Expedition 21 Undocking

The Soyuz TMA-15 spacecraft carrying Expedition 21 Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Roman Romanenko, European Space Agency Flight Engineer Frank De Winne and Canadian Space Agency Flight Engineer Robert Thirsk undocks from the International Space Station.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• International Space Station
• Expediton 21
• crew
• astronauts

[charlieechovictor]

yup you're right he is an astronaut :D altough it's the same thing

[libbern]

(And I know that part of Russia is European, but you get what I mean...)

[libbern]

That was Frank, an European guy... Should he not be called an astronaut?:)

But yeah, it would be awesome to live on the ISS. Probably exhausting, but its worth it.

[thirdclass2006]

I like the cosmonaut's remark at the beginning;

"Four more months guys and it's your turn!"

I think I'd be happy to live on the ISS.

[livinlvis]

lol, no, no welcome-back ceremony. It's just the contrast of high-tech and low-tech that's amusing. The space-pen thing is an urban legend according to Wikipedia.

An interesting anecdote: astronauts accidentally snapped off a switch which was necessary to permit them to fire the engine to return to Earth; and that a Fisher Space Pen was used to press this button. While the incident did occur, Buzz Aldrin has stated that, in fact, he used a felt-tip pen for this.

[Csp499]

Would you rather see that money spent on a huge welcome-back ceremony for each and every astronaut and cosmonaut to return home, with specialized transit and everything, or would you rather see it used for the further betterment of space development?

The Russians seem to be wise with their budget- they know how to use what they already have to avoid being spendy (like that whole thing with the space-pen).

[livinlvis]

What's so amazing to me is that the space program represents some of the greatest accomplishments of the human race in recorded history. To put men into orbit above the earth to live work and conduct experiments is utterly amazing! And this all ends by landing in a scrub field on the steppes of Asia in a little metal ball. After bouncing on the ground a few times the explorers are unceremoniously pulled out, placed on off -road trucks and driven away.

[konsul2006]

heroic people!

[philskelton1]

take me