Russia-bashing

NASAWatch notes the excessive “Russia-bashing” contained in this Bill being put forward by a Congressman Weldon to prolong the operations of the Space Shuttle to 2015 (rather than the current end date of 2010). “RUSSIA IS NOT A RELIABLE PARTNER”, etc… (There is a long discussion thread at NASASpaceflight.com.) What a Paranoid Patriot Weldon is (a Republican, not surprisingly)! The thought of someone like him becoming U.S. President is dismaying!

Progress M-61 undocked from the ISS yesterday (22/12) at 3:57 UTC. It will remain in autonomous orbit for about a month, performing a series of technical experiments. Progress M-62 launched today at 7:12:35 from Baikonur.

12 December: Cosmonaut candidates visit the Khrunichev Center

Today, for the purpose of acquaintance with the activities of one of the most important enterprises of the rocket-space industry, the cosmonaut candidates and the instructors of the Yu. A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center visited GKNPTs Khrunichev.

The state space scientific and industrial center named after M.V. Khrunichev was selected on purpose. The old enterprise has almost a half-century length of employment in the field of creation and operation of rocket-space technology.

The Center has a special role in the implementation of the manned programs of the USSR and Russia. Here was created the “Salyut” orbital manned stations and the TKS transport supply ships, the large-dimension modules for the Mir orbital complex, and the FGB Zarya and SM Zvezda modules for the International Space Station. At present, according to the ISS program, work is conducted here on the creation of the third module, the Multifunctional Laboratory Module.

The manager of the rocket-space plant, Victor Latyshev, described all this to his guests. The instructors of TSPK – V. Kolyasnikov, A. Radchenya and A. Larin – and also the cosmonaut candidates O. Novitskii, A. Ovchinin, S. Ryzhikov, A. Misurkin, M. Ponomarev, E. Serova and N. Tikhonov visited the assembly shops of the space center, and with their eyes they saw the process of assembling the “Proton-M” heavy carrier rocket, and boarded the full-scale copy of the legendary complex Mir.

Taking into account that the encounter in GKNPTs Khrunichev passed on the threshold of the New Year, the center management presented memorable gifts to the cosmonaut candidates.

«Кандидаты в космонавты посетили Центр имени Хруничева», Khrunichev.

Redesigning space sites

NASA’s website launched a newer, more modern design on 30 November - it looks much nicer and the clunky HTML table layout has been dumped at last! (The site does, however, require Javascript to display properly, and takes nearly a minute to load on broadband because of the huge amount of JS files loaded.)

Now if only the Russian space websites would redesign and upgrade! Some quick observations:

• Energiya: site appearance is neat and somewhat conservative, but the HTML layout consists of old-fashioned tables and is a bit messy.
• Federal Space Agency: tables layout and navigation requires Javascript to function, so it is not very accessible.
• TsUP: design looks outdated (color scheme is not very attractive) and the site menu is Javascript-based, so without this enabled the site can’t be accessed
• IMBP: ugh! Uses frames and an image map. Very outdated and totally inaccessible.

News tidbits:

Mark Wade has abandoned his Pausanius blog. He sounds as disillusioned as I do, though for different reasons.

“AstroMom and Basstronaut, revisited”, The Space Review, 19/11. What happened to the space-tourists-who-weren’t, Lori Garver and Lance Bass. To me it was another example of how dismally avaricious the Russian space program has become – the word that come to mind is “prostitution”.

“Russia To Launch Manned Spacecraft From New Site In 2018”, Space Daily, 22/11. The new site is to be called Восточный, Vostochnyi (“Eastern”), so you can guess in what direction it is located. Baikonur will continue to be used until at least 2020.

Ivanov confirmed that Russia would continue to use the Baikonur launch site until at least 2020, and would also build new facilities at the Kazakh center under the joint Baiterek project to support launches of the future Angara family of launch vehicles.

At the same time, the first deputy premier called for urgent measures to develop the country as a leading space power rather than to turn it into a provider of launch services for other countries. “I would like to stress that Russia should not turn into a country providing only launching services – a kind of space hauler, although this alarming trend has been taking shape lately,” Ivanov said. “This trend may become a reality, unless proper measures are taken urgently to develop all aspects of space activities,” he said.

On 15 November, Space Adventures offered anyone who could come up with the $3 million fee a chance to train as space tourist Richard Garriott’s backup. The contender was announced in the 26/11 Herald-Sun: a 38-year-old Australian businessman, Nik Halik. (Note that the article might disappear.) I have not seen this mentioned anywhere else yet.

“Russia Conducts First Experiment In Preparation For Mars-500”, RIA Novosti/Space Daily, 30/11. A short test of the modules was conducted by a Russian crew (5 men, 1 woman) from 15-29 November. There is disappointingly little information on the Mars-500 site, though.

Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №669 has a more detailed report on the recent completion of the first Mars-500 short test run, including short biographies of the participants, who all have intimidatingly impressive qualifications. (Yes, I am envious of them.)

30/11/2007/00:03 – Flight to Mars from the Khoroshevskogo highway of the capital city

Within the framework of the “Mars-500” project – an international crew flight simulation to the Red Planet – the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems of the Russian Academy of Science held a two-week experiment involving six testers.

The purpose of the two week experiment, which was conducted in IMPB RAN with the active assistance of the Federal Space Agency, was checking the conformity of the technical and operating characteristics of the modules and their systems to the requirements of the developed technical and operational documentation under the conditions maximally approximating real operation. The experiment was conducted in two modules of the medical-technical complex: EU-150/ЭУ-150 (habitable module with a volume of 150 m³) and EU-100/ЭУ-100 (medical module with a volume of 100 m³). In the course of the experiment, the crew lived and worked in these completely isolated modules. During the experiment was tested newly-developed life-support systems, monitoring and control, information management and the local tele-medical network.

The experiment began on 15 November at 11:00 and was completed on 29 November at 14:00.

The crew successfully managed the tasks entrusted to it. During 14 days there was performed the estimation of modules and their systems in terms of their suitability to conducting of the more prolonged experiments, which are part of the Mars-500 program.

The deputy chief of the Federal Space Agency, V.A. Davydov, and the chief for the administration of the manned programs Roskosmos, A.B. Krasnov, became acquainted with the progress of the experiment and the work of the support systems during a visit to IMBP on 22 November.

The experiment was attended by major developers: ФГУП ЦЭНКИ/FGUP TsENKI, ЗАО МИУС/EAO MIUS, ОАО ВНИСИ/OAO VNISI, ОАО НИИХИММАШ/OAO NIIKhIMMASH, ФГУП ЦНИИМАШ ЦУП-МФ/FGUP TsNIIMASH TsUP-MF, ЗАО ЦВТ/EAO TsVT. During the experiment some elements of the crew uniforms were tried, designed and provided by ЗАО НПО «Динафорс»/EAO NPO “Dinafors” working within the framework of the partnership program for the project “Mars-500”.

The crew consisted of five men and one woman:

• Artamonov, Anton Anatol’evich/Артамонов Антон Анатольевич (1982). Engineer physicist, and IMBP engineer-programmer. After graduating from the physical chemistry department of Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys, he specialized in the department of theoretical physics in the region of the superconductivity of nanomaterial. His research interests are the properties and the functioning of muscular apparatus, and the application of laws governing physics of materials in biomechanics. At present he works on his thesis.
• Artem’ev, Oleg Germanovich/Артемьев Олег Германович (1970). Mechanical engineer, he graduated as RKK Energiya engineer and finished at N.E. Bauman MGTU. His specialization is technology and low-temperature physics. After the successful completion of general space training, he obtained qualified as a cosmonaut-researcher and was enrolled as a cosmonaut-tester in the RKK Energiya group, specializing in extravehicular activity. Has a number of publications in this region.
• Kovalev, Aleksandr Sergeevich/Ковалев Александр Сергеевич (1982). Engineer, works in the telemedicine laboratory at IMBP. He graduated from the MAI in the specialty “Engineering in the biomedical practice”. He participated in the experiments on the study of the influence of the simulated effects of microgravity on the human organism. His scientific interests are the influence of the extreme conditions of living environment on the cardiorespiratory system of the body.
• Perfilov, Dmitrii Vladimirovich/Перфилов Дмитрий Владимирович (1975). Doctor, works in the IMBP telemedicine laboratory. Graduated from Moscow Medico-stomatological University, specializing in therapeutic matter. Upon completion of his clinical internship, he qualified as a therapeutist and has additional qualification as a anesthesiologist-resuscitator. Scientific interests: pain sensitivity by changing the factors of space flight, which assumes the possible correction of the existing scheme of the treatment of cosmonauts.
• Ryazanskii, Sergei Nikolaevich/Рязанский Сергей Николаевич (born 1974), expedition commander. Graduated from the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov in the specialty of biochemistry. In 2005, after completing training he received general space training and cosmonaut-researcher qualifications. He is a member of the Bioethical Commission SRC RF IMBP-RAS. According to the results of studies performed, he has published 19 works, and made 12 reports, eight of them in international conferences. In 2006, he defended his candidate’s thesis on the specialty “physiology” and “aviation and space medicine”.
• Tugusheva, Marina Petrovna/Тугушева Марина Петровна (1983). Biologist, Researcher IMBP. She graduated with honors from the biological department of the Tverskii State University in the department “Anatomies and physiologies of man and animals”. After completion of university she was invited to undertake full-time post-graduate study at GNTS RF of the RAN Institute of Biomedical Problems in the specialty “Aviation, space and sea medicine”. She is at present a graduate student in her 3rd year of learning and a scientific worker in the division of Barophysiology and Diving Medicine. She participated in the conferences of young scientists in the years 2006-2007, in the 8th International Congress for Adaptive Medicine in 2006, and also in 2007 in the I.P. Pavlov Congress of the Physiologists and the “Cosmos and Medicine” conference . She has repeatedly participated in experiments.

