ID :
187764
Fri, 06/10/2011 - 19:46
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Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/187764
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Furukawa, 2 other astronauts arrive at International Space Station
MOSCOW, June 10 Kyodo - Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa and two other astronauts from Russia and the United States arrived Friday at the International Space Station and began their five-month mission there.
The astronauts, who lifted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan aboard Russia's Soyuz spacecraft Wednesday, entered the Earth's orbit before approaching the ISS and successfully docking with it early Friday, the officials said.
Furukawa, Russian Sergey Volkov and American Michael Fossum entered the ISS and were met by three astronauts at the facility. The three astronauts from the Soyuz aircraft then communicated with people on Earth, with Furukawa speaking with his wife, daughter and son at the mission control center on the outskirts of Moscow.
Furukawa, 47, a flight engineer on his first space mission, is expected to make use of his knowledge and experience as a surgeon when he engages in remote diagnosis and medical data management during his stay at the ISS.
Formerly a surgeon at the University of Tokyo Hospital, Furukawa is the third Japanese to spend an extended period at the space station.
Also on Furukawa's task list at the ISS are zero-gravity experiments, such as making green tea, trying out Japanese ''suminagashi'' ink marbling art and growing cucumbers.
The spacecraft is expected to return to Earth in mid-November.
At the control center, two Japanese astronauts, Soichi Noguchi and Koichi Wakata, also watched the Russian spacecraft dock with the station.
Noguchi journeyed to the ISS in December 2009 aboard the Soyuz spacecraft and returned to Earth in June 2010. Wakata traveled around the station's vicinity aboard the Russian spacecraft for a short period of time while he was stationed at the ISS in July 2009.
The U.S. space shuttle fleet, which has hauled astronauts, equipment and supplies to the ISS for years, is retiring after Atlantis's final mission in July, leaving Russia's Soyuz as the only mode of transport between the station and Earth.
The astronauts, who lifted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan aboard Russia's Soyuz spacecraft Wednesday, entered the Earth's orbit before approaching the ISS and successfully docking with it early Friday, the officials said.
Furukawa, Russian Sergey Volkov and American Michael Fossum entered the ISS and were met by three astronauts at the facility. The three astronauts from the Soyuz aircraft then communicated with people on Earth, with Furukawa speaking with his wife, daughter and son at the mission control center on the outskirts of Moscow.
Furukawa, 47, a flight engineer on his first space mission, is expected to make use of his knowledge and experience as a surgeon when he engages in remote diagnosis and medical data management during his stay at the ISS.
Formerly a surgeon at the University of Tokyo Hospital, Furukawa is the third Japanese to spend an extended period at the space station.
Also on Furukawa's task list at the ISS are zero-gravity experiments, such as making green tea, trying out Japanese ''suminagashi'' ink marbling art and growing cucumbers.
The spacecraft is expected to return to Earth in mid-November.
At the control center, two Japanese astronauts, Soichi Noguchi and Koichi Wakata, also watched the Russian spacecraft dock with the station.
Noguchi journeyed to the ISS in December 2009 aboard the Soyuz spacecraft and returned to Earth in June 2010. Wakata traveled around the station's vicinity aboard the Russian spacecraft for a short period of time while he was stationed at the ISS in July 2009.
The U.S. space shuttle fleet, which has hauled astronauts, equipment and supplies to the ISS for years, is retiring after Atlantis's final mission in July, leaving Russia's Soyuz as the only mode of transport between the station and Earth.
