Happy birthday, astronaut Jack Fischer!

Jack Fischer, born January 23, 1974 in Louisville, Colorado, went into space aboard Soyuz MS-04 to the International Space Station in April 2017.  He participated in Expeditions 51 and 52 and performed two EVAs for a total of almost 7 hours.

He returned to Earth in September 2017.

Soyuz MS-04 launched 2017

Soyuz MS-04 crew (L-R): Fyodor Yurchikhin, Jack Fischer

Mission patch

Soyuz MS-04, launched April 20, 2017, carried two crew members to the International Space Station.  Its crew consisted of Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin (Roscosmos) and Jack Fischer (NASA).

Yurchikhin and Fischer participated in Expeditions 51 and 52.  They returned to Earth in September 2017 with Peggy Whitson.

Soyuz MS-06 fixin' to blast off this afternoon!

Soyuz MS-06 crew: Joe Acaba, Alexander Misurkin, Mark Vande Hei

This afternoon about 5:17pm EDT, the next crew of the International Space Station will blast off aboard Soyuz MS-06 from Baikonur in Kazakhstan and dock with the ISS approximately 6 hours later.  The crew consists of Lt. Col. Mark Vande Hei (Falls Church, VA; first flight), Joseph Acaba (first Puerto Rican astronaut; third flight) and cosmonaut/commander Alexander Misurkin (Yershichi, Smolensk Oblast, Russia; second flight)

They will join Randy Bresnik, Paolo Nespoli and Sergey Ryanzanski already on the ISS since July 28.  The new crew will continue experiments in biology, physical science and Earth science.

What?  No chemistry?

Just 10 days ago, Peggy Whitson, Jack Fisher and Fyodor Yurchikhin returned to Earth from the ISS, splatting down near Dzhezkagan in Kazakhstan.

Soyuz MS-05 has reached the International Space Station

In 6 hours, Soyuz MS-05 launched and then docked with the International Space Station!  That's a typical day's commute in the DC area.  Paolo Nespoli, Randy Bresnik and Sergey Ryazabsky have joined the three current residents on the ISS, Peggy Whitson, Jack Fischer and Fyodor Yurchikhin, who are scheduled to remain aboard until September.  The new arrivals will spend 5 months on the ISS conducting many scientific experiments.

One such experiment is a study developed by the Michael J. Fox Foundation of the pathology of Parkinson's disease to aid in the development of therapies for patients.