A futile endeavor

“ ‘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.

Paranoid silliness

The next space tourist is to be the founder of Cirque du Soleil, Guy Laliberté. He has a mini-site and blog, Guy Laliberté’s Poetic Social Mission in space (I have to admit the title makes me roll my eyes cynically, but idealism has that effect on me – yes I am disillusioned). He will launch on TMA-16, currently set to launch on 30 September. His backup (not yet confirmed) is Barbara Barrett, who has a training blog; unfortunately its viewing is currently restricted.

A Russian artist called Sergey Krainev, Сергей Крайнев, does nice space-themed paintings (found this while browsing the NK forum through an online translator).

Astronaut Leroy Chiao was soliciting opinions on his blog for the Augustine Human Space Flight Review Commission. I have no interest in this, therefore no opinion. But I found one comment that was somewhere between unintentionally amusing and exasperating as it was of the “Paranoid Patriot” variety (I might note that Leroy Chiao is of Chinese descent), so it’s worth reproducing (with minor editing as some paragraphs were repeated):

The United States, as a nation and leader of the Free World, needs to be the guardian of the Lunar Future. The last thing I want to see on a full moon is a future Chinese Territory and have to have that countries approved visa for future visits, explorations and permission for development.

By our leadership we will make sure the Lunar Future will be a free and democratic society. Sure, we will invite other nations to participate, but through U.S. leadership we will ensure it is a just system for future resource development. It may look like a large rock in the sky at the moment, but as soon as commercial development finds a way to make money there, it becomes real estate. The question will be who gets to control the distribution of the best sites, who decides future taxation of resources, etc.

We have a unique situation that we have not seen for couple hundred years, and history is about to repeat itself. We need to claim this stepping stone now, and the Liberation points, then Mars. We can do it with international participation, but it must be with bold U.S. leadership for a democratic future. The investments we make now do not just effect the next couple of decades, but the next several hundred years.

For a fraction of what we are now spending on bailouts, we could have a very aggressive infrastructure on the Moon, then on to Mars. NASA must lead the way, then get out of the way, and let private companies find a way to make money and spur further development. Once lunar surface operations can be economically self-sustaining, then NASA can concentrate on Mars and beyond.

As Ronald Reagan said in his speech to console a grieving nation during the space shuttle Challenger tragedy; “The Future Belongs to the Brave, not the Faint Hearted, Now’s the time to be brave, there will only be one opportunity for Lunar Leadership, we need to make it ours.”

There is a reason why God put us in the position of being the first nation there [WTF???]. By our leadership we will make sure the Lunar Future will be a free and democratic society.

I still have a copy of the earlier Augustine Commission’s report after Challenger. I for one do not want a Red Moon Rising.

That’s why I find the space community such a turnoff generally – too many anti-enviromentalist Libertarians/Conservatives who have overdosed on Heinlein (whom I have never read, incidentally) and who think (or hope!) that colonizing space will be a re-enactment of the founding of the USA. (I have a related rant, “Space cadet growthists”, on my overpopulation blog.)

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.

Grim City

“Russia’s cosmonauts prepare for letdown”, LA Times, 10/4. A rather gloomy account by a reporter who was given a (paid) tour of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, portraying it as a mordant and run-down place. Cosmonaut Yurii Baturin had some pointed remarks about the space program:

Yuri Baturin is the only cosmonaut authorized to speak with reporters. He has cotton-white hair, tinted glasses and the calm presence of a man who, after two voyages into space, has lost the capacity to worry over details. You ask him about the Russian program and prepare yourself for exuberance.

Instead, Baturin pauses and sighs.

“This is a very difficult and painful question, because it’s not very proper to criticize your own government, especially in a foreign newspaper,” he says. “But our politicians who talk about the space program don’t understand a thing about it. I state today that Russia does not have a real space program.”

