Just coming out of hibernation to note that another Russian woman cosmonaut is in orbit, after 20 years! Elena Serova launched on Soyuz TMA-14M as part of Expedition 41/42; she is the fourth Russian woman overall (following Valentina Tereshkova, Svetlana Savitskaya and Elena Kondakova). Sadly, sexism is still evident, but at least she made it up there!
Soyuz TMA-01M landed apparently safely yesterday (16) at 07:54, despite various glitches after its launch – see James Oberg articles “A Digital Soyuz”, September 2010 and “Digital Soyuz Return Could Be Rocky”, 11/3/2011. From the 16/3 ISS On-Orbit Status:
TMA-01M (#701), the first fully “digital” Soyuz, undocked from the MRM2 (Mini Research Module 2) Poisk port early this morning at 12:26 a.m. EDT, after the crew had performed leak checks of the vestibule area between the MRM2 and the Soyuz spacecraft, of their Sokol suits and of the hatch between the Descent Module (SA) and Orbital Module (BO). Three minutes after physical undocking, Soyuz performed the first manual separation burn. This was followed at ~12:33 a.m. by the planned test of the new RODK Manual Attitude Control in Digital Mode which provides automated LVLH (Local Vertical-Local Horizontal) attitude control. After a second manual sep burn (~12:39 a.m.), Kaleri performed the planned test of the ROAK Manual Attitude Control in Analog Mode, which involved the three new orbit-installed rate sensors (“micro ammeters”), designed to provide the crew with information on roll rate & roll angle (officials later pronounced both tests successful). At about 2:56 a.m., the crew activated the spacecraft’s VTsVK MCS (Motion Control System) “Chaika”. The actual de-orbit burn of 4 min 17 sec duration came at 3:03 a.m., resulting in a 115.2 m/sec deceleration. Tri-module separation occurred at 3:28 a.m.. 16 sec after the separation command, software pitched the PAO (Instrumentation/Propulsion Module) in the rear to a specific angle (-78.5 deg from reference axis) which, if PAO would have remained connected to the SA/Descent Module, would have resulted in enough heating on the connecting truss to melt it, thus ensuring separation. Atmospheric entry followed at 3:31 a.m. and nominal parachute deployment at 3:40 a.m.. Following initial observation by Russian SAR personnel in two helicopters, the Soyuz vehicle landed in snow at 3:54 a.m., tipping over in the wind.
“Star City at 50”, Air & Space Magazine, 1/3/2011. Article by Michael Cassutt giving an overview of where the Cosmonaut Training Center is now, and the challenges it faces (mainly chronic underfunding). It is rather disappointing the Russian Air Force does not seem interested in manned spaceflight; this surely would have some strategic value:
Though Roskosmos owns Star City, the agency doesn’t necessarily like the arrangement. According to former cosmonaut Yuri Baturin, “Roskosmos did not plan to absorb GCTC. But the Ministry of Defense specified reductions in armed forces, and simply included GCTC in that.” Apollo-Soyuz astronaut Tom Stafford put it more directly: “The Russian air force couldn’t afford to keep paying the bills. They don’t have an interest in manned spaceflight—they never really did.”
The cosmonaut-pilots also seem to have lost their training aircraft:
Under military control, the training center’s flight support unit, the Seregin Wing, had 16 aircraft, from Aero L-39 training jets to Tupolev Tu-154 transports. These were used by the cosmonauts to maintain pilot proficiency, and for weightlessness training. But in late 2009, the Russian air force disbanded the wing and dispersed the airplanes. “Except for one,” Krikalev notes, “a Tu-154 with glass hatches in its fuselage,” which was formerly used by the Ministry of Defense in NATO’s “Open Skies” program.
12 April marks 50 years since Yurii Gagarin’s first and only spaceflight, and the first manned spaceflight. The problem with these anniversaries is that, with the Russian space program at least, a lot of energy seems to be spent looking nostalgically backward, rather than planning missions for the future. Countries such as China (well, it’s the only other country outside of Russia and the USA to have independently flown humans into space) seem to be forging ahead in their slow but methodical manner. I would be tempted to wager that China will surprise everyone by announcing a manned Mars mission by the end of this decade!
Mars-500 is officially underway as of yesterday, with the crew secluded until November 2011. It is disappointing, though, that no women are participating – “Discrimination row after Russia ‘bans’ women from 18-month mock mission to Mars” suggests that they were unofficially banned for fears of repeating the SFINCSS-99 experiment. The decision has received criticism from various experts.
“The absence of women in Mars-500 Project yet again proves the presence on old-fashioned Earthly gender stereotypes,” complained Mikhail Salkin of the Moscow Human Rights Protection Centre. “The organisers were likely set on choosing men from the start. We suspect the endurance tests they set were more suitable to men than women, and the results will be a biased judgement because it will only apply to males, so will not fit the full picture. “Women should have equal access to any job so we are ready to apply to the Russian General Prosecutor on this and ask him to investigate. The organisers have also forgotten the social tension they can face among six men which might have been softened by having a woman on board.”
