The first second-generation Russian cosmonaut, the first astronaut from Denmark and the first (and at present, only) member of Kazakhstan's cosmonaut corps launched Wednesday (Sept. 2) on a two-day flight to the International Space Station to swap out crew members and spacecraft.
Sergei Volkov, whose father, Alexander, was a Soviet-era cosmonaut, Andreas Mogensen with the European Space Agency (ESA) and Aidyn Aimbetov of the National Space Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan, KazCosmos, lifted off at 12:37 a.m. EDT (0437 GMT; 10:37 a.m. local time) on board Russia's Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft from Site 1 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Their launch, at least by some counts, marked the 500th liftoff of a rocket from Gagarin's Start, the launch pad from where the first human spaceflight began in 1961.
Robert Pearlman
Soyuz TMA-18M docks to space station
Sergei Volkov, Andreas Mogensen and Aidyn Aimbetov docked their Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft to the Poisk module at the International Space Station on Friday (Sept. 4) at 2:39 a.m. CDT (0739 GMT) as the two vehicles were orbiting 252 miles above the Earth, over the nortern border of Kazakhstan and Russia.
Robert Pearlman
NASA video
Before climbing aboard the Soyuz spacecraft that would take them back to Earth on March 1, Expedition 46 commander Scott Kelly of NASA and cosmonauts Sergey Volkov and Mikhail Kornienko of Roscosmos said farewell to the crew staying aboard the International Space Station.
Kelly, Kornienko and Volkov then boarded the Soyuz and prepared for the trip home.
Robert Pearlman
NASA video
After saying farewell to the crew staying behind aboard the International Space Station and climbing aboard the Soyuz spacecraft that would take them back to Earth on March 1, Expedition 46 commander Scott Kelly of NASA and cosmonauts Sergey Volkov and Mikhail Kornienko of Roscosmos undocked their Soyuz from the station at 7:02 p.m. EST (0002 GMT) and prepared for the trip home.
An astronaut and a cosmonaut who spent nearly one year on the International Space Station are now back on Earth.
Scott Kelly of NASA and Mikhail Kornienko of Roscosmos touched down on the snow-covered steppe of Kazakhstan on Russia's Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft. Their landing, at 10:26 p.m. CST on Tuesday (March 1; 0426 GMT or 10:26 a.m. local time March 2), marked the historic completion of their 340-day expedition.
Sergey Volkov, who had been on the space station for the six months since Sept. 2, landed with Kelly and Kornienko southeast of the Kazakh town of Dzhezkazgan.
See here to discuss the Soyuz TMA-18M mission to the space station.
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