You remember when you’d just gotten to Moscow and your Russian-language teacher mentioned Yuri Gagarin. She stared, stupefied, at your blank face, as if contemplating whether she could teach her language to a cretin who didn’t recognize the name of the first man to soar into space.

And now here you are, eyeball to eyeball with an heir to Gagarin’s heroic legacy, and the more he talks, the more disappointed he sounds.

“Our space agency for several years is not calling the tender for a new ship,” he says. “They don’t know what for and where to fly.”

And: “The politicians don’t understand the complexity of the task. They announce Russia will land on Mars by 2030, which creates the illusion that Russia has a mission to Mars… [but] the government should not just try to be the first to put a flag on Mars.”

Finally: “Space tourism is only harmful to the Russian space program, in my opinion. In the corridors here you can find dozens of cosmonauts who would have accompanied a flight in the past seven years but didn’t because their seat was occupied by a tourist. It leads us into a dead end.”

[…]

Later, you’ll try to figure out whether what he said was true: whether, behind the screen of extravagant political statements, high-rolling space tourism junkets and U.S. dependence on Russia for lifts to the space station, there is a vacuum of purpose and projects. You ask around, and others agree.

“Unfortunately, we can’t say right now that Russia has a powerful space program,” Igor Marinin, editor in chief of Space News magazine, says when you call. “For a very long time we simply lived on the verge of extinction.”

“Russia to start flight-testing new cargo spacecraft in 2016-17”, 13/4, RIAN/Space Daily. Announcement by Energiya chief Vitalii Lopota on the spacecraft-rocket transport system to be designed by Energiya for Roskosmos’ Advanced Crew Transport System (PPTS). The spacecraft is to be launched at the Vostochnyi, Восточный space center (near Uglegorsk in the Amur region of eastern Russia), this to be completed in 5 years and operational in 2015.

ISS symmetrical

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.

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.

Space tourist oral histories

“Very Stunning, Very Space, and Very Cool”, Technology Review, Jan/Feb 2009. An oral history of the launch of space tourism.

Ansari: I didn’t let them see it. I thought, “Oh my God, they will think I’m stupid. I have my vomit floating around the cabin.” I managed to grab a bag before it got too bad. I just had a little bit of it floating around. The good thing about it is it’s floating, so you can catch it. I was able to catch it with a napkin and put it in the bag before they all could see it.

[…]

Simonyi: The final checkout is in a doctor’s office, with a medical team of three or four doctors. It’s the most junior one who gives you the enema.

Garriott: The thing is to try to make sure you don’t need to use the rest room on board the Soyuz.

Olsen: Here’s the reason: on the Soyuz capsule, there’s a ­facility for a bowel movement, but you really don’t want to make a bowel movement on it. Imagine using a teapot to make a bowel movement. All right?

And similar “delightful” anecdotes! These are laypersons’ views of space travel, rather than those of professional astronauts and cosmonauts, so are of particular interest to the general public.

“Russia: No more space tourists after 2009”, MSNBC.com, 21/1. Russian Space Agency chief Anatoly Perminov said there won’t be any more room for space tourists when the ISS crew expands from 3 to 6. The last commercial flight is to be made by Charles Simonyi (again!); he previously went up on Soyuz TMA-10 in April 2007.

Star City article

I’ve had a head cold since last week, so I haven’t felt much like doing anything. *Snuffle*

“Going to Space? First Stop: Eight Months of Grueling Training in Russia’s Star City”, Wired Magazine, September 2008. An overview of Star City, Звёздный Городок. A somewhat quirky overview of the place from the point-of-view of the space tourists training there.

Marina Driga, a military captain and press liaison, confides what some around Star City think of its high-profile trainees: “People say it is better to send monkey.”

“Mission Possible”, Anatoly Zak, Air & Space Magazine, 1/9. An overview of the Phobos-Grunt probe to be launched in 2009 (hopefully).

Soyuz tourist ship

“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.)

