Crew Performs Maintenance, Takes a Ride


Images above: Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria uses
a computer in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station.
Photo credit: NASA.

The Expedition 14 crew performed maintenance and experiments and went for a short ride outside their orbital home this week.

On Tuesday, the Expedition 14 crew members boarded their Soyuz spacecraft for a short move. With Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin at the controls, they undocked from the Zvezda port at 3:14 p.m. EDT and redocked to the Earth-facing Zarya module port at 3:34 p.m. This relocation frees the Zvezda's docking port for the arrival of a new Russian Progress cargo spacecraft later this month.

One of the station's four Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs) used to maintain the station's orientation in space was shut down early Tuesday after exceeding the allowed vibration limit. Flight controllers are evaluating future plans for the CMG and any changes that might be needed to assembly operations during the next shuttle mission, STS-116, as a result.

After completion of leak checks between the ISS Progress 22 spacecraft and the Pirs docking compartment on Thursday, the crew opened the hatch to the Progress on Friday and moved some unneeded items into the docked cargo craft. The Progress will be undocked from the station later this year to burn up during re-entry into the atmosphere.

Source: NASA - Space Station

Expedition 14 Continues Experiments, Training and Testing

The Expedition 14 crew members continue scientific experiments, routine maintenance and training on crew medical procedures. On Wednesday they will conduct a test of the Space Video Gateway hardware to be used in November for the first HDTV interactive downlinks with the Discovery Channel and NHK.


Image above: Michael E. Lopez-Alegria,
Expedition 14 commander and NASA
science officer, exercises on the Cycle
Ergometer.
Photo credit: NASA.

One of the station's four Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs) used to maintain the station's orientation in space was shut down last week after exceeding the allowed vibration limit. Engineers tested the problematic CMG Monday to gather performance data and conduct diagnostic checks. An initial review of the available data indicated no vibration events. Engineers continue analyzing the data to determine troubleshooting plans.

Source: NASA - Space Station

The press release is reproduced below:

Oct 18, 2006

Katherine Trinidad
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-3749

Nicole Cloutier-Lemasters
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111

RELEASE: 06-337

NASA Announces New International Space Station Crew

NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have named two astronauts and two cosmonauts to the next International Space Station crew, known as Expedition 15. Astronauts Clayton C. Anderson and Daniel M. Tani will travel to the station next year and work as flight engineers. Cosmonauts Fyodor N. Yurchikhin and Dr. Oleg V. Kotov will spend six months aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Anderson will get a ride to the station aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour's STS-118 mission, targeted for launch in June 2007. He will return to Earth on shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-120. That flight will carry his replacement, Tani, to the station. Tani will return on shuttle mission STS-122, targeted for October 2007.

Yurchikhin will command Expedition 15, and Kotov will serve as station flight engineer and Soyuz commander. Yurchikhin and Kotov will fly to the complex aboard a Soyuz spacecraft scheduled to launch in March 2007. Until Anderson arrives, astronaut Sunita L. Williams will serve as Expedition 15's third crew member and flight engineer. She will fly to the station on STS-116 in December.

A native of Nebraska, Anderson was selected as an astronaut in 1998 following a technical career in mission operations at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston. He managed the Emergency Operations Center at Johnson for several years before becoming an astronaut. He has a bachelor's degree from Hastings College in Hastings, Neb., and a master's from Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

A native of Illinois, Tani has a bachelor's and a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. He was selected as an astronaut in 1996. Tani's first spaceflight was aboard Endeavour in December 2001 on the STS-108 mission. During that flight, he performed a four-hour spacewalk.

Yurchikhin previously visited the space station aboard Atlantis on STS-112 in 2002. He is qualified as a mechanical engineer and has a doctorate in economics. Before he was selected as a cosmonaut, Yurchikhin served as a Russian flight controller and lead engineer for several missions.

Kotov was selected as a cosmonaut in 1996 and has trained for Soyuz, Mir and space station missions. He is a graduate of the Kirov Medical Academy in Russia.

The Expedition 15 backup crew is astronaut Gregory E. Chamitoff for Anderson; Sandra H. Magnus for Tani; Russian cosmonauts Roman Y. Romanenko and Mikhail B. Kornienko for Yurchikhin and Kotov.

