Soyuz crew undocks; photographs space station-shuttle

Russian craft soars near shuttle Endeavour tonight. (NASA)

A Russian spacecraft departed the International Space Station tonight and captured the first in-space family portrait of the complex with a docked space shuttle.

Soyuz TMA-20 commander Dmitry Kondratyev, NASA astronaut Cady Coleman and Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli undocked from the orbiting laboratory's Rassvett module at 5:35 p.m. EDT today, as the complex flew 224 miles high over eastern China.

Kondratyev then flew the Soyuz straight out to a distance of 180 meters and began a 180-degree roll. Kondratyev then moved the Soyuz further out to 200 meters to begin a station keeping position.

Nespoli unstrapped from his seat in the Soyuz descent module and then transfered to the habitation module with digital and video cameras to record the massive complex.

The space station then began it's 120-degree motion to allow the Italian astronaut to shoot incredible images and record high def video of the shuttle-station complex.

Firing it's thrusters to stay stable, the photography from Soyuz occurred as the two spacecraft's soared 222 miles high along the Northern Pacific Ocean near the west coast of North America, and later south toward central Chile.

As Nespoli took images, Coleman reminded him not to forget to take video of the one million pound orbiting complex.

Kondratyev and Nespoli exchanged several comments on the beauty of the space station with the earth nearby.

The Soyuz TMA 20 is a three section spacecraft which includes the crew compartment, the descent module and the propulsion and instrumentation module which also includes the twin solar arrays. The middle module is the only section which re-enter's atmosphere and lands.

Soyuz fired it's separation thrusters at 6:15 p.m. to move away from the space station, and begin it's return to earth three hours later.

Kondratyev, Coleman and Nespoli lifted-off from Kazakhstan on December 15, and concluded 159 days in space tonight.

NASA clears Endeavour's dinged tile for landing; spacewalk nears

NASA's space shuttle mission managers on Saturday cleared several small nicks to the tiles on the belly of Endeavour, allowing the craft to land on June 1.

Earlier in the day today, shuttle astronauts Roberto Vittori and Drew Feustel used the space stations robotic arm to grapple the the orbiter boom sensor on the shuttle's payload sill. They then lifted the boom into a position to allow for the shuttle's fifty foot arm to then grapple the boom extension so that a detailed inspection of a specific tile could be performed.

Stretching down underneath the over side of the port side of Endeavour, the shuttle's arm with the boom extension attached began taking focused images (right) of the region.

Today's focused inspection gave mission managers a high quality, 3-D view of the damaged section.

The damaged tile in question, located on the ship's belly between the right landing door and the external tank door, did not pose as much of a threat for burn through as the shuttle hits reentry during landing, allowing for hot gases to enter the ship's aft compartment and payload bay.

Meanwhile, two astronauts slept in the space station's Quest airlock tonight, prebreathing an oxygen rich atmosphere in preparation for the second spacewalk of Endeavour's flight.

Astronauts Feustel and Mike Fincke will begin their spacewalk at 2:16 a.m. EDT on Sunday, and leave the station's airlock to begin six hours of work outside.

The duo will begin rerouting cables to allow for coolant flow from the Port 1 Truss segment of the station over to the Port 6 segment. The pair will refill cooling lines with ammonia, and later vent several lines of any remaining ammonia.

Fincke will then move over to the Port 3 segment and the Solar Alpha Rotary joint and add extra lubrication to the left side of the rotary joint; install a camera cover on the robot, DEXTRE, and lubricate it's grapple snares; and install stowage beams on the Starboard 1 Truss.

Pope Benedict blesses space station crews during Vatican call

Pope Benedict XVI address the space station crews today. (Vatican)

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, placed a special call to the crews aboard the earth orbiting International Space Station today, a first in Papal history.

Speaking from the Foconi Room of the Vatican Library in Italy, Pope Benedict began speaking to the combined crew of twelve of the station and the docked shuttle Endeavour at 7:11 a.m. EDT (1111 GMT).

It was the first ever call from the Pope to an orbiting spacecraft in fifty years of space flight.

"Dear astronauts, I'm very happy to have this extraordinary opportunity to converse with you during your mission, and especially grateful to be able to speak to as many of you as both crews are present on the space station at the same time," the Pope began from a prepared letter.

