Houston, U.S.A. – Three members of the Expedition 31 crew undocked from the International Space Station and returned safely to Earth Sunday, July 1, wrapping up a mission that lasted six-and-a-half months.

Russian Commander Oleg Kononenko, NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers landed their Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft in Kazakhstan at 3:14 a.m. CDT (2:14 p.m. local time) after undocking from the space station’s Rassvet module at 11:47 p.m. June 30. The trio, which arrived at the station Dec. 23, 2011, spent a total of 193 days in space, 191 of which were aboard the station.

During their expedition, the crew supported more than 200 scientific investigations involving more than 400 researchers around the world. The studies ranged from integrated investigations of the human cardiovascular and immune systems to fluid, flame and robotic research.

Before leaving the station, Kononenko handed over command of Expedition 32 to the Russian Federal Space Agency’s Gennady Padalka, who remains aboard the station with NASA astronaut Joe Acaba and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Revin. NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide will join them July 17. Williams, Malenchenko and Hoshide are scheduled to launch July 14 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

On June 25, Pettit celebrated achieving one cumulative year in space, combining his time in orbit on Expedition 6, Expedition 30/31 and the STS-126 space shuttle Endeavour flight to the station in November 2008. Pettit now has 370 days in space, placing him fourth among U.S. space fliers for the longest time in space.

During Expedition 31, Pettit also used household objects aboard the station to perform a variety of unusual physics experiments for the video series “Science Off the Sphere.” Through these demonstrations, Pettit showed more than a million Internet viewers how space affects scientific principles.

To watch “Science Off the Sphere” videos, visit: http://www.physicscentral.com/sots

Image Courtesy of  Edwin Verin / Shutterstock.com

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Three school student teams in the fifth through eighth grades have been selected as the winners of NASA’s second annual Spaced Out Sports challenge. The students designed science-based games that will be played by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The games illustrate and apply Newton’s laws of motion by showing the differences between Earth’s gravity and the microgravity environment of the space station. The challenge is part of a broader agency education effort to engage students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) activities.

To design their game, students use up to five items from a two-page list of objects aboard the ISS. The list includes such items as socks, exercise putty, bungees, cotton swabs, tape, rubber bands, zipper-top bags, chocolate-covered candies and drink bags.

Students at Pierremont Elementary MOSAICS Academy in Manchester, Mo., earned the top prize with their game “Starfield.” In this activity, astronauts will travel through a course to gather “power stars” and throw them through a “black hole target.”

Second-place honors went to students at East Brook Middle School in Paramus, N.J., for their “Outstanding Obstacles” game. It calls on astronauts to race through obstacles including “hair band shooting” and “ring toss.”

Third-place winners were students at Tyngsborough Middle School in Tyngsborough, Mass., for their “Learning Takes You around the World” game, in which astronauts will propel through rings, collecting slips of paper.

“Congratulations to the 2012 Spaced out Sports winners,” said Leland Melvin, associate administrator for education at NASA Headquarters in Washington and two-time shuttle astronaut. “By combining solid STEM skills with imagination and teamwork, these students have demonstrated that they have what it takes to be our next generation of engineers and designers.”

The Spaced Out Sports challenge is a NASA Teaching from Space activity and was first offered in 2010. Using an accompanying curriculum, teachers lead students through a study of Newton’s laws, highlighted by hands-on activities and video podcasts featuring NASA scientists and engineers explaining how the laws are used in the space program.

“The three top games were selected but everyone really is a winner in this challenge,” said Katie Wallace, director of NASA’s Stennis Space Center Office of Education near Bay St. Louis, Miss., where the challenge and accompanying curriculum were developed. “Every student involved wins by learning more about science and establishing an educational foundation that will serve them well throughout their careers and life.”

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