Cosmonaut recruiting changes

“US Astronauts will Learn Russian. Talent for Science will Take High Priority in Russian Cosmonaut Selection”, Roskosmos, 15/4. NASA astronauts will be required to learn Russian and study the Soyuz spacecraft as this will be their only means of transport to the ISS after the Space Shuttle is retired (and there is much controversy over that!). Also, when recruiting future cosmonauts, those who are researchers will be more emphasized:

Selection process of the future cosmonauts is intended to be based on their abilities to implement scientific and research programs. The Commission also discussed additional recruitment of test cosmonauts and research cosmonauts in 2009 for the ISS program (until 2015). The meeting was led by Roscosmos Head Anatoly Perminov, chairman of the Inter-Agency Commission.

A.N. Perminov proposed to introduce some changes into the Commission Protocol. He stated that “not only pilots, but researchers from the universities shall be hired to become cosmonauts”. The main emphasis should be made on the talented young people, who study prospective scientific topics. These people would continue their work during the space mission, and after it.

“Baikonur: Progress M-02M Prelaunch Operations”, Roskosmos, 16/4. This features some photos of the Orlan-MK spacesuit (№6) being tested at Baikonur; it is to be launched on the next Progress cargo ship.

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.

New Russian spaceship (maybe)

“Russia launches effort to design new spaceship”, MSNBC.com, 7/4. The Russian Federal Space Agency, Roskosmos, announced their choice for the Advanced Crew Transport System (ACTS/ППСТ) that is to replace the Soyuz: a design by RSC Energiya. It includes an Advanced Crew Vehicle which is to be named Rus’, «Русь». The design is to be done by June 2010; a cargo flight is to take place in 2015, and the first manned flight in 2018. Not surprisingly, the reaction to the announcement is one of cynicism (see this NASA Watch entry) as there is a big gulf between pretty computer images and bringing it into reality:

Every few years, the Russian space agency comes up with yet another plan for a Soyuz replacement. Sometimes this even includes a new launch vehicle proposal. Yet Soyuz is still flying and it flies on the same launch vehicle. I agree with Anon E. Mouse. “Show me the money!”

Some information can be found at: Russian Space Web; “UPDATE: ROSCOSMOS: ACTS’ design work until late 2010” at the Hyperbola blog; NASASpaceflight.com thread; Orbiter-Forum thread.

“Russian rocket plans may prompt new space race”, James Oberg, New Scientist, 7/4.

“Happy US-Russian crew deny ‘divorce in space’ ”, Space Daily, 10/4. NASA astronaut Michael Fincke denied the reports of tensions over supplies on the ISS. Also noted were some remarks from President Medvedev:

Meanwhile, Russian President Dmitrii Medvedev pledged that despite the financial crisis Russia will not cut funds to its space programme. “We will in any case earmark funds for the space sector,” Medvedev told journalists at a award ceremony for two Russian cosmonauts. “If we now – even temporarily – slow development, we will fall 10 years behind…I hope that our cosmonauts will always be at the forefront of the world,” the Russian president said.

“Interview of Anatolii Perminov, Head of the Russian Federal Space Agency, to the Vesti TV-Channel”, Roskosmos, 11/4. Provides an overview of the space program at the moment.

“Russia to Delay Martian Moon Mission”, IEEE Spectrum, 7/4. The Phobos-Grunt Mars probe has, disappointingly, been delayed from 2009 to 2011.

Critics have long called the Phobos-Grunt an overly ambitious enterprise that is beyond the current experience of a Russian space industry battered by a decade of economic crisis, dwindling staff, inadequate funding, and poor management. “All this is going to end up in a scandal,” says Roald Sagdeev, a physics professor at the University of Maryland and former director of the Space Research Institute (IKI), in Moscow, which oversees the science program of the Phobos-Grunt mission. “This project became so politically loaded that people involved will probably be reluctant to admit the true state of affairs until the very last minute,” he says.

Territorial dispute

Various news reports have appeared across the Internet about ISS-19’s commander, Gennadii Padalka, saying that rules requiring the crew to use their own nations’ resources and not those of others (e.g. food items, exercise equipment) are hurting morale. (Yahoo news report – reproduced below in case it disappears; the relevant NASASpaceflight forum post.)

Report: cosmonaut grumbles about space bureaucracy

Associated Press Writer Vladimir Isachenkov – Mon Mar 30, 12:42 p.m. ET

Moscow – Squabbles on Earth over how cosmonauts and astronauts divide up the space station’s food, water, toilets and other facilities are hurting the crew’s morale and complicating work in space, a veteran Russian cosmonaut said, according to an interview published Monday.

Russia, the United States and other countries require cosmonauts and astronauts to eat their own food and follow stringent rules on access to other facilities, like toilets.

“What is going on has an adverse effect on our work,” Padalka, 50, was quoted as saying in an interview conducted before he and his crew mates blasted off to the station last Thursday. They arrived safely at the outpost Saturday.

Russian space agency spokesman Alexander Vorobyov said he would not comment until he had read the interview.

Padalka, who will be the station’s next commander, said the arguments date back to 2003, when Russia started charging other space agencies for the resources used by their astronauts. Other partners in space station responded in kind.

“Cosmonauts are above the ongoing squabble, no matter what officials decide,” said Padalka, a veteran of two space missions, according to the newspaper. “We are grown-up, well-educated and good-mannered people and can use our own brains to create normal relationship. It’s politicians and bureaucrats who can’t reach agreement, not us, cosmonauts and astronauts.”