Reading first from a prepared address, his Holiness wished for the speedy recovery of Endeavour's commander Mark Kelly's wife, Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and condolences to station astronaut Paolo Nespoli who lost his mother a few weeks ago.

Rep. Giffords was shot in the head in January during an attempt on her life at a Tucson shopping center. She has recovered enough which allowed for her to travel to Florida to attend her husband's shuttle launch last Monday.

The twenty minute conversation was filled with emotion and questions about the earth from space.

Pope Benedict spoke to the crew, "From the space station, you have a very different view of the earth. You fly over different continents and nations several times a day. I think it must be obvious to you how observed to you how we all live together on one Earth and how absurd it is that we fight and kill each one."

His Holiness then addressed Kelly and spoke of his wife, "I know that Mark Kelly's wife was a victim of a serious attack and I hope her health continues to improve. When you're contemplating the Earth from up there, so you ever wonder about the way nations and people live together down here, about how science can contribute to the cause of peace?"

Kelly then addressed the Pope, "Thank you for the kind words, your Holiness, and thank you for mentioning my wife, Gabby," Kelly replied. "It's a very good question. We fly over most of the world and you don't see borders, but at the same time we realize that people fight with each other and there's a lot of violence in this world and it's really an unfortunate thing."

The Pope spoke in Italian to station astronaut Paolo Nespoli who's mother passed away on May 2, "Dear Paolo, I know that a few days ago your mom left you and in a few days you will come back home and you will not find her waiting for you," the pope said in translated remarks. "We're all close to you. Me too, I have prayed for her. How have you been living through this time of pain on the International Space Station? Do you feel isolated and alone? Or do you feel united amongst ourselves in a community that follows you with attention and affection?"

The Italian astronaut then responded with fondness to his Holiness, "Holy father, I felt your prayers and everyone's prayers arriving up here," Nespoli replied. "My colleagues on board the station were very close to me at this important time for me, a very intense moment, as well as my brothers and sisters, my uncles, my aunts, my relatives were close to my mom in her last moments. I'm very grateful for this. I felt very far, but also very close. And the thought of feeling all of you near me at this time has been a great relief."

The Pope concluded with greetings to the International crew, "The astronauts, I thank-you warmly for the wonderful opportunity to meet and chatter with you. You help me and many other people to reflect together on important issues with regards with the future of humanity."

"I wish you the very best for your work and for the success of your current mission and the service of science, International collaboration, attentive progress and for peace in the world. I will continue to follow you in my thoughts and prayers, and being I (offer) you apostolic blessing."

Endeavour astronauts take a walk outside space station

Drew Feustel along the port side of space station at 5:48 a.m. (NASA)

Two of shuttle Endeavour's astronauts went outside the International Space Station to perform a few chores on the first of four spacewalks planned during the shuttle's twelve day visit.

Spacewalkers Drew Feustel and Greg Chamitoff began the first spacewalk of the mission at 3:10 a.m. EDT, and then left the Quest airlock to translate over to the right section of the space station's truss.

The first order of business was for the duo to head over to the Starboard Truss to retrieve the Materials International Space Station Experiment or MISSE 7A and 7B, for their return to earth.

Delivered to the space station and placed on the Express Logistics Carrier 2 in November 2009 during STS-129, the astronauts began by removing the lone power cable attached to each experiment and closed it up. The pair then removed the two pins which held each experiment in place and then stored them in the shuttle's payload bay for the return back to earth.

Feustel then retrieved MISSE 8 from Endeavour's bay and carried it over to the express carrier and installed where 7A had been located.

Chamitoff then moved over to the Starboard 3 segment of the Truss, or backbone of the space station, to begin installing a light on Crew Equipment and Translation Aid cart.

Today's spacewalk is the fourth by Feustel and the first by Chamitoff, and it can be very exhausting to an astronaut during his first venture outside the spacecraft.

Several space station astronauts have depleted their oxygen early by either working to fast or breathing to much as they strain to become accustomed to their new environment.

Feustel, who performed three spacewalks two years ago during the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing flight, was able to control his oxygen intake through his suit. Meanwhile, first timer Chamitoff made a couple of returns back to the airlock to recharge his oxygen in the first three hours of the spacewalk.

