Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft docks with International Space StationMay 29, 2013 - 09:26 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft, carrying three new crew members to the International Space Station (ISS), docked with the station on Wednesday, May 29 a spokesman for the Russian space agency Roscosmos said, according to RIA Novosti. “The spacecraft automatically docked with the ISS as scheduled, six hours after the launch. Fortunately, the cosmonauts did not have to switch to the manual docking regime,” he said. “When pressure equalizes, hatches will be opened, and the new crew members will ‘float’ into the station,” the spokesman went on. The flight took approximately six hours. Until March, it had taken two days for crews to go from Earth to the space station. The spacecraft, carrying Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, and astronauts Karen Nyberg of NASA and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency, was launched at 00:31 Wednesday Moscow time (8:31 p.m. Tuesday GMT) and reached orbit some ten minutes later. This is the fourth spaceflight for Yurchikhin, who will assume command of Expedition 37 once US astronaut Christopher Cassidy, and Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin, undock in November. This is flight engineer Nyberg’s first flight aboard a Soyuz, though she flew to the ISS on the shuttle Discovery in 2008. Parmitano has no prior spaceflight experience. The planned length of the new ISS expedition is 172 days. Its members will perform 34 experiments and take part in the docking and unloading of four spacecraft - two Russian Progress space freighters, Europe’s ATV-4 cargo spacecraft and a US-made commercial unmanned resupply spacecraft Cygnus. Russian cosmonauts are also scheduled to perform several spacewalks. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Scholz hopes Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty will be signed this year German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hopes that a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be signed this year. Ucom equips four bus stops in Ijevan with free Wi-Fi Ucom now provides free Wi-Fi coverage in smart bus stops in four communities of Ijevan. Armenia, Russia discuss life extension of Metsamor nuclear plant Issues regarding the extension of life of the 2nd power unit of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant were discussed in Yerevan. Armenians stage more campaigns against territorial concessions to Azerbaijan Protesters blocked more roads across Armenia on Friday, April 26 in continuing attempts to scuttle territorial concessions to Azerbaijan. |