[…]
Psychiatrist Egor Rozenkov warned single sex isolation was “more dangerous” than sending a mixed group. “There is a lot of psychological and psychiatric evidence about the social pathologies that develop in isolated male groups, like in jails, the army or schools. “And don’t forget about the danger of sexual inversion. From the point of view of the health of the crew it will be a huge mistake to ‘send’ not a mixed but an all-male crew.”
Soyuz TMA-17 landed on 2 June with ISS-22/23. TMA-19 will launch on 15 June with ISS-24/25.
U.K. Russian space expert Rex Hall died of cancer on 31 May aged 63. Tributes at CollectSPACE, NASASpaceflight.com.
Expedition 22 (Maksim Suraev & Jeffrey Williams) landed on 18/3. Maksim was the first Russian space blogger, and his informal entries proved very popular with the public.
Roskosmos chief Anatolii Perminov said at the traditional meeting for the Soyuz TMA-18 crew on 19/3 that the financial crisis had not affected the process of preparing the cosmonauts for flight.
Some items from NK №843:
Russia could possibly increase the number of yearly Soyuz manned spacecraft launches from 4 to 5 from 2012 onwards, because of the timing of the construction cycle that takes 2.5 years. The fifth would carry a space tourist. Since 2009, Russia has doubled the number of launches from 2 to 4 to service the ISS with an increased crew of 6; space tourist flights were thus suspended in 2010. Two Indian cosmonauts will make an orbital flight on one of the extra ships in the 2013-2015 period, according to an agreement reached recently between Russia and India. The chief of Enerigya, Vitalii Lopota, said that a fifth Soyuz could possibly be constructed in 2010 to carry a tourist, possibly in mid-year.
Academican Lev Zelenyi (Лев Зеленый) of the Russian Academy of Sciences said that Russian scientists are not satisfied by the small quantity of the research experiments implemented on the International Space Station (only 2 or 3 out of 500 experiments proposed). Most experiments carried out are technological rather than pure science (one of the latter being “Plasma Crystal”). Despite his misgivings, though, his own opinion of the ISS has become more positive.
“In the beginning I was a complete opponent of the ISS, considering that it was a waste of time and resources. Why? It was the 90s, in space no nothing, space science ceased existence under Yeltsin. We started to put our scientific instruments on Western machines, and ISS absorbed most funding. This was done not in the name of science, but for the sake of political prestige. But now it is possible to assess what happened, not to look guilty or innocent, and to perceive what become a reality. ISS made it possible to preserve the ‘human face’ of our space program, and that its merit. It is certainly important in developing space medicine. Americans in this area have we learn something. And if we start talking, and then carry out a manned flight to Mars, some experience on the ISS will certainly be in demand and useful. Over the past years, we have much lost in space, but the experience of long flights is still preserved,” concluded the Academican.
Two women will be part of the second generation Chinese spaceflight group (along with 5 men), selected from a shortlist of 15. They are all aged between 27 and 34, are qualified to fly fighter jets, and all must be married mothers. (Guardian, Space Daily)
Xu Xianrong, an expert at the air force general hospital, said women had advantages as astronauts over men because they were more mentally stable, better able to bear loneliness and had better communication skills. The insistence that they should also be wives and mothers does not relate to their multi-tasking abilities. Officials are concerned that space flight might affect their fertility. “It’s out of the consideration of being responsible for the female pilots,” Xu told the state news agency Xinhua. “Though there is little evidence on how the space experience will affect the female constitution, we have to be extra cautious. After all, it’s unprecedented in China.”
They seem to be a bit more enlightened than Russia regarding women in space! (See 16/10/2007 entry.)
China is to launch the 1st unmanned experimental module of a planned space station next year (2011). It is an 8.5 ton (7.7 tonne) module, named Tiangong-1, or “Heavenly Palace”, and is to be first used for docking practice by the Shenzhou spacecraft – an unmanned Shenzhou-8 in 2013 – then manned -9 & -10 flights.
Soyuz TMA-17 docked on 22 Dec 2009 at 22:48 to Zarya FGB nadir port with ISS-22/23 on board, adding to Maksim Suraev and Jeffrey Williams. Maksim is still keeping his Orbital Log (link in my blog links to the right).
There was a post at the Mars-500 Livejournal blog (in Russian) that a Chinese volunteer might be included in Mars-500 (replacing one Russian volunteer).
From 15 to 18 December 2009 a meeting was held between IBMP specialists and Chinese Cosmonauts Training Center (KTSPK). The meeting was devoted to discussing issues related to the possible participation of Chinese experts in the project “Mars-500”. As a result of the meeting was agreed on the possibility of inclusion in the scientific program of the 520-day isolation in the framework of the project “Mars-500” three scientific methods. In addition, discussed the possibility of inclusion in the crew of a Chinese volunteer.
