ISS online

The first ISS spacewalk for this year took place on 14/1, from the Russian segment, the 24th Russian spacewalk. Details:

• Maksim Suraev (EV1, Orlan-MK №4)
• Oleg Kotov (EV2, Orlan-MK №5)
• Duration: 5h 44m (10:05-15:49)
• From Pirs
• ISS Daily Report, NASASpaceflight.com thread, TsUP

“At last, space station crew gets live Internet”, MSNBC.com, 22/1. I did mention in my 4/12/2009 entry that the ISS crews were getting Internet, and this article gives more details (see also “NASA Extends the World Wide Web Out Into Space”, NASA Media Advisory, 22/1/2010).

Humphries said the space Internet uses the station’s high-speed Ku-band antenna, so it is active whenever the station has that connection. To surf the Web, astronauts can use a station laptop to control a desktop computer on Earth. It is that ground computer that has the physical connection to the Internet. There are security restrictions in place to protect the Internet portal, which NASA is calling the Crew Support LAN (Local Access Network).

Energiya’s website is undergoing a makeover with a new design (reminiscent of NASA’s current site); the old one has been in place since the 1990s. They are still using a table for page layout though (a very outdated method now), and the site is not very accessible (too much Javascript, and I wish they would discontinue the images appearing in pop-up windows!).

I decided to rename my “Kosmonavtka” sub-site to “RuSpace” (Russian Spaceflight) which is easier to say and remember. I wish I had not chosen the Kosmonavtka name – it makes no sense (it means “lady cosmonaut”, «Космонавтка») and sounds wierd – but was stuck for a name at the time, and happened to see it in a book. Thankfully I did not choose it for my main site URL (it was an option I considered).

I found out how to do 301 redirects, so have spent the afternoon moving files. Unfortunately it means anyone who has linked to my site will have to update bookmarks or links (there are quite a lot), and search engines will have to reindex, which might take many months.

I don’t update my space site (or this blog) much anymore; I feel little enthusiasm for it. The manned space program itself is going nowhere slowly – or around in circles – and just seems stagnant. Perhaps if there were an international manned Mars mission my interest would rekindle, but such a mission is unlikely to happen for a long time, if ever, given the numerous problems in the world.

Space welding anniversary

A somewhat obscure anniversary for the 15th is the first electrical welding during an EVA, according to Roskosmos:

Electrical welding was first performed in space 25 years ago by Svetlana Savitskaya and Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Russian cosmonauts. They spent 3.5 hours in outer space cutting and welding pieces of metal. The universal space welding machine was designed by Electrical Welding Institute, Kiev. For more than 10 years, the scientists were developing this complicated instrument.

Today the cosmonauts involved in this first space welding attempt tell about their experience.

“It was easy due to 0-gravity”, says Svetlana Saviskaya. “However, many people thought that we had made a special performance, that we hadn’t been working in space. Like with the first step on the Moon.”

“In outer space, with this invisible ray, it was a real miracle,” adds Vladimir Dzhanibekov.

The machine was tested deeply, but the developers could not define its behaviour in space precisely.

Specialists of the Kiev institute are still sure that their instrument will be used in future. The first welding in space opened one more page in the space exploration history.

Today Russian cosmonauts and scientists from Kiev recollect their past achievements and the time when Russia and Ukraine were conquering space together…

Below is a photo of Svetlana welding, possibly the only photo of a female cosmonaut doing an EVA? (From the Capcomespace site)

STS-127 Atlantis launched at long last on its 6th attempt. More segments for the Japanese Kibo module will be installed, and two crewmembers will swap places (Koichi Wakata down; Timothy Kopra up). With 6 people on board going up or down at different times on different spaceships, keeping track of them all can be confusing!

MIM-2 photos

Energiya has some photos online of the next Russian module due to be launched, MIM-2, МИМ-2 (to make things more confusing, referred to in English as MRM-2, Mini-Research Module-2). It is currently due to be launced on 10 November, propelled by a modified Progress cargo ship. The last Russian module launched was Pirs in 2001, so another one is long overdue!

A very short (12 minutes!) internal spacewalk was carried out on 10/6 inside Pirs to change over a hatch in preparation for the docking of MIM-2.

• Gennadii Padalka (EV1, Orlan-MK №5)
• Michael Barratt (EV2, Orlan-MK №6)
• 12m (06:55-07:07 UTC)
• ISS Daily Report
• NASA
• TsUP

First Orlan-MK EVA

Gennadii Padalka (EV1, Orlan-MK №5, red stripes) and Michael Barratt (EV2, Orlan-MK №6, blue stripes) performed the first EVA in the new spacesuits on 5/6 for 4h 54m (07:52-12:46 UTC). The spacewalk was successful, aside from an initial delay caused by a faulty sensor reading saying there was excess CO₂.

• ISS Daily Report
• MSNBC: “Delayed spacewalk ends successfully”
• NASA
• NASASpaceflight.com: LIVE: Expedition 20 first spacewalk – June 5, 2009
• Spacewalk Briefing Materials
• TsUP

“Esther Dyson, Space Tourist in Training”, IEEE Spectrum, June 2006. Interview with the backup for space tourist Charles Simonyi.
A novel way of protecting ISS occupants from radiation is to use damp napkins! From NK №784:

22/05/2009/00:05 – Damp napkins will reduce the risk of adverse effects of space radiation

A special screen, which will serve as additional protection against radiation for the crews of the ISS, should appear on board the Station in early 2010.
“We have been successfully producing prototype draft-screen curtains and by the end of this year, the Rocket and Space Corporation Energiya specialists will put the product in a Progress cargo ship to be launched to the ISS in early 2010,” said Vyacheslav Shurshakov, Head of the Laboratory at the Institute of Biomedical Problems, part of the Russian Academy of Sciences, where the screen was developed.
The screen is equipped with curtain-pockets, in which will be inserted plastic packaging with wet towels used for personal hygiene and cleaning crews of the station.
The packaged napkins are impregnated with a material containing hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen, which effectively weaken the cosmic radiation, the scientist explained. Sensors are installed outside and inside the curtains to monitor radiation doses.
Additional protection for the ISS crew is provided by securing three layers of polyethylene packaging with wet towels on the walls of the cabin which, in the opinion of scientists, will further reduce the risk of the adverse effects of space radiation.
According to Shurshakova, the first results of the “Matryoshka”, «Матрешка» experiment on the ISS showed that the dose of radiation received by the vital organs decreases almost twice when you remove the person from the walls of the station to its center. “The Matryoshka-R with sensors installed on the ISS will allow us to test the effectiveness of the radiation protection provided by the sanitary napkins delivered to the Station,” he said.
It is anticipated that the experimental screens will be fitted in the cabins of the ISS Service Module Zvezda. If the effectiveness of the new protection is confirmed, future orbital stations and interplanetary ships will be equipped with similar screens.
The sanitary napkins can be used not only for radiation protection, but also to reduce noise in the cabin from constantly-operating machinery and devices, added the scientist.