News tidbits

A news roundup from NK; the usual computer translations. Cosmonaut sea survival training, Russia’s space budget, another space tourist craft proposal, the new Russian Orlan-MK spacesuits, an IMBP experiment.

Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №210:

18/06/2008/00:08 – The annual training of cosmonauts began in the District of Sevastopol, with the support of the Black Sea Fleet rescuers

At the Black Sea on June 17 began the annual training exercises for the cosmonauts. According to Igor Dygalo, Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, “The training in the sea in the vicinity of Sevastopol Center is conducted by the GCTC cosmonauts in conjunction with the Office of Search and Rescue of the Black Sea Fleet of Russia.”

According to Dygalo, the purpose of exercises, which are a serious test for all participants in the upcoming flights, including backup crews and visiting crews, is “the development of the spacecraft crews’ skills of action after an unexpected splashdown of the capsule at descent.” Two Black Sea fleet vessels are provided for the cosmonauts’ training.

Weather in the area is conductive to the holding of the exercises: water temperature 21 degrees, cloudy, sea nearly completely calm.

20/06/2008/00:08 – Russia spends two times less in space than the USSR

Financing of Russian civil space has fallen more than twice since Soviet times, said Roskosmos. In 2007, the civilian space programs of Roskosmos was allocated $1.34 billion, while in 1989 the Soviet space program funding was $3.28 billion, said the report, published on the Federal Space Agency site.

From 1991 to 2004, Russia spent on space roughly the same as India. Only in 2004 did the budget of Roscosmos exceed that of the Indian Space Agency and amounted to $770 million. In 2006, funding for the Russian space program has been increased by another $100 million, the report said.

In so doing, it is still at $400 million below the cost of France for civilian space and $600 million below the cost of space in Japan. The European Space Agency is funding its space programme in the amount of $4.3 billion, that is more than three times as much as “generous” Russia. NASA’s space and aeronautics budget, the report noted, has grown from $11 billion to $17 billion since 1989. Over the past seven years, NASA costs are increasing annually by about $500 million.

Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №211:

24/06/2008/20:31 – Russian scientists began an experiment to prevent diseases requiring surgical intervention during interplanetary travel

At the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IMBP), Russian Academy of Sciences an experiment began on June 24 that will help scientists to develop a methodology for treatment of diseases requiring surgical intervention for future interplanetary expeditions, reported IMBP press secretary Pavel Morgunov.

“The experiment will last about a month, during which at least 8 healthy volunteers aged from 20 to 35 years will be required several times during the day to lie in conditions simulating the effects of microgravity (where the legs are up in the air at 15 degrees above the head),” he explained. In doing so, scientists will conduct infusion therapy (intravenous solutions introducing various drugs) and observe the redistribution of body fluids during the stay of subjects under the conditions of “weightlessness”.

In orbital flight when a disease requires an urgent operation, or is a critical condition, there is the opportunity to suspend the expedition as soon as possible and return the cosmonaut to Earth, recalled Morgunov, but this would not be possible during an interplanetary mission. Therefore, when preparing the system of medical support for an interplanetary flight, scientists are obliged to consider these principles and develop techniques for treatment of these diseases.

One of the fundamental components of surgical care and intensive therapy is infusion therapy. Modern hardware makes it possible to carry out infusion therapy even under weightlessness conditions. However, since there is no data on the impact of infusion in different environments on the parameters of the central and peripheral hemodynamics, gas exchange microcirculation and tissue in conditions of spaceflight, the scientists suggested a series of experiments modeling the effects of spaceflight to determine the impact on the effectiveness of various infusion media. According to Morgunov, “it is planned to assess the influence of some solutions on the volume of circulating blood, central and peripheral hemodynamics, the state of the microcirculation, tissue gas exchange and rheological properties of blood.”

After each day “resting”, the subject will undergo a thorough examination, because the main purpose of the experiment is “to compare the effectiveness of some infusion media in compensating for the losses of fluid in conditions simulating the effects of microgravity.”

