Mark Vande Hei launched to the International Space Station for the second time on April 9 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The launch occurs just three days before the 60th anniversary of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s launch to become the first human in space and the 40th anniversary of the first launch of NASA’s space shuttle. As members of the Expedition 64/65 crew, Vande Hei and his two Russian crewmates Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov are on deck to work on hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science, and Earth science.
During his previous spaceflight, he accumulated 168 days in space and spent 26 hours and 42 minutes suited up outside of the space station over the course of four spacewalks.
Credit: YouTube/NASA Johnson
