Destination Space Station

Expedition 44

Photo courtesy of NASA/A. Gimignani

Destination Space Station
| published July 23, 2015 |

By Thursday Review staff

Launched at 3:00 a.m. on July 23 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Soyuz TMA-17M carries the crew of Expedition 44 into space—its destination, the International Space Station. The crew of Expedition 44 consists of flight engineer Kjell Lindgren (NASA, U.S.), flight engineer Kimiya Yui (JAXA, Japan), and mission commander and cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, of the Russian Federal Space Agency.

According to the NASA website, "the crew will support several hundred experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science—research that impacts life on Earth."  The additional crew arrived safely earlier today and are now all aboard the space station. Thursday Review will have more about the activities of the astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station this week and next.  

Related Thursday Review article:

Space Station: A Close Call With Space Junk; Thursday Review staff; Thursday Review; July 17, 2015.

The View From Above; Thursday Review staff; Thursday Review; March 3, 2015.