14 DAY TRIAL // On Sunday, April 4, three astronauts aboard the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft managed to successfully dock to the International Space Station (ISS). The moment marked the first time ever when all members of Expedition 23 reunited aboard the orbital facility. Since March 18, when former Expedition 22 Commander Jeffrey Williams and RosCosmos flier Maksim Surayev landed in the steppes of Kazakhstan, only three astronauts have remained aboard the ISS. Now, with the arrival of the TMA-18 crew, the number is again boosted to six, Space reports.
The number of people in orbit is bound to grow again, given that, in only a day's time, the seven astronauts currently aboard the space shuttle Discovery will dock to the American berth on the station. This will boost the total number of people in orbit to 13 yet again. The Soyuz space capsule docked to the facility at 1:25 am EDT (05:25 GMT), and will remain attached to the outpost throughout the mission. Alongside the TMA-17 space capsule, it will act as a lifeboat in case astronauts aboard the ISS need to abandon the outpost.
The capsule, which affixed itself to the rooftop “parking spot” on the Russian-built Poisk module, delivered NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson and RosCosmos cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko. They join Expedition 23 commander Oleg Kotov (RosCosmos) and flight engineers Soichi Noguchi (JAXA) and Timothy (T.J.) Creamer (NASA). “We are under a great impression of this flight and we have a lot of emotions. And we would like to again say 'Happy Easter' to everybody. It's a wonderful holiday,” said Skvortsov after hatches were opened, and the crew was reunited in space.
“The first contribution of the ISS, the most important contribution of the ISS, is that we demonstrate how well we can all work together. No one country can handle such a great task financially, especially, and so this is the first experience of such close cooperation of many countries in space,” the RosCosmos flier stated in an interview before the TMA-18 capsule launched. The arrival of the capsule marks the beginning of a very busy schedule for the ISS, with the planned docking of Discovery, and the work related to having to perform three spacewalks adding extra tension on the crew.