(A blog gripe: I hate having to think up a title for each blog entry; I find it hard to come up with anything, sometimes!)

7th International Scientific Conference reports

The Russian FKA site has a page of children’s space paintings, which are colorful and imaginative!

Some Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №666 items for 16/11; reports from the 7th International Scientific Conference “Manned Flights into Space”.

16/11/2007/00:03 – ISS operations are considerably less effective than those on Mir, says the chief of the Cosmonaut Training Center

In six years of ISS operation the volume of scientific works at the station grew threefold, reports ITAR-TASS. Such data was announced on 15 November by the chief of the Cosmonaut Training Center, Vasilii Tsibliyev, at the opening of the 7th International Scientific Conference “Manned Flights into Space”.

“Since 2001, 240 different experiments were carried out on the ISS, the main themes of the NPI applied-scientific studies being biomedical, biotechnological, geophysical and physics of the sun,” he said.

Tsibliev, however, recognized that by volume the NPI ISS operation is considerably less effective than that of the Mir orbital complex, where each crew perfomred up to 250 experiments during the flight. In his opinion, “When the construction of the Station is finished, the science portion will grow.”

The TSPK chief focused attention on the problems which decrease effectiveness of NPI on the ISS. One of the basic problems: “searching for the necessary scientific gear aboard,” because of which “sometimes an experiment is not carried out by the crew for which it was prepared, but a following crew […] There has even appeared a joke: an engineer is not one who knows, but who knows where to find things,” noted Tsibliyev. In his opinion, for increasing the return of scientific work “it is necessary to develop more efficient mechanisms for crew accountability, more actively to use incentive leverages, including material from both the cosmonauts and the specialists who prepare experiments, and to also prepare cosmonauts as specialist researchers.”

The chief of the flight-test center of the Energiya Rocket & Space corporation, ISS-14 commander Pavel Vinogradov, in turn emphasized that the colossal scientific potential in space is used very poorly, the returns from ISS crew activity is considerably lower than 10-15 years ago. “From the idea of experiment to obtaining the first concrete results there passes years, and even decades,” the cosmonaut complained. Furthermore, “There are only 1 or 2 new, bright experiments on the ISS; the rest are repeats of those performed on Mir.

One of the basic problems, in his opinion, is the absence on the ISS Russian segment of a normal communication channel with the Earth. “That that we have is the Stone Age in comparison,” said Vinogradov. To work and not to have any possibility transfering acceptable volumes of information is unacceptable.” Furthermore, the cosmonaut issued a call for the producers of the experiments to support closer contacts with the crews and to inform them about the results of the onboard studies carried out by the crews. In the opinion of Vinogradov, if scientists and cosmonauts exchanged information more often, the effectiveness of scientific studies would improve.

The cosmonaut also noted that at present, “scientific gear occupies only a small percentage of general goods traffic […] when half of the Progress cargo ship will be loaded with science, we will begin to obtain real results,” Vinogradov is convinced.

---

16/11/2007/00:03 – since 2001 the quantity of experiments conducted on the ISS has grown three times

In six years of ISS operation, the quantity of scientific experiments conducted by crews has grown threefold. The crew of the 16th ISS Expedition will conduct 48 scientific experiments in the course of their flight, while the first crew conducted only 15, reported the leader of the Cosmonaut Training Center, Vasilii Tsebliev, at the opening of the 7th International Scientific Conference “Manned Flights into Space”.

Meanwhile cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov, coming forward after he critically answered about the experiments conducted on the Station, said: “We repeat the fact that most were done 5-10 years ago. The experiments – two or three are new but not more […] in this sense I do not agree with the opinion of our leaders that everything is good. When half of the Progress cargo ship is loaded scientific gear, then only then will I agree that everything is good,” said P. Vinogradov.

Today, he noted, in the total volume of cargo delivered to the ISS, only a small percentage is allotted to scientific equipment. Furthermore, P. Vinogradov came out with criticism of the communications system of the ISS Russian segment with the ground. Thus, because of the absence of the specialized relay satellites, video images and data for Russian Mission Control Center TsUP during the presence of the ISS beyond the zones of radio visibility not controlled by Russia are downlinked via the American satellites (TDRSS).

Cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov had a lot of criticisms about aspects of the Russian program in an NK interview last year (see my 14/1/2007 entry) – at least someone involved is trying to draw attention to this!

A report on preparations for the “Mars-500” experiment:

16/11/2007/00:03 – crew of volunteers begins checking the systems of the “Martian ship”

At the Institute of Biomedical Problems IMBP/RAN (Russian Academy of Science), on 15 November there began the first 14-day stage of the experiment on the preparation of the manned space flight to Mars. The IMBP deputy director, Boris Morukov, announced this at the 7th International Scientific Conference “Manned Flights into Space”.

Previously the IMBP director, the RAN Academician Anatolii Grigor’ev stated that prior to the beginning of the “manned space flight to Mars”, which was planned for the end of 2008, at IMBP two preliminary experiments will be carried out: a 14-day and a 105-day. “During the 14 days we will verify technical equipment, and then in the 105-day experiment we will conduct the selection of the Russian and European scientific proposals, which then will be realized in the ‘Mars-500’ program,” he explained. According to him, the international crew of the 105-daily experiment will be formed prior to the end of this year, which will begin in the beginning of 2008.

In parallel continues the intensive selection of basic crew for the “Martian flight”, that will comprise 4 Russians and 2 Europeans. The main requirement for the candidates are possession of Russian and English languages, outstanding physical fitness and professional qualifications in several specialties is desirable.

Grigor’ev noted that among the aspirants, whom they already passed dispensary inspection, there is one woman. However, the gender composition of crew will be determined not earlier than the end of 2008, when it is planned to promulgate the list of the happy fellows, who during 520 days will completely isolated from the external world aboard the created “Martian” ship in IMBP with a volume of 550 m³ and communicate with the external world only through electronic mail. All the life-support systems of the “ship” are designed to be completely independent.

Requirements for the international crew are most serious. Preferred professions are doctors, engineers, biologists, specialists in computer technology. Moreover it is desirable that the candidates would combine several specialties. Furthermore, they must provide proof to the selection commission of the absence of serious diseases, harmful habits and problems with the law.

Future projects at Khrunichev:

16/11/2007/00:03 – the Khrunichev space center is developing rockets for manned space flights and habitable complexes for the lunar and Martian expeditions

In the State Space Scientific Production Center GKNPTS Khrunichev, work is continuing on the creation of rockets for manned space flights and habitable complexes for lunar expeditions. The division head of KB Salyut GKNPTS, Sergei Pugachenko, reported this on 14 November at the 7th International Scientific Conference “Manned Flights into Space”.

The discussion, first of all, deals with the modification of the future rocket of the RN carrier of the Angar-5 heavy class. The Angar-5P “can be used for the launch of manned ships, including the following generation.” For the delivery of cargo to Low Earth Orbit it is intended to also use the superheavy Angar-7 with a load capacity of 41 tonnes.

But to deliver a crew in orbit is only half the battle; it is necessary to create standard conditions to support human life. In GKNPTS, where the first ISS module was built – the Functional Cargo Block Zarya, and also the airtight housing of the official module Zvezda – already they are working on a new, more contemporary inhabited module. “Over the long term the creation and installing on the RN Angara “of a housing of a larger volume, which will improve the conditions of crew stay aboard,” explained Pugachenko.

