New Crew in Final Training Before Late July Launch

Expedition 52 flight engineers
Expedition 52 flight engineers (from left) Paolo Nespoli of ESA, Sergey Ryazanskiy of Roscosmos, and Randy Bresnik of NASA are training in Star City, Russia, ahead of their July 28 launch to the space station.

Three new Expedition 52 crew members are in Star City, Russia, this week completing final exams ahead of their July 28 launch to the International Space Station. After launch, they’ll take a six-hour ride inside the Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft before docking to the station’s Rassvet module. The trio from Italy, Russia and the United States are in final training for the 4-1/2 month-long mission orbiting Earth.

A pair of NASA astronauts living in space right now conducted a variety of activities today in support of life science research. Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer collected their blood, urine and saliva samples for stowage in a science freezer and later analysis. The samples will be studied back on Earth as part of the Fluid Shifts experiment to understand the impacts of microgravity on the human body, in particular the eyes.

Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of Roscosmos continued his life support maintenance activities on the Russian side of the orbital complex. The experienced, four-time station cosmonaut and one-time shuttle crew member spent the majority of his day replacing pumps and hoses and repressurizing the station’s atmosphere.

An international set of CubeSats also was deployed outside of the Kibo lab module early Friday. The CubeSats belong to Japan, Ghana, Mongolia, Bangladesh and Nigeria and will be monitored and operated by engineering students in Japan.


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3 thoughts on “New Crew in Final Training Before Late July Launch”

  1. Hats off to the Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and their crew members.The way they cultivated their selfs in the Space and their Living.It is Remarkable that Kalpana Chawla is also an Astronaut from the India.I also want to become an astronaut but due to some reason, I am unable to do so.
    Thanks and wish you Best of Luck for all the Crew members.

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