Two Americans and a Russian are preparing for a Thanksgiving evening departure from the International Space Station. Doug Wheelock, Shannon Walker and Soyuz commander Fyodor Yurchikhin are set to undock from the outpost more than 200 miles above Earth at 8:23 p.m. EST.
Landing on the frigid steppe of north-central Kazakhstan is planned 11:46 p.m. EST (Friday morning local time). Hatches between the two spacecraft were closed at 5:14 p.m. EST after the crews shook hands, hugged and wished each other luck.
"Good luck, you guys," said one of the two cosmonauts remaining on the station along with American Scott Kelly. "Everything looks good." A series of leak checks were set to follow before the Soyuz -- flying under the call sign "Olympus" -- shoved away from the station.
On monitors at NASA's Mission Control in Houston, a turkey icon has replaced a symbol of the space station orbiting Earth. The six station residents on Wednesday shared a Thanksgiving meal of irradiated smoked turkey, rehydrateable dressing and other fixings prepared on the ground for consumption in low Earth orbit.
The Expedition 25 crew will have spent 163 days in space after launching aboard the Soyuz on June 15 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Staying on the station with Expedition 26 commander Kelly are cosmonauts Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka. A new crew of three is scheduled to launch from Kazakhstan Dec. 15 and reach the station two days later.
IMAGES: Mission Control graphic and Soyuz TMA-19 courtesy of NASA TV. Doug Wheelock posted the picture of the crew inside the Soyuz and himself in the station's Cupola earlier today on Twitter.
1 comment:
Looks like the Soyuz capsule is not for the claustrophobic. Is it really that confining?
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