Tonight the Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft has landed in southern Kazakhstan bringing back to Earth three astronauts from the International Space Station. Ground personnel took steps to bring the assistance necessary to people who have spent long periods in the absence of gravity, but they’re all well.
Chris Hadfield. Born on August 29, 1959 in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, he joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1978. Since 1980 he’s been a military pilot and has flown over 70 different types of airplanes. In 1992 he was selected to be part of the Canadian space program and in 1993 was assigned to NASA, where he was the Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) in 25 missions of the Space Shuttles. In 1995 he was part of the STS-74 mission on the Space Shuttle Atlantis as a mission specialist. In 2001 he was part of the STS-100 mission on the Space Shuttle Endeavour again as a mission specialist also performing two spacewalks. In 2003 he retired from the Canadian Air Force with the rank of colonel so later he worked as a civilian astronaut at the Johnson Space Center of NASA in Houston. He arrived on the International Space Station on December 21, 2012 as an Expedition 34 flight engineer and as commander of Expedition 35 when it started on March 13, 2013. He also sent many pictures taken from the Station, which can be admired on his Google+ and Twitter profiles along with some videos, including his recent version of David Bowie’s song “Space Oddity”.
Roman Romanenko. Born on August 9, 1971 in Shchyolkovo, Russia, he joined the armed forces in 1988 and in 1992 graduated as a pilot-engineer at the Chernigov Air Force Pilot School. In 1997 he was selected as a cosmonaut candidate and on May 27, 2009 arrived for the first time on the International Space Station as a flight engineer as part of Expedition 20 and then of Expedition 21, returning to Earth on December 1, 2009 on the Space Shuttle Atlantis with the STS-129 mission. On December 21, 2012 he went back to the International Space Station as part of Expedition 34 and then of Expedition 35.
Thomas Marshburn. Born on August 29, 1960 in Statesville, North Carolina, USA, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics in 1982, a a Masters in Engineering Physics in 1984, a Doctorate of Medicine in 1989 and Doctorate of Medicine in 1997, the last from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB). Previously, he was accepted at the Space Medicine Fellowship at NASA/UTMB and served as a flight surgeon. After being accepted into NASA’s program, in 2009, flew with STS-127 mission on the Space Shuttle Endeavour as a mission specialist also performing three spacewalks. On December 21, 2012 he arrived on the International Space Station as part of Expedition 34 and then Expedition 35.
Sunday, Chris Hadfield handed over command of the International Space Station to his colleague Pavel Vinogradov. There was the possibility that the return of three astronauts might be postponed due to the problems with the leak of ammonia found in recent days but it seems that everything is alright so they decided to stick to the original schedule for the re-entry.
The return of the three astronauts marked the end of Expedition 35. The three crew members now on the International Space Station are waiting for the arrival of the next fellow astronauts, scheduled for May 28, to complete the Expedition 36 crew.
[ad name=”Google Adsense 300″]
