NASA astronaut Christina Koch, Russian Soyuz commander Alexander Skvortsov, and ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano check their Sokol spacesuits ready for their return to Earth on February 6, 2020. Credit: ESA
ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano returned to Earth today alongside NASA astronaut Christina Koch and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, marking the end of his second six-month International Space Station mission known as ‘Beyond.’
Returning in the same Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft that flew Luca, Alexander, and NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan to the Space Station on July 20, 2019, the trio touched down in about 30 cm of snow in the Kazakh Steppe on February 6, 2020, at 09:12 GMT (4:21 am EST), as scheduled. The Soyuz landed upright and all three crew members emerged from the module smiling and looking well.
The 3500 sq m :envihab building in Cologne is near ESA’s European Astronaut Centre on the research campus of DLR German Aerospace Center in Cologne, Germany. It houses specialized laboratories for studying the effects of extreme environmental conditions on humans. Credit: Andreas Schütz
Luca will now fly directly to Cologne, Germany, where he will continue to be monitored by ESA’s space medicine team as he readapts to Earth’s gravity at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) and DLR’s ‘:envihab’ facility.
Luca’s return to Earth marks the successful conclusion of his Beyond mission. During this mission Luca became the third European and first Italian in command of the International Space Station, performed four complex spacewalks to maintain the cosmic-ray-detecting Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer AMS-02, gained the European record for most cumulative hours spent spacewalking at 33 hours and 9 minutes, remotely operated a rover in the Netherlands as part of the Analog-1 experiment, delivered an important climate change message to leaders at the UN climate change conference in Madrid, and supported over 50 European experiments as well as 200 international experiments in space.
ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano made space (and music) history on 13 August 2019 when he broadcast the first DJ music set from orbit, performing to an audience of over 3000 people as part of the BigCityBeats WORLD CLUB DOME Cruise Edition. The results of his work were beamed to the main stage on board the cruise ship Norwegian Pearl moored at the Spanish island of Ibiza. His set of around 12 minutes was played as part of the regular programme of DJs at the festival. This was the first time that a DJ set has been played from the International Space Station and, indeed, from space. Credit: World Club Dome/ESA
He also played the first ever DJ set in space and shared numerous images of our planet and his activities on the Station.
Thursday, February 6, marked day 201 of his Beyond mission and Luca has now spent 367 noncumulative days in space across two missions – this is the longest of any ESA astronaut.
Early image of ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano back on Earth following his six-month Beyond mission on the International Space Station. Credit: ESA
Back on Earth, Luca will continue working with European researchers on experiments including Acoustic Diagnostics that looks into the impact of the Space Station environment on astronaut hearing, the TIME experiment that looks at whether astronauts judge time differently in space, and two experiments known as Grip and GRASP that look into the physiology behind eye-hand coordination and the role of gravity in regulating grip force, among others.
The findings of research conducted as part of Luca’s Beyond mission will help shape the future of human and robotic exploration while enhancing technological developments on Earth.
Luca’s mission – known as ‘Beyond’ – began 20 July 2019, exactly 50 years after the first lunar landing. On this date, Luca was launched to the Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft alongside Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov and NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan.
During Beyond, Luca supported over 50 European experiments in orbit. These included remotely operating a rover in the Netherlands to collect rock samples as instructed by scientists in Germany, and completing four complex spacewalks to repair the cosmic-ray-detecting Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer AMS-02. He also supported numerous international experiments and became the third European and first ever Italian commander of the International Space Station.
Somehow the astonishing fact that the capsule was previously USED making this another first!!
SOYUZ MS 13!!!!