Video of the Expedition 15 crew members will air on NASA TV's Video File. For NASA TV downlink, streaming video and scheduling information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more about the station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

For more about upcoming space shuttle missions, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

- end -

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Source: NASA Press Release 06-337

Expedition 14 Crew Tests the HDTV Space Video Gateway


Image above: the International Space Station against the blackness of
space and Earth's horizon.
Photo credit: NASA.

On Wednesday the crew conducted a test of the Space Video Gateway to be used in November for the first HDTV interactive downlinks with the Discovery Channel and NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai). The hardware was provided by NASA and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency for temporary installation on the space station.

Launch of the ISS Progress 23 cargo craft is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 23, at 9:41 a.m. EDT and docking on Thursday, Oct. 26, at 10:28 a.m. EDT. The cargo consists of propellants, oxygen, food, crew provisions and maintenance gear. Water will not be delivered this time. High-priority items include Elektron parts, research payloads and EVA equipment.

One of the station's four Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs) used to maintain the station's orientation in space was shut down last week after exceeding the allowed vibration limit. Engineers tested the problematic CMG Monday to gather performance data and conduct diagnostic checks. An initial review of the available data indicated no vibration events. Engineers continue analyzing the data to determine troubleshooting plans.

NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have named two astronauts and two cosmonauts to the next International Space Station crew, known as Expedition 15. Astronauts Clayton C. Anderson and Daniel M. Tani will travel to the station next year and work as flight engineers. Cosmonauts Fyodor N. Yurchikhin and Dr. Oleg V. Kotov will spend six months aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Source: NASA - Space Station

New Progress to Launch to Space Station

A new Progress is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station at 9:41 EDT Monday with almost 2.5 tons of fuel, oxygen, other supplies and equipment aboard.


Image above: The ISS Progress 22 cargo spacecraft as
it approaches the Pirs docking compartment.
Image credit: NASA

The station's 23rd Progress unpiloted cargo carrier will bring to the orbiting laboratory more than 1,900 pounds of propellant, about 110 pounds of oxygen, and 2,784 pounds of dry cargo.

P23 will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It is scheduled to reach the station after a flight of just over three days. Docking is to be on Oct. 26 at 10:28 a.m.

The spacecraft will use the automated Kurs system to dock at the aft port of the Zvezda service module. Expedition 14 flight engineer Mikhail Tyurin will stand by at the manual Toru docking system controls, should his intervention become necessary.

Expedition 14 crew members, Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, Tyurin and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter of Germany, cleared the P23 docking port on Oct. 10. They boarded their Soyuz TMA spacecraft and moved it from Zvezda's aft port to the Earth-facing port of the Zarya module.

P23's sister cargo carrier and predecessor at the station, ISS Progress 22, remains at the Pirs docking compartment. It is scheduled to be undocked after it is emptied and subsequently filled with station discards. It will be deorbited with its load of trash and burn in the Earth's atmosphere on re-entry.


Image above: The ISS Progress 22 cargo spacecraft as
it approaches the Pirs docking compartment.
Image credit: NASA

After its unloading P22 was used as a storage area for a while. Many items brought to the station aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-121 in July eventually found a temporary home there until crew members could unload and place them in more permanent places.


The Progress is similar in appearance and some design elements to the Soyuz spacecraft, which brings crew members to the station, serves as a lifeboat while they are there and returns them to Earth. The aft module, the instrumentation and propulsion module, is nearly identical.

But the second of the three Progress sections is a refueling module, and the third, uppermost as the Progress sits on the launch pad, is a cargo module. On the Soyuz, the descent module, where the crew is seated on launch and which returns them to Earth, is the middle module and the third is called the orbital module.

Source: NASA - Station - Expeditions

Expedition 14 Awaits New Cargo Craft


Image above: Astronauts Michael E. Lopez-Alegria (right) and Thomas
Reiter share a meal in the Zvezda Service Module.
Photo credit: NASA.

Launch of the ISS Progress 23 cargo craft is on schedule for Monday, Oct. 23, at 9:41 a.m. EDT with docking on Thursday, Oct. 26, at 10:28 a.m. High-priority items include the delivery of Elektron parts, research payloads and Extravehicular Activity equipment.

On Friday, Commander Lopez-Alegria replaced equipment in the Carbon Dioxide Removal System, which is used to remove impurities from the station atmosphere. Only one of its two systems has been operating due to particulate matter clogging an air valve. Also the NASA science officer, Lopez-Alegria collected samples for the Nutrition Experiment, the most comprehensive in-flight study conducted by NASA to date of human physiologic changes during long-duration spaceflight.

Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter began Analysis of a Novel Sensory Mechanism in Root Phototropism, or TROPI experiment. This study will increase the understanding of the different systems plants use to determine what direction their roots and shoots should grow, and which genes are responsible for successful plant growth.

Engineers continue analyzing the Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG) test data to determine troubleshooting plans for CMG-3 which was shut down earlier this month due to high vibrations.

NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have named two astronauts and two cosmonauts to the next International Space Station crew, known as Expedition 15. Astronauts Clayton Anderson and Daniel Tani will travel to the station next year and work as flight engineers. Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Dr. Oleg Kotov will spend six months aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Source: NASA - Space Station

New Cargo Craft Launches from Kazakhstan


Image above: Astronauts Michael E. Lopez-Alegria (right) and Thomas
Reiter share a meal in the Zvezda Service Module.
Photo credit: NASA.

The ISS Progress 23 cargo craft launched on schedule Monday, Oct. 23, at 9:41 a.m. EDT. Docking is planned for Thursday, Oct. 26 at 10:28 a.m. High-priority items include the delivery of Elektron parts, research payloads and Extravehicular Activity equipment.

Last week, Commander Lopez-Alegria replaced equipment in the Carbon Dioxide Removal System, which is used to remove impurities from the station atmosphere. Only one of its two systems has been operating due to particulate matter clogging an air valve. Also the NASA science officer, Lopez-Alegria collected samples for the Nutrition Experiment, the most comprehensive in-flight study conducted by NASA to date of human physiologic changes during long-duration spaceflight.

Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter began Analysis of a Novel Sensory Mechanism in Root Phototropism, or TROPI experiment. This study will increase the understanding of the different systems plants use to determine what direction their roots and shoots should grow, and which genes are responsible for successful plant growth.

Engineers continue analyzing the Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG) test data to determine troubleshooting plans for CMG-3 which was shut down earlier this month due to high vibrations.

NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have named two astronauts and two cosmonauts to the next International Space Station crew, known as Expedition 15. Astronauts Clayton Anderson and Daniel Tani will travel to the station next year and work as flight engineers. Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Dr. Oleg Kotov will spend six months aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Source: NASA - Space Station

Progress Launches to Space Station

A new Progress launched to the International Space Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9:41 a.m. EDT Monday with almost 2.5 tons of fuel, oxygen, other supplies and equipment aboard.

The station's 23rd Progress unpiloted cargo carrier will bring to the orbiting laboratory more than 1,900 pounds of propellant, about 110 pounds of oxygen, and 2,784 pounds of dry cargo.

P23 is scheduled to reach the station after a flight of just over three days. Docking is to be on Oct. 26 at 10:28 a.m.

The spacecraft will use the automated Kurs system to dock at the aft port of the Zvezda service module. Expedition 14 flight engineer Mikhail Tyurin will stand by at the manual Toru docking system controls, should his intervention become necessary.

Expedition 14 crew members, Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, Tyurin and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter of Germany, cleared the P23 docking port on Oct. 10. They boarded their Soyuz TMA spacecraft and moved it from Zvezda's aft port to the Earth-facing port of the Zarya module.

P23's sister cargo carrier and predecessor at the station, ISS Progress 22, remains at the Pirs docking compartment. It is scheduled to be undocked after it is emptied and subsequently filled with station discards. It will be deorbited with its load of trash and burn in the Earth's atmosphere on re-entry.

After its unloading P22 was used as a storage area for a while. Many items brought to the station aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-121 in July eventually found a temporary home there until crew members could unload and place them in more permanent places.

The Progress is similar in appearance and some design elements to the Soyuz spacecraft, which brings crew members to the station, serves as a lifeboat while they are there and returns them to Earth. The aft module, the instrumentation and propulsion module, is nearly identical.

But the second of the three Progress sections is a refueling module, and the third, uppermost as the Progress sits on the launch pad, is a cargo module. On the Soyuz, the descent module, where the crew is seated on launch and which returns them to Earth, is the middle module and the third is called the orbital module.

Source: NASA - Space Station - Expeditions

PRESS-RELEASE
about the launch of transport cargo vehicle Progress M-58
to the International Space Station

October 23, 2006. Baikonur cosmodrome.

