International Space Station

April 12 we celebrated the 49th anniversary of the first manned flight into space, Yuri Gagarin, who made in 1961. Today in Earth orbit aboard the International Space Station are 13 people. Several of them were already aboard the station, when on April 2 spacecraft "Soyuz TMA-18" brought a new team from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Later they were joined by the crew of the space shuttle «Discovery» during its 131st mission (the shuttle just three scheduled flight). NASA recently signed a new agreement with Russia for another six missions to the International Space Station and back to 55, 8 million per seat. Collected here are photos of the Space Station, its current team, their aircraft, as well as beautiful views from space.






Space Shuttle «Discovery» sent into space after the launch of the platform 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:21 am on April 5. The crew of seven people to deliver to the multi-purpose logistics module station "Leonardo", full of provisions, new sleeping quarters for the crew and new shelves for laboratories ISS. The team will also disable the gyro on a farm station, install a spare ammonia storage tank and take the Japanese equipment. (NASA / Tony Gray and Tom Farrar)



Spacecraft "Soyuz TMA-18" leaves the hangar on the platform at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 31 March. "Union" was preparing for a new mission to the International Space Station on 2 April. (REUTERS / Sergei Karpukhin)



Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin involved in training in Star City space center outside Moscow on April 1st. Jurchihin must fly to the International Space Station aboard the "Soyuz TMA-19." (REUTERS / Sergei Remezov)



Train transports "Soyuz TMA-18" to the launch pad at Baikonur on 31 March. (REUTERS / Sergei Karpukhin)



Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov and US astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson communicate at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 2 before the flight to the International Space Station. (VYACHESLAV OSELEDKO / AFP / Getty Images)



Russian Orthodox priest blesses "the Soyuz TMA-18" at Baikonur on April 1st. (VYACHESLAV OSELEDKO / AFP / Getty Images)



"Soyuz TMA-18" kicks off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 2nd. Russian-American team went on board a six-month odyssey Korablin in the International Space Station. (REUTERS / Carla Cioffi)



Spacecraft "Soyuz TMA-18" takes away the crew of US astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko, the International Space Station on 2 April. (REUTERS / Sergei Karpukhin)



"Soyuz TMA-16" departs from the International Space Station. On board: NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams and Russian cosmonaut, flight engineer Maxim Suraev. Undocking occurred at 4:03 on March 18. Suraev supervised flight and landed safely ship at 7:24 am near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, on the station for nearly five and a half months. (NASA)



In this photo taken by the crew «Expedition 22" March 18, the visible area of ​​the city of Houston and the surrounding area at night. (AP Photo / NASA)



View on Libya and the Gulf of Sidra with the International Space Station at an altitude of 337 km from the Earth. (NASA / JSC)



Astronaut of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, mechanic Soichi Noguchi photographs species from the "Dome" of the International Space Station on March 28. (NASA)



Artificial backbone in the United Arab Emirates - view from the International Space Station on March 19. (NASA)



The International Space Station passes by the moon for about 15 minutes before the start of the shuttle «Discovery» during mission STS-131. (NASA / Fernando Echeverria)



Space Shuttle «Discovery» rolls through the opening hatch in the hangar for the assembly of aircraft for NASA launching platform before the start of the mission. The crew of seven was supposed to deliver multi-purpose logistics module "Leonardo" to the International comic station. (NASA / Amanda Diller)



NASA astronaut Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, an expert mission STS-131, takes part in a rehearsal space shuttle launch in a neutral buoyancy laboratory, near the Johnson Space Center September 17, 2009. (NASA)



Space Shuttle «Discovery» on the launch platform 39A on March 19 at the Kennedy Space Center. Instrument compartment (left) is transported into the compartment to change the spare wheel, then to be placed in the cargo bay of the shuttle. (AP Photo / Florida Today, Michael R. Brown)



General view of the flight control room in the Johnson Space Center during the countdown a few hundred kilometers from Florida on April 5. In the foreground - the leaders of the flight Tsekkati Tony (left) and Bryan Lunney. (NASA)



Technology company «United Space Alliance» checked suit for starting and landing specialist mission STS-131 Stephanie Wilson in a white room launch platform 39A at Kennedy Space Center before launching the shuttle «Discovery». (NASA / Sandra Joseph and Kevin O'Connell)