Over four hours into the spacewalk, Chamitoff's carbon dioxide sensor in his spacesuit failed with Mission Control unable to receive data on the ground.

The failure forced the orbital duo to stop work outside the station so that Mission Control could access how much time would be needed to complete the tasks safely.

After much discussion, the control center informed the astronauts to begin wrapping up work and focus on the clean up of two work sites and prepare to return to the airlock early.

Feustel and Chamitoff began entering the Quest airlock at 9:13 a.m., a half-hour earlier than planned.

Several unplanned work details were performed, however most of the orbital walk in space ran 15 minutes behind schedule.

"I want to thank both of you on an outstanding EVA (extravehicular activity)," spacewalking coordinator Fincke radioed the pair upon entering the airlock. Fincke also congratulated Chamitoff on his first spacewalk and sent wishes to controllers on the ground.

Today's first spacewalk lasted a total six hours and 19 minutes, and was the 115th from the space station's airlock.

Today's 'walk was the 156th spacewalk in support of building and maintenance of earth's orbiting outpost in space, during a combined 980 hours and 12 minutes.

The second space walk by astronauts Feustel and Mike Fincke is planned for Sunday morning at 2:16 a.m.

Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer 2 installed on space station

Endeavour crew talks to media today inside space station. (NASA)

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer 2, an international experiment which will study cosmic rays and dark matter in the universe over the next decade -- was attached to it new home outside the International Space Station today.

The 15,251 pound spectrometer was latched down at 5:33 a.m. EDT, this morning and the job of electrical and data connections then followed. The spectrometer was fully connected at 5:46 a.m.

The spectrometer is a particle physics experiment designed to study the origin of the universe as scientists scan the invisible cosmic rays as they use 300,000 data channels to flow information obtained to some 600 computers.

"Using a large magnet to create a magnetic field that will bend the path of the charged cosmic particles already traveling through space, eight different instruments will provide information on those particles as they make their way through the magnet," NASA's Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center stated this morning.

Earlier in the day, Endeavour astronauts Roberto Vittori and Drew Feustel moved the shuttle's arm to slowly to lift AMS out of the aft section of the space craft's payload bay.

They then plucked the $2 Billion platform from the shuttle's bay and slowly swung AMS over to the awaiting space station's robotic arm where it was then grappled by shuttle astronauts Greg Johnson and Greg Chamitoff.

Johnson and Chamitoff, working from a control station inside the Cupola node's 360-degree field of space view, guided the huge round magnetic experiment over to the right side of the space station's backbone, known as the truss.

$2 Billion cosmic ray experiment to be attatched to space station

Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer prepares for launch in Florida. (NASA)

A massive international experiment designed to study cosmic rays and dark matter in the universe will be deployed from space shuttle Endeavour on Thursday for it's placement outside the International Space Station.

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer 2 is the prime payload of Endeavour's supply mission. It is a particle physics experiment designed to study the origin of the universe as scientists use it's 300,000 data channels to flow information obtained to some 600 computers.

"The AMS is a two-ton ring of powerful magnets and ultra sensitive detectors built to track, but not capture, cosmic rays," Kennedy Space Center's Steven Siceloff explained recently. "It will be operated remotely from Earth and should not require any attention from astronauts in orbit."

NASA estimates the cost of the privately funded AMS 2 to be near two billion dollars.

This new spectrometer is a follow on to the smaller one which flew aboard shuttle Discovery in June 1998, on the final docking to the Russian Mir space station. The experiment was a success and NASA looked to have one on the upcoming International Space Station.

The 15,251 pound AMS will be placed aboard the orbiting complex on the Starboard 3 zenith, and is scheduled to run until the end of the station's planned life in 2020.

The spectrometer began powering up on Tuesday as ground teams checked out it's health one day following it's launch aboard Endeavour.

Endeavour's crew will power up the shuttle's 50-foot robotic arm and grapple the AMS-2 at 1:56 a.m. on Thursday. Mission specialists Roberto Vittori and Drew Feustel will operate the shuttle's arm to slowly lift AMS out of the back of the space craft's payload bay.

Five minutes later, the station's expedition crew will awake, and twenty minutes after that, mission specialists Roberto Vittori and Drew Feustel will operate the shuttle's arm to slowly lift AMS out of the back of the space craft's payload bay.