Furthermore, the specialists at GKNPTS are developing their versions of a lunar orbital station and manned lunar base, which is intended to be delivered into Earth orbit with the aid of a superheavy RN with a load capacity of 100 tonnes. The lunar orbital station will be intended for the transfer and the storage of cargo and fuel, temporary crew stay, and also studies of the Moon, explained Pugachenko. But the manned lunar complex will serve as a home for the cosmonaut-trailblazers. An analogous complex is also being developed for Mars. “In GKNPTS there are all the basic technologies for the lunar missions,” said Pugachenko.

Russian Mars plans

“The appeal of Mars”, RIA Novosti: Parts 1, 2, 3. A series by Yuri Zaitsev concerning Russian plans for Mars missions.

Ex-Energiya president Nikolai Sevastyanov believes the Martian project could be realized after 2025 and would consist of three stages: a trial expedition around the Moon, a non-landing manned expedition to Mars and then a manned Mars landing. Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian Space Agency (Roskosmos), said: “We are planning a Mars mission after 2035.” The ultimate decision is likely to be made at the top. Before the year is out the government must approve a program for the development of the space industry until 2040.

[…]

Technically speaking, a manned mission to Mars would be no more difficult than a flight to the Moon. Experts believe that the hardware required for reaching the Red Planet is largely already available. But it is the human element that is both the most important, and the most vulnerable, part of the mission. Before sending astronauts to Mars, scientists will have to solve the numerous medical and biological problems associated with deep space flight.

[…]

U.S. experts estimate the cost of a manned mission to Mars at $500 billion. Russia believes it can place cosmonauts on the planet’s surface in the next 12 years for just $14 billion, a sum roughly equivalent to 10 national space programs. However, this would entail a doubling of federal space spending and the launch of several unmanned reconnaissance probes to explore Mars in greater detail. Nikolai Anfimov, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Director General of the Central Research Institute of Machine Building (TsNIIMash), believes the total cost of the manned Mars mission would run to over $100 billion.

2025 or later is much too far away! How about…2015? I reckon a simple mission could be done for…under $10 billion? A test mission around Mars (but not landing on it) could be done for maybe $3 billion or so:

• A crew of two (possibly suicidal!) cosmonauts who don’t mind the possibility of long-term damage to their health, or dying – the tradeoff is they would be forever remembered in history (first humans to leave the Earth-Moon system!).
• Mission profile based on the one at Energiya (12 months to Mars, 1 month around/on Mars, 11 months back).
• Spaceship based on the Russian ISS modules with a nuclear reactor (of the Topaz-2 type) that provides power for the engines (rather than the huge solar array in the Energiya plan). There would be no means of artificial gravity (designing this would incur extra expense).
• Progress launches to bring up supplies (don’t know how many would be needed).
• Soyuz spaceship used to fly crew up to the interplanetary spacecraft, and later back to Earth (need to have a 2-year lifespan).
• A small automated probe could be used to retrieve Mars surface samples.
• Developing a Mars lander would add extra time to the mission preparations.
• Upcoming Mars launch windows (low-energy type): December 2009, February 2012.

My bargain-basement Mars mission! So, build a spaceship and go! Enough with the fussing around – after 40 years or so of spaceflight we know the effects of weightlessness on mental and physical health, so how many more studies do they need? Accept that there will be risk to the crew, and just go. (Yes, I am impatient.)

More articles of interest:

“Protecting Earth Against Asteroids”, Part 1 & 2, Space Daily. Russian ideas for trying to deflect threatening asteroids.

“Does Russia Have A Nuclear Engine Advantage?”, Space Daily, 5/11.

A year old

It is just over a year since my first entry (20/10/2006). The blog is not exactly hugely popular, either because I am too boring or no one is interested. Or both. Oh, well.

A news roundup:

China launched its first lunar orbiter, Chang’e 1, on 4 October. If China can do this, why can’t Russia?

“Russians blast off without space pistol”, Guardian, 15/10. “Russia is sending a cosmonaut into space without a fearsome triple-barrelled ‘space pistol’ for the first time in 20 years, due to a shortage of ammunition.” Yurii Malenchenko is instead taking a normal pistol/handgun.

“Giant leap looming for womankind”, MSNBC.com, 20/10. “It will be the first time in the 50-year history of spaceflight that two women are in charge of two spacecraft at the same time.” I grumbled about Russia’s dismal failing in this area in my previous 16/10 entry.

Soyuz TMA-10 landed at 10:36 UTC on 21 October after undocking from Zvezda at 07:14. There was a glitch when the computers for some as-yet undetermined reason switched to the backup, automatically controlled ballistic descent mode, which imposes higher g-forces on the crew.

“Back in the Space Race: Russian Revival Raises New Questions”, Moscow News, 18/10. NASA’s dependence on Russia for manned space access after the Shuttle retires could become a problem if Russia’s plans change or U.S.-Russian relations become tense. Security at the Baikonur launch site is also an issue (as well as the future of the complex itself) – James Oberg wrote an article about it at The Space Review last year: “Earthly threats for a spaceport”, 26/6/2006.

“China eyes the Moon”, RIAN/Space Daily, 25/10.

On October 4, with Russia and the U.S. apparently unable to do more than talk about flights to the Moon, China, strictly on schedule, launched a Long March 3A rocket carrying the satellite Chang-e 1 on a mission to map the Moon’s surface.

“Two women spacecraft commanders: the meaning of the meeting”, James Oberg, The Space Review, 29/10. Mentions the issues on Russia’s attitude towards women in space grumbled about in my previous entry.

Soyuz TMA-11 launched, and a rant

Soyuz TMA-11 launched on 10 October at 13:22:39 UTC/11:22:39 p.m. Melbourne time with Expedition 16 and the Malaysian guest cosmonaut on board. It docked on 12/10 at 14:50:05 UTC.

Depressing thread at CollectSpace on why there are currently no women cosmonauts (aside from the one currently in training, who might never make it into space). Quite a lot of men in the Russian space program deserve a punch in the nose – their attitude towards women just sucks. The Americans have now had female Shuttle commanders, and Peggy Whitson will be the first female ISS commander, and there is no questioning their competence. So why do Russian men have this archaic attitude that women are weak and inferior (“Does Mars need women? Russians say no”)? This attitude pisses me off in the extreme and is one reason I am disillusioned with their program (the other being the focus on space tourism at the expense of exploration – though they don’t seem to have a problem with flying paying foreign female space tourists).

(On the Wikipedia “History of Women in the Military” page is a mention of military women in Russia. Women fought well in combat in World War 2. But I was disgusted to read: “Today, the Russian army runs the Miss Russian Army beauty contest for attractive female Russian soldiers. Colonel Gennady Dzyuba, of the Defense Ministry, said of the 2005 contest that ‘Those who have served, especially in hot spots, know the importance of women in the armed forces.’ ” Beauty contest?! WTF is with that bullsh*t?? No wonder women aren’t regarded seriously!)

“Space Station: Internal NASA Reports Explain Origins of June Computer Crisis”, James Oberg, IEEE Spectrum October 2007.

Anniversaries

Today is 50 years since the launch of Sputnik.

In that BBC article it is noted that the Russian space program “have been given $12bn (£6bn) to spend over the next decade – a small amount compared with NASA’s budget but enough for the Russians to have ambitious plans.” NASA’s budget for one year is about $16 billion.

More articles from the past couple of weeks:

“Russia aims for new far east space launch pad by 2020”, The Raw Story, 21/9; RIAN 26/9.

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №655:

25/09/2007/00:01: The head of Roskosmos is convinced that it is necessary to more actively involve young cosmonauts from the Russian force

The leader of the Roskosmos Federal Space Agency, Anatolii Perminov, is convinced of the necessity of more actively involving young cosmonauts from the Russian force. About this he stated on Thursday during the traditional tea drinking with the prime and duplicating crews of the 16th Expedition to the ISS, reports ITAR- TASS.

After noting that the “Cosmonaut Training Center and Rocket & Space Corporation Energiya insure themselves by sending experienced cosmonauts into orbit,” Perminov added: “but I always support those who have yet to fly, since I have no doubts that the young will manage.”

In the Russian group about two dozen astronauts have sat “on the replacement bench” for 10 years or more. They are habitually refered to as “young”, but most of these guys are over 30 years old.

But this 16th expedition, which starts on 10 October, will be very difficult; therefore it is good that an experienced crew flies, Perminov believes.