“The Phantom Torso Returns”, Space Daily, 28/5, has more about the Matryoshka experiment.
The Kazbek-UM seats in the Soyuz are to be made reusable:

26/05/2009/00:05 – Seats for the Soyuz Russian spaceships will be made reusable

The Research-and-production enterprise (NPP) Zvezda is working on prolonging the life of the Kazbek seat. “Whereas it was previously a single-use device, in connection with the increase in the number of manned launches a series of modifications is being made in order to enable its re-use,” said an interlocutor in the Russian space industry.
According to him, after the return of the ship from orbit, the seats will be returned to NPP Zvezda to evaluate their condition. Specialists will do a range of repair work, after which the seats can be used repeatedly.
The speaker recalled that the last major change in the design of the Kazbek seats were made during the development of the Soyuz TMA variant, calculated for the flight to the International Space Station of both Russian and American astronauts.
The requirements of the anthropometric parameters of NASA astronauts were greater than for the selection of cosmonauts in Russia [in other words, the Americans were better-fed :-)]
. In order to accommodate the Americans in the Soyuz, the seats had to be lengthened and increased in size, explained the interlocutor.
The Kazbek seat allows a cosmonaut to endure g-forces during launch and re-entry into the atmosphere, cushioning the blow when the Descent Module hits the ground.

Russian moon rocket – maybe

I have not posted much as I just haven’t felt like it, and there has been little space news to interest me.

“Final European crewmembers announced for human Mars mission simulation”, 26 February 2009. Selected for the prime crew are Oliver Knickel, a mechanical engineer in the German army, and airline pilot Cyrille Fournier from France. Cedric Mabilotte and Arc’hanmael Gaillard, both from France, are assigned as backup crewmembers.

“Russia to approve new Moon rocket”, BBC News, 16/3. Anatoly Zak reports that Russian space officials are to select the winning proposal for a new rocket intended to carry cosmonauts on missions to the Moon. The rocket is to fly its first test mission in 2015 (if all goes to plan).

According to the objectives given by the Russian space agency (Roscosmos) to industry, a future rocket should be able to hoist a payload three times heavier than Russia’s veteran Soyuz spacecraft, including twice the number of crew, and use environmentally friendly propellants. The development of the new rocket should be accompanied by work on Russia’s next-generation manned spacecraft, which will use it to get into orbit. Russian space officials say the yet-to-be-named rocket should carry its first manned spacecraft in 2018.

Expedition 18 completed a spacewalk (#21A) from the Pirs docking module wearing Russian Orlan-M spacesuits on 10 March. This is the last time the -M designation will be worn; the next Russian spacewalk will test the new -MK suits with digital controls.

• Yurii Lonchakov (EV1, Orlan-M №26, blue stripes)
• Michael Fincke (EV2, Orlan-M №27, red stripes)
• 4h 49m (16:22-20:11)
• ISS Daily Report; NASA

Suits Orlan-M №26 & 27 have an on-orbit lifetime till 30 June 2009. In future they will be jettisoned respectively as RadioSkaf-2 and RadioSkaf-3 satellites in Russian spacewalks: the first of them will be launched during EVA #24 in November/December, the second of them – in 2010.

In the next Russian spacewalk (EVA #22, 5 June 2009) the new Orlan-MK spacesuits will be tested. At this time there will be three modernized spacesuits onboard ISS. The first of them, Orlan-MK #4 (#1170004) with blue stripes, was delivered by Progress M-65 cargo ship on 17 September 2008. The second of them, Orlan-MK #5 (#1080005) with red stripes, arrived aboard Progress M-66 on 13 February. The third spacesuit, Orlan-MK #6 (#1080006) with blue stripes, will be delivered by Progress M-02M on 12 May. (via Anik)

STS-119 Discovery launched on 15 March. It carries the S6 truss segment, and ISS 18-19 Flight Engineer-2, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata, who will be the first long-duration Japanese astronaut on the ISS.

The March 2009 edition of Russian Space, «Российский космос», has an article, «Надежда – мой компас…» (“Nadezhda/Hope – my compass…) on what former cosmonaut Nadezhda Kuzhel’naya, Надежда Кужельная, is doing now with her life: an Aeroflot pilot of the A-320. She was never given a space flight despite waiting ten years, and resigned in 2004. I have yet to do a translation of the article.

One item of information I am coveting but have been unable to find is a diagram of the TsUP/Moscow Mission Control Room, similar to this one of the new FCR-1. I have looked on the TsUP site, but there doesn’t seem to be anything. I would like to know the positions and roles of the TsUP flight controllers! (I posted this request at NASASpaceflight.com forum, but it has languished unanswered.)

I happened upon a copy of The Thrillionaire® by Nik Halik in my local library (Nik was Richard Garriott’s backup for Soyuz TMA-13 in October 2008). I have not actually read the book yet; just skimmed through parts of it. Nik is an Australian of Greek descent, born 1971. His book is evidently self-published (being a millionaire, he can obviously afford it!). Some advice: for a professional-appearing book, don’t:

• use the Photoshop “3D text effect” for your cover page title (looks tacky);
• double-space paragraphs rather than indent (double-spacing is the default for webpage paragraphs, but is hard to read on printed pages).

The “Thrillionaire®” title is rather gag-worthy (and the “registered trademark” symbol after it gets irritating). The book mostly consists of a bored rich guy’s adventures – namely undertaking activities such as deep-sea diving to the Titanic, climbing mountains, staying with a bemused Tuareg tribe, presumably to see how “the other half live” (I can imagine them muttering amongst themselves, “Who the f**k is this wanker?” or whatever the equivalent is in Tuareg :-); incidently the men veil themselves rather than the women – a nice change!), and so on. There are also a lot of “motivational” stories of the corporate variety (which I regard with eye-rolling cynicism). So that’s my impressions without actually reading the book. He’s certainly not shy about promoting himself.

New NASA Columbia report

NASA has released a Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report (16.2 MB PDF – press release page) featuring a detailed description of the sequence of events for the crew and orbiter during its breakup. A summary from the report is below:

1.1.1 Events with lethal potential

There were five events identified with lethal potential to the crew.

1. The first event with lethal potential was depressurization of the crew module, which started at or shortly after orbiter breakup.The majority of the SCSIIT findings related to the first lethal event were connected to the operational incompatibilities of the advanced crew escape suit (ACES) with the orbiter. The launch and entry suit was added in response to the Challenger accident, rather than as a part of the original vehicle design. The ACES was the successor to that suit. The suit protects the crew in many scenarios; however, there are several areas where integration difficulties diminish the capability of the suit to protect the crew. Integration issues include: the crew cannot keep their visors down throughout entry because doing so results in high oxygen concentrations in the cabin; gloves can inhibit the performance of nominal tasks; and the cabin stow/deorbit preparation timeframe is so busy that sometimes crew members do not have enough time to complete suit-related steps prior to atmospheric entry.

   As Columbia entered the atmosphere, one crew member was not yet wearing the ACES helmet and three crew members were not wearing gloves. Per nominal procedures, the crew wearing helmets had visors up. There was a period of about 40 seconds after the orbiter loss of control (LOC) but prior to depressurization when the crew was conscious and capable of action. Part of this short timeframe was undoubtedly employed in recognizing that a problem existed, as the indications of LOC developed gradually. The crew members could have closed their visors in this timeframe but did not. The SCSIIT attributed this to the training regimen, which separates vehicle systems training from emergency egress training and does not emphasize the transition between problem resolution and a survival situation. Once the cabin depressurization began, the rate of depressurization incapacitated the crew so quickly that even those crew members who had fully donned the ACES did not have time to lower their visors. Although circulatory systems functioned for a brief time, the crew could not have regained consciousness upon descent to lower altitudes due to the effects of the depressurization.