24/06/2008/20:31 On the ISS next year crews will work in open space in the new “smart” Russian spacesuit

On the ISS, where crews are now working in open space, the complete replacement of the “Orlan-M” Russian spacesuit with the more modern “Orlan-MK” is scheduled.. The first Orlan-MK will be taken into orbit at the end of this year on a Progress Russian cargo ship, and in early 2009, to the International Space Station will receive two more, Sergei Pozdnyakov – general director of the “Zvezda” Scientific and industrial enterprise, where all domestic spacesuits are manufactured – said Tuesday.

The new spacesuits will gradually replace the ISS Orlan-M at the end of their life, which have faithfully “served” several crews.

The Orlan-MK is the fifth Orlan version and the first computerized Russian spacesuit, Pozdnyakov said. In the process of donning the suit, it prompts the cosmonaut for the sequence of system checks he must follow before going out in open space and reports on the status of these systems. If there are abnormal situations – for example, increased consumption of oxygen, etc. – relevant information is displayed on the signal panel, with a warning beep and instructions on what procedure to follow.

The new “intelligent” spacesuit would avoid situations like what happened during the exit of ISS Expedition 9 in June 2004. At the very beginning of EVA activities, the TsUP Mission Control Center specialists recorded an oxygen leak in Michael Fincke’s spacesuit, and the crew was forced to return to the station. The determination of the cause of the pressure drop in the Orlan took several hours, and the EVA was postponed for a few days. Now the spacesuit itself will “communicate” with the cosmonaut as to the reason for his “malaise”.

According to Pozdnyakov, ISS Expedition 18, which will be launched into orbit in October, has already trained to operate the Orlan-MK. If a cosmonaut forgets a procedure during an EVA, a special program will help him translate into the more simple Orlan-M management regime.

The new EVA suit weighs 120 kg and has a service life of 15 EVAs within 4 years of operation. In open space it protects the cosmonaut from the low barometric pressure, ionizing radiation, solar power, and micrometeorites. The system uses a high-performance thermal method of diverting the heat emitted by man through a water cooling garment. The intensity of heat removal is manually controlled by the cosmonaut by reallocating water flows coming in the heat exchanger for cooling.

24/06/2008/20:31 in the Black Sea near Sevastopol Russian, Canadian and Dutch astronauts are training

In the Black Sea near Sevastopol cosmonauts from Russia, Canada and the Netherlands are training. “The purpose of training is to prepare cosmonauts for a possible splashdown in the sea in the event of unexpected situations in orbit,” Yurii Gidzenko – pilot-cosmonaut, Hero of the Russian Federation, head of special training at the Cosmonaut Training Centre – told reporters .

“During one week we train two crew, which include not only Russian cosmonauts, but one astronaut each from Canada and Holland. They come to replace another two crews, who are also within seven days will be trained,” emphasized Gidzenko. In doing so, he clarified that “the technical equipment for training includes the Russian Black Sea Fleet ships and special equipment which was brought from the town of Star City.”

According Gidzenko, the sea training of cosmonauts was formerly conducted in Feodosia, Kudepste and other coastal cities. “For the past five years, cosmonauts have trained in Sevastopol. This is convenient and for us and the seamen the base is nearby with ships on the spot,” he said.

Gidzenko also noted the “close economic and scientific link” between Roscosmos and the National Space Agency of Ukraine. “We do not and never had problems with our Ukrainian colleagues,” the Russian pilot-astronaut asserted.

24/06/2008/20:31 – Russian small spacecraft “Dandelion”, designed exclusively for space tourism, to appear by 2012

A Russian small spacecraft (IAC) «Одуванчик» (Oduvanchik, “Dandelion”), designed exclusively for space tourism, will appear by 2012. This assumption was made on Tuesday at a press conference in Moscow by Igor Bulanov, Vice-Chancellor, Chairman of the department “Rocket and Space composite structures” at the Moscow State Technical University named after N.E. Bauman.

