Three more staff were landed at the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, Sept 4. They were cosmonauts Aidyn Aimbetov from Kazakhstan, Sergei Volkov of Russia and Denmark's first astronaut, Andreas Mogensen. The international crew reached the ISS after the two-day travel through a Soyuz-FG rocket.
Mogensen was named as "Denmark's Gagarin" after the Soviet cosmonaut and first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, took Danish-made activity bicycles and 20 of Danish toymaker LEGO's plastic figures into orbit. The ISS has now nine international crew working at the orbital laboratory -- for the first time since November 2013.
The former and the Kazakhstan's third cosmonaut, Aimbetov are scheduled to return to Earth on Sept 12 along with the veteran Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, who has been working aboard the ISS since March, according to Reuters. Padalka will have the record of 878 days in space -- above any other international crew.
On the other hand, Mogensen's mother, Lisa Bjerregaard has expressed concern and excitement for the comeback of her son, who is also the first Dane in space. "I am really looking to have you back on Earth again. Don't forget to call me when you land," Liza says to his son in a video interview in an article published at the usnews.com. Mogensen vowed to fulfill his promised to go home safely.
Reports cited that Volkov will return next March together with NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian Mikhail Kornienko, who will have spent one year in space by that time.
It added, "This time it took two days to reach the ISS, rather than a six-hour approach usually taken in recent years. Russian space agency Roscosmos said last month the altitude of the ISS, lifted in July to avoid space debris, required the slower approach."
Soyuz crew was advised to maneuver in order to avoid an accident with a third stage of a Japanese rocket (launched in 1989) by the ballistics experts of Russia's Mission Control and U.S. space agency NASA.