Progress M-58 transport cargo vehicle was launched to the International Space Station from the launch pad #1 of Baikonur launch site at 17:41:35 Moscow summer time.
The launch is aimed at delivering cargo to the ISS, which is required to continue the station manned operation, support crew living and working conditions, and re-supply the engine tanks with propellant.
The vehicle carries about 2.4 tones of various cargo, including scientific hardware and equipment to perform onboard activities under the Russian and foreign partners’ programs.
The vehicle was injected into a reference near-earth orbit with the following parameters: inclination of 51.65°, minimum altitude of 195,0 km, maximum altitude of 256,0 km, revolution of 88.7min. All vehicle onboard systems operate nominally.
During the launch the Baikonur launch site was attended by representatives of the Federal Space Agency, NASA, S.P. Korolev RSC Energia, allied space industry companies and organizations participating in the manufacturing, processing and launch of the vehicle.
Based on the telemetry information and reports made by the ISS Expedition 14 crew: ISS –14 commander Michael Lopez-Alegria (NASA), ISS-14 flight engineer Mikhail Turin (S.P.Korolev RSC Energia) and flight specialist Thomas Reiter (ESA), all station onboard systems operate as designed.
The Orbital Complex is ready for docking with the cargo vehicle, which is slated on October 26, 2006.

For reference: Progress M-58 flight is the 24th flight in the frame of the ISS program and the 114th flight beginning from the operation of Progress vehicles (1978).



Source: S.P.Korolev RSC Energia - Press Release

Progress 23 on Track for Thursday Docking


Image above: A Progress 22 cargo craft prepares to automatically
dock with the International Space Station on June 26, 2006.
Photo credit: NASA.

After a successful launch Monday morning from Kazakhstan, the Progress 23 cargo craft is on track for a Thursday docking with the International Space Station at 10:28 a.m. EDT. The unpiloted cargo carrier is carrying supplies, equipment, propellant and oxygen.

Though the Progress 23 is programmed for an automatic docking, Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin is prepared to manually dock the cargo carrier in the unlikely event it should be necessary.

Meanwhile, Expedition 14 continues maintenance activities, science experiments and its daily exercise routine.

NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have named two astronauts and two cosmonauts to the next International Space Station crew, known as Expedition 15. Astronauts Clayton Anderson and Daniel Tani will travel to the station next year and work as flight engineers. Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Dr. Oleg Kotov will spend six months aboard the orbiting laboratory

Source: NASA - Space Station

Progress 23 Docks With Station, Delivers Goods


Image above: A Progress 22 cargo craft prepares to automatically
dock with the International Space Station on June 26, 2006.
Photo credit: NASA.

An unpiloted Progress 23 cargo craft docked Thursday with the International Space Station at 10:29 a.m. EDT. The Russian spacecraft delivered supplies, equipment, propellant and oxygen.

The Progress 23 automatically docked to the aft end of the Zvezda service module. Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin was prepared to manually dock the cargo carrier in the unlikely event it would have been necessary.

Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineers Tyurin and Thomas Reiter cleared Zvezda's docking port Oct. 10 when they undocked their Soyuz TMA spacecraft then redocked to the Zarya module's Earth-facing port.

NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have named two astronauts and two cosmonauts to the next International Space Station crew, known as Expedition 15. Astronauts Clayton Anderson and Daniel Tani will travel to the station next year and work as flight engineers. Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Dr. Oleg Kotov will spend six months aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Source: NASA - Space Station

Progress Docks with Space Station

A new Progress docked to the International Space Station at 10:29 a.m. EDT Thursday with almost 2.5 tons of fuel, oxygen, other supplies and equipment aboard.

The station's 23rd Progress unpiloted cargo carrier brings to the orbiting laboratory more than 1,900 pounds of propellant, about 110 pounds of oxygen, and 2,784 pounds of dry cargo.

P23 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Monday at 9:41 a.m. EDT. It reached the station after a flight of just over three days.

The spacecraft used the automated Kurs system to dock at the aft port of the Zvezda service module. Expedition 14 flight engineer Mikhail Tyurin stood by at the manual Toru docking system controls, but the automated system functioned as designed and manual intervention was not needed.

Expedition 14 crew members, Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, Tyurin and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter of Germany, cleared the P23 docking port on Oct. 10. They boarded their Soyuz TMA spacecraft and moved it from Zvezda's aft port to the Earth-facing port of the Zarya module.

