(Astronaut Shane Kimbrough returns to space next month for a six-month stay on the International Space Station. Image courtesy NASA.)Kimbrough, along with Russian cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko and Sergey Ryzhikov, are headed for a six month stay aboard the International Space Station.
Kimbrough, Borisenko and Ryzhikov will join Expedition 49 members NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, Roscosmos cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin and Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi at the space station. While there, the six crew members will continue the several hundred experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science currently under way and scheduled to take place aboard humanity's only orbiting lab.
A retired Army colonel and native of Killeen, Texas, Kimbrough completed his first spaceflight in 2008 on space shuttle mission STS-126. During this mission, he worked to expand the living quarters of the space station to accommodate a six-member crew – an effort that included two spacewalks, during which he logged 12 hours and 52 minutes outside the orbiting laboratory.
Kimbrough is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. Following his service in the Army, Kimbrough earned a Master of Science degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Kimbrough entered the space program in 2004.
Kimbrough and his crewmates will launch aboard a Soyuz spacecraft at 2:17 p.m. Sept. 23 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.