Good news for orbiting Internet addicts – the ISS has access at last (though experimental at the moment) – 3/12/2009 On-Orbit Report:
At ~11:05 a.m. EST, Jeff Williams conducted a one-hour video-based training session on the exciting new CSL (Crew Support Local Area Network) capabilities and hardware. [Crew Support LAN Phase 1 will provide live Internet access to the ISS crew (initially only USOS crewmembers) as safely, securely and reliably as possible whenever Ku-band is available. The access will be accomplished by connecting to a remote desktop session on a remote server (Citrix server) located on the ground, which hosts the virtual desktops, and the crew sees only an image of the remote desktop which does the Internet surfing. Video and audio can be received (but may be choppy or sometimes out of sync). The CSL, a virtual network completely separate from the station-wide Ops LAN, will use existing IBM A31p laptops and existing network hardware. Initially, there will be only one CSL laptop (Client 1) and one CSL server (CREWLAN SERVER) both set up in Node-2. After the initial testing, the CSL will be expanded to include up to four clients.]
The Roskosmos/Russian Space Agency site has had a makeover (though still using tables for layout, tsk, tsk) – the English-translated pages seem to have gone. Hopefully they will return? Also, my links in previous blog entries to their pages now seem to be broken – I hate it when that happens!
Soyuz TMA-15 landed on 1 Dec 2009 at 07:16 UTC with ISS-21 aboard. (NASA photo gallery)
Former cosmonaut Aleksandr Volkov became Head of Star City Administration on 22/10. Coincidentally, he did two long space missons with Sergei (Mir Principal Expeditions 4 and 10). (Roskosmos interview, only in Russian). There was a scandal surrounding the initial candidate, as described in this news article (reproduced below), where Colonel of the FSB Nikolay Rybkin was arrested for allegedly organizing the illegal delivery of an exceptionally large contraband of Chinese goods through Baltic Customs. This caused much indignation in Star City as he was a popular figure, and some thought the arrest a set-up.
The Star City scandal
By: Aleksandr Emelianikov, Vladimir Bogdanov
Yesterday, Star City held mayoral elections for the first time. The elections took place in scandalous and highly strung conditions related to the recent arrest of the main candidate, resigned Colonel of the FSB Nikolay Rybkin.
The situation got so heated that many respectable residents of Star City wrote to the president, asking him to support the free will of the citizens. 63-year-old Rybkin was detained late night on the territory of Star City on June 24. The next day, Basmanny Court gave orders for his arrest.
Rybkin is suspected of organizing the illegal delivery of an exceptionally large contraband of Chinese goods through Baltic Customs. A dummy organization was used, Rosmoravia, and Rybkin, a former chekist (KGB serviceman), is one of the founders of the company. These goods, with an estimated cost of 10 million roubles, were later sold on the Russian market. The judicial investigation suggests that part of the contraband was directed to Moscow’s Cherkizovo market.
The criminal case against the members of Baltic Customs involved in the smuggling from China and selling the goods on the markets of Moscow Oblast and other regions, including on markets the group of companies of ACT, was initiated in February of this year. The cofounders of LLC Rosmoravia, Tarakanov and Potocky, have also been arrested.
The Head of the Investigation Committee, Aleksandr Bastrykin, announced that he will be fighting to eliminate the Cherkizovo market:
“We have been searching for those responsible for these illegal goods in the amount of $2 billion. No one knows who had delivered these products here,” he commented on the outcomes of the investigation for the first six months of the investigation during the board meeting of his committee. He continued to say that “this pigsty needs to be shut down, and we will bring it to an end in the near future. Though not everything is so simple. When one digs deeper into the problem, protection rackets come to light that one cannot even dream of.”
Rybkin’s arrest provoked a huge response in Star City. The suspect was considered a respectable figure of authority who did many things for Star City’s residents. He was considered a great sponsor of the town. One of his widely known acts was reintroducing twelve swans that inhabit the town’s lake. There was a time when Star City was proud of these birds, but during perestroika, someone ate the swans and sent the bones to the town’s administration. Rybkin, once again, ordered the swans from abroad. He restored fountains. Near his house, he built an exact copy of the home where Yury Gagarin was born and raised in the Smolensk Oblast, and opened a museum named after Gagarin.
According to our sources in the special services, the chekist headed the local counterintelligence department for the last 25 years. In his youth, for several years he was a radio-gunner on a Tu-16 bomber. He then graduated from the KGB school, and in 1976 began working at the cosmonaut training center where he ensured the protection of classified government intelligence on human spaceflight.
In his line of work with counterintelligence, he got promoted to the post of Deputy Chief of the Center. He completed missions abroad. In particular, he took part in rescuing hostages in Somalia and Ethiopia, for which he was awarded the Order of the Red Star. In 1995 he stopped a dangerous criminal who was responsible for 200 crimes, including 28 murders. For that, the former KGB man was awarded the Order of Courage.
Right after the arrest over the scandal, his attorney Roman Smadych announced that his client would be prepared to go on hunger strike if there was not going to be an impartial investigation into his case, or if he isn’t granted the constitutional right to participate in the Star City mayoral election. Rybkin, however, did not go on a hunger strike after all, and his surname can still be found on the list of mayoral candidates.
