In the meantime on the ISS (and back on Earth)

Chris Hadfield arrived home from the International Space Station with his two colleagues, Tom Marshburn and Roman Romanenko, in mid-May. Two weeks later a new team took off to the station, and so Expedition 36 (the 36th long-duration mission aboard the ISS) is now on with full crew.

-- credit: NASA

Aboard the ISS

The Commander of Expedition 36 is Pavel Vinogradov, who arrived to the ISS at the end of March along with Chris Cassidy and Alexander Misurkin. The trio is staying until November. A Soyuz rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on May 29 bringing the three new crew members: astronaut Karen Nyberg from the USA, cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin from Russia and astronaut Luca Parmitano from Italy.

Soyuz rocket being readied -- credit:NASA

Liftoff -- credit:NASA

-- via itsokaytobesmart

The Soyuz spacecraft is arriving to the ISS -- via twitter.com/NASA_Astronauts

Expedition 36 full crew -- credit: NASA

Back on Earth

In the meantime, our favorite Chris Hadfield is adapting back to Earth environment after a 5-month stay in space. He and his colleagues landed in Kazakhstan on May 13. How does it feel to be back on Earth after spending nearly half a year in the weightless environment of the ISS?

"There's this gigantic magnet that's sucking you and every part of your body into the ground." - Marshburn

"When we get to space, your body immediately starts to adapt to weightlessness, it starts turning you from an Earthling into a spaceling … But then when you come home, gravity just feels so unfair." - Hadfield

You will be a regular at the doctor's after a long space adventure. There are some things to check up on...