On the eve of his 70th birthday, Don Pettit, the oldest active duty astronaut in NASA, and two teammates from Cosmonaut helpless from the International Space Station on Saturday and prepared for a burning fall during the night to close a 220 -day expedition.
Pettit, Soyuz MS-26/72S Commander Alexey Ovchinin and Flight Engineer Ivan Hrar discredited from the Russian Rassvet coupling port at 5:57 pm East time, establishing an landing assisted by Parac Narkstan Narkstan Narkstan Narkstan Narkstan Narkstan Narkstan Narkstan Narkstan Narkstan Narkstan Narzhstan Narkstan Narkstan Narkstan Or Dzhst Time, Or 6:20 am Eastern Time of Sunday, Petit’s birthday.
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Russian recovery teams and NASA staff were deployed nearby to help the crew that returns outside Soyuz’s descent with initial medical controls and satellite telephone calls to family and friends as they begin their readjustment to Gravless.
Assuming a landing on time, the duration of the mission will remain at 220 days and almost nine hours, 3,520 orbit tension and 93.3 million miles Since its launch on September 11 Of the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
In the TouchDown, Ovchinin will have registered 595 days in the space during four flights, closely followed by Petit, whose total will remain in 590 days around four flights. The total vagner will be 416 days in high duration of two space station visits.
The world record of most cumulative times in space is a hero by Cosmonaut Oleg KononenkoWhich passed almost 1,111 days in orbit around five missions. The United States registration is Astronaut’s hero Peggy Whitson. He spent 675 days in space during four flights.
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As for the age of Pettit, John Glenn, the first American in orbit, was 77 years old when he flew aboard the space ferry in 1998 as a participant of NASA’s spatial flights. He has the record as the oldest person to fly in orbit.
From Kazakhstan, Ovchinin and Vagner will return to the Moscow star, while Pettit will be transferred to the Johnson Space Center in Houston for more detailed tests and will begin his physical rehabilitation.
The return of the trio to the Earth marked the final chapter in an extended rotation of the crew that began with Spacex Crew 10 launch Commander Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi and Cosmonaut Kirill Peskov on March 14.
The arrival of crew 10 to the station cleared the way for the commander of the crew 9 Nick Hague, the cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov, the commander of Starliner Barry “Butch” Wilmore and the pilot Sunita Williams to Return to Earth four days later.
The Russians then launched replacements for Pettit crew – Soyuz commander Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritsky and Jonny Kim from NASA – April 8, cleaning the way for Ovchinin, Vagner and Petit to return to Earth on Saturday.
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In a letter ceremony on Friday, Ovchinin converted command of the station about Onishi.
“It is a great honor for me to accept the command of the ISS,” said Onishi. “I feel so special that I am taking care of you because it is a bone almost nine years like us here in 2016. Duration 48. At that time, we were both rookies and here we are two veterans who are ISS commanders.”
“The human space flight is not easy. Only the continuous dedication from generation to generation made it possible for human beings to arrive here. Now, today we have four rookies (on board). I am sure that one day they will arrive and become how, how is Howtstse” Ithttse’s Howtstse said.
The ISS has been continuously attended by rotating crews since November 2, 2000. Programmed for retirement in five years, the laboratory faces problems on multiple fronts, ranging from air leaks in the Russian segment to uncertain funds, shortage of spare parts and resupplio withdrawals.
“Spacelllight is difficult and very risky,” said Rich Williams, a member of the NASA independent Aerospace Security Advisory Panel, to the group at a public meeting on Thursday. “The ISS has entered the most risky period of its existence.”
“The management, crew and support staff of the ISS always causes the space flight to look easy. The space flight is everything but easy, and the growing risks attend the ISS program that makes it more difficult,” said Williams.
Air leaks in the Popa coupling compartment of the Zvezda module can presuming the results of metal fatigue and repeated pressure cycles as they visit the ships of the soy crew and the load loaders of progress that come and go.
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“Primary risk mitigation activities at this point include patching applications and materials to know cracks and limiting … pressurization cycles to try to limit stress and fatigue,” said Williams. “The ISS program is monitoring this closely, and the panel considers this one of our highest groups.”
NASA has hired Spacex to build an American Deorbit vehicle, or USDV, to take the space station of millions of pounds back to the atmosphere in 2030 to ensure that it is broken on the South Pacific Ocean, far from the shipping lanes and towns. The USDV is expected to reach the laboratory in 2029.
“The delivery and use of this USDV’s capacity is essential to ensure that Deorbit’s risk complies with established public security standards of the government,” said Williams. “If there is an ISS exorbit before the USDV is delivered, the risk for the public of the ISS rupture debris will increase by magnitude orders.”
He said that NASA and Russian space officials are working “to address the challenges associated with the achievement of a safe Deorbit’s ability, both for the end of life and for a Deorbit administered by the risk for contingencies.”
The main problem facing ISS is what Williams called “a great budget deficit of ISS.” The 2024 Fiscal Budget included almost $ 1 billion for operations and maintenance of the station with another $ 1.6 billion for crew and resupply missions.
“It is essential for the budget and appropriate resources of Mintain until the vehicle has been replaced, not only to guarantee the daily security or operations in a high -risk environment, but also to guarantee the footprint of the feet, the exorbit or exorbit or exorbit or exorbit Deorbidated deorbidado deorbidado deorbidado deorbita deorbita deorbita exorbitado deorbita deorbita exorbitado deorbita deorororbited exorbitant.
In summary, he said, “the panel appreciates the demonstrated operational excellence of the ISS program, but remains deeply concerned about the growing and waterfall risks that attend the program in the coming years.”