The specialized ship, which will “convey” only space tourists into orbit, is being developed by students and scientists at MSTU. According Bulanov “at the moment already started production of ship models.” “Tentatively, we expect to finish work by 2012,” he said.

According to the Vice-Chancellor, Dandelion can not be compared with any similar development in the world – it was “much cheaper and outperformed many other proposals.”

It is anticipated that Dandelion will take on board a pilot and four passengers or 600 kg of payload, and will perform a suborbital or orbital flights. It will be able to take off from a mobile automatic platform installed anywhere, and to land both with the aid of the parachutes and independently on a takeoff and landing runway.

“The Glass ceiling In Space”, Space Daily, 17/6. On the dismal state of Russia’s women cosmonauts (only 3 made it into space, and there are currently no active ones, though there is one in the training group, Elena Serova).

“Options for space tourists”, RIA Novosti, 23/6. Andrei Kislyakov opinion piece. Russia began space tourism, but has not managed it very well.

Pavel Vinogradov, a pilot-cosmonaut and deputy head of the Energiya Rocket Space Corporation, says: “Regrettably, space tourism is a big headache for us today. It does not resolve any financial problems, and undermines the foundations of our cosmonautics. We have to replace young cosmonauts with tourists… They are all good people but they are not professionals. Regrettably, we can only find room for them at the expense of professionals.”

More space tourist hype

“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).

Tourists replacing professionals

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №703. Cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov criticizes the space agency’s emphasis on flying space tourists who take the seats of professional cosmonauts.

5/5/2008/20:11 – Space tourism is a problem for professional astronauts, pilot astronaut Pavel Vinogradov believes

Space tourism is a great challenge for professional astronauts. This opinion was expressed in an interview with a correspondent from ITAR-TASS news agency during a recent leadership meeting of NPO Energomash with the cosmonaut deputy head of Flight Space Center, RSC Energiya pilot-cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov.

“Space tourism,” he said, “for we professionals to date, unfortunately, is a big problem. It does not solve any of our financial problems and undermines the foundations of our manned space program because we are forced to remove young cosmonauts and put in their place tourists. They to some extent, interfere with normal operations.”

According to him, “when the ISS crews are complete, when there are no issues – let the ‘tourists ’ fly. ” “Personally, I,” said Vinogradov “have no complaints about any of the tourists, they are all very good people, professionals of the highest rank in their fields. But they are not professional cosmonauts. And today, unfortunately, we can find a place for them but not professionals.”

Speaking of the scientific programme of the International Space Station, the pilot-astronaut, in particular, noted that “the ISS, in terms of its solvable scientific problems, unfortunately does not so far justify itself. Today we obtain results from the Station that are a percentage of what we received at the Station Mir,” he explained. “Of course, the reliability of ISS is much higher than that of Mir and even more so with the Salyuts, but we are constantly behind with the scientific programs.”

“Today a crew of three people can do some science and can fully occupied on the Station,” added Vinogradov, “but when a crew of 6 people lives on the Station, there will arise the issue of how to occupy them. Research is so constructed that we must always anticipate the possibilities of the delivery of scientific experiments on board, and we always lag behind.” According to the cosmonaut, “today we to a larger degree fly for this reason, or to transport our American and other partners to the ISS.”

“Soyuz debate considers removing US presence from the ISS”, NASASpaceflight.com, 16/5. NASA officials are considering bringing the U.S. ISS crewman, Garrett Reisman, down on the next Shuttle flight (STS-124 Discovery), because of the uncertainty around the cause of Soyuz TMA-11’s off-nominal ballistic landing. In that case, Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko would have to entrust themselves to the TMA-12 and hope it works OK!

Happy Cosmonautics Day!

Energiya said it would need $5 billion to complete the ISS Russian segment.

