Three astronauts return from ISS

Three astronauts recently landed safely in Kazakhstan following a 115-day mission aboard the International Space Station.

Key facts:

• The team included U.S. astronaut Kate Rubins, the first person to sequence DNA in space. Ms. Rubins’ participation in the mission generated particular excitement after NASA announced plans for the career scientist to sequence DNA aboard the ISS in a world first.
• Rubin’s participation was aimed at identifying potentially dangerous microbes aboard the ISS and diagnose illnesses in space.
• This journey marks the first complete mission to and from the orbital lab for a new generation of Soyuz spacecraft with upgraded features.

About the International Space Station (ISS):

The International Space Station (ISS) is a space station, or a habitable artificial satellite, in low Earth orbit. The ISS is now the largest artificial body in orbit.

• The ISS consists of pressurised modules, external trusses, solar arrays and other components. ISS components have been launched by Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets as well as American Space Shuttles.
• The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology and other fields.
• The station is suited for the testing of spacecraft systems and equipment required for missions to the Moon and Mars.
• The ISS maintains an orbit with an altitude of between 330 and 435 km by means of reboost manoeuvres using the engines of the Zvezda module or visiting spacecraft. It completes 15.54 orbits per day.
• ISS is the ninth space station to be inhabited by crews, following the Soviet and later Russian Salyut, Almaz, and Mir stations as well as Skylab from the US.
• The ISS programme is a joint project among five participating space agencies: NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA, ESA, and CSA.
• The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements. The station is divided into two sections, the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) and the United States Orbital Segment (USOS), which is shared by many nations.