell to their crew mates Chris Hadfield, Tom Marshburn and Roman Romanenko(who will return to Earth in mid-May), and hatches between the departing Soyuz and the space station were closed at 9:38 p.m. GMT. 

A few hours later, the Soyuz TMA-06M crew undocked from the International Space Station. Soyuz commander Oleg Novitskiy was at the controls of the spacecraft as it undocked at 12:43 a.m. from the Poisk Mini-Research Module 2, while the station was flying over northeastern Mongolia. The undocking officially marked the beginning of Expedition 35.

From left: Tarelkin, Novitskiy and Ford give thumbs up a few hours after landing

Following a series of deorbit burns, the Soyuz made its way through the Earth's atmosphere, with the spacecraft landing in the steppe of Kazakhstan, northeast of the remote town of Arkalyk at an estimated time of 4:08 a.m. GMT. In freezing, foggy conditions, search and rescue and recovery forces arrived quickly, extracted the crew from the Soyuz, and sat them down as the trio were checked to see if they were alright,  as they adjusted to life back on Earth.

Hadfield, Marshburn and Romanenko will remain aboard the orbiting complex as a three-person crew until the March 28 launch and docking of Expedition 35 Flight Engineers Chris Cassidy, Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin.

Hadfield Takes the Reigns as First Canadian Commander of Spaceship ISS

Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield has assumed command of the International Space Station, relieving Expedition 34 commander Kevin Ford of his position.

Hadfield, who has flown on two previous flights, including one stay aboard Russian space station Mir, was handed the keys to the orbiting laboratory- "Thank you very much for giving me the keys to the family car- we're gonna put some miles on it, but we'll bring it back in good shape".

Kevin Ford hands over command of the ISS to Chris Hadfield

The ceremony kicked off with Expedition 34 commander speaking about the remarkable work and record-breaking science that has been achieved during his time as commander. Then as a surprise to mark the special occasion of Hadfield becoming the first Canadian commander of the ISS, the Canadian national anthem was played, sparking a proud response from Hadfield- "Kevin thank you. You do me a tremendous honour by playing that song for me and my country".

However, Hadfield will officially take command of the ISS when Ford, Tarelkin and Novitskiy undock their Soyuz-TMA 06M space craft from the space station, marking the beginning of Expedition 35. Altogether, the departing trio will have spent 144 days in space since launching from Kazakhstan Oct. 23 2012.

Hadfield and his crewmates, NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, will tend to the station for two weeks until the arrival of three new crew members: NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin.

Capturing a Dragon by the Tail on the ISS

The International Space Station has captured a dragon.

Dragon launches aboard its Falcon 9 rocket on Friday March 1 

Yes, I know. Sounds a bit strange right? But it's true. The Expedition 34 crew aboard the International Space Station have successfully grappled and docked the SpaceX Dragon capsule, carrying nearly 1300 pounds of cargo to support systems aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Dragon took off on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Friday, on only its second flight to resupply the station(excluding test flights) destined for docking this morning. Some of the cargo that will be unpacked by the astronauts include 17 different scientific experiments, that will be studied in the weightless environment aboard the station, as well as crew supplies like food and clothing.

Grapple and docking procedures were carried out using the station's robotic arm- Canadarm2, by NASA astronaut and Expedition 34 Commander Kevin Ford, and fellow NASA astronaut and Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn. Once grappled, Dragon was installed onto the Earth-facing port of the ISS by a team working in Mission Control in Houston. Dragon was then bolted into place through commands by Flight Engineer Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency.

Catching a Dragon by the Tail

The station's Canadarm2 plucked  a dragon out of its 10 meter holding point, with official time of grappling occurring at 10.31am GMT. Dragon was then berthed to the space station's Harmony Module, with docking confirmed at 1:56pm GMT.

However, it is worth noting that the mission had to be delayed by one day due to a malfunction in the Dragon's solar arrays and thruster pods, shortly after launch on Friday, March 1st. This led to fears that SpaceX's Dragon mightn't be able to reach the 240 mile-high orbit of the ISS. Fortunately, these problems were eventually ironed out and teams on the ground gave the all-clear for a rendezvous with the station, followed by grapple and docking. The date for Dragon's unberthing, release and splashdown still remain planned for March 25.