2. The second event with lethal potential was unconscious or deceased crew members exposed to a dynamic rotating load environment with nonconformal helmets and a lack of upper body restraint. The orbiter lost control, probably when the hydraulic systems failed due to hot gas intrusion in the left wing. The resulting motion was not lethal but did require bracing by the crew. The forebody (crew module and forward fuselage) eventually separated and the crew module lost pressure at orbiter break- up. When it separated, the forebody began a multi-axis rotation at approximately 0.1 revolution/second. Loads due to deceleration significantly decreased at the moment of breakup due to the change in ballistic number, but began to climb as the forebody continued to decelerate.

   After the crew module depressurized and the crew lost consciousness, the seat inertial reel mechanisms failed to lock despite the off-nominal motion. The reels were not defective; they were simply not designed to lock under the conditions the forebody experienced. The upper harness straps failed at some point prior to the forebody breakup, causing the straps to recoil back into the inertial reel mech- anism. Because the reel mechanisms did not lock, the unconscious or deceased crew members were exposed to cyclical rotational motion while their upper bodies were inadequately restrained. Helmets that did not conform to the head and the lack of upper body restraint resulted in injuries and lethal trauma.

3. The third event with lethal potential was separation from the crew module and the seats with associated forces, material interactions, and thermal consequences. This event is the least understood due to limitations in current knowledge of mechanisms at this Mach number and altitude. Seat restraints played a role in the lethality of this event. The breakup of the crew module and resultant exposure of the crew to entry conditions was an extremely significant event but was very difficult to characterize since many related events occurred in a short period of time. The consequences of exposure to entry conditions included traumatic injury related to seat restraints, high loads associated with deceleration due to a change in ballistic number, aero- dynamic loads, and thermal events. All crew were deceased before, or by the end of, this event. The ACES has no performance requirements for occupant protection from thermal events and may not provide adequate protection even for egress scenarios involving heat and flames. There is no known complete protection from the breakup event except to prevent its occurrence.
4. The fourth event with lethal potential was exposure to near vacuum, aerodynamic accelerations, and cold temperatures. The ACES system is certified to operate at a maximum altitude of 100,000 feet, and certified to survive exposure to a maximum velocity of 560 knots equivalent air speed. The operating envelope of the orbiter is much greater than this. The actual maximum protection environment for the ACES is not known.
5. The final event with lethal potential was ground impact. The ACES system provides protection from ground impact with a parachute system. The current parachute system requires manual action by a crew member to activate the opening sequence.

There are some “Redacted” sections; presumably containing details about the crew’s remains that the report authors didn’t want to be made public. There were reports of body parts found scattered over the landscape (sorry, this brings out my inner ghoul):

Reports of body parts being found started coming in Saturday night as emergency workers and residents searched hundreds of square miles of Texas and Louisiana for bits of what once was space shuttle Columbia.

In Hemphill, near the Louisiana state line, hospital employee Mike Gibbs reported finding what appeared to be a charred torso, thigh bone and skull on a rural road near what was believed to be other debris. Billy Smith, an emergency coordinator for three East Texas counties, confirmed the find.

“I wouldn’t want anybody seeing what I saw,” Gibbs said. “It was pretty gruesome.”

On a farm not far away, two young boys found a charred human leg, The Dallas Morning News reported Sunday. “From the hip to the foot, it’s all there, scorched from the fire,” said their father, Bob White.

I wonder if the bodies broke up during re-entry or on impact? Human bodies aren’t designed for high-g forces, as innumerable airplane crashes have demonstrated. [According to Dad, bodies that are found in pieces mean they have been shredded when in a fragmenting aircraft in the air; if not they turn into a “blob of jelly” when they impact the ground and all the bones shatter. So that’s some trivia you probably didn’t want to know.]

On a more cheerful note, Expedition 18 completed a spacewalk last week on 23 December wearing Russian Orlan spacesuits. Yurii Lonchakov (EV1, Orlan-M №26) and Michael Fincke (EV2, Orlan-M №27) were outside for 5h 38m (00:51-06:29 UTC). Reports: ISS Daily Report, NASA.

A random observation: I visit various spaceflight forums (see my links list) and it is rare to encounter other females! I don’t know why that is, as there are plenty of women in the aerospace industry (at least there are in the USA and Europe). (I did have a chance to begin a career in the industry a long time ago, but as with so much of my life, I botched that chance.)

Shenzhou-7 launches

China’s third manned space mission, Shenzhou-7, launched yesterday at 13:10 UTC with 3 taikonauts onboard. They are only staying in orbit for 68 hours, less than 3 days. The spacewalk will take place between the 29th and 30th orbits of Earth and last for around 20 minutes.

• CollectSPACE.com forum: China’s Shenzhou VII mission
• NASASpaceflight.com forum: LIVE: Shenzhou 7 Launch Day Updates
• “Russian experts to support China’s first spacewalk”, RIAN, 24/9
• “China launches riskiest space mission yet”, Space Daily, 25/9

A trivia note is that this is the first Shenzhou with a toilet!

No toilet was on board of the previous two manned spaceships. The men had to wear diapers. But this time a toilet is set up. The toilet seat is tailor-made to the astronauts’ physiques and it also includes a separate urinal.

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №731:

26/9/2008/00:05 – Roskosmos believes China is not a competitor but a partner

China’s space program is not considered by Roskosmos as a competitor. “We do not see China as a competitor rather see it our partner in the exploration of outer space,” said Aleksander Vorobyov, the head of the Roscosmos press service on Thursday, commenting on the launch of China’s third manned spacecraft Shenzhou-7 with three cosmonauts.

He congratulated China on the successful launch, recalling that the Russian and Chinese space agencies are cooperating on a wide range of works, including the first EVA of Chinese astronauts into space. One of the spacesuits on the ship Shenzhou-7, was produced in Russia.

In the coming years, Russia and China will organize joint projects of the exploration of Mars and the Moon with automated spacecraft. The project “Phobos-Grunt”, whose main task is to deliver to Earth samples of soil Martian satellite Phobos, the Russian interplanetary station will carry a Chinese autonomous vehicle to carry out Martian research. In turn, Russian specialists are directly involved in the Chinese lunar research program (orbiting, photography, landing on the surface, sampling soil and delivering it to Earth).

26/9/2008/00:05 – Russia needs to reorient its space program to co-operate with China

Russia should think about strengthening its co-operation in space with China, said a member of the K.E. Tsiolkovskii Russian Academy of Space.

“Today we need to think about who are our key partners in space. Perhaps the time has come to switch our focus from the West to the East. Economic, technological and political centers are concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region, where a vigorously developing China, Japan and South Korea are located,” a Russian expert, Aleksandr Ionin, commented during the launch of the third manned Chinese spacecraft.

In this context, said A. Ionin, the decision to build a cosmodrome in the Far East from a strategic perspective is the right step. He called for increasing cooperation with China in space. “Our country, unlike the U.S., does not suffer the affliction of an ambitious world leader and is ready to engage in manned and unmanned space,” said A. Ionin.

According to him, launching China’s third manned spacecraft during the flight of which a taikonaut will attempt an EVA, “this is a big step for China, but a small accomplishment for the world of space. In today’s world, beginning of EVA, which the Soviet Union and the U.S. have carried out more than 40 years ago, is a normal activity,” said the expert.

A development for a protective Martian diet:

26/09/2008/00:05 – Cosmonauts going to Mars will drink “light water” during the flight

Cosmonauts on the interplanetary flights may drink “light water” – water from which has been removed the heavy hydrogen isotopes and oxygen and possessing positive biological side-effects, which in particular, provide protection from radiation, Russian scientists said.