AMS will be slowly moved over to the space station's arm where it will then grapple the huge experiment package by shuttle astronauts Greg Johnson and Greg Chamitoff at 3:00 a.m.

Once connected, the shuttle's arm will then release it as the station's arm guides AMS over to the Starboard 3 location which is just inside the right second set of solar arrays on the station's main truss.

The crews will have AMS at the S3 zenith ninety minutes after the handoff, and will spend nearly one hour attaching AMS hard down.

Endeavour's crew and space station astronaut Ron Garan awoke at 10:56 p.m. EDT tonight, three hours before the station crew awakes, to begin a busy day aboard the station.

Endeavour delivers storage platform to space station

Robotics in space allowed for a platform filled with spare parts and equipment to be moved from the payload bay of shuttle Endeavour over to the International Space Station today.

Endeavour's robotic arm slowly lifted the Express Logistics Carrier 3 from it's bay and handed it off to the space station's arm where it guided it over for mating to the port 3 truss segment of the station.

The carrier arrived at it's new spot on the station's left side, and it's first stage capture had it latched down at 11:58 a.m., before the complete carrier was fully latched ten minutes later following second stage capture.

The aluminum carrier weighs 14,023 pounds empty as it supports an Ammonia Tank Assembly, spare parts for the station Canada-built arm, a high pressure oxygen tank, an S-Band antenna parts and four individual experiments.

Endeavour's crew of six and space station flight engineer Ron Garan are scheduled to go to sleep at about 3:00 p.m., and awake eight hours later.

Garan, who arrived aboard the space station on April 7 for a five month stay, is assisting the shuttle crew during their stay as the five other station crew members begin their sleep a few hours later.

Three of the six station crew members will depart the orbiting outpost on Monday for their three hour trip back to earth aboard a Russian Soyuz TMA-20 craft.

Beginning Tuesday, the remaining three station crew members and the shuttle crew will awake and sleep at the same time.

It will be the first time during a shuttle's visit to the outpost that station crew members have left to go home.

Soyuz commander Dmitry Kondratyev, American Cady Coleman and Italian Paolo Nespoli are set to undock at 7:06 p.m. on Monday, for a landing in Kazakhstan at 10:29 p.m.

The undocking and fly around of the complex will come as Endeavour's crew sleeps, including Garan.

Once undocked, the Soyuz crew will take still images and video of the space station with Endeavour docked -- a first during the space station program.

These images which will later be used in many promotional materials published by NASA during the next decade.

Russian Soyuz U launches cargo craft to space station

A Russian rocket left earth today carrying an unmanned craft loaded with fresh supplies bound for the orbiting International Space Station.

The Soyuz U rocket with the Progress M-10M cargo craft lifted-off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in western Kazakhstan on time at 9:05 a.m. EDT (1305 GMT), loaded with 2 1/2 tons of supplies.

"The new Progress is loaded with 1,940 pounds of propellant, 110 pounds of oxygen and air, 926 pounds of water and 2,976 pounds of maintenance hardware, experiment equipment and resupply items," NASA's Space Station Flight Control Room at the Johnson Space Center stated on Tuesday.

The white and green rocket launched into a cloudless afternoon sky of blue as it soared eastward as it began it's chase to catch up with the six person crew aboard the space station.

As the Soyuz arched out over the desert, the space station orbited 225 miles above the central Atlantic Ocean, crossing the equator to begin a new orbit.

Docking is planned for Friday at 10:29 a.m., just hours before NASA launches the space shuttle Endeavour on a two week mission to resupply earth's orbiting outpost in space.

Crew begins five month excursion aboard space station

Yuri Gagarin spacecraft nears space station docking. (NASA)

Three new crew members arrived at the International Space Station tonight aboard their spacecraft Yuri Gagarin to begin a five month stay and join three current residents in earth orbit.

The coming days mark the golden anniversary of humankind's first steps into the vastness of space.

As the two crafts sped into an orbital sunset over the southern Pacific Ocean at 17,250 m.p.h, earth hung as a backdrop as the Soyuz closed in on it's port-of-call.

"We are confirming good approach, everything looks good," Russia's mission control radioed as the Soyuz inched closer seconds before docking.

