Expedition 25 has ended its stay at the International Space Station as Doug Wheelock, Shannon Walker, and Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin undocked from the station in the Soyuz TMA-19, on November 25, 2010.
On November 25, 2010, Commander Doug Wheelock and Flight Engineers Shannon Walker and Fyodor Yurchikhin left the International Space Station onboard the Soyuz TMA-19. Soyuz TMA-19 arrived at the station on June 17, 2010.
On November 19, 2010, a Minotaur IV launch vehicle lifted off with FASTSAT microsatellite (Fast, Affordable Science and Technology Satellite) from the Alaska Aerospace Corporation\’s Kodiak Launch Complex on Kodiak Island, Alaska. Other satellites shared the ride with FASTSAT: FASTRAC, STPSat-2, FalconSat-5, NanoSail-D. FASTSAT is a demonstrator of NASA\’s ability to provide low-cost opportunities for scientific and technical payloads.
Aalto-1, Finland\’s first satellite, is under construction in Otaniemi. Most of the design, construction, and testing of the device will be carried out by students. Aalto-1 is developed at the Multidisciplinary Institute of Digitalisation and Energy (MIDE) of the Aalto University School of Science and Technology. Martti Hallikainen, Professor in the Department of Radio Science and Engineering at Aalto University, is in charge of the project, while Jaan Praks acts as the project coordinator.
Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Skripochka have completed a six and a half hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station. This was Skripochka\’s first spacewalk and the fifth for Yurchikhin.
A successful ten-second test firing of the Aerojet AJ26 engine was conducted at NASA\’s Stennis Space Center. The Aerojet AJ26 liquid fuel engine will power the first stage of the Orbital Sciences Corporation\’s Taurus II launch vehicle.