Russian spacecraft effectively docks to the ISS
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The Russian Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft has effectively docked to the Worldwide Area Station, bringing 3 new crew members to complement the 3 astronauts currently aboard the ISS. ­The incoming group consists of Oleg Konenko from Russia, Andre Kuipers from the Netherlands and Don Pettit from the United States. They symbolize the area companies of Russia, Europe and the United States: Roscosmos, ESA and NASA, respectively. They are to be a part of an additional group of astronauts currently aboard – TMA-22 commander Anton Shkaplerov and flight engineer Anatoly Ivanishin from Russia, and Expedition thirty commander Daniel Burbank from the United States. They arrived to the ISS on November six. The group of 6 will invest 147 days collectively conducting scientific experiments and putting in new hardware and software program on the ISS. The scientific system functions more than one hundred experiments, with 71 of them component of a Russian system. The group will set up new Enhanced Processor Built-in Communication (EPIC) cards outfitted with new software program. They will also obtaining prepared to obtain 5 freighters to the ISS' dock: two Russian Progress spacecraft, the European ATV-003 Eduardo Amaldi, and two US craft. 3 extra crew members had been initially intended to arrive to the ISS previously this yr, but had been not able to make the journey subsequent the failure to start the Soyuz M-12M back again in August. The Soyuz TMA-03M was effectively carried into orbit by the Soyuz FG rocket, released from the Baikonur Area Middle in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.