The next paying space tourist to go up will be Richard Garriott, in October 2008. He has a rather formidable CV, and is the son of former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott. Though as pointed out by a NASA Watch reader, he will be the second 2nd-generation astronaut to launch – Sergei Volkov (son of Aleksandr) will launch in April 2008 – not the first as reported by Space Adventures. He is also the creator of a rather nice-looking MMORPG called Tabula Rasa (I have been admiring the graphics on the site and wishing I could design things like that).

“Game guru going into space”, Cosmic Log entry, 28/9.

“50 years after Sputnik, Russia revives space ambitions”, Space Daily, 30/9.

As Russia commemorates the 50th anniversary on Thursday of the launch of Sputnik 1 and the start of the Space Race, there is a sense of cautious optimism among its space scientists, says Igor Lysov, an expert with monthly magazine Space Industry News. Next year, state spending on space is projected to equal about 1.5 billion dollars (one billion euros). As Lysov observes: “That’s 11 times less than the financing for NASA but 10 times better than the financing for the Russian space programme a decade ago.”

[…]

Nonetheless, uncertainty remains due to funding problems and Russia’s difficulties countering a brain drain of its most talented scientists, says the head of spacecraft designer RKK Energia, Leonid Gorshkov. “Even if commercial projects help us survive, the development of the space programme is impossible without state support,” said Gorshkov.

“The discovered space”, RIA Novosti, 3/10.

2007 sees four space related anniversaries: 150 years since the birth of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the theoretician of cosmonautics, who translated the bold dream of space flight into maths; 110 years since the birth of Alexander Chizhevsky, the founder of geliobiology, a new field of research into the influence of solar and geomagnetic activity on living beings; 100 years since the birth of Sergei Korolyov, who put cosmonautics on a practical plane, and 50 years since the start of the space era, ushered in by the launch of the Earth’s first artificial satellite.

“Russian science to ride on NASA probes”, MSNBC.com, 3/10. Plans for Russian science instruments to be installed on NASA probes to the Moon and Mars. The Russian unmanned exploration program seems to only exist in this form now – hitching rides on others’ spacecraft.

Found an article, “What’s Wrong With Libertarianism”, while wandering around the Hard Science Fiction site. There seem to be many people in the space community who proscribe these views (the ones who optimistically believe the private space industry will take over from governments in exploring space). I find Libertarianism a detestable philosophy – my view is that corporations and business cannot be trusted to ensure the public good – that is why we have governments.

An example of the space Libertarians is the Space Liberates Us! site (found via NASA Watch, who posted about a contributor who died). There is a place for private space exploration (mainly near-Earth space tourism), but I don’t believe it will ever replace government-funded programs.

Wooden spaceship

The Accidental Russophile alerted me to these two interesting articles about the upcoming “Mars-500” long-duration simulation experiment:

“Russians Prepare to Go to Mars Without Leaving the Ground”, James Oberg, IEEE Spectrum, September 2007. He visited the simulation complex at the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems. Staying in the simulator for that length of time will be challenging! Like being imprisoned. Once the novelty wears off after about 2 months or so things will start to get “interesting”. Still, I almost wish I could volunteer – I am doing nothing with my life and it wouldn’t be too much different to being in my bedroom – but I am lacking any qualifications whatsoever. (I’d volunteer for a solo Mars mission, though, even if it resulted in my death!) Such an experiment would be bearable if there were Internet access, but unfortunately there isn’t! The crew can only send and receive emails. I’d be having Internet-deprivation withdrawal symptoms after the first week!

The interior of the simulator is constructed with wood – very nice woodwork! – which “is supposed to induce a feeling of cozy hominess”. It does add a warm feeling to the rooms, unlike metal. Couldn’t have wooden décor on a real spaceship though; a fire hazard and too heavy to carry into orbit.

One unresolved problem:

As pieces fall into place, a few unsolved problems stand out in greater relief. Dyomin confesses that one entirely ordinary Earth side process was giving him fits: “We still don’t know what to do with the garbage,” he ruefully admits. Throwing it overboard (as the Russians did on their Salyut and Mir space stations) would cost too much in terms of the air lost with each jettison, and on a real Mars mission it would fill the skies with twinkling garbage bags that would drift for months, confusing stellar navigation sensors and potentially bumping into the ship and fouling exterior mechanisms. Keeping it inside will require strict sanitary isolation. But with decades of long-term human spaceflight experience under their belts, the team will think of something.

In Stephen Baxter’s novel Titan the crew on the journey to Saturn’s moon used this device to dispose of garbage:

She checked the SCWO reactor, the Supercritical Wet Oxidation system. The SCWO was a remarkable piece of gear. Inside, slurry was heated to 480°C and 240 atmospheres, conditions where water went supercritical. It was like liquid steam. If you jetted in oxygen, you could get an open flame, under water. The SCWO would burn anything, any waste they threw into it: crap, urine, food scraps, garbage, mixed up with organic wastes and water. Out came steam, carbon dioxide and a whole bunch of nitrates – compounds of nitrogen they could use in the [hydroponic] farm.

It looked to Benacerraf as if the temperature control inside the reactor had been a little variable. That was a worry; not everything that happened inside that reactor was well understood. The SCWO was a relatively new technology – the reactor and its backup fitted in Discovery were actually upgrades of breadboard prototypes. There were safety concerns around the high temperatures and pressures in the reactor, and corrosion of the pressure chamber. That corrosion could leak metals into the liquid effluent, which could then end up in the food chain.

The cylindrical chambers at IMBP, used for 40 years:

Habitation module hallway; side doorways lead to small cabins:

Closet-sized personal cabin:

“Russia Prepares for Mars Mission with ‘Big Brother’ Experiment”, Spiegel Online, 14/9. Here is revealed that one of the participants is cosmonaut Sergei Ryazanskii!

Sergei Ryazanskii has already passed all the necessary medical and psychological tests. The athletic, blue-eyed, 32-year-old Russian is testing one of the wooden cots in the mock spacecraft’s sleeping module. His grandfather helped build one of the very first Soviet rockets and two years ago he managed to graduate from Russia’s cosmonaut training program. A romantic attraction to outer space simply runs in the family blood. “My wife was the only one who couldn’t understand that,” Sergei sighs. She divorced him.

From his training, Ryazanskii knows how extreme conditions can affect a person’s psychological well-being. “In total isolation with five people, you’re burdened by five times as many problems, and so are the others,” he says. It’s exactly that sort of group dynamic that the IBMP wants to examine.

Divorced! (They had one child.) That must have been recent. He is only 4 years younger than me. (He had a Livejournal, but seems to have deleted it. His website is still online. Hopefully he will keep an online journal for the experiment?)

Russian space tourist?

Haven’t felt much like posting; just don’t feel much interested, so here is some collected news as remarked on in my other journal.

As-yet unconfirmed reports say that a Russian businessman-politician, Vladimir Gruzdev, looks set to be a space tourist in September 2008 or in 2009. I bet the cosmonauts won’t be happy about that! Especially those who have spent years waiting for their first flight (e.g. Dmitri Kondrat’ev – selected 1997, Oleg Kononenko – selected 1996, Roman Romanenko – selected 1997), only to have someone with loads of money “jump the queue”.

Energiya changed some of the links at their site, so I had to redo most of the links to them on my site (and blog), rather annoyingly! I think they are all working.

Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa!

S.P. Korolev RSC Energia, Korolev, Moscow region. Cosmonaut tester of the S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation cosmonaut team Mikhail Borisovich Kornienko, upon his return to Moscow after climbing mountain Kilimanjaro (5895 meters high) as a member of a team of three mountaineers, was received by the Head of the Federal Space Agency A.N. Perminov.

M.B. Kornienko accomplished this climb while being on vacation. On the highest peak of Africa he left one copy of the Roskosmos commemorative badge and planted the flag of S.P. Korolev RSC Energia. The second copy of that badge that had been to the top of Kilimanjaro, M.B. Kornienko handed over to the Head of Roskosmos.

A.N. Perminov pointed out the high level of preparedness of the cosmonaut tester for working in extreme conditions, which allowed him, the only one of the whole team, to overcome the difficulties of the climb in its final phase.

Russian Federal Space Agency: Космонавт вышел на «малую» орбиту – покорил Килиманджаро (Cosmonaut has reached a “small” orbit – he conquered Kilimanjaro).

A Russian Proton-M rocket with a Japanese satellite onboard crashed on launch on 9/9.

“Russia To Get A New Space Port”, RIAN/SpaceDaily, 11/9.

On the last day of summer, the Russian Space Agency made a sensational announcement. Its head Anatoly Perminov painted an epic picture of Russia’s immediate future in space, specifically its manned part. A week and a half ago, during a final news conference with journalists at the MAKS-2007 International Air Show, to the surprise of many, he spoke modestly about the evolutionary path to be taken by the space industry. “Our primary objective,” he said, “is to stick to existing reliable systems already used in manned flights.” Evidently they found the air show to be the wrong place to disclose the Agency’s truly revolutionary ambitions.

