Space Stations
The arrival of three new astronauts on the International Space Station completes the Expedition 48 crew
A few hours ago the Soyuz-01 MS spacecraft, launched a little more than two days ago from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, has reached the International Space Station carrying three new crewmembers. Kate Rubins of NASA, Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos and Takuya Onishi of JAXA now complete the Expedition 48 crew.
The return of three astronauts from the International Space Station marks the end of Expedition 47
A little while ago the astronauts Tim Kopra and Tim Peake and the cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko returned to Earth on the Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft, landed without problems in Kazakhstan. The three of them spent about six months on the International Space Station, where they arrived on December 15, 2015 as part of Expedition 46.
The BEAM experimental module has been inflated
Yesterday the BEAM experimental module, connected to the International Space Station on April 16, has been inflated and pressurized after the first attempt began on Thursday was interrupted. The installation operations will be completed when the pressure inside it will be equalized with that in the rest of the Station. At that point, the crew can begin the testing phase, which will go on for approximately two years.
The BEAM inflatable module has been connected to the International Space Station
A little while ago the operations to connect the BEAM expandable module to the International Space Station were completed. The operation lasted about four hours during which the Canadarm2 robotic arm was used to transport BEAM from the unpressurized section of the Dragon spacecraft to the Tranquillity module. At that point, it was berthed to the Station via remote control, just like they do with the cargo spacecraft. This is only the first phase of its installation, which will proceed slowly, step by step.
