SCIENCE BOND

Their 340-day mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS) is twice the length of a normal stay. Their extended tour is part of an effort to study the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the body. But scientists will gain further insights by comparing Scott Kelly with his Earthbound identical twin, Mark. Soyuz capsule carrying Kelly, Kornienko and Russian crew member Sergey Volkov parachuted down on to a steppe in Kazakhstan at 10:26 local time (04:26 GMT).  The mission is a record for the ISS and will give Cmdr Kelly a tally of 520 cumulative days in space, over four flights.  Cmdr Kelly has also returned rocket (salad) seeds that were taken up to the orbiting outpost by UK astronaut Tim Peake in December. They will be distributed to schools to allow pupils to compare their growth with rocket plants that have stayed on Earth. The idea behind the twin study is to help minimise extraneous factors as scientists research how genetically identical individual...

Captain Mitchell passed away at a hospice in West Palm Beach, Florida, one day before the 45th anniversary of his Moon landing, his family said.  As part of the Apollo 14 mission in 1971, he spent more than nine hours on the Moon conducting experiments.  He said he had undergone an epiphany in space and in later life revealed a belief that aliens had visited Earth.  Mr Mitchell's mission to the Moon was the fourth in the US Apollo series, and the first to follow the ill-fated Apollo 13 which aborted its attempt to land after an oxygen tank explosion. Mr Mitchell and his crewmate, another Navy officer, Captain Alan Shepard, made it safely to the lunar surface. Their landing site was the Fra Mauro Highlands, a hilly area that was the target of the failed Apollo 13 mission.  During their 33 hours at the site, the two astronauts collected 45kg (94lb) of Moonrock for examination back on earth and completed the longest moonwalk in history.  Capt Shepard als...

The former Army pilot took a picture of the UK as he passed overhead, posting it on his Twitter account.  Mr Peake also told US radio stations in a link-up that his present on Christmas Day was a small pack of Scottish fudge.  In addition, he received some notes and photos from family and friends, the astronaut said.  Mr Peake arrived at the space station on 15 December. He is due to spend six months on the orbiting platform, conducting science experiments and pursuing outreach projects with students back on Earth.  In the teleconference with American media, the European Space Agency (Esa) astronaut was joined by colleagues Scott Kelly and Tim Kopra. They all spoke about life aboard the station, and were predictably questioned about how they spent Christmas Day and whether they had any plans to celebrate New Year.  The trio said that it was Mr Peake who had the most interesting food to share among the crew for their Christmas meal. Mr Kopra revealed: "T...

Astronauts Tim Kopra and Scott Kelly, from the US space agency Nasa, are going outside the ISS to fix a broken component.  As they suited up and prepared to go out into space, they received assistance from Tim Peake and Sergey Volkov.  Mr Peake arrived at the ISS on Tuesday.  He is the first UK astronaut to be selected by the European Space Agency and will spend six months aboard the space stationThe space walk was due to start at 13:10 GMT (08:10 EST) and should last between three and three-and-a-half hours, Nasa said.  But the astronauts' preparations proceeded faster than expected and the walk commenced at about 12:45 GMT."It will be a very busy and interesting day for Tim," said Libby Jackson from the UK Space Agency.  The space walk is the seventh time ISS crew members have ventured outside in 2015.  It is taking place so the astronauts can try to fix a stalled component called the "mobile transporter" - a rail car that moves a robotic arm up an...

Tim Peake Major Tim and fellow crew members Russian Yuri Malenchenko and American Tim Kopra, are due to dock with the ISS at 17:24 GMT (23:24 Kazakh time).  The former Army pilot is making history as the first official UK astronaut.  He was waved off by his wife and two sons at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan earlier on Tuesday.  The launch was from the same place where Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space in 1961.At blast-off, the rocket generated 422.5 tonnes of thrust - equivalent to 26 million horse power.  The launch went with no reported problems and after one minute, the rocket was soaring upwards at 1,000mph (1,600km/h).  After two minutes, the four boosters strapped around the rocket were jettisoned.  Zero gravity was reached by the Soyuz spacecraft after nine minutes of travel.Working with mission controllers on Earth, the crew will now be nudging the space capsule towards its rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS...

On Saturday, the Soyuz crew module was attached to its rocket at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.  We watched as the completed vehicle was loaded onto a flat-bed transporter, ready to be carried to the launch pad.  Mr Peake and two other crew members will launch to the International Space Station on Tuesday 15 December.  During his seven-month stay on the orbiting outpost, the former Army helicopter pilot will carry out a programme of experiments and educational activities.  He will be accompanied on the flight by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and US astronaut Timothy Kopra.The Soyuz spacecraft - which carries the crew to the ISS - and its rocket are assembled at adjacent facilities at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.  On Friday, the crew module was transported by train from its assembly site - known as Building 254 - to the huge hangar-like facility designated Building 112. More than 40 years ago, Building 112 housed a giant (105m-high) rock...

Tim Peake Mr Peake told  that he is going to the orbiting lab primarily to do science, but that his priority will be to share his experiences.  He believes his mission can inspire more young people to become interested in science and engineering.  Mr Peake's six-month stint on the station begins in December when he leaves Earth on a Russian Soyuz rocket.  The Union flag is going to be flown and worn in space againTim Peake, on being British  "The legacy I hope is that this will inspire a new generation to look at science, to look at space, as an exciting career path, and to make choices that push them in that direction," he said.  Friday saw him go in front of the media in his home country for the final time before his great adventure gets under way. He now heads to Moscow to complete final training, before then flying to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for the launch.  Not having fresh air for 6 months is what I'll miss mostTim Peak...

In the center of a large, bright hangar at California's Edwards Air Force Base was a large cross made of two iron girders balanced on a universal truck joint.  Six thrusters on the ends of the cross's limbs shot spurts of compressed nitrogen every time Neil Armstrong, sitting in a makeshift cockpit on the cross's forward end, moved the control stick in his left hand.  It might not have looked it in 1956, but this barebones simulator was the future Moonwalker's first step into space.  Armstrong's love affair with aviation began when he was six years old and skipped Sunday school to take an airplane ride with his father.  Inspired, Armstrong devoured books and magazines about flying, built model airplanes, and eventually earned his private pilot's license at 16 before he even learned to drive. In 1947, he began his formal training, enrolling at Purdue  University, Indiana, in a four year engineering programmer in exchange for...