Last Wednesday, NASA sent three more astronauts to join the space mission in the International Space Center that might last for almost a year. The said mission is expected to have a total of 163 days of intense research. The space capsule which was manned by the three new crew members of the ISS was launched in Kazakhstan, in a Russian-manned facility of NASA. 

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The Dispatch Times reported that there was even a live viewing allowed by NASA in hopes of drawing more attention from the public. On July 22, at exactly 5:02 pm, EST, the space capsule smoothly lifted off the ground, and successfully joined the ISS. The ISS is reported to be around 250 miles away from our planet. 

The new astronauts who joined are Oleg Kononenko from Russia, Kimiya Yui from Japan, and Kjell Lindgren from the USA. One of these astronauts, Lindgren, is also a medical doctor. He has board certifications for the practice of both aerospace and emergency medicine. 

According to Wired, the three new crew members of the ISS replaced the other three former crew members who departed the space craft last June 10. This set of astronauts will have to remain in the ISS until the end of the mission set by NASA.

Scott Kelly, the American flight engineer, expressed his satisfaction on the success of the recent space launch.  It was because this particular space launch was supposed to have happened two months ago. However, a mishap occurred, causing the delay. 

During Kelly's interview with ABC News, Kelly said that the other crew members in the ISS are excited to welcome the new astronauts.  He further stated during the said interview that more than a month from now, on Sept. 2, another spacecraft, Soyuz, will arrive. Sergey Volkov will be the pilot of the said spacecraft, and Volkov will be arriving with Andreas Mogensen.

The new crew members will be actively involved in doing a research on what causes space headaches, health risks while on the space station, and the other infections that could be risky for human beings while in the outer space. This particular space mission will be focusing on human health.  It has a total of seven research categories.  

Tagsouter space, International Space Station, NASA News, NASA recent news, NASA latest news, new astronauts join international space station