A new crew of 47/48 arrived on the ISS

Today at 0:26 Moscow time from the site No. 1 (Gagarinsky Launch) of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the launch of the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle with the Soyuz TMA-20M manned vehicle took place (video below). The last ship in the history of the Soyuz TMA-20M type ship was delivered to orbit by the crew of the ISS-47/48 expedition - Russian cosmonauts Alexei Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka, as well as experienced American astronaut Jeffrey Williams, who will become station commander from 4 June. For Williams, this is the third flight on the ISS.







After four orbits around the Earth ("short" diagram), the Soyuz TMA-20M device docked with the ISS at 6:09:58 Moscow time in automatic mode. At about 7:55 Moscow time, after the pressure was equalized, three astronauts opened the hatches and flew into the small research module “Search”. The number of astronauts aboard the ISS is now six.

')

The ISS-47/48 crew will conduct onboard the station 173 days. They will have to perform more than 250 scientific experiments , including watching the ignition of an empty Cygnus cargo ship in order to study the spread of fire, oxygen consumption, and others in microgravity.



Crew-47/48 was the first who was tasked to photograph the entry of meteors into the Earth’s atmosphere from space. Astronauts are also exploring the properties of regolith in weightlessness; Gecko Gripper's innovative grip device is being tested: like a gecko's paws, it engages with the surface through van der Waals forces; will launch a new 3D printer at the station.



In the spring, SpaceX will bring an experimental extensible module BEAM (Bigelow Expandable Activity Module) with a protective coating against space radiation, space debris, etc. for testing. It will be deployed and attached to the board of the station for at least two years. Such modules will be sent to Mars in the future - they will store supplies, awaiting the arrival of people.





Bigelow Expandable Activity Module



The Russian-American team is expected to work with the manned transport vehicles Soyuz TMA-19M, Soyuz TMA-20M, Soyuz MS, the cargo ships Progress M-29M and Progress MS, Dragon, Cygnus; maintenance of the station and participation in its retrofitting; onboard photo and video shooting, etc.



Return to Earth is scheduled for September 2016.