As the professor of the Institute of Biomedical Problems Yurii Sinyak reported at the conference in Moscow, dedicated to the development of life-support system for space flights, studies showed that “light water”, where deuterium and heavy oxygen are absent or their content considerably lowered, on the contrary, possess a number of useful biological properties.

In the experiments at the IMBP it was shown that light water protects from radiation: mice that received a significant radiation dose, had the longer lifetime, if they drank light water.

Furthermore, the anti-carcinogenic properties of light water was discovered; experiments showed that it slows down an increase in some types of tumors.

In experiments on Japanese quail birds, those that drank light water had a higher weight.

Professor Yurii Sinyak noted that studies of water with the changed isotopic composition began from the study of melt water, which also possessed a number of useful properties. He expressed the opinion that these properties were connected precisely with its isotopic special features.

“We decided to completely remove deuterium and then to verify how it worked. Then they began to remove heavy oxygen. They decided to test on plants, then on animals and finally man, to explain its anti-carcinogenic and anti-radiation properties,” said the agency representative.

He explained that the anti-radiation properties of light water are especially important for space flights. “If we fly to Mars, there there is no shielding from magnetic belts (Earth is protected from the cosmic rays by its magnetic field); therefore the danger will considerably higher for cosmonauts. It is necessary to search for methods both chemical and mechanical to reduce such radiation exposure,” said the professor. At the same time he emphasized that “everything which in space is achieved, is applicable on the Earth.”

(Article also at the Russian Federal Space Agency site, in Russian: «Космонавты в полете на Марс будут пить легкую воду», 25/9/2008)

“The US Has No Option But To Use Russia’s Soyuz Craft”, RIAN/Space Daily, 23/9.

NASA administrator Michael Griffin has described extending the service life of the hopelessly outdated shuttles, costing an additional $4 billion, as a jihad. Hence, he believes, the first and most obvious likelihood is that there will be no American astronauts or cosmonauts from U.S. or international partners on the space station after December 31, 2011. Only Russians will be there, he said.

The American concern has not a leg to stand on: Russia has always been noted for the scrupulous observance of its commitments. It never broke them even during the Cold War. Still, it will not give free rides to the Americans. The problem needs to be solved before 2009: Russian ships have a two-year production cycle.

Russia does not yet believe that the Americans can quit a multi-billion dollar project and let down their European, Canadian and Japanese partners. What’s more, Griffin said the ISS’s life could be extended beyond the established deadline of 2015. He said the U.S. was committed to building and using the station for most of the next decade. He added that the ISS held the main niche in U.S. space policy over the coming years and that medical and biological research on it would contribute to future Moon and Mars expeditions.

Typical of the negative attitude of many towards such co-operation is this post at NASASpaceflight.com, from the generation who grew up during the worst of the Cold War. Perhaps when my generation and those following (born in the 1970s onwards) are in power this nonsense will fade into the past?

I am in my 38th year as an engineer, I have worked Apollo, Shuttle and part time with Constellation. I normally only comment about the orbiters on this fine website as there’s a heart warming amount of interested people. However for the first time in my career I am now considering immediate retirement.

This is related to the passing of the INKSNA waiver, because NASA, and the U.S. showed how weak we are to countries like Russia, Iran and anyone else who have little regard for us.

Led by Mike Griffin, and a number of gullible politicians, we have sacrificed not only our domestic manned launch capability, but we have roadblocked domestic options to bridge the gap, with no regard for national security.

Well, you only have yourselves (namely, clueless U.S. politicians) to blame!

The next time Russia invades an ally of the U.S. and we see lots of angry reaction from the elected few, turn off the television, because they are liars.

More accurately, “when Russia responded to the Georgian invasion of South Ossetia”, but who cares about the facts? And since when was Georgia such an important ally anyway?

We’ve just approved billions of tax payers dollars to be taken out of the pockets of hard working American engineers, and into the pockets of the regime in Moscow. I’m old enough to remember the Soviet threats to my family and myself and a leopard does not change its spots, as we have seen recently. The message is “invade as many of our allies as you wish, we’ll stamp and shout, but we’ll also happily keep writing checks. Feel free to tell us to sit down and be a good USA.”

Griffin will tell you Shuttle is at the risk of a 1/8 chance of a disaster: An insult to the hundreds of engineers who have worked tirelessly after Columbia, which was a FREAK accident, and people like myself who have worked hard after Challenger, which was a FREAK accident, to ensure over 100 safe missions. And you think Soyuz is safe? It nearly killed its crew on the last two landings.

Two “freak” accidents? Perhaps indicative of design flaws? The Soyuz isn’t 100% safe either, but the two off-nominal ballistic landings were back-up modes and they certainly did not “nearly kill” their crew (though they caused some discomfort).

I won’t bother to post a snarky reply in that thread as it will likely just get deleted.

EVA-20 completed

Sergei Volkov (EVA-1, Orlan #27, red stripes) and Oleg Kononenko (EV-2, Orlan #26, blue stripes) completed their second spacewalk. This was the originally-scheduled spacewalk for various tasks. The duration was 5h 54m (17:08-23:02 on 15 July). Reports:

• ISS Daily Report
• MSNBC.com: “Spacewalkers spruce up the station”, 15/7
• NASA
• NASASpaceflight.com forum thread

ISS EVA-20a completed

“Phew! Spacewalkers remove explosive bolt”, MSNBC.com, 10/7. Sergei Volkov (EVA-1, Orlan #27, red stripes) and Oleg Kononenko (EV-2, Orlan #26, blue stripes) completed their first spacewalk to retrieve a suspected faulty pyro bolt from Soyuz TMA-12. The spacewalk lasted 6h 18m. More reports at NASA and this NASASpaceflight.com thread. Their next EVA is to take place on 15 July.

This blog entry regarded them as somewhat amateurish:

They fumbled and they stumbled, and wrestled with their space tools, but in the end, cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Sergei Volkov managed to cut through insulation and pull an explosive bolt from a Soyuz spacecraft parked at the International Space Station.

[…]

Nowhere near as polished as U.S.-trained spacewalkers, the Russians had problems finding their tools which were tethered to a special case and often tangled. At times the pair looked like a couple of amateur car mechanics with fishbowls on their heads, working with oven mitts, trying to change spark plugs with a spoon.

This was the first EVA for both; they also did not have extensive rehearsal training on Earth like the NASA Shuttle astronauts do. Russian EVA training tends to be more general, rather than focus on learning specific tasks like U.S. EVAs do (for Shuttle missions). The EVA was also somewhat unexpected (not initially scheduled). This item from Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №714 elaborates:

8/7/2008/09:28 – The ISS crew for the first time in the history of the Station conducted a second “general rehearsal” before going out in open space

A “general rehearsal” for the upcoming EVA will be held again today on the ISS. Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko will hold a second so-called “dry run” in the Russian space suit Orlan-M for the EVA, scheduled for July 10, said Valerii Lyndin, the official representative of Moscow Mission Control Center. The first rehearsal was similar to that of June 26, he recalled.

The Russians dismantled ducts in the Pirs docking module from where they will step into space, then donned 130 kg Orlans and “take a walk” in them in the module. There is provision also for entrance to the docking compartment of the Soyuz attached to Pirs, in which the crew could return to Earth in case of emergency. In addition, the crew must test the system transition and living quarters.