“Female commanders set for landmark mission”, MSNBC.com, 13/9. Two female NASA astronauts will command the ISS (Peggy Whitson) and Space Shuttle (Pamela Melroy, STS-120 Discovery) next month. No Russian woman has been in space since Elena Kondakova in 1997, and none will for a few years yet (assuming the only current female cosmonaut, Elena Serova, successfully completes her candidate training). Russia are now dismayingly far behind in this area.

A Soyuz-U rocket successfully launched yesterday with an unmanned Foton spacecraft carrying various experiments (listed in Russian and English at the FKA site). Some fish and Mongolian gerbils (small rodents) are getting a ride into space as part of the experiments. A space tether experiment will also be performed (James Oberg’s comments about it at FPSpace).

“Mice and men: space gerbils blaze trail for humans to Mars”, Space Daily, 14/9. More on the gerbils getting their first and only spaceflight; unfortunately some of the hapless creatures will be dissected after landing. (A brief RIA Novosti news item on the creatures the Foton is carrying.)

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №653:

18/9/2007/00:01: Russian manned spacecraft will fly to Mars, possibly in 2020, Aleksandr Kaleri thinks

A Russian spacecraft with the crew aboard will fly to Mars, possibly in 2020. About this stated the chief of the flying space center of company Energiya, airman-cosmonaut Aleksandr Kaleri, at the All-Russian astronomical conference the “Space Boundaries of the 21st Century”, that was opened on 17 September in Kazan. “The flight duration will be two years with a one-month stay on Mars,” noted the cosmonaut. It is assumed that aboard the ship with a weight of up to 600 tons will fly the crew of 4-6 people. To put this ship immediately into orbit is impossible, therefore they will assemble it in orbit from the modules, said Kaleri.

According to him, the dimensions of modules and subsistence maintenance system are developed, the methods of creating the large constructions now are selected: so the length of each of two solar batteries will compose 700 meters. Studies with respect to the guarantee of reliability of flight are conducted. For example, for the protection from the solar radiation it is proposed the walls of crew quarters for the cosmonauts are to be filled with inert gas.

According to the most optimistic forecasts, the flights will begin in 2020, with the most pessimistic beginning in 2025. In the first flight only the circling around the “red planet” will be undertaken. The second flight will carry a full-scale landing module, but also without the embarkation of cosmonauts. And only in the third flight half of the crew will land on the planet, the cosmonaut concluded.

(Russian version, Русская версия)

Nukes in space and other news

Andrei Kislyakov opinion pieces:

• “Russian Space Program Needs To Change”, 12/8
• “Outside View: Space industry confusions”, 13/8
• “What’s the outlook for the ISS?”, 14/8.

Two-part article on “Nuclear Power in Space” by Yurii Zaitsev: Part 1 (RIAN/SpaceDaily, 13/8) and Part 2 (RIAN/SpaceDaily, 15/8). For an interplanetary mission (e.g. to Mars) a small nuclear reactor would provide a more efficient power source than solar panels (which are increasingly ineffective the further away from the Sun a spaceship gets). Russia developed a unit called “Topaz” during the Soviet era, which has been flown in space on satellites. (I first saw mention of the Topaz in the Stephen Baxter novel Titan).

Unfortunately, with current technology only nuclear fission (splitting an atom) is used with its unpleasant side-effects of radiation; fusion (combining atoms) would be ideal. There is also the environmental problem of how to bring a reactor back to Earth!

• “Obsolete space industry”, Space Daily, 15/8: Andrei Kislyakov opinion piece.

  For Russia, the ISS is all that is left of its once stupendous manned program. Its loss would shake the industry to its foundations. But the question arises: If Russia is to stay on, which is beyond discussion, then what is to be done and, most importantly, how?

• FP Space posting: “Soyuz/Progress upgrades”, 20/8. Summary of a Novosti Kosmonavtiki article about planned upgrades to the spacecraft.
• “Bold New Projects Critical To Future Of Russian Space Exploration”, Space Daily, 20/8. Interview with former Energiya president Nikolai Sevast’yanov.
• “Russian, European Space Agencies To Develop Manned Spaceship”, RIAN/Space Daily, 22/8. Announcement at the MAKS-2007 Airshow.
• “Russian space agency to form three space holdings by 2015”, RIAN/Space Daily, 22/8.
• “50th Aniversary Of The Russian ICBM Rocket”, Space Daily, 23/8.
• “Mars-500 Experiment Could Be Extended To 700 Days”, RIAN/Space Daily, 23/8. Pity this can’t be a real mission, even just one going around Mars (not landing on it).
• “Russia’s space guru opts for evolution”, RIAN/Space Daily, 23/8. Andrei Kislyakov on the dismayingly limited plans for Russia’s space program – just upgrade some old designs.

And why can’t the Russian space program do something similar to this: “NASA and Internet Archive Team to Digitize Space Imagery”, SpaceRef, 23/8. There must be a lot of things in the Russian archives that the public hasn’t seen; it would be a great way of getting their attention.

Where’s Sergei?

After the restructuring of Energiya’s top management on 6 August, Sergei Krikalyov seems to have vanished from the Top Management page (he was elected Vice-President of Manned Flights on 5 February). (First noticed by Olaf.) Has he been removed from his position there after 6 months, or did they just neglect to mention him?

The interviews with Nikolai Sevast’yanov that were at the top of the Energiya website for some time were removed; here are links to all 4 of them at the site:

• “The mission to Mars is to be international”, 24/11/2005
• “Manned spaceflight to be cost-efficient”, 1/2/2006
• “Concept of Russian manned space navigation development”, 1/7/2006
• “MoonGasTransport Inc.”, 12/2/2007

Progress M-61 launches

Progress M-61 launched on 2/8 at 17:33:48 and docked with the Pirs module on 5/8 at 18:40:25 UTC.

The Progress M-59 cargo ship undocked on 1/8 at 14:07 UTC, deorbited at 18:42 and the remains entered the ocean near Christmas Island at 19:27.

“Russia’s space effort: one step forward, two steps backward”, RIA Novosti opinion piece, 2/8. (Same article at SpaceDaily)

“By 2014, Russia may drop behind the United States, China and the European Union in manned flights unless it continues developing a new spacecraft. By 2014, the U.S. is planning to complete a new ship, the Orion, which will put up stiff competition against our Soyuz craft on the international market. We may seriously fall behind in technologies by that time,” a worried Sevastyanov said.

[…]

Of course, one can take it easy and continue taking pride in the number of annual launches and link research plans with the number of tourists wishing to have a ride on the ISS. But then it is not clear whether the Russian space effort has any future prospects worth pursuing.

“Soviet Space Art,” Metafilter, 2/8. Links to an article at GlobalSecurity.org, “Pop Culture Materials Highlight Soviet Commitment to Manned Lunar Flight, Provide Hints of Actual Plans” with lots of illustrations of propaganda cards, postage stamps, and so on.

There was a post about a miniseries called Race to Mars at the Uplink forum. Synopsis:

In the year 2030, the race to be the first to reach the Red Planet is on – and China is leading the way. China has stunned the world by leapfrogging over America’s long-term plans and has landed a series of advanced rovers and robotic landers in their quest to make the most important discovery in history – extraterrestrial life on Mars. Once again, America and its partners, including Canada, are thrust into a winner-take-all space race – but the stakes are higher than the race to the Moon nearly seven decades earlier.

The international team accelerates its plans – when China prepares to send its final wave of rovers, this consortium will surge ahead and at last launch a human crew. Six extraordinary individuals from Canada, the United States, Russia, France and Japan are selected for this gruelling two-year mission. These four men and two women must work together as a team, rise above their secret fears and struggle with the sacrifice of leaving friends and family behind. Training and determination will get them only so far, and when this crew sets out on humanity’s first expedition to another world, nothing can prepare them for the unexpected danger and staggering wonder of what they will experience.

Note how Russia has been reduced to a “bit player” (though at least they don’t seem to be the bad guys), but China is now where Russia used to be in the public consciousness. (I would like to see Russia “stun the world” by putting the first humans on Mars, but realistically that doesn’t seem likely to happen. Would like to be proven wrong, though!)

New Energiya president

A new president of Energiya was elected, Vitali Aleksandrovich Lopota. The company also seems to be in financial trouble. [According to this post at FP Space, the “bankruptcy” statement was a slight mistranslation.] The Klipper spaceship won’t be displayed at the upcoming MAKS 2007 airshow. The deputy head of Roskosmos, Vitali Davidov, informed journalists on Tuesday that in the Federal space program of Russia, no flights of Russian cosmonauts to the Moon are planned until at least 2012.