All the splendor of the launch of the space shuttle «Discovery» with the launch platform at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew of seven people deliver to the International Space Station multi-purpose logistics module "Leonardo" and shelves in scientific laboratories station. (NASA / Scott Andrews)



Space Shuttle «Discovery» soars into space (left), shrouded in smoke dome, looking up from the platform 39A at Kennedy Space Center on April 5. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)



Colorful clouds left by Space Shuttle «Discovery» on April 5. (Matt Stroshane / Getty Images)



External fuel tank begins to separate from the shuttle «Discovery» on a background of clouds after starting April 5th. (NASA)



Space Shuttle «Discovery» prepares to dock with the International Space Station with the team «Expedition 23" on board on 7 April. In the foreground you can see a part of a docked Russian space Korablin. (NASA)



NASA astronaut James P. Dutton Jr., pilot of STS-131, in the rear compartment of the shuttle cockpit «Discovery» on April 5. (NASA)



This picture is the top of the cab shuttle «Discovery» was provided by team members «Expedition 23" on board the International Space Station, which at that time were turned in the air on 7 April. Joining occurred earlier in the day. (NASA)



View of the southern part of Egypt, Lake Nasser, and round the field to the north of Sudan. The picture was taken from the International Space Station on March 1. (NASA / JSC)



Strongly deformed the earth's atmosphere moon rises over the Atlantic Ocean on March 31. (NASA / JSC)



Robot manipulator station «Canadarm2» multi-purpose logistics module captures the "Leonardo" from the cargo bay of the space shuttle «Discovery» (STS-131) to move it to the host port «Harmony» at the International Space Station on 7 April. (NASA)



Japanese complex "Kibo" on the International Space Station was photographed by a crew member of «STS-131" during the docking of the shuttle «Discovery» on 7 April. (NASA)



In this photo released by NASA observatory April 12, visible serene northern part of the island Semirara, located 280 km south of Manila in the Philippines. The northern part of the island takes BSANNA open pit - one of the three largest open pit mining on the island. Plume deposits from overloaded mountain falls into the Sulu Sea along the northern and eastern coastline of the island. (NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY / AFP / Getty Images)



With 13 astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station in the kitchen was cramped. More than half of "residents" of the International Space Station can be seen in the photo on April 9. NASA astronaut STS-131 Pilot James P. Dutton Jr. is preparing a dinner (left). Also pictured: (clockwise from right) JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi, NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson (both mechanic «Expedition 23"), NASA astronauts Stephanie Wilson and Clayton Anderson (both mission specialists «STS-131") and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Mikhail Kornienko (commander «Expedition 23" and the flight engineer, respectively). (NASA)



Two Russian Korablin docked with the International Space Station. The photo was taken by a crew member «STS-131" during the docking of the shuttle «Discovery» with the station on April 8. (NASA)



NASA astronaut Clayton Anderson looks at bubble inside another bubble, which fly freely on the shuttle «Discovery» during its docking with the station on April 12. (NASA)



NASA astronauts Rick Mastrachchio (right) and Clayton Anderson (both mission specialists «STS-131") operate in the rear cargo bay during the third and last part of the paper for the International Space Station on April 13. During space "walk" lasting 24 minutes 6:00 Mastrachchio and Anderson joined zhidkokontury new 771-pound tank, removed some micrometeorite protective layers on the outside of the gateway "Quest", moved the anchor cables and prepared for the farm "Zenith 1" for the antenna class " space-to-Earth. " (NASA)



NASA astronauts Rick Mastrachchio and Clayton Anderson second time working behind the station on April 11. During spacewalks lasting 26 minutes 7:00 Mastrachchio and Anderson took off and removed the empty ammonia bath and installed 771-pound ammonia tank on the farm «Starboard 1". In the center you can see the thin line of Earth's atmosphere. (NASA)



The picture of the southern aurora, how it is seen by astronauts aboard the International Space Station 356 miles above the Indian Ocean on March 28. (NASA / JSC)



Shot with long exposure southern aurora glow air and blurred city lights, blurry apparent movement of the station. In the foreground you can see the two Russian Korablin, docked to the International Space Station on April 4. (NASA / JSC)