On the ISS this is the first precedent of this prolonged and thorough preparation for an EVA; usually crew conducts one training session in their flight suits and one in the spacesuits. However, this time Volkov and Kononenko decided to twice practice abandoning the Station and entering the “lifeboat” in the Orlan-M spacesuits. The reasons for this are several. First, Volkov and Kononenko are novices; for them this is their first EVA. Certainly, they worked out in detail all EVA operations in the hydrolaboratory of the Zvezdni Gorodok/Star City; however, training on Earth is still not work in open space. Furthermore, this output is unplanned; the cosmonauts before the flight did not do extensive training for it. The novices have to inspect “the lifeboat” – the Soyuz spacecraft – and extract the cartridge, which the specialists consider the reason “for the disruption” to the ballistic descent of two previous expeditions – ISS-15 in October 2007 and ISS-16 in April this year. This is not a trivial task even for an experienced crew, since the Soyuz is not fitted with handrails unlike other ISS modules. And one additional difficulty: conditions are complicated by the unusual configuration of the Station, when the Soyuz spacecraft, which usually is docket to the end of the Russian segment, is “moored” to Pirs, from where cosmonauts exit into space. In the case of a contingency situation for Volkov and Kononenko, it is necessary for them to move directly into the Soyuz Orbital Module in their bulky spacesuits so they can, after removing their spacesuits, take their seats in the Descent Module of the Soyuz spacecraft vehicle, in which the third member of the ISS-17 crew – American Gregory Shamitoff – will already be waiting.

According to Lyndin, the only precedent for such operations before Volkov and Kononenko VKD are Russian Alexander Kaleri and NASA astronaut Michael Foale (ISS crew-9), but both had experience of several long-duration flights on the orbital complex Mir, and the ISS Station crew then consisted only of two people, so the cosmonauts did not have to worry about the safety of a third crew member.

After some comments (from the NASASpaceflight.com forum!), the blog author edited:

Many readers rightly point out (see the comments section) that this was the first spacewalk for these cosmonauts and that Russians don’t traditionally undergo the same level of highly choreographed EVA training as their U.S. counterparts. They also point out the spacewalk achieved its objectives and was a success. Agreed on all counts and important points. No disrespect was intended. Nevertheless, it was a markedly different experience from recent NASA spacewalks. – RB

More on cosmonaut training from NK news №214:

9/7/2008/00:09 – Russian cosmonauts will do parachute training in Siberia

The group of GCTC cosmonauts who are undergoing parachute training will be based in a separate helicopter regiment of the Siberian air force and air defense, said Lieutenant Vladimir Drik, temporarily Acting Assistant Commander of the Air Force, on Tuesday.

“The main program for the group, which will be prolonged to the middle of August, consists of jump training, which is part of a comprehensive training for the cosmonauts crews for work in space,” said Drik.

According to him, the special exercises for the training of cosmonauts, developed by domestic specialists, which are to be undertaken in just a few seconds of flight, make it possible to train for complex combined activities. During the exercises the instructors check the rapidity of reaction, the speed of decision-making of the cosmonauts and the clarity of their actions, specified the assistant Commander.

“During the jump the cosmonaut must be able to simultaneously keep track of many sources of information, and at the same time be prepared for any abnormal situations. Parachute jumping for the cosmonauts brings out the necessary qualities for spaceflight – concentration, attentiveness, courage,” said Drik.

“Will We Ever Reach Mars?”, RIAN/Space Daily, 7/7. Andrei Kislyakov opinion piece, mainly to do with the upcoming IMBP medical experiment (26/6 entry).

Upcoming Russian spacewalks

Two Russian spacewalks in Orlan spacesuits are to take place at long last – the previous one was just over a year ago (6 June 2007). James Oberg gives an overview in “Next spacewalk will have an explosive twist”, MSNBC.com, 2/7.

Two Russian cosmonauts on the international space station practiced Thursday for a dramatic spacewalk planned in July, which will involve taking an explosive bolt from the exterior of a docked Soyuz spacecraft and bringing it into the station itself. The risky operation is aimed at figuring out why similar bolts on earlier Soyuz spaceships misfired, leading to two rugged, off-course landings over the past year. The cosmonauts hope to avoid similar problems when they use the currently docked Soyuz to return to Earth at the end of their mission in October.

The 2/7 ISS Daily Report provides an outline of both spacewalks (20A and 20):

EVA-20A Timeline Preview: Orlan EVA-20a by Volkov/EV1 & Kononenko/EV2 is scheduled to begin at ~2:18 p.m. EDT [18:18 UTC] (DC1 EV hatch open) on 10/7, to last an estimated 6 hrs. During the spacewalk, EV2 will be riding on the DC1-based Strela 1 crane, operated via hand crank by EV1, who will then join EV2. Main objective is the inspection of the Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft at its first separation plane (Plane I) followed by removal of one pyrobolt for return to Earth. Before removing the separation bolt, EV2 will install temporary protective covers on the spacecraft’s DPO attitude control thrusters, open up the MLI (Multi-Layer Insulation), demate the pyrobolt’s electrical connector and cut the wiretie between the pyrobolts. MLI will then be reattached and the covers removed again. If enough time remains after the Soyuz activity, the spacewalkers will also install a docking target (for the new MLM/Multipurpose Laboratory Module) in the SM PkhO (Transfer Compartment) area for zenith port docking. [Background: Before their separation, Descent Module (SA) & Instrumentation Compartment (AO) are connected by five locks, each “zamok” containing two pyrobolts with individual electrical connection, of which only one needs to fire to release the lock. The locks are equally spaced around the 360-degree circumference of the separation plane, i.e., 72 deg apart. After the five locks have released, five pushers, also equally spaced, separate the two modules by pre-loaded spring force. Each lock and pusher is located at the apex (node) of two triangularly arranged aluminum pipes, i.e., altogether 20 inclined pipes, which make up the open truss structure between the modules.]

EVA-20 Timeline Preview (preliminary): The Orlan EVA-20 by Volkov (EV1) & Kononenko (EV2) on 7/15 is scheduled to begin at ~1:14 p.m. EDT [17:14 UTC] (DC1 EV hatch open), to last an estimated 5 hrs 30 min, i.e., concluding at approximately 6:44 p.m. [22:44 UTC] Part of the EVA will be supported by the DC1-based Strela 1 crane, operated via hand crank. Main objectives of the Russian spacewalk are:

• Closeout ops on Soyuz TMA-12 Plane I inspection/pyrobolt removal (if not completed during EVA-20A);
• Installation of a new docking target on SM PkhO (Transfer Compartment), Plane IV, for MLM (if not completed during EVA-20A);
• Post-installation photography of the new docking target;
• Inspection of mounting holes for an adapter of a Kurs antenna (4AO-VKA) on PkhO-RO (SM Working Compartment, small diameter section);
• Transferring one “Yakor” foot restraint (of two) from the DC1 EVA ladder to the SM and installing it in an attachment socket at a PkhO handrail (two Yakors were installed on DC1 ladder during EVA-17A on 2/22/07);
• Installing the VSPLESK (“Burst”) science payload on the SM RO (large diameter section); and
• Removing the BIORISK-MSN (BIO-2) experiment container 1 from the DC1 for return to the station (BIORISK-MSN #1 was installed with two other BIO-2 containers during EVA-19 on 6/6/07).

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.

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

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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.

Back from the dead!

