ISS Crew Down to Two After Tonight
Three of the five remaining members of the International Space Station (ISS) crew will depart tonight aboard the Soyuz TMA-15 spacecraft. Frank De Winne (Belgium) who served as the first European ISS commander, Roman Romanenko (Russia) and Robert Thirsk (Canada) are returning after about 6 months in orbit. Undocking is scheduled for 10:56 pm EST, with landing in Kazakhstan at 2:16 am EST Tuesday (1:16 pm Tuesday local time).
With their departure and that of Nicole Stott who came home with the STS-129 crew last week, the ISS will temporarily be down to a two-person crew: Jeff Williams (US), Expedition 22 commander, and Maxim Suraev (Russia). Three new crew members are scheduled to arrive on a Soyuz on December 23, boosting the crew back to five. An April Soyuz mission will bring three more crew members, at which time Williams and Suraev will return home, reestablishing a six-person crew. A full ISS complement is six crew members, which provides sufficient crew time for conducting both ISS operations and scientific experiments.
To keep track of ISS crew comings and goings, visit NASA’s spaceflight website.
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