Many residents of Star City are connecting Rybkin’s arrest with the elections. They think that someone is trying to eliminate the leading candidate from the race.
Aleksandr Volkov, Commander of the Cosmonaut Corps (1991-1998), and Hero of the Soviet Union: “I’ve known Nikolai Rybkin for more than 30 years. I doubt I will be mistaken if I say that no one worries about Star City more than he does: he worked with pensioners, cared for the veterans of the Great Patriotic War and those of the Afghanistan war. This is a person who cares about the future of this town, and the people who live here.
“One ought to consider that many people cast their votes well before the court ordered his arrest. I know that Aleksey Leonov cast an early vote. He especially went to Shchyolkovo to vote. And if one were to judge from our two houses, the election day turnout must have been high as well. Everyone perfectly understands that the decision of who will lead Star City depends on our vote.”
A curious bit of trivia noted in the article is that some Australian black swans (one of which can be seen in this Roskosmos news report) inhabit the Star City lake! (Some hapless swans got eaten.)
«Звездный с трудом снимает погоны» (“Star City difficult to demilitarize”), Roskosmos, 23/10 (only in Russian). Interview with Sergei Krikalyov on the problems of administrating Star City and transferring it from military from civilian control. A lot of the infrastructure is old and needs upgrading. The Russian Air Force/Defence Ministry seems eager to secede control over Star City – I thought it would have been an asset? One reason for the transfer is cost-cutting by Minister of Defence Anatolii Serdyukov (source). Something they may regret?
Soyuz TMA-14 landed on 11 October. Guy Laliberté was still wearing that blasted red nose! (I really hate clowns.)
“ ‘Space clown’ buoyant ahead of space launch”, MSNBC, 28/9. I can’t say I feel impressed with the anticipated antics of the latest space tourist, who is soon to launch on Soyuz TMA-16. Yes, I know it’s his money and he can do with it as he likes, but the “poetical social” blather he plans on indulging in seems frivolous.
Other space tourists have used their time at the space station to conduct scientific experiments, but Laliberté has different aims for his 12 days aboard the orbiting lab. “I am not a scientist, I’m not a doctor, I’m not an engineer,” he said. “I’m an organizer, a showman, and a creator – I have an entertaining personality, so that is really what I am bringing here.” Laliberté has promised to bring each crew member of the space station their own clown nose to wear, but plans to take two along for himself: one red, one yellow – “the yellow one I will wear when I am a little grumpy, and the red one I will wear when I am happy and joyful.”
*Rolls eyes in cynical disgust*
Laliberté also aims to use the trip to promote awareness of world water supply problems. On Oct. 9, he will lead a “poetical social” performance from aboard the station for the One Drop Foundation, an organization he set up in 2007.
“I start with the simple idea of reading a poem, which will involve characters like the sun, the moon and a drop of water,” he explains. “Those characters will then engage in a discussion, which will take the form of a little poetic story that we will read to the population of Earth.” Activists and celebrities, including former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and Colombian pop star Shakira, are to contribute to the performance from 14 cities worldwide, and all of it is to be shown on the foundation’s Web site.
One major reason for water shortages is human overpopulation, but I can be certain he won’t mention that factor. He also, incidentally, has 5 children, which is not helping the environment!
I was oddly reminded of this scene from Stephen Baxter’s novel Titan, where the renegade astronauts enroute to the moon of Saturn are going a bit crazy:
Benacerraf watched, discreetly, as Angel took up position near the water spigots of the galley. And, with his skinny, spindled legs folded under him, he started to play with water. Angel took a syringe now, for example, and filled it with water from a spigot. When he pressed the plunger, slowly and carefully, injecting water into the air, a small bubble grew from the needle’s tip. He jerked the needle away and the water took the form of a tiny planet, floating in the air. Angel worked his needle and produced a whole set of the little water globes, drifting in the air around his head.
Then he took smaller syringes from a set he’d improvised from medical waste, and injected the bubbles with iodine, grape juice, diluted orange juice, to stain them blue, green, yellow, red. Soon he had a whole Solar System, Benacerraf thought, with a miniature Mars and Earth and Jupiter, floating around his bearded head as if around a sun. Angel’s eyes followed the little spheres, entranced.
[…]
Benacerraf was no expert on abnormal states of the mind. But she hadn’t tried to discuss this with Mission Control. She wasn’t sure who would be listening any more anyhow. And on a planet where local wars were flaring over water management problems, the image of gaunt Americans playing head games with the wet stuff on some dumb Buck Rogers mission halfway to Saturn would not play well with the public.
“The Phantom Torso Returns”, Space Daily, 28/5, has more about the Matryoshka experiment.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.
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.
My main website, SuzyMcHale.com, is still not online (server failure). Hopefully back soon…?
“Russia’s Dark Horse Plan to Get to Mars”, James Oberg, Discovery Magazine, 21/5. On the Phobos-Grunt mission. Another article at IEEE Spectrum by Anatoly Zak is “A Russian Return to a Martian Moon”, June 2009. The Chinese microsatellite that will ride onboard is to be delivered to the probe manufacturer, NPO Lavochkin in Russia, on 17 June.