The Soyuz TMA21 spacecraft, code name Gagarin, arrived at the orbiting lab 49 hours following it's launch from western Kazakhstan with two Russian cosmonauts and one NASA astronaut.

Docking occurred to the Russian Poisk module several minutes early at 7:09 p.m. EDT (3:09 a.m. on Thursday, Moscow time), as the two crafts sailed 222 miles high over the coast of Chile.

Soyuz commander Aleksander Samokutyaev and flight engineers Andrei Borisenko Ronald Garan spent the next three hours powering down spacecraft systems and performing leak checks as they began to open the three hatches leading into the station.

Inside the station, three crew members photographed the Soyuz arrival and greeted the new space travelers with words of welcome.

The space station's current residents, Expedition 27 commander Dmitry Kondratyev, NASA astronaut Cady Coleman and Paolo Nespoli of Italy, have been orbiting alone since the March 16 departure of a Soyuz TMA 01M with Russian's Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka and Expedition 26 commander and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly.

Hatches were officially opened at 10:13 p.m. and the two Russian commanders shook hands and

Kondratyev, Coleman and Nespoli will complete their five months aboard the space station in May and return home to earth.

As the trio undocks on May 16 aboard their Soyuz TMA20, Borisenko will become the new commander of the Expedition 28 crew.

During the new crew's stay aboard station, they will be busy as the space shuttle Endeavour arrives on May 1 to install the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and deliver spare parts for the outpost, and Atlantis will visit in early-July on a resupply flight and the final space shuttle mission ever.

Garan will perform a spacewalk with an Atlantis astronaut on July 2nd. Garan performed three spacewalks totaling nearly 21 hours combined on his first spaceflight STS-124.

Garan and his Russian crew mates will head home during the middle of September, just weeks shy of Ron's own fiftieth birthday celebration.

Russian Soyuz crew lifts-off bound for the space station

Russia's Soyuz pre-dawn lift-off with a crew of three. (Roscosmos)

A Soyuz rocket with two Russians and one American lifted-off today for the International Space Station from the same launch pad which sent the first human into space fifty years ago this week.

The Soyuz TMA21 spacecraft, nicknamed Yuri Gagarin in honor of the first human to sail upon the ocean of space, lifted-off with cosmonauts Aleksander Samokutyaev, Andrei Borisenko and NASA astronaut Ronald Garan inside at 6:18:20 p.m. EDT(4:18 a.m. local time Tuesday).

Riding a top a Soyuz FG rocket powered by one RD-118 center engine and four small boosters, the craft soared from the desert of western Baikonur.

The crew of three departed earth at an exact moment which favored a low fuel method to catch up with and rendezvous with the orbiting lab on Wednesday.

At launch, the space station soared 222 miles over the southern Atlantic Ocean, northeast of the Falkland Islands.

The 162-foot grey rocket's liquid-fueled engine assisted by the four RD-117 liquid-fueled engines on attached side boosters, provided 1,143,378 pounds of thrust during the first two minutes of ascent.

Nine minutes into the crew's flight, the third stage separated from the Soyuz TMA 21, and settled into an orbit of 143 x 118 miles.

A minute later, the Soyuz commander Samokutyaev began flipping switches to deploy a high gain antenna and twin solar arrays.

Two hours prior to lift-off the crew boarded their Soyuz craft dressed in their Russian launch and entry pressurized suits.

As they climbed the ladder to the Soyuz craft, they turned and waved to the ground team.

The Gagarin craft will dock to the space station on Wednesday at 7:18 p.m.

Russian launch to mark 50th anniversary of human spaceflight

Russia and the world will begin celebrations Tuesday of the golden anniversary of humankind's first steps into space with the launch of two Russians and one American aboard a Soyuz bound for the International Space Station.

It was April 12, 1961, in which Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin lifted-off from a then-secret launch site to become the first human ever to not only fly in space but to orbit the earth.

Russia in his honor has named the crew's Soyuz TMA21 spacecraft Gagarin in honor of the late-cosmonaut.

Two Cosmonauts, Soyuz commander Aleksander Samokutyaev and flight engineer Andrei Borisenko, and NASA astronaut and flight engineer Ron Garan are scheduled to lift-off aboard a Soyuz-FG rocket on April 4 at 6:18 p.m. EDT (4:18 a.m. April 5 local time), from the Baikonur Cosmosdrome in western Kazakhstan.