After deleting my website and blog in a fit of depression last month (February) (and perhaps due to a bit of PMS), we are back – Blogger were able to restore the blog (email for this is support@blogger.com – it is quite hard to find contact details in the Help section). Some annoying company also grabbed the URL to redirect it to their stupid commercial site (which is another reason not to delete – opportunistic spammers wait to grab the URL). So the two or three people who actually read this blog (and presumably weren’t too bored by it) can continue to be riveted by my ramblings :-).

Now for some catching up! I’ll just go through the postings in my manual journal. There is rather a lot, sorry!

February news

Expedition 14 completed a spacewalk wearing the Orlan spacesuits on 22 February – see Spacewalkers Successfully Retract Progress Antenna at NASA.

Space junk in Siberia, CollectSpace.com. Russia launches its rockets over land as its launch centers are not near any ocean, and the accumulated debris is a source of environmental pollution from the toxic fuels used (though the locals can make a trade in scrap metal from the rockets). The photo essay Spaceship Junkyard at Slate.com shows images of crashed rockets. I am not sure if there is any organized clean-up by the government. It poses a vexed question of whether the environment or space program should have priority.

“Why are we fighting for the Moon again?”, Andrei Kislyakov, RIA Novosti, 19/2 on why is the space race to the Moon being re-enacted again?

More details on the retraction of the stuck Progress antenna during the last spacewalk – it took quite a lot of effort – and the problems with Mikhail Tyurin’s Orlan spacesuit (the “phantom torque” experienced on previous spacewalks does appear to be due to “high-velocity water molecule ejection by the sublimators of the Russian spacesuits.”

A possibly interesting new novel featuring a Soviet cosmonaut. I hope the ending isn’t disappointing – i.e. that he defects! Probably won’t be available in Australia though (as usual). Though the excerpt (which I just read) is somewhat stomach-churning (involves rape and graphic violence). Ugh – maybe I will give it a miss!

A RIA Novosti letter:

Sir, thank you for producing such an informative and useful online resource. I am writing today in response to the opinion editorial piece by writer, Andrei Kislyakov. As a person who came of age during the “bad old days” of the cold war space race, I was steeped in the competitive nature of those endeavors. Now that I have gone back and studied the awesome and heroic achievements of the Soviet and Russian space programs, I really appreciate the talent and courage displayed by Korolev and the cosmonaut community. NASA has a great deal to learn from the logical, step-by-step approach used by Russia’s space pioneers. Too often our space program is driven by short-term politics in Washington. You can count me as one American who does not ever wish to see again the close-minded space races of the past. America and Russia should work together and share their strengths, not work against each other. Thank you for the fine piece. Ad Astra!

– Vernon Helvey, 21/2

The Soyuz launch base construction site in French Guiana was officially opened on 26 February. A commemorative stone from the Soyuz L-1 launch pad at Baikonur was placed at the new site. It is possible that manned launches could take place there in the future (especially if Russian relations with Kazakhstan break down). Though French Guiana is a colony (which some people there oppose); it has many social problems.

March news

The Independent Safety Task Force’s final report is online (as a PDF). Makes for some interesting reading! The Russian Segment unfortunately doesn’t get a good report, though the problems are old ones. Some extracts:

Acoustics (p.57)

An important aspect of human space flight is the control of the ambient noise level in the crew’s working and sleeping environment. The ISS acoustic environment has been high in the Russian SM, with continuous noise levels exceeding limits by 5-10 dBA in work and sleep areas. Hearing protection systems have been provided and are necessary for the crew while in the SM; however, comfort and the operational need to communicate prevent continuous use of hearing protection. Acoustic mitigation hardware has been developed and launched for the highest noise-contributing hardware in the SM, and installation of some of this hardware has improved the acoustic environment. As limited crew time is available, additional hardware will be installed that is expected to bring the SM acoustic levels to within design specifications. Hearing acuity of the crew is monitored before, during, and after the mission. There has been a permanent hearing threshold shift (hearing damage) at the highest frequency tested (8000 Hz) in one U.S. ISS crew member. There have also been temporary hearing deficits documented in other U.S. and Russian crew members, all of which recovered to pre-mission levels. The ISS Program continues to monitor the acoustic environment, and is making efforts to adequately address this threat to crew health.

5.1 Micrometeoroid and Orbital Debris (p.60)

It should be noted that Russians technical specialists believe that the U.S. models are too conservative in their predictions related to potential MMOD damage. This is based upon their experience from operating the Mir space station, where only four MMOD events are known to have occurred in its 15 years of flight. The Russians have a debris strike measuring system deployed on the Station that measures MMOD strikes on the system.

In general, NASA, ESA, and JAXA elements meet the specification for MMOD protection. The Russian docking compartment does not meet this requirement; however, it is a small contributor to the total MMOD risk. Russian hardware elements that were designed before they were intended for use on the ISS (i.e., Russian SM, Soyuz, and Progress) fall short of meeting the specifications. Modifications are being implemented to increase the SM MMOD protection as follows:

1. Conformal debris panels installed on the SM outer skin
   • Flight UF-2 delivered six debris panels in June 2002 that remain stowed but uninstalled.
   • Flight 12A.1 delivered 17 more debris panels in December 2006 to be stowed on orbit.
   • Installation of these panels is planned during spacewalks in April 2007.
2. Orientation of the SM solar arrays in the vertical position relative to the velocity vector (this option is available after the NASA power configuration is completed, enabling NASA to supply additional power to the Russian elements)
3. Deploying additional “wings” forward of the SM arrays

Technical agreements on possible enhancements to the Russian Progress and Soyuz vehicles have been made, but implementation is pending a Russian decision to proceed. The primary impact of the enhancements would be approximately 48 pounds of additional launch weight for each vehicle.

[…]

The data above do not include the Russian multipurpose laboratory module (MLM), which is currently under development. The MLM meets the Program’s specified requirements for MMOD protection, and its installation does not significantly alter the overall ISS MMOD posture.

5.11 Service Module Windows

Observations

The 13 SM windows are Russian-heritage hardware for which designers did not consider currently available data regarding MMOD in their design. The design consists of a two-windowpane (primary and secondary) configuration with the volume between the panes pressurized. This results in the external pane being the primary pressure pane. Unlike other windows on the ISS, most Russian windows do not have an external debris pane to protect against MMOD or an internal scratch pane to protect against damage caused by inadvertent crew activities. The probability of a critical failure (i.e., loss of a primary pane) is estimated by NASA to be one chance in six for all SM windows combined and one chance in nine for SM windows 1 and 2 over a six-year period. Loss of the primary pane would result in loss of redundancy in the window with respect to maintaining ISS atmospheric pressure. Early in the NASA assessment of the SM windows there were concerns that failure of the primary pane might cause failure of the secondary pane as well due to near instantaneous change in differential pressure since the volume between the two panes is pressurized. However, tests conducted by NASA using SM window hardware have demonstrated that the loss of the primary pane does not result in the loss of secondary pane.

Should the primary window pane fail, the concern is the need for protection of the secondary pane from damage that might cause a loss of ISS pressure. This protection involves first the determination that the primary pane has failed and then the installation of an internal cover to prevent further damage that might result in a failure of the final remaining pane. There are insufficient pressure covers on orbit at this time to protect against existing and future damage to primary window pressure panes.

Detection of a primary pane failure requires regular and methodical inspection and photography of the SM window so that analysis can be conducted to determine the structural integrity of the pane in question. Well-defined window inspection and photography procedures have not been developed to date, and routine inspections and photography have not been performed. NASA and Russian technical experts agreed on an implementation plan in September 2006, but it is unclear whether Russian management will implement its part of the plan.

