Luca and company

Expedition 37 launch. Credits: NASA

After the successful launch of Soyuz 36S at 20:58 GMT, the new expedition crew arrived after a short voyage at 2:48 GMT. The new and old crew had a warm welcome at 4:34 GMT and finished activities in the morning at around 6:00 GMT before going to bed for a long 11-hour rest.

The closeout activities include configuring the Soyuz spacecraft after arrival. Many things need to be done such as leak-checks to ensure the vehicle is tightly connected to the International Space Station. The spaceship is powered down and awaits its return flight in six months.

The complete crew of six begin their joint daily activities Friday morning and return to regular day-to-day activities. The first and most important thing is the safety of the crew. One of their first activities after their rest, is a so-called safety review. This means that all crewmembers need to review the details of how to react in case of fire on the International Space Station. The new expedition crew in particular need to familiarise themselves with all the details including the egress routes each crewmember needs to follow in case of a hazard.

Back to six crewmembers. Credits: NASA

We are happy to have six astronauts on the Space Station again and I imagine Luca enjoys his new companions.