Soyuz TMA-15 launched last week (27/5) with Expedition 20, so there is now a crew of 6 onboard the ISS for the first time, all from the different space agencies involved.
Contradicting earlier media reports, Roscosmos representatives said that there are no plans to disconnect the Russian segment of the ISS from 2015 and turn it into an autonomous space station. Instead, there are plans to extend the lifetime of the ISS as much as its technical capabilities will allow.
From NK №786:
02/06/2009 / 00:05 – Russia has no plans to disconnect its segment of the ISS after 2015
Roscosmos has no plans to disconnect the Russian segment of International Space Station from the U.S. and create an autonomous station from 2015. “There are no plans for disconnecting us from the ISS. On the contrary, we have a plan for extending the operation of the Station, as far as its technical capabilities will allow,” said Aleksei Krasnov, the supervisor of manned programs at Roscosmos, on Friday at a news conference at TsUP mission control center.
“There is no reason to have the segments of the ISS partner countries taken apart,” added, in turn, the president of Rocket-Space Corporation Energiya, Vitalii Lopota.
They commented on reports by some Russian and foreign media that Russian specialists are discussing the possibility of removing the ISS Russian segment in the event that other participating countries of the project did not prolong the operation of the station until 2020. According to current plans, the ISS is planned to be in use up to 2015.
At the same time, A. Krasnov noted that even before the deorbiting of the station Mir, the possibility of using part of its modules as part of the International Space Station was explored. It is a similar situation in the case of the ISS.
“We do not exclude that we will explore the possibility of using the modules of the ISS assembly, consisting of orbital research complex in low orbit that would allow the Russian space program to develop further,” said Aleksander Krasnov.
Earlier, representatives of Roscosmos has been reported on the possibility of construction in orbit from 2020, a new space station that would become an orbital plant for the production of unique materials, as well as a trans-shipment base on the way to the Moon and Mars.
A ceremony was held for the lowering of the TsPK flag, but it attracted little official or media interest (the translation is a bit incoherent):
02/06/2009 / 00:05 – In Star City the unit banner has been farewelled
On 29 May 2009 in the town of Star City a farewell ceremony was held for the banner, writesYurii Baturin. The famous Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, established in 1960 as a military unit, was eliminated in accordance with a governmental order (№1435 from 1/10/2008). In its place there will be a new organization to train cosmonauts, but as a civilian federal government budgetary institution.
A monument to Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Alley to put members of the part. There were present family members of the military and the center, many with children. We cosmonaut veterans shed copious tears. And now, the last solemn march. Then the photographs of the flag. The standard-bearers probably have, as expected, began packing the banner for shipment, and the assembly did not disperse, but remembered, remembered… The mood for all was sad.
Representatives of NASA and the European space agency paid a tribute of respect to the banner and TsPK. But no-one from the Military-air forces command attended the farewell ritual. And after all the military unit as the Center of preparation of cosmonauts of the Air Forces was formed and for half a centur has made considerable glory for this kind of Armed forces of the country. There was nobody from the Ministry of Defence, nor from the Joint Staff, as if only an ordinary battalion of air field service was being disbanded. And this is a unique military division. It was not counted a significant event and in Russian Space Agency, under whose command TsPK now falls. Usually, generals from the Air Forces, and the management of the Federal Space Agency liked to address Star City from a podium and say high words to the heroes of space. Now words for some reason were not found, probably, it was difficult to look in the faces of the gathered. Probably, such a general lack of official attendance was an indirect recognition of the inaccuracy of the decision to reform TsPK.
Unfortunately, the press, except Novoi, «Новой» and Cosmonautics News, «Новостей космонавтики», has not been interested. There was no TV (possibly because there were no space tourists – a favourite central theme of space reportings).
Maybe this was for the better: no hypocrisy, had only their own flag.
Cosmonaut Aleksandr Kaleri will be the first to command the new digital Soyuz in September 2010, along with Cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka and the American astronaut Scott Kelly. (Sergei Krikalyov was at one time to be the first to pilot the digital version, but he now has other duties.) From NK №785:
28/05/2009 / 17:15 – Cosmonaut Kaleri will test the new Soyuz version
Flight tests of the “digital” piloted ship Soyuz are entrusted to the experienced Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri.
“Flight of the first ship in the new Soyuz series, which is equipped with a digital control system, is scheduled for September of next year. Cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri has been entrusted to pilot the ship, having had experience of four space flights,” the space-rocket industry interlocutor said. According to him, the appointment of the flight commander was preceded by a long dispute about who to entrust the management of the new machine.
Experience in piloting of the Soyuz ships was the basic requirement during selection of candidates. “On the list were many surnames, but eventually Kaleri was appointed as the commander of the ship,” the agency interlocutor said.
In the crew of the “digital” Soyuz, the Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka and the American astronaut Scott Kelly are appointed as flight engineers.