Other news tidbits:

• “Oxygen Generating System activated onboard ISS”, NASASpaceflight.com, 12/7. The OGS in the Destiny module has been turned on, so it will be interesting to see how this performs over time! The cantankerous Elektron seems to have been behaving itself the last few months (at least, there have been no reports of any trouble).
• “The 1st Russian Space Tourist?”: NASASpaceflight.com forum thread about a rumor that a Russian tourist will be going up in spring 2008 (autumn in the Northern Hemisphere). Hope they are not an obnoxious oligarch or the equally obnoxious Sergei Polonskii.
• Clayton Anderson (EV1, EMU No.3008) and Fyodor Yurchikhin (EV2, EMU No. 3006) successfully completed their spacewalk on 23 July, taking 7h 41m (10:24-18:05 UTC). Some photos start from this page at the ISS-15 Gallery.
• An article by Asif Siddiqi: “Russia’s Long Love Affair with Space”, August 2007.

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №640:

20/07/2007/10:42 – Scientists will contact the ISS from the bottom of the ocean at the North Pole

The participants of the expedition of the Russian “Mir” deep-water manned devices – who, for the first time in history, will make a dive at a point of the North Pole – plan to communicate from the bottom of the Arctic ocean via TsUP (Moscow Mission Control) with the crew of the International Space Station. The special representative of the president of the Russian Federation – State Duma Vice-President Artur Tchilingarov – announced this in connection with the third International Polar Year.

According to Tchilingarov – who will head this expedition – the beginning of the immersing of the devices Mir-1 and Mir-2 in an area of the North Pole is planned for 29 July of this year.

The “Mir” submersibles appeared in the 1997 Titanic movie. A test dive was made on the 29th.

Progress M-61 is to launch on 2 August.

Russian loos rule!

As evidence that Russian space toilets are superior :-), NASA will be paying Energiya $19 million to construct another toilet to be installed in the U.S. segment, to cater for the crew increase to 6 in 2009 (the loo will be installed in 2008). (This was even reported in Saturday’s The Age.) There is a thread on the topic at NASASpaceflight.com.

I found an official website, Angkasawan Programme Website, for the Malaysian cosmonauts to go up on the next Soyuz flight (TMA-11). Spacemen are called “Angkasawan” in Malaysian. They are also keeping a blog, which is interesting reading (though they need to close the earlier entry comments as the pesky spammers are posting). The site is, thankfully, not as cumbersome as Charles Simonyi’s Flash-animated site (though it still uses tables for layout, tsk, tsk).

The programme is part of an offset agreement between Malaysia and Russia in relation to Malaysia’s purchase of Russian-made Sukhoi-30MKM fighter jets. Through this package, the Russian government agreed to train two Malaysians, one of which will make the journey while the other one will act as his backup. The Russian Government will bear the costs.

If the Australian government would buy Su-30s perhaps we could get to send up an Australian in exchange! Wishful thought...

“Russia Declares Its Independence In Space”, Space Daily, 12/7. A short history of the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia’s only independent launch center (i.e. not dependent upon other countries, such as the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is).

Energiya vs. Roskosmos

Energiya and Roskosmos are bickering again, with the Federal Space Agency moving to fire Energiya President Nikolai Sevast’yanov (temporarily replacing him with Vice-President Aleksandr Strekalov).

• “Government wants to sack Energia space corp. head – source”, RIA Novosti, 22/6. “During his tenure, Sevastyanov has not been on good terms with the Federal Space Agency, a government regulator in the space industry. The Energia head has been repeatedly criticized primarily for his daring projects on Moon exploration, which the agency called ‘lunacy’ and looked to restrict Sevastyanov’s powers.”
• “Strekalov to become acting Energia space corp. president”, RIA Novosti, 22/6
• Roskosmos has almost achieved Sevastyanov’s resignation, NASASpaceflight.com thread. “I am very disappointed. Mr. Sevast’yanov very much loves unrealizable projects, but such people move astronautics forward.”
• “What Is Happening At The Russian Rocket Corporation”, RIA Novosti, 28/6 (also at SpaceDaily)

Energiya’s management (including Sergei Krikalyov) signed a statement in support of Mr. Sevast’yanov (currently in Russian [Gone]; no English translation yet). This seems somewhat ironic, as his election was initially opposed in 2005, and the management of then signed a statement in support of the-then President, Yurii Semyonov! (The original collective letter. [Gone]) He must have made a good impression since then. At least he had a Vision for the future. Some interviews with him are on Energiya’s Publications page.

These sort of political machinations are wasteful and are hardly likely to inspire younger people to join the Russian space program (of whom it is in desperate need of).

Computer woes

Yurchikhin and Kotov successfully completed their second spacewalk on 6 June, taking 5h 37m (14:25-20:02 UTC). A micrometerorite or space debris impact hole was found on the Zarya module, as this photo shows. Photos taken during the spacewalk are on pages 12 and 13 of the Human Spaceflight Gallery.

The launch and docking of STS-117 Atlantis went well (launched on the first attempt on 8/6 at 23:38 UTC; docked at 19:36 UTC on 10/6).

Computer problems on the Russian segment of the ISS. This happened after the new solar array (S3/S4 truss) was unfurled, so a possibility is electromagnetic interference from the array. I think the computers in question are the Data Management System. It seems to be one of those unforeseen issues that are only revealed in live operation rather than testing on the ground.

“Space station glitch puzzles the experts”, James Oberg, MSNBC.com, 14/6, and “Atlantis ready to support ISS troubleshooting” at NASASpaceflight.com.

[Update, 18/6: the ISS computer problems appear to be fixed; details in “Teamwork, Expertise and Confidence – solving the ISS’ troubles” at NASASpaceflight.com and STS-117 MCC Status Report #17. The situation predictably brought out the Russia-bashers, such as this post at Habitable Zone.]

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №633:

15/06/2007/00:06: The new (2006) group of cosmonauts will prove their proficiency in free flight and under the canopy of a parachute

The new group of cosmonauts admitted to general spaceflight preparation in October of last year, today begin the first serious test. As Yurii Gidzenko – the head of the Special Preparation Department of the Cosmonaut Preparation/Training Center (TsPK, ЦПК) – informed an ITAR-TASS correspondent, “from 14 June to 14 July in Yeysk, the cosmonauts candidate for will undertake the first of two stages of special parachute preparation (SPPK, Специальной парашютной подготовки, СППК)”. Such preparation is intended to determine the speed of thinking, control and other qualities of the future cosmonauts, he specified.

Seven recruits – among whom there is one woman, an engineer from Rocket & Space Corporation Energiya, Elena Serova – will demonstrate the psychological stability and skill to operate in an extreme situation, which is so necessary in the cosmonaut profession. Before the candidates start tests from a great height, they will undertake more than 20 fact-finding jumps from heights of 1 km up to 1.5 km, Gidzenko specified. That completed, the future cosmonauts will demonstrate these qualities during 2-3 control jumps from a height of 2.5-3 km, to where they will be flown with a Mi-8 helicopter.

Before the “examination” test, each candidate will receive their task on a card at which he can glance only before jumping from the flying machine, explained the ITAR-TASS correspondent in TsPK’s search and rescue and paraborne service. In the set time before opening a parachute, in free fall mode, and then under a parachute canopy, the examined should solve the tasks put in “ticket” in a set time and, through a built-in helmet microphone, comment on the actions in an extreme situation.

Comments are stored on a small dictaphone fixed to the belt of the cosmonaut, then psychologists will analyse this, and physicians will decipher the data from special devices monitoring the condition of the basic bodies during a jump. The sensors of these devices are attached to the body of the examinee, enabling them to monitor his medical parameters in online mode, TsPK said. Besides this, an operator flying by a line records the pose and behaviour of the cosmonaut on a videocamera, and these records are analyzed also by experts on the ground.

The second stage of SPPK for the new group will take place in following year. “Now we shall teach the cosmonauts to jump with a parachute and to speak during a jump, which in itself is not easy, and at the second stage the card with tasks becomes more difficult,” Gidzenko explained.

Russian version, Русская версия

---

12/6/2007/18:06: The space industry should not be held hostage to commerce

Russia should work out effective ways to ensure national security in the space industry. This was the view of Grigorii Chernyavskii (Deputy CEO Russian Space Research Institute of Robotics and Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences), reports RIA Novosti. Chernyavskii believes that the Russian space industry should not stoop to the provision of space tourists. Unfortunately, Russia has opted for the commercialization of space and space-based services instead of creating and effective space means of ensuring national security, as is customary in the world, said the specialist. According to Chernyavskii, to make a difference, the government must declare the establishment of security at the state level, to measure the number of manned flights with real opportunities and increase public financing for space activities.

