Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub and Oleg Kononenko and NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, have returned to Earth from International Space Station (ISS). They left the space station aboard the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft and made a parachute-assisted landing in Kazakhstan on 23 September 2024.
The cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub were launched to the ISS for a year-long mission on the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft on 15 September 2023. They have returned to the Earth after spending 374 days in space. This is the longest continous stay in space. Cosmonaut Kononenko completed his fifth space flight accruing a total of 1111 days in space which is the record for the longest cumulative time spent in space.
NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson spent six months on the ISS. While aboard, Dyson participated in several scientific activities including operation of a a 3D bioprinter to print cardiac tissue samples and crystallization of model proteins to evaluate the performance of hardware that could be used for pharmaceutical production.
With 25 Years in orbit and visists by over 270 astronauts, International Space Station (ISS) is the largest manmade object (about 109 m by 51 m) ever to orbit Earth at an altitude of between 370–460 km. It has a pressurized volume of approximately 900 m3 and a mass over 400,000 kg. Its solar arrays cover an area of 2,247 m2 and can generate 735,000 kW-hours of power per year. It carries a crew of between 3 and 13 astronauts.
The ISS is a unique laboratory where people have lived and worked for over twenty years to conduct scientific research in low gravity enviroment of space. Towards the goal of deep space travel and habitation, the ISS research facility has enabled deeper understanding of the challenges of long-duration spaceflight.
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Sources:
- NASA Astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, Crewmates Return from Space Station. Published 23 September 2024. Available at https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-astronaut-tracy-c-dyson-crewmates-return-from-space-station/
- International Space Station. Avaialble at https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/
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