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Two Hams among Three International Space Station Crew Members Returning to Earth

09/06/2016

Two radio amateurs are among the three International Space Station (ISS) crew members returning to Earth today. NASA Television will provide coverage. Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ, Flight Engineer Oleg Skripochka, RN3FU, and Soyuz Commander Alexey Ovchinin will undock from the ISS in a Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft at 21:51 UTC and land in Kazakhstan a few hours later (on the morning of September 7 UTC). During their duty tours on the ISS, Williams and Skripochka have participated in the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program.

 

“Together, the Expedition 48 crew members contributed to hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science, and Earth science aboard humanity’s only orbiting laboratory,” NASA said. “Their return will wrap up 172 days in space for the crew since their launch in March 2016.”

 

Williams was more to the point. “I will certainly miss this view!” he said in a tweet that accompanied an image of Earth as seen from the space station. “Vast gratitude toward my crewmates, ground teams, supporting friends, and family.” When he returns to Earth, Williams will have racked up 534 days in space on four missions dating back to 2000 — the most by any US astronaut. Prior to leaving the station, Williams formally turned over command of the ISS to Anatoly Ivanishin of Russia.

 

ISS Expedition 49 officially begins when the Soyuz undocks from the station. Expedition 49 Commander Anatoly Ivanishin and his crewmates — Kate Rubins, KG5FYJ, and Takuya Onishi, KF5LKS — will operate the station for more than 2 weeks until the arrival of three new crew members. Shane Kimbrough, KE5HOD, Sergey Ryzhikov, and Andrey Borisenko will head to the ISS from Kazakhstan on September 23.   



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