Lift-off will occur from the same launch pad which sent Gagarin into space fifty years earlier.

This launch will mark the twenty-fifth flight of the Soyuz FG, and the twenty-second flight to carry humans aboard.

At lift-off the Soyuz will use one RD-118 center engine and four small boosters to send the craft aloft from the desert of Baikonur.

The two stage, 162-foot grey rocket's liquid-fueled engine is assisted by the four RD-117 liquid-fueled engines on attached side boosters providing 1,143,378 pounds of thrust.

Two minutes after launch, the four boosters will separate from the core stage, and the center engine will continue it's burn for a little over two additional minutes.

As the rocket soars toward orbit, it will fly over the length of Kazakhstan toward southern China.

Forty-nine hours after launch, Samokutyaev will guide his craft to a slow docking to the space station as the trio begins a nearly six month stay aboard earth's orbiting outpost.

The Soyuz crew will spend nearly three hours shutting down systems aboard the Soyuz and preparing for hatch opening, as the station's crew prepares to open the hatch from their side.

The space station's current residents of three -- Expedition 27 commander Dmitry Kondratyev and flight engineers Paolo Nespoli of Italy and NASA astronaut Cady Coleman -- have been orbiting alone since the March 16 departure of a Soyuz TMA 01M with Russian's Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka and Expedition 26 commander and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly.

A Lt. Colonel in the Russian Air Force, Aleksander M. Samokutyaev will be making his first space flight.

Married and the father of one daughter, Samokutyaev attended military pilot school and later served as squadron leader at a helicopter training school in the Ukraine. In July 2005, he became a test cosmonaut and began training for his first flight.

Russian Andrei Borisenko will also be making hist first trip into space, and will celebrate his forty-seventh birthday ten days after docking to the orbiting lab.

The married father of two children is a non-military cosmonaut. After spending several years as a civilian in the Russian Navy, he went on to support the Russian space station MIR program and in 1999, served as a flight director from a seat inside Mission Control.

He oversaw MIR's de-orbit and destructive reentry over the Pacific Ocean in March 2001, and qualified as a test cosmonaut four years later on the very same day as Samokutyaev.

The only space flight veteran of the trio, United States Air Force Colonel Ronald J. Garan flew to the space station in June 2008 as a member of space shuttle Discovery's STS-124 flight.

The two week shuttle flight delivered the Japanese Kibo module and allowed Garan to perform three spacewalks totaling nearly 21 hours combined.

Married and the father of three sons, Garan holds three degrees including one in aerospace engineering.

An F-16 pilot who flew combat missions in Desert Storm in 1991, he enjoys teaching Sunday School at a church near his home in south Houston, Texas, and occasionally coaches boys football and baseball teams as time permits.

Last May, this aerospace reporter spoke with Col. Garan and asked if he would carry with him a special 4-inch patch on his space flight.

The patch features a bird named "Meco" poised above earth's moon, and represents the Twitter-based aerospace friendly members known as the Space Tweep Society.

Founded by former Kennedy Space Center technician for the space shuttle, Jennifer Scheer, the Space Tweep Society patch is also her creation as recognition for those who enjoy to Tweet, blog or photograph activities surrounding aviation and space.

Ron messaged this journalist two weeks ago saying, " I hope to take a picture of the (MECO) patch with Earth in the background".

During the crews stay aboard station, they will bear witness to the final two space shuttle flights as Endeavour arrives on April 21 to install the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, and Atlantis visits in early-July on a resupply flight.

Garan and his Russian crew mates will head home sometime in mid-September, just weeks shy of Ron's own fiftieth birthday celebration.

Space station crew bids farewell to Japan's supply craft

Space station astronauts release Japan's cargo craft. (NASA)

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station today released a trash-filled Japanese supply craft out into space on course for it's fiery reentry on Tuesday.

Docked with the Earth-facing port on the station's Harmony node, Japan's H-II Transfer Vehicle was grappled by a 58-foot robotic arm at 4:11 a.m. EDT.

Sixteen bolts mating the craft with Harmony were then released allowing for NASA astronaut Cady Coleman to slowly move it out and away from her control board located in the Cupola module (above).

