Soyuz Space Capsule Brings Two Russians, One American Crew To ISS

This time, he will beat Kelly’s record to set the new record of the highest number of cumulative days in space by an American astronaut.

They’ve had the station to themselves since astronaut Scott Kelly, fellow long-duration crew member Mikhail Kornienko and Soyuz TMA-18M commander Sergey Volkov departed and returned to Earth March 1. He, Skripochka, who has flown once before, and Ovchinin, a rookie, will spend about six months living and working aboard the station, a $100 billion research laboratory that flies about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.

A Russian, Valeri Polyakov, holds the longevity record for a single flight, after he spent 437 days on the Mir space station.

NASA deployed live webcams on the International Space Station in March.

NASA commercial provider Orbital ATK is scheduled to launch its fifth mission to the International Space Station Tuesday, March 22 under the agency’s Commercial Resupply Services contract. Williams is the most experienced astronaut in the trio who has arrived at the ISS three times before this.