ISS Russian Cosmonauts conduct Third Spacewalk (EVA) of October

Spacewalker Maxim Suraev works outside the Poisk mini-research module in January 2010.

Image Credit: NASA TV

Russian spacewalkers Max Suraev and Alexander Samokutyaev opened the Pirs docking compartment hatch to the vacuum of space at 9:28 a.m. EDT to begin the third spacewalk for Expedition 41 crew members in as many weeks.

Their spacewalk is expected to last six hours. Two U.S. spacewalks took place Oct. 7 and 15.

Russian spacewalkers Max Suraev and Alexander Samokutyaev.

Image Credit: NASA TV

The duo’s first task is to remove the Radiometriya experiment that was installed on the Zvezda service module in 2011 and which is no longer required for data collection.

They will then jettison it for a later reentry into the atmosphere where it will burn up. The experiment gathered data to help scientists predict seismic events and earthquakes.

The veteran cosmonauts will then move on to another external experiment and remove its protective cover.

They will photograph the Expose-R experiment before taking a break during the orbital night period.

After orbital sunrise, they will take more photographs of the work area, translate back to Pirs and place the protective cover inside.

The European Space Agency study exposes organic and biological samples to the harsh environment of space and observes how they are affected by cosmic radiation, vacuum and night and day cycles.

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Soyuz Spacecraft Returns Expedition 38 Space Station Crew to Earth

The recovery team attends to NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins and cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy after the trio's Soyuz capsule touched down in frigid Kazakhstan on March 10, 2014.

Credit: NASA TV

An American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts made a snowy but safe landing on Earth late Monday (March 10), bringing their 5 1/2-month mission aboard the International Space Station to a successful close.

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy touched down on the snowy steppes of Kazakhstan at 11:24 p.m. EDT Monday (0324 March 11 GMT; 9:24 a.m. March 11 local time), about 3 1/2 hours after leaving the space station.

Temperatures hovered around 0 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 18 degrees Celsius) at the landing site, and strong winds whipped snow through the air.

"The crew will get a bit of a frigid welcome," a NASA commentator said as the Soyuz neared terra firma.

Because of the extreme conditions, recovery teams did not set up the standard medical tents for each crewmember.

Instead, Hopkins, Kotov and Ryazanskiy were to be taken immediately to a helicopter after being removed from the capsule.

The trio spent 166 days in orbit, and their mission was nearly extended by 24 hours.

Space station officials considered delaying the Soyuz' departure by a day because of bad weather on the ground in Kazakhstan but ultimately decided to go ahead with the original landing plan.

Hopkins, Kotov and Ryazanskiy launched toward the station on Sept. 26, initially joining the crew of the orbiting lab's Expedition 37.

In November, Expedition 37 transitioned to Expedition 38, which Kotov commanded.

UrtheCast Cameras Transmits First Data from Space Station

GoPro camera view of UrtheCast's high- (upper left) and medium-resolution (lower right) commercial video cameras mounted on the International Space Station. 

Credit: UrtheCast /Roscosmos

The two commercial cameras that will keep a constant watch over Earth from outside the International Space Station have beamed their first bits of test data back home.

The Canadian, Vancouver-based company UrtheCast has not publicly released any pictures of videos showing its cameras' view of the planet just yet but company officials announced this week that they have successfully downlinked camera data to the ground station in Moscow from both their high-resolution camera and medium-resolution camera. They've even acquired test imagery from the medium-resolution device.

By passing this test, UrtheCast (pronounced "EarthCast") is a step closer to its goal of providing Internet users and commercial clients with a stream of near-real time continuous footage of Earth.

"With both cameras functioning as anticipated, we are now focusing on further commissioning and calibration of the cameras and the pointing platform for the HRC [high-resolution camera]," UrtheCast’s chief technology officer, George Tyc, said in a statement.

This step is necessary before imagery can be acquired from the HRC.

Tyc added that the first "official full color, Ultra HD video" would be released in the second quarter of the year.

The cameras launched to the space station in November as part of Russian cargo delivery and were installed on the hull of the orbiting outpost during a spacewalk by Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy on Jan. 27.

An initial attempt to fix the cameras to the station in December had to be abandoned after the devices hit a communications glitch.

The cameras will capture stills and video of the planet from the viewpoint of the space station, which circles the globe every 90 minutes at an average altitude of 248 miles (400 kilometers).

The medium-resolution camera will record 30-mile-wide (50 kilometers) swathes of imagery and will be able to make out objects about 19 feet (6 meters) across or larger.

