Station Trio Relaxes after Soyuz Undocking Activities

Expedition 41 officially began Wednesday with Roscosmos cosmonaut Max Suraev commanding the International Space Station. He and his partners, NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman and European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, will stay in space until November 10.

The trio had an off-duty day Thursday after a full day of undocking activities that began with a farewell to Expedition 40 Commander Steve Swanson, Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov and Flight Engineer Oleg Artemyev. They began their ride to Earth after undocking in their Soyuz TMA-12M at 7:01 p.m. EDT Wednesday.

The station trio stayed up past their sleep period assisting the departing Soyuz crew and watched the vehicle’s undocking, separation and re-entry. Gerst photographed the Soyuz as it was separating from the station. Wiseman captured a photograph of the Soyuz and its plasma trail the moment it re-entered the atmosphere.

Re-entry of Soyuz

Expedition 40 landed safely in Kazakhstan at 10:23 p.m. and was greeted by NASA and Roscosmos personnel and examined by doctors at the landing site before a traditional welcoming ceremony in Karaganda. Swanson was then flown to the United States while Skvortsov and Artemyev were flown back to Star City, Russia.

This was Swanson’s third mission in space. He previously flew as a mission specialist on the STS-117 and STS-119 space shuttle missions. Skvortsov completed his second tour of duty aboard the station having served as a flight engineer and then a commander during Expedition 23/24 in 2010. Expedition 40 was Artemyev’s first orbital mission.

The orbital laboratory will see a new Expedition 41/42 crew arrive Sept. 25 when Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev and Flight Engineers Barry Wilmore and Elena Serova lift off in their Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft. They will take a six-hour ride to the space station and orbit Earth conducting advanced microgravity science until March 11.


Samokutyaev was Skvortsov’s crewmate during Expedition 23/24 in 2010, when both were first time space flyers. Wilmore flew to space as a pilot aboard space shuttle Atlantis in November 2009. Serova will be on her first mission as a cosmonaut. She will be Russia’s first female cosmonaut to live and work on the International Space Station.