soyuz

Astronauts in the International Space Station have already explained how to clip fingernails and play guitar while orbiting 240 miles above the Earth. But what about all those other questions people may have about life in space?

They can be answered in an upcoming Google+ Hangout with three of the astronauts aboard the ISS -- Kevin Ford, Tom Marshburn, and Chris Hadfield.

NASA announced today that it is hosting its first live Google+ Hangout from space. It's to happen from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. EST on February 22. The space agency is accepting questions in advance … Read more

Braving Arctic temperatures and a brutal wind chill, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft roared to life and streaked smoothly into orbit today, carrying a veteran three-man crew on a two-day flight to the International Space Station.

With commander Roman Romanenko at the controls, the Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft climbed away from its launching stand at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 7:12 a.m. ET (6:12 p.m. local time), roughly the moment Earth's rotation carried the pad into the plane of the space station's orbit.

Trailing a fiery jet of brilliant orange exhaust, the workhorse rocket arced … Read more

Three veteran space station fliers strapped into their Soyuz ferry craft, undocked and plunged back to Earth today, making a fiery descent to a frigid pre-dawn landing in Kazakhstan to close out a 127-day stay in space.

With Soyuz commander Yuri Malenchenko strapped into the descent module's center seat, flanked on the left by outgoing Expedition 33 commander Sunita Williams and on the right by Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, the crew undocked from the station's Russian Rassvet module at 5:26 p.m. EST as the two spacecraft sailed 250 miles above northwestern China.

Two-and-a-half hours later, positioned … Read more

Two rookie cosmonauts and a NASA shuttle veteran rocketed into orbit aboard a Russian Soyuz ferry craft today and set off for the International Space Station.

Joining them were 32 medaka fish, bound for a zero-gravity research aquarium aboard the lab complex.

Under a clear afternoon sky, the workhorse Russian rocket roared to life at 4:51 p.m. local time (3:51 a.m. PT) and smoothly climbed away from its launching pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

It was the first manned flight from the remote Site 31 pad since July 1984, a departure from the usual … Read more

Two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA flight engineer bid their three space station crewmates farewell Sunday, strapped into their Soyuz ferry craft, undocked from the lab complex and fell back to Earth, making a pinpoint landing in Kazakhstan to close out a 125-day voyage.

Descending through a clear blue sky under a large orange-and-white parachute, the charred Soyuz TMA-04M descent module settled to a rocket-assisted touchdown near the town of Arkalyk at 10:53 p.m. EDT (8:53 a.m. Monday local time).

The final stages of the descent were carried live on television relayed through the Russian mission … Read more

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying a Russian commander, a NASA flight engineer, and a Japanese astronaut -- all veteran space travelers -- blasted off and streaked into orbit late Saturday (U.S. time), the first leg of a two-day flight to the International Space Station.

Under a partly cloudy sky, the Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:40 p.m. EDT Saturday (GMT-4; 8:40 a.m. Sunday local time) and quickly climbed away atop a rush of fiery exhaust.

The launching came on the 37th anniversary of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project that … Read more

Engineers are making final preparations for launch of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft this weekend to ferry an all-veteran U.S.-Russian-Japanese crew to the International Space Station to boost the lab's crew complement back to six. The launch will kick off a "fantastically busy" timeline, with nine space station "visiting vehicle" operations and two spacewalks over the next six weeks.

"The mission is going to be action packed," Soyuz flight engineer and eventual space station commander Sunita Williams told CBS News. "I think we're really up for the pace, we're … Read more

Three departing station fliers strapped into a Soyuz ferry craft, fired the ship's braking rockets and plunged back to Earth early Sunday, landing in Kazakhstan to close out a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station.

Descending through a sunny sky under a red-and-white parachute, the Soyuz TMA-03M command module carrying outgoing Expedition 31 commander Oleg Kononenko, European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers, and NASA flight engineer Donald Pettit settled to a jarring rocket-assisted touchdown near Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, at 4:14 a.m. EDT (2:14 p.m. local time).

Russian recovery crews stationed nearby rushed to the spacecraft … Read more

Strapped into a cramped Soyuz ferry craft, the outgoing space station commander and two Russian cosmonauts undocked from the International Space Station early Friday and plunged back to Earth to close out a five-and-a-half-month stay in space.

Descending through a clear blue sky under a large red-and-white parachute, the Soyuz TMA-22 descent module landed near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, at 7:45 a.m. EDT (GMT-4; 2:45 p.m. local time) after a 56-minute fall from orbit. Russian recovery forces and NASA support personnel stationed nearby quickly converged on the spacecraft to assist the station fliers as they began their readjustment … Read more