Three become six as new 'nauts arrive for a visit to the ISS

Russia returned to crewed spaceflight today, sending a fresh complement of crew to the International Space Station (ISS) following a successful launch of the venerable Soyuz-FG booster. The lift off occurred at 11:31 UTC today from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and was the first with crew since October’s attempt to …

[Anonymous Coward]

It may be "too soon" for the "With a Bang" subtitle...

Just saying...

[bluefin333]

Still find it amazing

...that we've got people living up there, in orbit above our lovely, blue and very clearly NOT flat planet. Sorry FEers but as that picture shows, it's very clearly round. Before you all start I know it's an oblate spheroid but I like the word round OK.

[Alister]

Re: Still find it amazing

Sorry FEers but as that picture shows, it's very clearly round.

It's just a disk...

[D@v3]

Re: Alister. If that's a disk...

then where's the turtle?

(i would say elephants, but you wouldn't be able to see them at that angle)

[Ken 16]

Re: Still find it amazing

Excellent troll for the union of sets that is Flat Earth Society/Vulture commentards

[Andytug]

Re: Still find it amazing

Apparently they have members all around the globe...

[phuzz]

Re: Still find it amazing

The trouble is, those flat Earth types will just tell you that your picture is a fake, or possibly it's spherical aberration caused by the camera lens, or {insert pseudo-scientific bullshit here}. There's nothing you could show them that would change their mind.

Twenty years ago the majority of flat Earthers were just trolls (and there's definitely crossover with elReg comentards there), but these days there seems to be more people who actually believe that nonsense.

[vir]

Re: Still find it amazing

Maybe I'll just have to start up as a vocal and especially irritating flat-earther in the hope that some billionaire/Kickstarter campaign will pay to stuff me on a SpaceX flight "to teach me a lesson".

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Still find it amazing

Brexit for a flatter Britain!

In the same way the DUP can ban evolution in schools, the United Kingdom can be kept flat while the queue jumpers persist in standing on a globular earth.

[defiler]

Pretty brave

I wouldn't have wanted to be one of the three shoved into the first manned Soyuz after their little incident. Well done to them!

[A.P. Veening]

Re: Pretty brave

There have been two unmanned launches (with the same type of rocket) between that incident and this launch. On the other hand, I wouldn't want to be one either, I prefer to keep my feet more or less on the ground, flying is a necessary evil sometimes, but that is as high as I go.

[Gotno iShit Wantno iShit]

Re: Pretty brave

If I were going up on a firecracker the first after an incident is the one I would choose. The level of checking on a return to flight mission is way above the run of the mill.

[The Nazz]

A lesson to be learned here.

Firstly, congrats on yet another successful launch and rendezvous.

The lesson that a lot of modern day manufacturers could learn? If it (the design)ain't broke don't fix it.

Shoddy, or malicious*, workmanship, well that's an entirely different story.

Speaking of malicious, the BBC carried a news item recently of someone taping scalpel blades to childrens playground slides. WTF is the world coming to?

[Mark 85]

Re: A lesson to be learned here.

It's the Age of Attention Whores. Too many folks seem like they don't exist and therefore, doing something that will hurt others raises their self-esteem. Or some psycho babble like that.

I'll stick with "they're sick puppies and attention whores" for now.

[JJKing]

The Blue or Red Pill?

I hope the FE idiots keep taking the blue pill. We don't need or want them out here in the real world.

[Anonymous Coward]

Commercial crew...

A small bluebird told me this morning that SpaceX's Crew Dragon is pretty much ready to roll, except NASA won't finish the paperwork.

Anon b/c I like my job.

[Ken 16]

All that Health & Safety rubbish

It's political correctness gone mad!

[JCitizen]

Re: Commercial crew...

NASA never has liked the fact that a commercial upstart proved they could do it faster, better, and cheaper. They see a time when their budgets will go to the enterprise and not the stodgy money pit that is government programs.