In April, 2008 the president of Rocket & Space Corporation Energiya, Vitalii Lopota during a scientific conference in Moscow said that the first “digital” Soyuz would go to space in the spring of 2009. But the launch did not take place in the announced time. In connection with necessity of carrying out of additional tests of the ship, the launch was delayed to autumn of 2010.
According to V. Lopota, installation of digital systems on the piloted ship Soyuz will require a crew of one professional cosmonaut, instead of two, as now. In that case, two nonprofessional cosmonauts can fly at once.
The modernisation of spaceships, according to V. Lopota, will bring Russian astronautics to a new technological level and to raise the safety of space flight. For the docking of the new ship to the International Space Station it is planned to use the standard scheme of docking. “We cannot afford to risk anything. Even though the ship systems were analogue, and are now digital. In no event will use of the new modernised systems change the planned algorithm,” said V. Lopota. The docking of the ship to the ISS will continue under the standard scheme, that is on the second day of flight, he has added. Visually, the president of RSC Energiya admitted, the digital Soyuz will not differ from previous versions of the ship.
The basic difference of the new ships is in the digital control systems. The control system of movement and system of onboard measurements has undergone modernisation. Innovations have allowed to increase speed and to lower weight of equipment. In contrast with the previous version, the digital cargo ship is capable to take aboard on 80 kg of more cargo, than its predecessors.
A busy few days at the ISS. STS-119 undocked after having installed the fourth and last set of solar arrays, so the Station looks symmetrical again (NASA photos). Soyuz TMA-14 launched on 26/3, carrying Expedition 19 and space tourist Charles Simonyi on his second visit to orbit.
I rather liked this comment in a NASA Watch article:
You have to note the differences between the shuttle and Station crews. The shuttle people appear to be very hyped up, still living in 1983 and full of false bravado (and what’s with those MIT baseball hats the wrong way around and cheesy embroided polo shirts, they look like an OAPs golf club on tour). Where as the station crew (presumably with its heavy slavic influence) is reassuringly nonchalant about the whole thing. “Spacewalk to connect some pipes? We do that every week.”
Vive la difference! I can’t wait for the permanent european and japanese crew members to arrive. Then we might be somewhere close to Kubrick’s best-guess. From the shuttle-heavy NASA coverage you might think it was Uncle Sam who built and paid for everything.
– Posted by: Ben at March 22, 2009, 5:14 p.m.
“Valley Girls: Esther Dyson”, BBC News, 29/1. Interview with Charles Simonyi’s backup, Esther Dyson.
“My parents were European. Mum was a mathematician and dad a physicist. We travelled a lot and knew about the world. I actually thought salesmen were the scum of the earth. I have certainly changed my opinion on that,” she said.
Her original opinion was correct! She has a website, and a Flickr account with photos.
The final 4 participants, all male, were selected for the 105-day study/test mission to begin on 31 March 2009; their training begins on 26 January 2009. Two of the group will undergo the mission, while the other 2 are backups. Four Russian crew (as yet unnamed) will also participate in the mission. The 4 Europeans are: Cyrille Fournier (France), Arc’hanmael Gaillard (France), Oliver Knickel (Germany), Cedric Mabilotte (France).
The «Программа «Марс-500»» page at the IMBP site lists the crew (in Russian).
“Russians Close In on Cause of Soyuz Landing Anomaly”, James Oberg, IEEE Spectrum, December 2008. Electromagnetic interference (EMI) from plasma flows over the surface of the ISS is thought to have damaged one of the pyrotechnic bolts that fire to separate the Soyuz segments, and thus initiated a ballistic landing, for Soyuz TMA-10 and -11.
“New space toilet has no door…yet”, MSNBC.com, 19/12. The new Russian-made toilet, installed in the Destiny Lab module, has no privacy screen but is otherwise functional. A second toilet will be much-needed, especially with the occasional breakdowns the original one has had! The design is generally reliable, though.
Forgot to mention last entry that along with the New York Times article “The Long Countdown”, there was a Soyuz interactive diagram, so below are all the screenshots from the Flash-animated diagram (I hate Flash as individual images can’t be linked to!).
Soyuz TMA-13 launched on 12/10 at 7:01:33 UTC and docked on 14/10 to the Zarya module at 8:26. TMA-12 is due to land on 24/10; its main issue is whether there will be another ballistic landing or not! Depending upon what counting method is used, this is the 100th Soyuz flight (What is the Number of Soyuz TMA-13 Mission to be Launched Soon?, Roskosmos site; also a CollectSPACE article).
Information about Soyuz space missions (for all Soyuz modifications).
Soyuz – the following vehicles bearing this name flew into space:
- Soyuz: 40 vehicles (Soyuz-1 – 23/4/1967, Soyuz-40 – 14/5/1981). Among these vehicles, Soyuz-2 (25/10/1968), Soyuz-20 (17/11/1975) and Soyuz-34 (06/6/1979) were launched unmanned. Though Soyuz-34 returned cosmonauts V. Lyakhov and V. Ryumin, who were launched in Soyuz-32, which returned to the Earth unmanned. In addition, one Soyuz launch – 5/4/1975 – failed; this vehicle followed suborbital trajectory during its mission (numbered Soyuz-18-1).
