A Supply Ship Docks with the International Space Station
Credit:
ISS Expedition 16 Crew,
NASA
Looking out a window of the International Space Station brings breathtaking views.
Visible vistas include a vast and
colorful Earth, a
deep dark sky, and an occasional
spaceship sent to visit the station.
Visible early last month was a
Soyuz
TMA-12 spacecraft carrying not only supplies but also three newcomers.
The three new astronauts were
Expedition 17 commander Sergei Volkov,
flight engineer Oleg Kononenko, and spaceflight participant
So-yeon Yi.
Yi returned to Earth
a few days later, while Volkov and Konenenko are scheduled to return in a few months.
The docking module
pictured above involved the
Pirs
Docking Compartment.
The Expedition 17 crew, including NASA flight engineer
Gregory
Chamitoff, will carry out repairs on the
ISS, explore new methods of living in space,
and conduct research in space including the effects of
space radiation on
vitamin molecules.