Space Station Trio Touches Down on Earth as NASA’s Next Cargo Ship Targets Apr. 18 Blastoff

Ken Kremer द्वारा Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA, and Flight Engineers Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, touched down southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan at 7:20 a.m. EDT April 10, 2017 in their Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls) Comings and goings continue apace on the International Space Station! After living and working fruitfully for six months in space aboard the ISS, an international trio of astronauts and cosmonauts including NASA’s Shane Kimbrough departed the orbiting lab complex aboard their Soyuz capsule and plummeted back safely through the Earth’s atmosphere to a soft touchdown in Kazahkstan on Monday- as NASA meanwhile targets liftoff of the next US resupply ship a week from today. These are busy times indeed with regular flights to low Earth orbit and back to maintain and enhance the scientific research aboard the multinationally built and funded million pound orbiting outpost. ISS Expedition 50 came to a glorious end as Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA and Flight Engineers Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko of the Russian space agency Roscosmos returned to Earth Monday, April 10 in Kazakhstan aboard their Soyuz spacecraft after spending 173 days aloft in the weightless environment of space. With his return to Earth April 10, 2017, from a mission aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough now has spent 189 days in space on two flights. Credits: NASA TV The Russian Soyuz MS-02 capsule touched down safely by making a parachute assisted landing in Kazakhstan at approximately 7:20 a.m. EDT (5:20 p.m. Kazakhstan time). The three person crew comprising Kimbrough, Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko landed southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan. Meanwhile as the trio were landing, NASA is targeting launch of the next commercial cargo ship for blastoff on April 18 with more than three tons of science and supplies to stock the station for the Expedition 51 crew. The Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft named for Sen. John Glenn, one of NASA's original seven astronauts, stands inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida behind a sign commemorating Glenn on March 9, 2017. Launch slated for April 18, 2017 on a ULA Atlas V. Credit: Ken Kremer/Kenkremer.com Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news. Ken Kremer