Recommendation

5.11.1 The ISS Program should proactively, methodically, and routinely monitor the SM windows for critical damage and be prepared to implement protection of the secondary pane by having hardware available on board or as launch-on-need for implementation.

There are also some concerns about the upcoming ATV flight:

Observations (ATV)

There will be no test flights of the integrated ATV before the first vehicle will rendezvous and dock with the ISS. The ATV safety strategy is operationally implemented at three levels.

1. On the first flight, flight safety demonstrations will be conducted before the proximity operations safing functions might be required.
2. A two-fault-tolerant vehicle design protects the ISS from critical and catastrophic hazards.
3. Flight crew and MCC monitoring and control protect against unexpected scenarios.

The guidelines for the safety demonstrations are that:

• all safety functions will be demonstrated in a region that is not hazardous to the ISS before they would be needed.
• each activity is built upon in distinct demonstration phases.
• success criteria are provided for each demonstration phase.
• contingency plans are provided in the event that success criteria are not met.
• each step is evaluated before proceeding to the next step.

While this is a sound approach, the ATV systems that are used to accomplish a safe rendezvous and docking are complex and require a high degree of human interaction. To guard against failure, all aspects of vehicle design and operation must rigorously adhere to the defined safety strategy. Additionally, new rendezvous technology has been flown on two previous missions: the Japanese engineering test satellite (ETS) series and the NASA demonstration of autonomous rendezvous technology (DART). Both missions had problems with their autonomous rendezvous; and, in fact, the DART spacecraft collided with the target vehicle. The Japanese ETS rendezvous was eventually successful, but only after a month of on-orbit troubleshooting and modifications. With no planned test flight and two instances where other automated rendezvous systems had initial performance problems, the ATV is scheduled to rendezvous and dock with the crewed ISS on its very first mission. Without first requiring a successful test flight, and given the complexities of the new MCC in Toulouse, new flight controllers, the cultural and language differences among the three control centers of France, Russia, and the United States, and U.S. Export Control/ITAR restrictions that limit data exchange and conversations among the technical integrators and operators; the plan to demonstrate safety functions during an actual rendezvous on the first mission is considered ambitious.

Russia also announced it is looking for a new launch site in case Baikonur is unavailable. The main contender is Kapustin Yar (love the sound of that name!).

“Death throes and grand delusions”, The Space Review. Dwayne Day summarizes the current problems in Russia’s space industry and program. Not happy reading.

“Korolev R-7 Rocket Leads The Field For Reliability”, Space Daily.

Lisa Nowak was officially fired from NASA. Every time she is mentioned at the NASASpaceflight.com forum, the threads keep getting locked, rather annoyingly! People keep saying in moralistic tones, “We really shouldn’t discuss this,” but they do anyway :-). It makes a change from the mind-numbingly dull discussions about COTS and so forth. (I have no idea of what COTS is; I just pulled that up at random. :-)

New article posted at the Energiya site: MoonGasTransport Inc., “The interview given by Nikolai N. SEVASTIYANOV, the President and Designer General of the S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia to a reporter from ITOGY weekly Svetlana SUKHOVA.” More ambitious schemes from Mr. Sevast’yanov – he just needs 2.5 billion dollars to implement them! Perhaps one of the oligarches could do something useful with their billions and donate to the cause.

“The Story Of Women In Space”, Space Daily. Russian women were faced with many barriers to getting into orbit, one of the major ones being sexism from their male counterparts; something which is still apparent today. Only three Russian women have made it into orbit so far (the last in 1997).

Through this post at NASASpaceflight.com, found a document written by Sergei Krikalyov (27 December 2004), stored at the Русский фонд (Russian Fund) site. They are the PDF documents (in English and Russian) at the top of the page (the Russian one is online). (I posted this on the 2004 News page at my Sergei site.)

The report on international program for Earth defense from asteroid-comet threat is prepared under a Russian Federation patent from 27.12.2004 (RU 2243621 C1) “Method and device for generation of directed and coherent gamma-radiation”. In this patent under physico-mathematical and quantum analysis as well as work over constructional and technical details there is shown a unique and real way of defense a human civilization from a ruthless outer space.

In other words, using a laser to zap rogue asteroids!

Two recent articles by James Oberg at MSNBC.com:

• “The Kourou-cosmonaut connection”: future prospects for the new French-Russian Kourou spaceport. (The climate, though, is unpleasant: “High humidity, rain seasons, aggressive insects” – ugh!.)
• “Space station sinks to a new low”: the complex calculations needed to keep the ISS aloft and orientated.

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №614; criticism from the State Duma Deputy Valerii Rashkin over the closing of Svobodnyi Cosmodrome:

15/03/2007/16:56 – The Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Valery Rashkin: Russia does not wish to have free access to space

The deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Valery Rakshin has made a statement in connection with closing of the Svobodnyi Cosmodrome. In the statement he said:

“As it became known today from press statements, the Governor of the Amur area Leonid Korotkov has declared Svobodnyi Cosmodrome, which is located in this region, closed.

“The second is closed remained on territory of our country the space project focused on peace and military use of space. There is the Russian-only northern Plesetsk Cosmodrome. For all educated people it is clear that the more northern the cosmodrome (further from the Equator), there are subsequently reduced opportunities for the launch of large and heavy objects into orbit, let alone devices for distant orbital piloted space flights. The well-known Baikonur Cosmodrome remains in Kazakhstan; we only rent it. The Sea Launch project does not exist without problems and is not wholly Russian. The Kourou Cosmodrome is under the jurisdiction of France.

“Authorities of Russia, having made grand statements for ten years about new space projects and creation of the high-grade Russian Svobodnyi Cosmodrome, have again acted pragmatically and not strategically. They have shown only average thinking at the management level. Almost on the quiet (through the statement of the governor of the area – not that status of event) the country refuses space, scientific and innovative ambitions. And again hundreds and hundreds of qualified experts of the Military-Space forces will be dismissed. If this is innovative Russia with independent democracy, where is the innovativeness and especially the sovereignty?”

(Russian version, Русская версия)

Too Far from Home is a book mentioned in this thread at CollectSPACE.com. Seems to be yet another example of inaccurate reporting, if the reviews are anything to go by:

Though extensive accounts of the Americans’ backgrounds seems at first to put the brakes on, it’s a necessary counterweight to parallel passages about the little-understood Russian space program – essential information because the three eventually took “an accelerated, lung-crushing dive” in a Soyuz capsule.

Um, the Russian program is reasonably well-understood by now?

Too Far from Home vividly captures the hazardous realities of space travel. Every time an astronaut makes the trip into space, he faces the possibility of death from the slightest mechanical error or instance of bad luck: a cracked O-ring, an errant piece of space junk, an oxygen leak… There are a myriad of frighteningly probable events that would result in an astronaut’s death. In fact, twenty-one people who have attempted the journey have been killed.

Everytime a person ventures on the road in a car they face the possibility of maiming or death in an accident, occurrences that happen to people every day. Thousands of people are killed on the roads each year. And people think space travel is dangerous…?

With the launch program suspended indefinitely, these astronauts had suddenly lost their ride home. Too Far from Home chronicles the efforts of the beleaguered Mission Controls in Houston and Moscow as they work frantically against the clock to bring their men safely back to Earth, ultimately settling on a plan that felt, at best, like a long shot. Latched to the side of the space station was a Russian-built Soyuz TMA-1 capsule, whose technology dated from the late 1960s (in 1971 a malfunction in the Soyuz 11 capsule left three Russian astronauts dead.) Despite the inherent danger, the Soyuz became the only hope to return Bowersox, Budarin, and Pettit home.