- Soyuz Т: 15 vehicles (Soyuz Т-1 – 16/12/1979, Soyuz Т-15 – 13/3/1986). In this row, Soyuz Т-1 (16/12/1979) was unmanned. A launcher exploded during prelaunch processing of one Soyuz Т-type vehicle (26/9/1983), and the cosmonauts escaped due to proper triggering of the launch escape system (numbered Soyuz Т-10А).
- Soyuz ТМ: 34 vehicles (Soyuz ТМ-1 – 21/5/1986, Soyuz ТМ-34 – 25/4/2002). Soyuz ТМ-1 (21/5/1986) was launched unmanned.
- Soyuz ТМА: 12 vehicles (Soyuz ТМА-1 – 30/10/2002, Soyuz ТМА-12 – 8/4/2008).
Totally, 101 Soyuzes were orbited from 1967 up to now. Out of this number, 97 vehicles were manned, (95 – up and down, 1 – only up, 1 – only down).
In addition to official Soyuzes, Kosmos vehicles (unmanned) were also launched.
If Kosmos vehicles are taken into account, we have even more Soyuz missions. Soyuz mission 100 can result from the count if we include:
- 37 vehicles of Soyuz type (1, from 3 to 19, from 21 to 33, from 35 to 40)- launched manned
- + 1 vehicle of Soyuz type (34) – returned manned
- + 1 vehicle of Soyuz type – which made suborbital mission
- + 14 vehicles of Soyuz Т type – launched manned
- + 1 vehicle of Soyuz Т type (in which LES was triggered during a blow-up at the launch pad)
- + 33 vehicles of Soyuz ТМ type – launched manned
- + 12 vehicles of Soyuz ТМА type – launched manned.
Total: 99. In other words, Soyuz ТМА-13 can be considered the 100th mission in this case. However such estimation looks doubtful, and such procedure/method has never been used. I do not recommend to use this counting method, since it would be difficult to explain the way to obtain this number (100). Moreover, this number is not reasonable.
(Following the request from Roscosmos site, Mr. Aleksander Zheleznyakov prepared this answer.)
Somewhat alarmingly, the ISS toilet broke down again (same gas-separator issue), but was apparently fixed.
“Space Crew Conflicts Not Expected”, Aviation Week, 6/10. Sergei Krikalyov’s opinions on crew interactions during long space missions. He was in Scotland for the 59th International Astronautical Congress. Best quote:
Asked about disagreements in which one astronaut might consider another’s approach to a problem “stupid,” Krikalev drew applause from the audience when he said “the way we do it in Russian space program, U.S. space program, the European program, we don’t have stupid people in our programs.”
“What Will Flight To Mars Reveal”, RIAN/Space Daily, 13/10. The main challenge for interplanetary missions is creating a sustainable Life Support System (LSS); the ones on the ISS are still dependent upon regular supplies from Earth.
“The Long Countdown”, New York Times, 14/10. Quite a good article about NASA/Americans’ experiences in Star City. International relations there have much improved since the tense and uncertain 1990s.
Those who work side by side with their Russian counterparts say that strong relationships and mutual respect have resulted from the many years of collaboration. And they say that whatever the broader geopolitical concerns about relying on Russia for space transportation during the five years when the United States cannot get to the space station on its own rockets, they believe that the multinational partnership that built the station will hold.
[…]
But the shuttle will soon be out of the picture. Those who are most familiar with the nations’ joint efforts in space say that the controversial pause between American flights can go smoothly, if the politicians would only stay out of the way.
[…]
The American workers at Star City say that on a personal level, geopolitics simply do not matter. Mr. Thiessen said that when such issues came up in conversation with his Russian counterparts, they would say: “That’s politics. Let the government worry about the government. We’re engineers. Let’s solve this problem.”
And this anecdote is rather funny:
Those early days were also marked by wariness and distrust, and the first Americans had a strong impression they were being watched. Mark Bowman, an early contract employee in Russia who is now back in Moscow as deputy director of NASA’s human space flight program in Russia, recalled a weekly teleconference with his boss in Houston. “Thirty minutes into the call the line would go dead,” Mr. Bowman said. “And that would happen every 30 minutes.”
One day during the teleconference, Mr. Bowman warned 28 minutes in that the line was about to go dead and said testily, “I sure wish these damned KGB guys would get longer tapes.”
“The next telecon we had,” Mr. Bowman recalled, “I swear to you, it went 45 minutes and then it went dead.” Apparently, he said, his hosts had upgraded to 90-minute cassettes.
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.
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.
“If I Were to Land on Mars...”, Air & Space Magazine, 1/11. Astronaut Don Pettitt’s account of the Soyuz ballistic landing he and Expedition 6 endured on 3 May 2003. He does note one positive aspect: the landings could be regarded as rehearsals for Mars landings!
