Orbital log

Preparations for the departure of the craft with our crew on board are in full swing. We are packing various experiment, various instruments, and the information about the experiments. A radiogram comes from Earth that describes each cargo item, its destination, and where to put it. With the packing over, the whole thing is marked, because each cargo item is of much importance. Among the cargo we are taking back to Earth is this thermo-container which holds bio-samples that should exist in outer space, urgent cargoes (colored red or orange), and we should load it into the craft hours before the closing of the hatch and send it back to Earth, because procrastination is lethal. For example, Maxim has marked this container for me.

Roman picked up his cargo and headed for his craft, Soyuz, to load it and send it back to Earth. You and I will follow him and see what he is doing.

Roman’s craft is at the tip of the Russian segment. Let’s watch him packing to leave home. In this place we should step down… next is the American craft, and here is Roman’s craft, the Soyuz. Roman… Yes, yes… The escape capsule or recovery descent vehicle of the Soyuz craft is very narrow. This is Roman’s central commander’s chair, and this is one for the onboard engineer. This is how Roman is preparing to leave home, he is taking a specialized drill, this piece of equipment is called Chibis. Roman, how do you feel? – Just fine! Preparing for a descent. It’s a specialized drill creating a special depression down there to ensure a blood outflow from the head to the legs. Little by little I am getting used to terrestrial conditions. Let’s wish him luck. Thus, dear friends, the time has come for the official shift handover in the Russian segment. Roman Romanenko’s hatches will be shut down tomorrow night, and on December 1 he is coming back home to Earth. This is why, right now, we are having an official handover. There is a certificate entitled ISS Russian Segment Transfer Certificate. Well, we are putting our signatures to it, we shake each other’s hand, and we fly away.

Six months of my mission were like one moment. It’s a very good crew, easy to work with. I think all our crewmembers are pleased.

The work was performed fruitfully, a lot of experiments were made on board the ISS. I hope the Earth will be as pleased with us as we are pleased with the work and with their support.

Thank you, Maxim, I’m off.

That’s all. He is off, while I’m staying. I’m staying to live here!

This is news from the weightlessness. Maxim Suraev was with you.

Via Russian space agency Roscosmos

We are all watching the station, and no criticisms to be made for the operation of all systems. And, in a way, it’s exciting because, when you realize how much effort and energy went into the station’s construction, how much money and human resources was used, you certainly develop a feeling of responsibility.

We are expectant because a new module has come for the Russian segment; we are impatient for the hatches to open because presents for us are likely to be over there. Our new module, MIM-2, is behind this door, this hatch. OK. For the first entry we’ve prepared a lot of samplers for different harmful substances like, say, carbon monoxide, for example. Because, if the atmosphere happens to be polluted, we must clean and tidy up the whole thing before the module can be brought into operation; we must be sure that the atmosphere inside the incoming module is very clean and fit for living. We have no right to take risks. Before we crawl into the new module, we open two hatches; number one is on the station’s side, and by opening it we get access to the hatch on the new module’s side. We’ll try to open the locks with a key, and if the hatch moves, it’s OK.

What is between the two hatches smells of weightlessness, smells of outer space, let’s put it that way.

Then comes the historic moment – the opening of the hatch!!!

When we open the second hatch, what is behind it smells of things terrestrial.

This is why we are opening it impatiently. The obligatory security measures…

In fact, there was a smell; everyone felt it was the smell of the Earth, the smell of fresh fruit. But we didn’t find any fresh fruit…

It’s cool inside, fine, the smell, the new module, excellent!

A normal thing, particularly inside a new module, is for everyone to be eager to take a photograph as a memento.

The presents came, as did letters from our near and dear and from friends, plus… -Roman, it will all be on air, don’t rustle, please. – Plus some small things. Roman received several car magazines for him to keep abreast of all events and novelties down on Earth.

What is left is the unloading, and we have to dismount all these things, and to remove the containers, and this part, too, that you can see in the background. In principle, the work will be over today; I believe another two or three hours of steady work will do the job the way it should be done.

Oh, yes, you were listening to weightlessness news.

Via Russian space agency Roscosmos

There are two private rooms for the cosmonauts. Here is the room for Roman Yuryevich Romanenko - that’s where he lives and you can see an emblem for his crew on the door. And opposite to it is my room – the room of Maxim Surayev. Since it really doesn’t matter where you sleep when you are in a zero-gravity zone, our sleeping bags are on the walls. We sleep on the walls. Unlike American spacecraft, we have a window in each room, which is very convenient. You can retire here and enjoy the beautiful views of our planet Earth. Actually, the American cosmonauts are jealous of that. So, anyways, we get into our sleeping bags, zip up and enjoy our sleep on the wall. We also have some personal belongings here – like family pictures: here you can see my kids and my wife; there is also one of my kids’ toys that I took with me. So, yes – my personal belongings… like personal crosses, DVDs that we sometimes watch, etc. We also have binoculars here, which is very handy when you want to observe the Earth more, by the way. Let me see what we have here… I think it’s the snow peaks…I guess it the Andes or something like that…yes, looks like the Andes Mountains.

Here is the only illuminator at the ISS that lets through the UV light. It is usually covered with a lid and it’s very big compared to the rest of the windows. It’s the ninth window, the central one. Many come over here to watch the Earth. Actually there were cases when people got sunburns. Since this window allows the UV rays to come through, you can very easily get sunburn within a minute or a minute and a half. So, it’s like we have our own tanning room here at the ISS.

And there is the sunset. Look at these beautiful colors! Black flows into blue then transforms into red, which morphs again into black. Basically, this encompasses the whole color spectrum, with the exception of green. Right, this is the sunset as seen from the ISS. Let’s see what else is out there.

Here you can see Roman Romanenko. He has been growing these plants for three months. Let’s break a leaf and taste it – well, it doesn’t taste all that great, actually. This is the Mezunya salad. Roma pulls out the first bunch. He has been taking care of it for months and now we can see him pull out a bunch together with the roots. So, then he needs to break it in half and put it into a zip-lock bag. Then he’ll it put into the MELFI fridge, where it will be stored at minus 90 degrees Celsius. And later it will be transferred to the Earth just like that, frozen.

So, good luck to you all,
This was Maxim Surayev, bringing news to you from the zero-gravity zone.

Via Russian space agency Roscosmos