Astronaut crew prepares for risky journey to Earth from ISS

Astronaut crew prepares for risky journey to Earth from ISS

The International Space Station's Expedition 41 team of astronauts pose for a picture as they prepare for a return trip to Earth this Sunday.

In the most recent of a rising trend of “space selfies,” the International Space Station (ISS)’s Expedition 41 astronauts take a short break from work to snap a picture of themselves, with three members of the six-man team dressed in spacesuits as a reminder of their preparation for a return trip to Earth this Sunday.

The trio consisting of Soyuz Commander Max Suraev and Flight Engineers Alexander Gerst and Reid Wiseman are scheduled to return to Earth on Nov. 9 and are packing gear to be returned home. The remaining members of the crew include Flight Engineers Alexander Samokutyaev, Elena Serova, and Barry Wilmore.

SpaceFlight Insider reports that when not taking selfies, the current ISS crew is conducting a number of research experiments: “NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore worked throughout Tuesday inside Japan’s Kibo laboratory to remove a Cubesat deployer from the laboratory’s airlock. The deployer experienced problems in August, when some of the mini satellites did not deploy as expected and later deployed spontaneously. Wilmore’s crewmates Elena Serova and Alexander Samokutyaev worked throughout the day on maintenance and a variety of Russian physical and medical science experiments.”

With the return trip coming up this week, the new Expedition 42/43 crew is already preparing for its launch to the ISS from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Nov. 23. Russian Soyuz Commander Anton Shkaplerov will be traveling alongside NASA astronaut Terry Virts and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti aboard a Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft.

The Expedition 41 selfie is the latest in a growing number of spectacular self-taken shots from outer space, such as the Curiosity rover on Mars and the ESA’s Rosetta probe with a comet in the background. Other recent examples include Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev revealing a breathtaking photo of his helmet visor during a spacewalk on Aug. 18, 2014, and NASA’s Mike Hopkins selfie on Christmas Eve last year.

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