New crew of ISS to celebrate the arrival of Space Shuttle

A crew of astronauts representing United States and Russia is due to take off to the International Space Station on Friday from the Baikonur cosmodrome aboard Soyuz spacecraft. They are quite excited about the upcoming Shuttle launch and plan to have a real party in the space when Space Shuttle Discovery docks with their outpost next month.

Discovery is scheduled to fly to the space next month. It would Space Shuttle’s first ever mission ever since the Columbia tragedy which took place 2 years back killing all the astronauts abroad. Russia took over the missions to the International Space Station since then sending the required material supplies and crew through their space ships.

Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, who would be commanding this upcoming mission said in a statement to the press: “We are looking forward impatiently to receiving the U.S. shuttle. Each new crew member always gives you plenty of emotions, but when you greet seven new ones, it means it will be a great party.” He would be accompanied by U.S. astronaut John Phillips for this mission. They would be staying on the ISS for a period of 6 months.