Coleman then unsnared the golden cargo craft releasing it from the station's arm at 11:46 a.m., as the two crafts sail 224 miles high over the eastern United States.

Loaded with nearly two tonnes of trash from recent resupply flights, the craft spent 59 days, 22 hours and 38 minutes docked with the Harmony node.

The Japanese cargo craft began separating "very stable" at a speed of 0.1 meters per second. Astronauts then sent commands to perform two burns (IDM 1 and 2) to separate it from the orbiting outpost minutes later to increase it's departure rate.

"It brought an amazing amount of supplies that were very much needed here on the space station," Coleman said following release.

Italian Paolo Nespoli and Coleman completed the last storage of trash into the H-II Transfer Vehicle KOUNOTORI 2, or "White Stork" in Japan, during the past week. Hatches were then closed and sealed between the Harmony node and the supply craft at about 10:45 a.m. on Sunday.

Colman and Nespoli also folded sheets of paper in the days leading to today to make origami cranes in sympathy and remembrance of those lost and suffering in Japan, and the country's work to rebuild from the tragedy.

The Japanese craft's departure was managed by the newly restored flight control room located in Tsukuba, twenty-five minutes by automobile northeast of Tokyo.

A control room which has several of their own origami cranes sitting a top computers.

Wrought with damage from the earthquake on March 11, the control room performed it's first test after resuming control from NASA Mission Control.

The "White Stork" will sail for another day before making it's destructive fiery return to earth over the Pacific Ocean beginning at 11:09 p.m on Tuesday.

American and two Russians depart space station

Soyuz TMA-01M rests in northern Kazakhstan today. (NASA)

One American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts completed their day stay aboard the International Space Station this morning, departing and landing on the snowy region in Kazakhstan.

Outgoing station commander and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly along with Russian's Alexander Kalery and Oleg Skripochka said their goodbyes to the new commander of the outpost Dmitry Kondratyev, and flight engineers Cady Coleman and Paolo Nespoli on Tuesday evening.

Kondratyev officially became commander of the station during a change of command ceremony on Monday.

"Have fun Scott, soft landings," American Coleman shouted over to her departing NASA crew mate minutes before Kondratyev closed the station's inner hatch.

"It's quite here now. It's hard to believe they're going back to earth," Coleman said to European astronaut Nespoli with the hatch fully sealed.

The hatches between the Soyuz TMA-01M spacecraft and the space station's Poisk module were officially closed at 9:25 p.m. EDT, on Tuesday. Leak checks followed to ensure proper air pressure inside the spacecraft.

During this time, an LED light indicated that the inner hatch was not sealed properly. Trouble shooting discovered that the light was faulty following a thirty minute leak check.

The new Soyuz TMA-01M spacecraft is replacing the older outdated analog controlled spacecraft. Russia's space agency informs this reporter that the new craft carries "new in-flight measurement systems, new guidance, navigation and control equipment". New avionic computer systems on the craft saved 150 pounds of weight.

The Soyuz undocked on time at 12:27 a.m. today over western China with Kelly, Kalery and Skripochka having spent 157 days living and working aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Just after undocking, the crew aboard Soyuz performed two tests and two separation burns to carry the craft out and away from the orbital outpost.

Five minutes following separation, Soyuz stopped and began a station-keeping mode beginning at 50 meters (164 feet) away to check several systems on the new craft, including the avionics system on it's Jupiter panel.

The Soyuz orbited the earth twice before firing it's engines for just over four minutes to slow the craft down and begin it's deorbit at 3:03 a.m.

Touchdown occurred on time at 3:53 a.m. today, upon the snowy desert region in northern Kazakhstan, and wrapping up 159 days in space.

Seconds after landing in an artic cold, windy region located 49 miles north of A, the craft tip on it's side as winds of 36 m.p.h. pushed the Soyuz parachutes caring the craft 24 yards across the deep snow.

Kelly stated a few weeks ago his hopes of returning to space one day soon. His twin brother is scheduled to arrive at the space station for a much shorter visit on April 21 aboard the shuttle Endeavour.

For Kalery, the landing marked a huge milestone for him and long duration space flight. He now is listed as second for the most time in space by a human 770 days during five separate flights.

The next crew to launch to the space station of one American and two Russians will join the new Expedition 27 crew during the second week of April.