Russian version, Русская версия

Award and spacewalk

On 23 May, Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalyov, Vice-president of S.P. Korolev RSC Energia, pilot cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of the Russian Federation, was elected an honorary freeman/citizen of Saint-Petersburg. This decision was taken by the Deputies of the Legislative Assembly of Petersburg. Honorable citizens have the right to introduce laws for examination by the urban parliament, their pensions will be increased, and they do not have to pay public transport fares. The award was presented on the 27th, and photos (low-resolution only) of the presentation are available at the Official Portal of the Administration of St. Petersburg website. Photos showing Sergei (note the tie he is wearing!): 2, 8, 9, 10. Governor V.I. Matviyenko thanked cosmonaut Sergei Krikalyov for his help to St. Petersburg, his support of many undertakings and projects, and active participation in the public life of his native city. There is also a press release at the Energiya site (and a portrait photo).

Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineer Oleg Kotov of Expedition 15 successfully completed their spacewalk this morning (the first time for both of them). There was a 45-minute delay in starting because of communications difficulties, but the rest of the spacewalk proceeded well for 5h 25m (19:05-00:30 UTC). Fyodor Yurchikhin was EV1, Orlan-M №26 (blue stripes), BRTA-13 telemetry system; Oleg Kotov was EV2, Orlan №0520025 (25) (red stripes), BRTA-18). (Relevant thread at NASASpaceflight.com.) The second spacewalk is on 6 June.

Progress M-60 launches

Progress M-60, the 25th Progress flight to the ISS, launched on 12 May 2007 at 03:25:38 UTC and docked to Zvezda at 15 May 2007 at 05:10 with no problems.

Alexei Krasnov, the head of the Russian Space Agency’s department for manned flights, said that ISS crews will be increased to six people by 2009 on 11 May.

“A tale of two rockets...with a happy ending”, James Oberg, MSNBC.com, 14/5. 15 May is the 50th anniversary of the R7 rocket, and the 20th anniversary of the first launch of the Energiya booster rocket. Both were originally intended for military purposes, but the R7 became a successful launch rocket for civilian missions, and the Energiya was intended to covertly launch weapons but was cancelled after the USSR collapsed.

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №627. Nikolai Sevast’yanov told journalists at Baikonur Cosmodrome on 15 May that Energiya would present the Kliper project to Roskosmos at year’s end. Energiya’s primary goal is the development of a new space transport system of a new qualitative level.

Energiya has begun the construction of the 6 piloted Soyuz and 3 Progress cargo spaceships ordered by NASA under contract for nearly U.S.$1 billion. The ships will be completed between 2009-2011. As the construction takes 2-3 years, Energiya has begun “bookmarking” the ships, though the method of financing is not certain yet; the company is beginning the work with its own resources.

Cosmonaut Group update

An updated list of the Cosmonaut Group was posted by Anik at NASASpaceflight.com, reproduced below:

Cosmonauts of GCTC Detachment
Baturin, Yurii Mikhailovich	Deputy Commander of GCTC Detachment, Instructor-Cosmonaut-Tester of 2nd Class, 2 spaceflights
Ivanishin, Anatolii Alekseievich	Cosmonaut-Tester
Kondrat’ev, Dmitrii Yur’evich	Commander of Group of GCTC Detachment, Cosmonaut-Tester
Kotov, Oleg Valeriovich	Commander of Group of GCTC Detachment, Cosmonaut-Tester, 1 spaceflight
Lonchakov, Yurii Valentinovich	Commander of GCTC Detachment, Cosmonaut-Tester of 2nd Class, 2 spaceflights
Malenchenko, Yurii Ivanovich	Instructor-Cosmonaut-Tester of 2nd Class, 3 spaceflights
Padalka, Gennadii Ivanovich	Instructor-Cosmonaut-Tester of 2nd Class, 2 spaceflights
Romanenko, Roman Yur’evich	Cosmonaut-Tester
Samokutyaev, Aleksandr Mikhaylovich	Cosmonaut-Tester
Sharipov, Salizhan Shakirovich	Deputy Commander of GCTC Detachment, Cosmonaut-Tester of 3rd Class, 2 spaceflights
Shkaplerov, Anton Nikolaevich	Cosmonaut-Tester
Skvortsov, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich	Cosmonaut-Tester
Sura’ev, Maksim Viktorovich	Commander of Group of GCTC Detachment, Cosmonaut-Tester
Tarelkin, Evgenii Igorevich	Cosmonaut-Tester
Tokarev, Valerii Ivanovich	Commander of Group of GCTC Detachment, Cosmonaut-Tester of 3rd Class, 2 spaceflights
Val’kov, Konstantin Anatolievich	Cosmonaut-Tester
Volkov, Sergei Aleksandrovich	Cosmonaut-Tester
Cosmonauts of RSC Energiya Detachment
Artem’ev, Oleg Germanovich	Cosmonaut-Tester
Borisenko, Andrei Ivanovich	Cosmonaut-Tester
Kaleri, Aleksandr Yur’evich	Instructor-Cosmonaut-Tester of 1st Class, 4 spaceflights
Kononenko, Oleg Dmitrievich	Cosmonaut-Tester
Kornienko, Mikhail Borisovich	Cosmonaut-Tester
Kozeev, Konstantin Mirovich	Cosmonaut-Tester of 3rd Class, 1 spaceflight
Krikalyov, Sergei Konstantinovich	Instructor-Cosmonaut-Tester of 1st Class, 6 spaceflights
Lazutkin, Aleksandr Ivanovich	Cosmonaut-Tester of 3rd Class, 1 spaceflight
Revin, Sergei Nikolaevich	Cosmonaut-Tester
Serov, Mark Vyacheslavovich	Cosmonaut-Tester
Skripochka, Oleg Ivanovich	Cosmonaut-Tester
Tyurin, Mikhail Vladislavovich	Cosmonaut-Tester of 3rd Class, 2 spaceflights
Vinogradov, Pavel Vladimirovich	Commander of RSC Energiya Detachment, Instructor-Cosmonaut-Tester of 3rd Class, 2 spaceflights
Yurchikhin, Fyodor Nikolaevich	Cosmonaut-Tester of 3rd Class, 2 spaceflights
Cosmonauts of IMBP Detachment
Morukov, Boris Vladimirovich	Commander of IMBP Detachment, Cosmonaut-Researcher of 3rd Class, 1 spaceflight
Ryazanskii, Sergei Nikolaevich	Cosmonaut-Researcher
Cosmonauts not included in Detachments
Moshchenko, Sergei Ivanovich	Cosmonaut-Tester
Zhukov, Sergei Aleksandrovich	Cosmonaut-Tester
Shargin, Yurii Georg’evich	Cosmonaut-Tester of 3rd Class, 1 spaceflight
Russian cosmonaut candidates
Misurkin, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich	Candidate for cosmonaut-tester for GCTC Detachment
Novitskii, Oleg Viktorovich	Candidate for cosmonaut-tester for GCTC Detachment
Ovchinin, Aleksei Nikolaevich	Candidate for cosmonaut-tester for GCTC Detachment
Ponomarev, Maksim Vladimirovich	Candidate for cosmonaut-tester for GCTC Detachment
Ryzhikov, Sergei Nikolaevich	Candidate for cosmonaut-tester for GCTC Detachment
Serova, Elena Olegovna	Candidate for cosmonaut-tester for RSC Energiya Detachment
Tikhonov, Nikolai Vladimirovich	Candidate for cosmonaut-tester for RSC Energiya Detachment

Groups of preparation in GCTC

Designated ISS crews

Group	Prime	Backup
MKS-16 (ISS Expedition 16)	Whitson	Fincke
	Malenchenko	Sharipov
	Tani	Magnus
	Eyharts	De Winne
	Reisman	Kopra
MKS-17 (ISS Expedition 17)	Volkov	Padalka
	Kononenko	Sura’ev
	Magnus	Stott
MKS-18 (ISS Expedition 18)	Fincke	Lonchakov
	Sharipov	Barratt
	Wakata	Noguchi
	Chamitoff	Creamer