The crew always had a ride home – the Soyuz served as a backup should the Shuttle be canceled (as it was). The technology in the Soyuz has been upgraded since the 1960s! And the last Soyuz fatalities to date were in Soyuz 11 (though there have been some near-misses).

From another review:

He wrote an award-wining article for Esquire on how American astronauts Donald Pettit and Kenneth Bowersox and Russian engineer Nikolai Budarin were stranded on the International Space Station after their ride home – the shuttle Columbia – exploded on re-entry Feb. 1, 2003. With the remaining shuttles grounded, there seemed to be no way to retrieve them. (They eventually returned aboard a Russian space capsule.)

*Exasperated sigh* No, the crew were not stranded… Inaccuracy really, really irritates me!

In the 19 March edition of The Space Review there is an article by Dwayne Day about the movie Virus – “V is for Virus, Volkov, and Vandenberg”! Turns out that the ship used in the movie was not the Academican Vladislav Volkov, «Аладемикан Владислав Вольков» (as I thought when I saw the movie screened on TV last year), but a decommissioned American missile tracking ship, the Vandenberg.

“Russian contradictions”, Taylor Dinerman, The Space Review. A typical neoconservative view of Russia’s intentions in politics (President Putin’s “vicious anti-American speech”, which can be read at Kremlin.ru, was stating a few truths and was hardly vicious), but does point out that Russia is doing quite well in its space program.

Regarding The Space Review site, Nicolas Pillet says in this forum thread, Article dans The Space Review sur le programme russe (in French) (approximate translation):

Before even reading the article, I would like simply to warn those who do not know “The Space Review” that it is an extremely “patriotic” media (I put quotation marks because actually it is necessary to include/understand “nationalist”…) It is the kind of magazine which, at the time of the war in Iraq, told off the “enemies of the freedom” which we are… I do not know any more which article it was, but once they said (one can more explicitly) Europe could not make anything in space, except for Italy which had modest experience in the construction of habitable modules… They are hardly nicer, I believe, with the “Soviets”… Then mistrust…

Taylor Dinerman seems to be one of the resident “Paranoid Patriot” writers there; articles by him (which Nicolas might have meant) include “How much international cooperation is really needed in space exploration?”, “NASA and ESA: a parting of ways?”, “Italy: seeking to maintain its political equilibrium in space”, “More international delusions”, “The French ‘non’, the Dutch ‘nee’, and their impact on Europe’s space policy”, “The European (French) response to Bush’s space strategy”. He has the typical neoconservative view of disliking Europe and its “welfare state”. (The neos wish to cut taxes, eliminate welfare, give corporations free rein and leave people to fend for themselves.)

I neglected to mention that 6 March was Valentina Tereshkova’s 70th birthday. (She is a year older than my mother!) RIA Novosti had an article about her (in Russian): «Валентина Терешкова открыла тайну, которую хранила 40 лет» (The first woman Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova reveals a 40-year-old secret) – no English version, unfortunately (there is a French version which might be easier to translate). At the end of the article:

At present, Tereshkova dreams to go to Mars, “a marvelous and mysterious planet”. “I am ready to go there, perhaps never to return,” acknowledged the woman cosmonaut.

I noticed that the Soyuz Crew Operations Manual (SoyCOM) – final (258 pages) is available in the subscription-only L2 section at NASASpaceflight.com. *Covets* Seems like all the good stuff has been moved over there!

The Kliper spaceship concept is to be resubmitted to Russian Space Agency by late 2007.

Expedition 15 cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov said they would be happy to carry out a spacewalk with an appropriately-trained space tourist.

Information via Anik at NASASpaceflight.com:

New information from Sergey Shamsutdinov (one of editors of Novosti Kosmonavtiki magazine): On March 6 the Russian Main Medical Commission (GMK) has declared Konstantin Kozeev and Aleksandr Lazutkin unusable to spaceflight due to medical problems, therefore they will leave RSC Energia’s Cosmonaut Group very soon… Also the new commander for the backup Expedition 17 crew is Gennadii Padalka now (instead of Sergei Krikalyov)… And Yuri Lonchakov, not Michael Barratt, will be the commander of the backup Expedition 18 crew…

Sergei is still commanding Expedition 19/TMA-14; he does not want to train as backup as he is very busy (and knows everything, anyway!).

MLM update

Expedition 14 is to begin their spacewalk from the Russian Pirs airlock at 23:00 UTC on 22 November (10:00 a.m tomorrow in Melbourne) and finish at 04:47 UTC (3:47 p.m) on 23/11.

Some news tidbits from Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №591. The completion of the Russian MLM module is to begin at last (the next module to be launched – the last was Pirs on 15 September 2001):

22/11/2006/00:05 A new order for RKK Energiya

The Energiya Rocket & Space corporation named after S.P. Korolev has received from the Federal Space Agency the order for the creation of the Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM, МЛМ) for the Russian segment (RS, РС) the International Space Station (ISS, МКС). The company press-service announced this.

On the press release published on the RKK Energiya site, it is emphasized that the state contract for the carrying out in 2007 of works on creation of the МЛМ is signed by the heads of Roskosmos and RKK Energiya on 3 November 2006. According to the contract the Corporation is certain by the general contractor of these works. Other participants in the project are: GKNPTs Khrunichev, NIITP (НИИТП), RNIIKP (РНИИКП), NIIAO (НИИАО), VNIIEM (ВНИИЭМ), NPP Quantum, NIIMASh Submicron, NPP Zvezda, etc.

The MLM will be created for the purpose of research & development, applied and functionalities of the Russian segment of the Station and increase the economic efficiency of its use due to an increase in volume and the list of given services. Its start into a circumterraneous orbit and incorporation into the structure of the Russian segment is planned to be carried out in 2009.

To effectively achieve the MLM’s intended use, universal and specialized workplaces on technology of replaceable useful loadings will be placed onboard, the onboard complex of management on the basis of modern devices and the equipment will be installed, and the configuration of its internal volumes in the interests of an increase in space for scientific equipment and payloads will be optimized. In the structure of the module it is planned to install a number of developments of the European Space Agency: the ERA manipulator and the DMS-R multipurpose onboard computer.

Russian version, Русская версия.

(I have no idea what all the acronyms of the various Russian companies mean!)

21/11/2006/15:05 The financing of space science in the Federal space program for 2006-2015 totals 26 billion rubles.

The financing of space science in the Federal space program/ФКП for 2006-2015 is planned to reach 26 billion rbl. The deputy head of the Roskosmos Federal Space Agency, Yurii Nosenko informed a press conference today about this.

Having reminded them that the common financing of the ФКП totals 305 billion rbl., he has informed that 16 percent (that is 26 billion rbl). This sum makes only 2 percent from the means allocated in the world on a space science is allocated for science, has emphasized the Roscosmos deputy.

According to Y. Nosenko, ITAR-TASS reports, in the FKP ФКП 12 large scientific projects are incorporated in three directions: astrophysics, researches of solar-terrestrial communications and research of the Solar system.

Now Russia does not have any scientific space vehicles. “We only participate in foreign scientific projects,” ascertained Y. Nosenko regretfully. Among these projects he has named five foreign astrophysical projects and five projects on studying the Solar System. According to the Roskosmos deputy, the Russian devices are installed on foreign space vehicles, and “work very successfully.”

Russian version, Русская версия.