So we had made a serendipitous discovery: Because of how the mission unfolded and culminated in a lost recovery, it had an uncanny resemblance to a trip to, and a landing on, Mars. We showed that barriers associated with such a trip, in the form of human physical performance deficits, can be overcome with the knowledge gained from the similar effects experienced on long-duration space station missions.
The parallels are striking. First we lived in a weightless environment for five and a half months. Depending on the choice of propulsion, six months is a good estimate for a one-way trip to Mars. So our level of deconditioning was about the same as that of a crew arriving at the Red Planet. We piloted our own spacecraft through a high-G entry maneuver, similar to what a crew may have to do at Mars. Our landing sequence involved a combination of parachutes and landing rockets, culminating in a hard landing on dry ground in one of the more remote places on Earth. For reaching the Martian surface, such a combination is an attractive option. And the landing site will be remote.
On our own, we performed a number of basic operational tasks not unlike those a crew might execute after landing on Mars, such as spacecraft safing, which involves reading procedures, flipping switches, and pushing buttons on the control panel to power down unneeded equipment to extend battery life for the radios. Since the Soyuz capsule ended up on its side, we did this strapped into a seat fixed to a slanted ceiling. We then opened the hatch by ourselves, unstrapped, and crawled out. In my spacesuit, I weighed 200 Earth pounds. On Mars, at 0.38 of Earth’s gravity, it would require over 500 Earth pounds to equal the same loading on my body. So while future Mars astronauts will wear heavier suits with life support systems, they will be lighter there than I was in Earth’s gravity. We deployed the survival gear that was scattered in numerous small bundles throughout the spacecraft. It takes a pair of strong hands to pull these bundles from their stowage in odd nooks and crannies – woolen clothes, food, water, a medical kit, a portable radio, and a flare-shooting pistol.
We performed all these operations with no outside help. We might as well have been on Mars.
“Opening The Window For Shenzhou 7”, SpaceDaily, 19/9. Shenzhou-7 is due to liftoff on 25 September. Zhai Zhigang will perform the EVA in an experimental Chinese-built suit, called “Feitian” after a mythological flying god; it weighs 120 kilograms, and each model will cost about 30 million yuan ($4.4 million) to produce. Liu Boming will wear a Russian Orlan suit to come to his rescue if necessary. Jing Haipeng will remain inside the pressurized Descent Module
“Russia And France Sign Contract To Launch 10 Rockets From Kourou”, RIAN/SpaceDaily, 22/9. The rockets will be Soyuz-ST carrier rockets used to launch geostationary satellites.
(Oh, and thanks to “FlyingSinger” for the nice post!)
According to Sergei’s biography page at Astronaut.ru (in Russian), he has reappeared on the ISS crew list, initially as a backup for ISS-21A (for cosmonaut Aleksandr Kaleri on the prime crew):
In 2008, Sergei has tentatively been named as part of the backup crew of ISS-21A. According to these plans, the prime crew will launch on Soyuz TMA-18 in March 2010. This will be the first flight of a new modification of the Soyuz-TMA spaceship (700 – Series 1).
“Russia seals agreement with private investor for space tourism”, Space Daily, 2/7. After some confusion it seems this project is real (see announcement at Space Adventures early in June).
The Russian space agency has sealed a deal with a private investor to build a Soyuz spacecraft specially for tourist hire and operational in 2011, a statement said Wednesday. “We have concluded an agreement with an investor to begin financing such a Soyuz vessel with an anticipated launch date of 2011,” the Roskosmos website stated. The craft, piloted by a professional astronaut, is designed to carry two so-called space adventurers.
I can’t feel much enthusiasm for it (see 15/6 entry and Cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov’s complaints in the 18/5 entry). The once-grand vision of the Soviet space program has been degraded into a taxi service for bored rich capitalists. I don’t believe government programs should be providing rides for tourists – leave that to the private industry! (Whenever the latter actually launches a spaceship into orbit.)
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).
“Russia could learn from U.S. space program”, RIA Novosti, 9/6. Andrei Kislyakov opinion piece, reiterating what was mentioned in my previous entry.
Space Daily: “Two Suits For Shenzhou”; “China manned space flight set for October”.China is to launch Shenzhou-7 with 3 taikonauts aboard in October, one (or maybe two) of whom will perform a spacewalk.
“Google co-founder aims for space”, Cosmic Log, 11/6. More ambitious Russia-related space tourist plans were announced last week by Space Adventures: it is to purchase a Soyuz flight and fly 2 space tourists with a cosmonaut pilot, one of who will be Sergei Brin (a founder of Google), but Anatolii Perminov denied that he had information about any of these plans. ‘There is simply no room for space tourists,’ he was quoted as saying. ‘Space tourism will be suspended.’ ” The professional cosmonauts, many of whom have been waiting for their first flight for more than 10 years, won’t be impressed! As I have grumbled many times before, the Russian space program has degenerated into a Soyuz taxi service, not a real exploration program. Tourism should be done by private operators (if they ever manage to get viable spaceships going).