He said he had inquired before the current mission whether he could use an American gym machine to stay fit.

“They told me: ‘Yes, you can.’ Then they said no,” he was quoted as saying. “Then they hold consultations and they approve it again. And now, right before the flight, it turns out again that the answer is negative.”

While sharing food in the past helped the crew feel like a team, the new rules oblige Russian cosmonauts and U.S. and other astronauts to eat their own food, Padalka said, according to the report.

“They also recommend us to only use national toilets,” he was quoted as saying.

Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft were the only link to the space station when the U.S. space shuttle fleet was temporarily grounded following the 2003 Columbia disaster. They have continued to ferry crews and supplies to the station, and a Soyuz capsule is permanently docked at the station to serve as a lifeboat.

Padalka was also quoted as criticizing the Russian portion of the station, saying it looks backward compared to other sections.

“It’s built on technologies dating back to the mid-1980s, at the very latest,” he said. according to the report. “We are lagging seven to 30 years back in various space technologies.”

Russia’s space program fell on hard times after the Soviet collapse and struggled to stay afloat by selling seats on its Russia tries to weather its worst financial crisis since 1998.

“Siberian Tiger” posted a more extensive translation of the article at the Orbiter Forum and NASASpaceflight.com.

“Russian-European crew starts ‘Mars mission’ ”, ESA news, 31/3. The selected crew began their 105-day stay on 31 March. ESA has a dedicated website to the experiment. The ESA participants will be keeping journals; unfortunately the Russian ones don’t appear to be (unless they are posting on a Russian site somewhere I don’t know of).

A brief note in NK news №773 about Sergei’s latest assignment to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center:

1/4/2009 / 00:05 – Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev becomes the leader of the civil Astronauts Training Center

The head of the Center of the civilian astronauts will be pilot-cosmonaut Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalyov, who is currently the Deputy General Designer of RSC Energia. All necessary documents were signed this week, said the head of Roscosmos AN Perminov. It was reported by a source in the Russian space industry, says Cyber Security.

Official FKA/Russian Space Agency press release:

By the order of the head of the Russian Space Department, from 27 March 2009, the Hero of the Soviet Union № 97, the Hero of Russia (the Gold Star of the Hero №1) Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalyov, is appointed to the post of the chief of the Federal state budgetary establishment, the Yu. A. Gagarin Russian State Scientific-Research and Test Centre of Cosmonaut Training Research (RGNIITsPK) since 30 March of this year.

On 27 March, as communicated by a submitted statement, the 1st class instructor-cosmonaut-verifier of the Open Society RKK Energiya, and the assistant to the Open Society general designer of RKK Energiya, Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalyov, has been released from the position of the 1st class test instructor-cosmonaut, according to the order of the head of the Russian Space Agency.

He is the first civil head (Начальник) of the GCTC, which was transferred from the Russian Ministry of Defence to become an agency reporting to Roscosmos (Federal Space Agency).

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.

New NASA Columbia report

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

1.1.1 Events with lethal potential

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Haigneré suicide attempt?

Yesterday there was the rather surprising news that former ESA astronaut Claudie Haigneré had attempted suicide:

First Frenchwoman in space hospitalised after suicide attempt

Paris (AFP) – The first Frenchwoman in space and former government minister Claudie Haigneré was hospitalised late Tuesday after attempting suicide, a French government source said.

Haigneré, 51, was rushed to hospital after being discovered at her Paris home, where according to another source, she had overdosed on pills. She was conscious when hospitalized, the source said.

Haigneré was an astronaut with the French space agency CNES, flying on a mission to the Mir space station in 1996 and to the International Space Station in 2001, the first European woman to do so.

She later entered politics, serving as minister for research and new technologies from June 2002 to March 2004, before becoming European Affairs minister in the government of Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a post she held until May 2005.

She is married to another French astronaut, Jean-Pierre Haigneré, who flew on two missions to the Mir space station, in 1993 and 1999, the second for a six-month stay.

Although there is another report with her husband saying that the overdose was accidental (at the Le forum de la conquête spatiale, in French), so the circumstances are unclear as yet. I can’t understand why someone with such a successful career (unlike this writer) would want to take her own life as she would have everything to live for (she has a daughter also).

The news has been reported in a few spaceflight forums but – as with the case of Lisa Nowak (6/2/2007 entry) (whose trial is still ongoing) – there are some who get all sanctimonious about the topic and want to lock it.

Mars-500 ESA final selections

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).

• “ESA presents European participants in Mars-500 isolation study”, 5 December 2008
• “European Mars-500 participants announced”, 11 December 2008

The «Программа «Марс-500»» page at the IMBP site lists the crew (in Russian).

• Europeans (two are prime crew, the other two are backups):
  • Cyrille Fournier (France)
  • Arc’hanmael Gaillard (France)
  • Oliver Knickel (Germany)
  • Cedric Mabilotte (France)
• Russians (includes one woman):
  • Oleg Germanovich Artem’ev, Артемьев Олег Германович
  • Aleksei Viktorovich Baranov, Баранов Алексей Викторович
  • Sergei Nikolaevich Ryazanskii, Рязанский Сергей Николаевич
  • Sergei Alekseevich Spitsa, Спица Сергей Алексеевич
  • Marina Petrovna Tugusheva, Тугушева Марина Петровна
  • Aleksei Vasil’evich Shpakov, Шпаков Алексей Васильевич

“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.