ISS preparations

MKS-gr1 (ISS Group 1)	Baturin, Kaleri, Tokarev
MKS-gr2 (ISS Group 2)	Kondrat’ev, Skvortsov, Valkov
MKS-gr3 (ISS Group 3)	Moshchenko, Revin, Skripochka, Shargin
MKS-gr4 (ISS Group 4)	Ivanishin, Samokutyaev, Tarelkin
MKS-gr5 (ISS Group 5)	Aimbetov, Artem’ev, Aymakhanov, Borisenko, Serov
EP-13 (Visiting Crew 13)	Prime/Backup: Shukor/Bin Khaleed
OKP (General Space Preparation)	Novitskii, Misurkin, Ovchinin, Ponomarev, Ryzhikov, Serova, Tikhonov
Yuzhnaya Koreya (South Korea)	Ko San, Yi So-yeon

Cosmonauts not included in Groups of preparation in GCTC

• Yurchikhin and Kotov are performing spaceflight aboard ISS as the Expedition 15 commander and flight engineer-1 accordingly
• Tyurin is on post-flight rehabilitation at GCTC
• Shkaplerov is GCTC representative at JSC (replacing Dmitrii Kondrat’ev, who was there twice more than previous representatives)
• Kozeev, Krikalyov, Lazutkin and Vinogradov are working in RSC Energia
• Morukov and Ryazanskii are working in IMBP
• Zhukov is working in Roskosmos

There was some confused reports that Anatolii Perminov said that NASA had rejected a proposal to co-operate in exploring the Moon, but as reported by New Scientist Space, NASA has denied this. In any case, the relevant thread at NASASpaceflight.com brought out the usual “Paranoid Patriots”.

I am debating whether to transfer this blog to an account at Wordpress.com; still can’t decide! The one thing I dislike about the free WP account is that the style sheet can’t be altered as it can with Blogger. The link to my blog isn’t showing up on my Blogger profile for some reason.

TMA-9 back home

Soyuz TMA-9, with Expedition 14 (Michael Lopez-Alegria and Mikhail Tyurin) and Charles Simonyi aboard, undocked yesterday (21st) at 09:11 UTC and landed at 12:31:30. It was the longest stay by a visiting crew (13d 19h 0m 16s – delayed by one day due to flooding in the original landing zone) and the longest stay by an Expedition Crew (215d 8h 22m 48s). Sunita Williams remains onboard and will accumulate the longest stay by a female NASA astronaut when she eventually returns home (on STS-117, launch delayed to at least 8 June because of damage to the External Tank from hail when it was on the launchpad in February).

News tidbits from the past couple of weeks:

From RIA Novosti, 12/4:

ISS is a mistake we fear to acknowledge – cosmonaut Grechko

“Manned orbital stations lead nowhere, I wrote in my report back in 1978, after a flight that set an endurance record,” Soviet pilot-cosmonaut Georgy Grechko has told the newspaper. “I said that human crews on the stations did not always combine happily with automated instruments. There are plenty of situations where a human being is a nuisance to automatic devices, rather than a help. I argued that stations should be visited only when their equipment needed repairs or replacement.

“Twelve or so years after I wrote that, the United States launched its automatic Hubble telescope into orbit. Since then, astronauts have mended it three times, and are now thinking of doing it a fourth time. The Hubble has made dozens of times more discoveries than all the orbiting stations taken together, complete with their crews and supply craft.

“Experience has shown that I was right 30 years ago. But we are all still sitting snugly on the International Space Station (ISS), in effect keeping it merely alive. For it to bring a profit, it must have a standing crew of six, while the actual number is mostly two. And they have no time for science. My colleague Sergei Krikalyov told me that when he was on board the station he could do science only on Sundays.

“A six-member complement on board the ISS is so far out of the question because no rescue ship that size exists in case something happens. Our Soyuz is a fine craft, but it no longer matches up to new tasks. Even following several upgrades, it is morally outdated.

“The Americans have money both for winding up the ISS program and for launching an interplanetary travel project. But when our state wants to make money on space tourists, you don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Russian pioneering space scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky said that space would bring us mountains of bread and a heap of might. But tourists bring neither. And I am not sure that the $20 million paid by the present tourist will all go to benefit space studies.

“As President Boris Yeltsin said in his day, commenting on a $5 billion IMF credit: ‘The devil knows where it has gone’.”

“Russia-Australian launch pad project unfeasible – expert”, Interfax, 15/4. Rather disappointing news that the co-operative project with Russia on building a launch pad at Christmas Island is unlikely to go ahead, due to lack of finances and the building of a launchpad at Kourou.

Discussion at NASASpaceflight.com of an ISS Russian module, the Docking Cargo Module (don’t know the Russian name), to be delivered aboard STS-131/ULF4 in 2009. It is part of the extended NASA contract with the Russian Space Agency.

With the modification, NASA also is purchasing the capability for the Russian Docking Cargo Module (DCM) to carry 1.4 metric tons of NASA cargo to the space station. That module is scheduled to fly in 2010. By adding the module, NASA will be able to fly outfitting hardware for the Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module on the DCM, eliminating the need to fly a cargo carrier and some ballast on a shuttle flight. NASA is obligated to deliver the Russian outfitting hardware to the station under a 2006 addendum to the ISS Balance of Contributions Agreement between NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency.

“The Space Partnership Between Russia And Brazil”, Space Daily, 17/4.

Via NK news №622, oligarch Roman Abramovich, looking for more ways to spend his ill-gotten wealth, has expressed interest in a flight around the Moon on a Soyuz spaceship, costing $300 million – mere small change for him. “In my opinion, it is much better for Russia than buying foreign football clubs,” remarks news editor Aleksandr Zheleznyakov somewhat sardonically. Perhaps one of the crew could shove Mr. Abramovich out the airlock. (News items at FP Space and RIA Novosti)

Happy Cosmonautics Day!

С Днем Космонавтики! It is 46 years since Yurii Gagarin was launched.

Cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin said that Bill Gates is considering a flight into space (he could probably afford to fund his own space program if he were inclined to).

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №619:

The number of people wishing to become cosmonauts has decreased considerably

For modern youth, a cosmonaut career has ceased to be prestigious, Pavel Vinogradov, the chief of the flight-test department of Rocket & Space Corporation (RKK) Energiya declared to journalists at the Baikonur cosmodrome. “If in 1985-1988 RKK Energiya examined some hundreds of applications in a year from candidates for the cosmonaut group, now the number of interested persons is only 20-30 people in a year,” Vinogradov complained. In the autumn of 2006 he returned to the Earth after a six-month expedition on the International Space Station. According to Vinogradov, the decline of prestige of the cosmonaut profession in society is in many respects connected with the low level of material compensation for work of the cosmonaut who receive the salary, “as ordinary engineers.” Interfax reported this.

(Russian version, Русская версия)

Another rich guy in orbit

…Big yawn. Just can’t get enthusiastic about that. The only time the Russian space program gets mentioned in the media here (Australia) is when a tourist goes up. A pertinent article at MSNBC.com: Russians fear becoming space cabbies – “Space experts worry new role will take away from needed development.” Which states exactly what I have been grumbling about in previous entries. The Russian space program has been reduced to a taxi service for bored rich space tourists and if that is all it is to be, they might as well end it. Sergei Korolyov would not be impressed with the way things are now.

However, this focus on tourism and making a profit has distracted the Russians from their original goal of building interplanetary space vessels. Rather, they are focusing on turning their portion of the ISS into a tourist and entertainment center in order to generate the funds to keep their operation aloft.

– Leaving Earth, Robert Zimmerman

For the record, Soyuz TMA-10 launched at 17:31:14 UTC on 7 April with ISS-15 and Visiting Crew-12 aboard, and docked at 19:10:44 on 9 April to the nadir port of the Zarya FGB module.

There is also a profile of cosmonaut Oleg Kotov – who is making his first spaceflight (at long last!) – by James Oberg at MSNBC.com. (The previous unflown cosmonaut to fly was Yurii Shargin on Soyuz TMA-5 in 2004.) The promised blogs of cosmonauts Kotov and Yurchikhin at Charles Simonyi’s site failed to eventuate, disappointingly.

More Sergei Krikalyov sightings at the launch: Energiya photo-report, April 6, 2007. Baikonur Cosmodrome, RSC Energia’s branch. Sergei appears in photos 1, 7, and 9 at a meeting of the State Commission the day before launch of Soyuz TMA-10. Energiya photo-report, April 7, 2007. Baikonur Cosmodrome, RSC Energia’s branch. Sergei appears in photos 14 and 16 at the final meeting of the crew and the State Commission.

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Some news tidbits, from Space Daily:

• “The Future Of Russia And Europe In Space”, 5/4
• “NASA Extends Contract With Russian Federal Space Agency”, 10/4
• “Russia To Expand GLONASS Satellite Group By Year’s End”