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Soyuz Heads To Space Station With New Crew

Posted by Soulskill on from the don't-forget-to-pack-a-lunch dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Last night, a Soyuz rocket blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to deliver three astronauts to the International Space Station. Russia's Sergey Volkov, Denmark's Andreas Mogensen, and Kazakhstan's Aidyn Aimbetov reached orbit without incident, and they'll dock with the ISS in the wee hours of Friday morning. Mogensen and Aimbetov will only stay until 11 September, at which point they and Expedition 44 commander Gennady Padalka will undock and return to Earth. (Here's a neat time-lapse of changing a Soyuz craft's parking space at the ISS.) Padalka was in charge for the current expedition, but he'll be passing command of Expedition 45 to NASA's Scott Kelly. Kelly and Oleg Kornienko will soon reach the halfway point of their one-year mission at the space station. It's worth noting that this was the 500th rocket launch from the Gagarin launchpad at Baikonur.

36 comments

  1. Yoo Ess Ayy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And the Americans need to thumb a lift.

    That must be galling.

    1. Re:Yoo Ess Ayy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And the Americans need to thumb a lift.

      That must be galling.

      Nah. As long as Americans can bomb with impunity, we haz FREEDOMS! That's more important than any silly old technical superiority.

    2. Re:Yoo Ess Ayy by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      Uber Space Lift

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    3. Re:Yoo Ess Ayy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Low Earth Orbit has been outsourced.

      NASA is on the way to Mars.

  2. Mogensen and Aimbetov will only stay until 11 Sept by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Does soyuz need 3 crew to dock? If not, what's the point of sending two up for such a short duration. Joy ride?

    Seems it would be a better use of spare launch capacity to send provisions lost in the previous cargo outages.

  3. WWBD? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 1

    >> Kazakhstan's Aidyn Aimbetov

    What would Borat do?

    1. Re:WWBD? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Great success Kazakhstan Space Program!

  4. In the Mean Time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    NASA has a successful outreach program for Muslims...making them feel better about their long lost past.

    Muslims didn't notice as they were too busying killing each other and infidels.

    1. Re: In the Mean Time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And yet it is fucking neo-cons and teabaggers that have worked hard to kill private space will putting billions in Putin's pockets. You just have to get kock's cock out of your mouth long enough to see what your leaders are doing.

  5. Re:Mogensen and Aimbetov will only stay until 11 S by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It is reasonable to assume that even astronauts need on-the-job training and experience.

  6. Re:Mogensen and Aimbetov will only stay until 11 S by advocate_one · · Score: 1

    The Danish crewman was bringing up some special Lego models that are going to be used as prizes in school competitions, but I'm surprised by the short duration as well...

    http://www.theguardian.com/sci...

    it seems his mission is a short one anyway...

    http://blogs.esa.int/iriss/201...

    --
    Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
  7. Re:Mogensen and Aimbetov will only stay until 11 S by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

    No, Soyuz can autodock, it doesn't need crew for that. In fact, Progress is basically an unmanned Soyuz without a reentry shield.

    --
    "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
  8. Worth noting by Calydor · · Score: 4, Informative

    Other than the 500th launch, it's also worth noting that Andreas Mogensen is Denmark's first astronaut in space.

    --
    -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    1. Re:Worth noting by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1, Troll

      Nobody cares. He's white! Hardly representative of Denmark's future. They should have picked a more diverse applicant, not that ancient 19th century crap.

      Moreover, he'll be very unpopular in Denmark because he's holding himself above others. Jante Law negatively portrays and criticises individual success and achievement as unworthy and inappropriate. Scandinavian culture is collectivist and has a condescending attitude towards individualism and success - hallmarks of the American-style astronaut. He's going to encounter a shitstorm of hate once he gets back, because Danes greatly look down on individual success and achievement as unworthy and inappropriate. Sucks to be him! Maybe the Americans can keep him, because he sure won't be welcome back home.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    2. Re:Worth noting by Calydor · · Score: 2

      Holy crap. What do you have against Denmark?

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    3. Re:Worth noting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I feel the GP is more about Denmark hating individual success than GP hating Denmark?

      To be fair, the Soviet Union was way more collectivist than Denmark, and they still praised Gagarin et all.

    4. Re: Worth noting by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      Wow. Who pissed in your wheaties? I seriously doubt that Danes will do that.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    5. Re:Worth noting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I feel the GP is more about Denmark hating individual success than GP hating Denmark?

      What the hell does that even mean?

    6. Re:Worth noting by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 0

      It's Danish culture, man. Have you ever even been there? You really need to open your mind and experience different cultures, and learn them, and integrate those experiences into yourself. It's called multiculturalism and it's been a bit popular lately?

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    7. Re:Worth noting by Calydor · · Score: 1

      I'm Danish, thanks. So yes, I have been there.

      Have you grown up there? You seem to think the so-called Jante law is an actual written law the courts take into consideration and not just an antiquated ideal.

      Have you watched Danish television in the past week leading up to the launch, all the interviews with Mogensen and his family?

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    8. Re: Worth noting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am a Dane and I can tell you he is a hero in Denmark, everyone is talking about it, and crossing our fingers that he will success.
      Personally I like to state that given our history he is essentially a Viking in space, so you just watch when he arrive at the ISS; He is going to rule :-)

    9. Re:Worth noting by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      No, it's culture. Where did anyone say it was law? Danes call it Jante Law. The astronaut is clearly holding himself above others, that's an American trait. If Denmark doesn't reject him, it means they're just a bunch of hypocrites.

      It would have been much better to have a non-white applicant for the job. How many did they even interview? Don't tell me Denmark doesn't have a diverse population, because it does. Such a great chance to show the world the future of Denmark, and they failed. :(

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    10. Re: Worth noting by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      not surprising, but good to her.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  9. Soyuz parking move by nitehawk214 · · Score: 1

    I have seen a lot of talk and images about the Soyuz the moved to a different docking port. They say it was to make room for this new craft. But that doesn't make sense to me. Couldn't the newly arriving Soyuz just park wherever the last one moved to? I believe there are 4 ports that can accept a Soyuz (there is a Progress cargo ship currently occupying a port as well).

    --
    I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
  10. Re:Mogensen and Aimbetov will only stay until 11 S by bob_super · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Most shuttle missions were only a couple weeks. You can get a lot done when you're highly trained and your Internet access is limited.

  11. Re:Mogensen and Aimbetov will only stay until 11 S by istartedi · · Score: 2

    Even if there were no other reasons, it would be a good idea to send the new people up on a short mission. I'm going to guess that people on long missions did short ones before.

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
  12. Re:Mogensen and Aimbetov will only stay until 11 S by nitehawk214 · · Score: 1

    It costs pretty much the same amount to launch the thing with one person as three, so might as well give people from other countries a ride.

    --
    I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
  13. Re:Mogensen and Aimbetov will only stay until 11 S by DerekLyons · · Score: 1

    Seems it would be a better use of spare launch capacity to send provisions lost in the previous cargo outages.

    The Soyuz capsule has pretty much no spare volume for carrying cargo.

  14. Reason to celebtrate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It disn't blow up this time, Cheers!

    1. Re:Reason to celebtrate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those were progress, a stripped down version of the glorius Soyuz.

    2. Re: Reason to celebtrate by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      And a different rocket.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  15. Re:Happy Wednesday from The Golden Girls! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This was downvoted but at least this time it's relevant!