Soyuz Successfully Docks at the International Space Station
Nov. 16, 2011
Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft, carrying an American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts, docked successfully at the International Space Station today. The Soyuz, which took off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome (space-launch facility) in Kazakhstan on November 14, is now the only means of reaching the Space Station. The United States retired its space shuttle fleet in July of this year. (The space shuttle, which was initially launched in 1981, was the first reusable spaceship and the first spacecraft able to land at an ordinary airfield.)
The International Space Station, a large, inhabited Earth satellite, is operated by more than 15 nations. It orbits Earth at an altitude of about 250 miles (400 kilometers). The initial sections were first launched into space in 1998. The station has been inhabited since 2000. The first full-time crew consisted of U.S. astronaut William Shepherd and Russian cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev. The station’s crew operates various kinds of laboratory equipment that measures the effects of space conditions on biological specimens–including on themselves.
Additional World Book articles:
- Rocket
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Space exploration
- Space exploration 1981 (Back in Time article)
- Space exploration 1998 (Back in Time article)