Progress M-65 (30P) launched on 10/9 at 19:50:02 and was due to dock on 12/9, but this has been delayed until 17/9 due to Hurricane Ike forcing the evacuation of Houston Mission Control (and the rest of the city) – “Hurricane Ike disrupts traffic in space”, MSNBC.com, 12/9.
NASA has set up backup Mission Control teams for the space station near Austin, Texas, and in Huntsville, Ala. Yembrick said that the main Mission Control room in Houston is preferred to feather the space station’s U.S. solar arrays into an edge-on position to incoming spacecraft to avoid damage from thruster firings.
From orbit the hurricane looks deceptively calm and serene (ISS photos ISS017-E-015751 and ISS017-E-015752); like swirled cotton wool or whipped cream. NASA has a Hurricane Resource Page with updates, and the NASASpaceflight.com forum has a dedicated thread. The hurricane is a Category 2 and is very wide (nearly 1000 km across). The low-lying Texas coast means the storm surge will flood the region.
The Progress is carrying the first of the new Orlan-MK spacesuits, numbered 4; this is fitted with a digital computer in its life support backpack to process and transmit systems information, rather than the previous BRTA, БРТА radio-telemetry equipment. It will also indicate malfunctions and display the necessary recommendations to deal with these on a new special liquid crystal display (LCD) screen on the front chest part of the spacesuit. The Orlan-MK will be able to work in two modes: with the digital computer (as the MK) or without (as the previous M version).
Interesting tidbit: if a spacesuit’s serial number has a last even digit (2, 4, 6, etc.), then the spacesuit has blue stripes, if a last odd digit (1, 3, 5, etc.), then red stripes – a tradition of NPP Zvezda. (Via Anik) Thus Orlan-MK №4 has red stripes.
Some photo links of the spacesuits used for testing:
- NPO InterCoS: the Zvezda Museum page has 3 photos (1, 2, 3) of Orlan-MK №3
- Orlan-MK №1 in exhibition during MAKS-2005
- VisualRIAN.com: Orlan-MK №2
“Florida lawmaker opposes giving NASA permission to buy Russian spacecraft”, The Write Stuff, 12/9. If NASA loses its Russian/Soyuz access to space, the blame can be laid squarely upon cranky U.S. politicians! “Russia invaded Georgia” is somewhat more accurately phrased as “Russia responded to Georgia’s invasion of South Ossetia”.
Former astronaut LeRoy Chiao has a reasonably balanced blog post on the topic: “U.S.-Russian relations”, 31/8.
Prime Minister Putin signed a directive allocating 45 billion rubles ($1.8 bln) in additional funding for Russia’s space program. Funds will go firstly toward the construction of the new Russian spaceport, Vostochnii, in the Amur Region. Secondly will be ensured compliance with all the manned programs, which Russia exercises in the framework of international cooperation, taking into account all their commitments to the ISS. The third aspect is spacecraft, designed to enhance the effectiveness of Russia’s economy, such as meteorology, weather forecasting and scientific research.
