NASA Digest, Vol 55, Issue 13

	December 17, 2017  RELEASE 17-100 Three New Crew Members on Voyage to International Space Station Expedition 54 crew members Scott Tingle of NASA, Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched to the International Space Station at 2:21 a.m. EST Dec. 17, 2017 (1:21 p.m. Baikonur time), from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credits: NASA/Joel Kowsky   Expedition 54 flight engineer Scott Tingle of NASA, flight engineer Norishige Kanai of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Soyuz Commander Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos wave farewell prior to boarding the Soyuz MS-07 for launch Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Tingle, Norishige Kanai, and Shkaplerov will spend the next five months living and working aboard the International Space Station. Credits: NASA/Joel Kowsky Three crew members representing the United States, Russia and Japan are on their way to the International Space Station after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2:21 a.m. EST Sunday (1:21 p.m. Baikonur time). The Soyuz spacecraft carrying NASA's Scott Tingle, Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is scheduled to dock to the space station's Rassvet module at 3:43 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 19. Coverage of docking will begin at 3 a.m. on NASA Television and the agency's website, followed at 5 a.m. by coverage of the opening of hatches between the spacecraft and station. The arrival of Tingle, Shkaplerov and Kanai will restore the station's crew complement to six. They will join Expedition 54 Commander Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos and his crewmates, Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba of NASA. The crew members will spend more than four months conducting approximately 250 science investigations in fields such as biology, Earth science, human research, physical sciences and technology development. Vande Hei, Acaba and Misurkin are scheduled to remain aboard the station until February 2018, and Tingle, Shkaplerov and Kanai are scheduled to return to Earth in April. This crew continues the long-term increase in crew size on the U.S. segment from three to four, allowing NASA to maximize time dedicated to research on the space station. Highlights of upcoming investigations include demonstrating the benefits of manufacturing fiber optic filaments in a microgravity environment, a new study looking at structures that are vital to the design of advanced optical materials and electronic devices and examining a drug compound and drug delivery system designed to combat muscular breakdown in space or during other prolonged periods of disuse, such as extended bed rest on Earth. For more than 17 years, humans have lived and worked continuously aboard the station, advancing scientific knowledge and demonstrating new technologies, making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth that will enable long-duration human and robotic exploration into deep space. A global endeavor, more than 200 people from 18 countries have visited the unique microgravity laboratory that has hosted more than 2,100 research investigations from researchers in more than 95 countries. Follow Tingle on his space mission at: https://twitter.com/Astro_Maker Get breaking news, images and features from the station on Instagram and Twitter: https://instagram.com/iss and https://www.twitter.com/Space_Station
	Press Contacts Kathryn Hambleton Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 kathryn.hambleton@nasa.gov Dan Huot Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 daniel.g.huot@nasa.gov