The Week in Space

April 12-18, 2010

Long Stay for Sergei  Seen prior to docking, the Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft brought the Expedition 11 crew and an Italian astronaut to the International Space Station five years ago this week. The Expedition 11 mission was the sixth flight for veteran cosmonaut and Expedition Commander Sergei Krikalev, who, on August 16, 2005, broke the previous record for total time spent in space. When the Expedition 11 crew finally returned to Earth in October 2005, Krikalev’s total time in space had exceeded 800 days. During their six-month mission to the International Space Station, the Expedition 11 crew played host to the crew of the space shuttle Discovery during the STS-114 mission, received supplies from a remotely piloted Progress resupply ship, and greeted the Expedition 12 crew, which relieved them of duty. 

Image credit:  NASA

Weekly Calendar

April 12-18, 2010

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

Monday 12

Uranus 6° south of Moon

1961: Yuri Gagarin first human in space
1981: STS-1 Columbia launched
1985: STS-51D Discovery launched

Tuesday 13

Wednesday 14

New Moon 8:29 AM ET

1629: Christiaan Huygens born
1972: KSC and Vandenberg AFB picked as shuttle launch sites
2005: Expedition 11 crew launched to International Space Station

Thursday 15

Mercury 1.5° south of Moon

1867: Wilbur Wright born
1999: Landsat 7 launched

Friday 16

Venus 4° south of Moon

1946: First captured V2 rocket launched from White Sands, NM
1965: First test-firing of Saturn V rocket first stage (S-IC)
1972: Apollo 16 launched

Saturday 17

1967: Surveyor 3 launched
1969: First X-24A lifting body glide test
1970: Apollo 13 crew returns to Earth
1998: STS-90 Columbia launched

Sunday 18

Mercury appears stationary

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