Dragon docked to the station's Harmony Module 

This mission to resupply the ISS is SpaceX's second of 12 planned flights. It is hoped that if everything goes according to plan, astronauts will once again be able to launch from US soil into space, no longer having to rely on the Russians. The date for Dragon's first manned flight is expected to launch sometime in 2015.

In the mean time, while these private companies are flying back and forth from the ISS, NASA is now able to focus on going beyond low-earth orbit, and flying humans farther into space than ever before. The agency is currently developing systems, designs and hardware for its Space Launch System(SLS), and in particular, the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, scheduled to make its first test flight in 2014.

Our Fragile Oasis Through the Eyes of Astronaut Chris Hadfield

Chris Hadfield in the Cupola

Since launching to the International Space Station last December, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, a veteran of two previous space shuttle missions, has sent social media followers all over the world into a frenzy, after posting over 200 photos of Earth from space, as well as some snaps and videos of what he and his fellow crew mates are getting up to on the ISS.

Hadfield, who posts his latest news, photos and videos on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+, has been giving us earthlings the orbital perspective, by posting photos of  things like cirrus clouds over oceans, sand storms over deserts, and cities at night.

Whether he finds himself snapping away from the Cupola(a dome-shaped window on the Earth-facing side of the space station), or filming a video on how to make a peanut butter sandwich in space, Chris Hadfield always finds a way to keep those of us subject to gravity entertained! The Canadian astronaut says he wants to allow people to see the kind of work he and his fellow crew members are getting up to aboard the station, and allow them to see how all the science they are doing is interesting, fun and cool! His ultimate aim is to inspire the next generation of young people into careers involving space exploration in any way possible, whether it be an astronaut, a journalist or a geologist.

Our fragile oasis with the moon rising over the horizon

Hadfield is regularly asked by school students and people alike, how he became an astronaut, living and working in space today? "I started training to be the commander of the International Space Station when I was 14 years old." Just like most astronauts, Hadfield was inspired by the first explorers, people like Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, who made those first steps on the moon all those years ago- "On July 20, 1969, like so many other people, I sat and looked at a bad, grainy little television and watched those first steps on the moon and then went outside with my family, but really alone, looked up at the moon and thought, that’s what I want to do when I grow up". Although he may not be walking on the Moon, Chris Hadfield finds himself about to become the first Canadian commander of the largest, and most complex spacecraft ever built.
First Ever Tweet in Irish Sent from Space

Before Hadfield launched from Kazakhstan a few months ago, he had roughly twenty-thousand followers on Twitter. Now, that number stands at over 400,000 and rising, all because he is sharing his orbital perspective. However, he also has his fair share of Irish fans too! Hadfield recently tweeted a picture of Dublin City at night, as seen from the ISS. "Tá Éire fíorálainn! Land of green hills and dark beer. With capital Dublin glowing in the Irish night". Within minutes, Hadfield was overwhelmed by tweets from his Irish-speaking followers, causing him to express his gratitude a few minutes later, and even took the time to comment on our cloudy weather, "Wow, I can feel the warmth of the Irish all the way up here - go raibh maith agaibh! I'll do my best to photo more cities as clouds clear".

Dublin from the ISS taken by Chris Hadfield

Kristin Hadfield, the astronaut's daughter, who is currently studying in Dublin, says she is really proud of her dad, "It's kind of incredible to think that he is in space, looking down at all of us here in Ireland," she said.

Hadfield will assume command of the International Space Station next month, when the Expedition 33/34 commander, and NASA Astronaut Kevin Ford will hand over the reigns of his ship, and will head home on his Soyuz spacecraft with his Russian colleagues Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin.

Hopefully, over the next few months up until his return to Earth in May, Hadfield will do a great job in overseeing the 130 science experiments which are currently being investigated 250 miles above our heads. The work the astronauts and cosmonauts are doing right now allow us to study the effects of long periods of weightlessness on the human body, plants, food and general spacecraft systems, which will ultimately allow us to take the next step and go onto Mars and beyond in the next couple of decades. But for now, I think we are all fairly happy to just gaze at the beauty of Hadfield's snaps of our fragile oasis, while at the same time being reminded every day about the beauty, of our awe-inspiring yet delicate, great, big, ball of blue.