The high-resolution camera, meanwhile, will be able to resolve targets as small as 3.3 feet (1 meter) across, according to UrtheCast.

Russian Cosmonauts EVA search for bacterium corroding ISS

The Russian cosmonauts, Alexander Misurkin and Fyodor Yurchikhin, staying aboard the International Space Station (ISS), recently conducted at EVA from the Space Station with the aim of examining the ISS body to find out whether there is a bacterium there that can destroy its surface.

The bacteria research, done by scientists, has been going on for more than 20 years now.

Over the past period the Russian Space Agency has given Russian and foreign biologists more than 1 million pestiferous microbes that can destroy metals and polymers.

According to information obtained by experts during the past decades, we know that the life cycle of such microorganisms can last from 20 to 30 minutes.

Bacteria have enough time to grow, multiply, to destroy several molecules of the material they choose, and die.

In a 10-year period nearly 200,000 generations of microbes undergo changes, scientists say.

As a rule, there are many microbes in pipelines, air conditioners, cooler-dehumidifier units, oxygen electrolysis units, electric and hydraulic lines, helmets, and on skin-plating.

ISS Astronauts Take Time Off for US Labour Day Holiday

Five of the six Expedition 36 crew members are pictured in the International Space Station's Kibo laboratory during a daily planning conference. 

Pictured from bottom left are European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, both flight engineers; Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov, commander; NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg and Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, both flight engineers. 

Credit: NASA

Americans across the United States will pause to celebrate the Labor Day holiday on Monday (Sept. 2), even space travelers soaring high above Earth aboard the International Space Station.

There are two American astronauts — NASA's Karen Nyberg and Chris Cassidy — currently serving on the space station's six-person crew, and they are expecting a light work day Monday, NASA officials said.

While station astronauts typically take a break from their usual duties on holidays, they still may need to do a little work.

Nyberg and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Luca Parmitano might take part in a quick training session to prepare for the arrival of an unmanned cargo-carrying Cygnus spacecraft, NASA spokesman Josh Byerly told reporters.

The Cygnus capsule is scheduled to launch from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va., atop an Antares rocket on Sept. 17.

It will mark the first Cygnus test flight to International Space Station.

The unmanned cargo ship was built by the commercial spaceflight company Orbital Sciences Corp.

But aside from Cygnus training, Nyberg and the rest of the station's Expedition 36 crew will likely have the chance to chat with their loved ones in honor of the U.S. holiday.

Space station residents can call their families whenever they have time and they can send emails and video link with the ground.

This year's Labor Day in space should be more subdued than last year's holiday. In 2012, astronauts on the space station were prepping for an extra spacewalk after a sticky bolt prevented NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and Japanese (JAXA) spaceflyer Akihiko Hoshide from replacing a faulty piece of hardware on the outside of the station.

The station is about the size of a five bedroom house has the wingspan of a football field. Construction of the station began in 1998 and it has been continuously staffed with crews of spaceflyers since 2000.

ISS EVA: Russian Cosmonauts Wave Russia's Flag in Orbit, Tackle Faulty Gear

A cosmonaut unfurls a Russian flag outside the International Space Station during a spacewalk on Aug. 22, 2013, to mark Russian Flag Day.

Credit: NASA TV

A misaligned piece of gear on the International Space Station caused headaches in orbit for two spacewalking cosmonauts today (Aug. 22), but they ultimately triumphed and even managed to celebrate Russia's Flag Day with orbital style.

Veteran cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin proudly waved a Russian flag while soaring 260 miles (418 kilometers) above Earth to celebrate Russia's Flag Day holiday, which just happened to coincide with their nearly six-hour spacewalk.

"Congratulations to everyone on this day of the Russian flag," Yurchikhin said as he waved the flag in space. "Please remember to value and respect it, and we will respect ourselves."

Yurchikhin and fellow cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin let loose three "hoorahs" as they posed for TV and still cameras. They joked that some viewers wouldn't believe they were in space as the flag floated around them.

"It's a wonderful day," Yurchikhin quipped. "Some people might think that this is actually a performance. That this is staged somewhere down there … this is in space, as real as it comes."

The light-hearted moment capped a long day in orbit for Yurchikhin and Misurkin, who began their spacewalk at 7:36 a.m. EDT (1136 GMT).

They spent five hours and 58 minutes working outside on what was their second spacewalk in six days. The cosmonauts spent more than seven hours outside the station on Aug. 16, setting a new record for the longest Russian spacewalk.