“Will Russia give space industry a boost?”, MSNBC.com, 11/4. Some items discussed at a conference dedicated to Cosmonautics Day:

• Space tourist flights will end after 2010 with the increase of the ISS crew to 6 (which will include 3 Russian cosmonauts).
• All Russian manned space programs would be transferred to the new cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East region of Amur, Vostochny, Восточны, by 2020.
• The Angara heavy booster rockets should continue to be developed.

The Buran test-analog OK-GLI arrived in Germany, transported by barge to the Speyer museum (description on their site). It is still described in some news articles as the orbiter that flew in space! It was an atmospheric model only, with two jet engines attached. Some photos of the journey along the river are at NASASpaceflight.com.

I was very enthusiastic about the Buran orbiter for a while, up to the hangar collapse in May 2002. After that I became disheartened and lost much interest (the Buran-Energiya program was unlikely to be resurrected again).

Soyuz TMA-12 into orbit

Soyuz TMA-12 launched yesterday at 11:16:39 UTC with Expedition 17 and Visiting Crew-14 (South Korean astronaut Yi So-yeon). Somewhat surprisingly there are Koreans living in Baikonur and Kazakhstan (courtesy of Joseph Stalin).

Yi So-yeon (I think Yi is her surname, if last names are presented first in Chinese fashion) has the usual intimidating array of qualifications (a biosystems engineer) and is a tae-kwon-do expert. She seems very enthusiastic.

Sergei Volkov is the son of a cosmonaut, Aleksandr Volkov, and is the first second-generation cosmonaut to go into space.

“Three Rocketeers For Shenzhou”, Space Daily, 9/4. Three Chinese astronauts are to go into space and one will make China’s first spacewalk later this year (at the time of the Olympics), but there is annoyingly little information about them or the mission!

TsUP (Moscow Mission Control) has redesigned its website, so it looks a bit better, but the same annoying Javascript menu is required to navigate – if you don’t have Javascript enabled, or are using a text browser, the site is inaccessible.

Disqualified

In a somewhat surprising announcement, the South Korean astronaut Ko San was dropped from the upcoming Soyuz TMA-12 mission because he apparently removed some training manuals from Star City without authorization. The manuals are Soyuz flight manuals – not exactly state secret material – so they seem to have been making more of a statement about his doing things he wasn’t supposed to do:

“The Russian space agency has stressed that a minor mistake and disobedience can cause serious consequences,” Lee told reporters. Lee said he believed the materials in question were not classified.

It seems a bit harsh, though. His backup is a woman, Yi So-yeon, so she will get to go up instead. (James Oberg comments at FP Space.)

There were several comments at FP Space regarding the article “NASA wary of relying on Russia”, starting with Kirill Simon and replies following.

As reported at the Buran-Energiya site, the experimental space shuttle Buran OK-GLI will be shipped to the Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum in Germany from Bahrain where it has been languishing for over 4 years during a dispute over its ownership. The model was exhibited in Sydney in 2000 but the organization that owned it then went bankrupt. It will at last be properly looked-after, though it’s a pity it could not be returned to Russia and exhibited. (CollectSPACE thread: Buran found, sold to German museum.)

The ATV Jules Verne ran into a technical problem after its successful launch: one of the four “electronics chains” controlling its propulsion system detected an anamoly and shut down. It is only a glitch so far; it’s unclear if the fault is with the electronics or the propulsion system.

Redesigning space sites

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

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

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

News tidbits:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The crew consisted of five men and one woman:

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

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

Anniversaries

Today is 50 years since the launch of Sputnik.

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

More articles from the past couple of weeks:

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

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №655:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[…]

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

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

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

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

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

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

Russian space tourist?

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

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

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

Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №653:

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

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

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

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

(Russian version, Русская версия)

New Energiya president

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

Other news tidbits:

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

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №640:

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

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

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

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

Progress M-61 is to launch on 2 August.

Russian loos rule!

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

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

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

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

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