P23's sister cargo carrier and a predecessor at the station, ISS Progress 22, remains at the Pirs docking compartment. It is scheduled to be undocked after it is emptied and subsequently filled with station discards. It will be deorbited with its load of trash and burn in the Earth's atmosphere on re-entry.

After its unloading P22 was used as a storage area for a while. Many items brought to the station aboard Discovery on STS-121 in July eventually found a temporary home there until crew members could unload and place them in more permanent places.

The Progress is similar in appearance and some design elements to the Soyuz spacecraft, which brings crewmembers to the station, serves as a lifeboat while they are there and returns them to Earth. The aft module, the instrumentation and propulsion module, is nearly identical.

But the second of the three Progress sections is a refueling module, and the third, uppermost as the Progress sits on the launch pad, is a cargo module. On the Soyuz, the descent module, where the crew is seated on launch and which returns them to Earth, is the middle module and the third is called the orbital module.

Source: NASA - Space Station - Expeditions

ISS supply ship fails to lock on

A Russian cargo spacecraft has failed to dock properly with the orbiting International Space Station.

Mission controllers said the problem was caused by an antenna on the cargo vehicle, which failed to fold away.

The Progress craft was taking water, food and other supplies to the crew, who are said to be in no danger.

A Progress rocket sent up last year had to be docked manually by a crewman after communications failed a few minutes before docking.

A Russian mission control spokesman said that such problems had occurred before.

"There was some problem with achieving a perfect seal," he said. "We have had such incidents before and it is not something extraordinary."

He added that mission control was not currently able to speak to the space station's crew and was waiting for the next communications window to do so.

The supply ship was launched from Russia's Baikonur space station in Kazakhstan on Monday.

The current ISS crew - Russian Mikhail Tyurin, American Michael Lopez-Alegria and German Thomas Reiter - have been on board the space station since September.

Source: BBC News

Progress 23 Docks With Station, Delivers Goods


Image above: This photograph of the Progress 23 cargo craft taken
by Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter highlights the Kurs Antenna that
concerned flight directors prior to final latching.
Photo credit: NASA.

An unpiloted Progress 23 cargo craft docked Thursday with the International Space Station at 10:29 a.m. EDT. The Russian spacecraft delivered supplies, equipment, propellant and oxygen. Due to concern that an antenna on the Progress 23 was not retracted for docking and could interfere with final latching, flight controllers delayed fully latching the supply ship for about three hours. Russian flight controllers determined the antenna was not a problem and the Progress 23 was latched at 2 p.m. EDT.

Due to the long day, the Expedition 14 crew will wait until Friday before they open the new supply ship.

The Progress 23 automatically docked to the aft end of the Zvezda service module. Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin was prepared to manually dock the cargo carrier in the unlikely event it would have been necessary.

Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineers Tyurin and Thomas Reiter cleared Zvezda's docking port Oct. 10 when they undocked their Soyuz TMA spacecraft then redocked to the Zarya module's Earth-facing port.

NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have named two astronauts and two cosmonauts to the next International Space Station crew, known as Expedition 15. Astronauts Clayton Anderson and Daniel Tani will travel to the station next year and work as flight engineers. Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Dr. Oleg Kotov will spend six months aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Source: NASA - Space Station

Expedition 14 Begins Unloading Progress


Image above: This photograph of the Progress 23 cargo craft taken
by Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter highlights the Kurs Antenna that
concerned flight directors prior to final latching.
Photo credit: NASA.

The Expedition 14 crew opened the hatches to the new Progress cargo capsule Friday morning and began unloading critical equipment including spare parts for a faulty Russian oxygen generator. The Progress 23 automatically docked to the aft end of the Zvezda service module at 10:29 a.m. EDT Thursday delivering over 2 1/2 tons of propellant, oxygen, spare parts, experiment hardware and life support components.

Russian controllers are analyzing data to determine if an antenna on the Progress supply ship has retracted as commanded. Concern with that antenna prompted flight controllers to delay fully latching the supply ship for about three hours Thursday afternoon. Russian flight controllers determined the antenna was not a problem and the Progress 23 was latched at 2 p.m. EDT.

Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineers Tyurin and Thomas Reiter cleared Zvezda's docking port Oct. 10 when they undocked their Soyuz TMA spacecraft then redocked to the Zarya module's Earth-facing port.

NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have named two astronauts and two cosmonauts to the next International Space Station crew, known as Expedition 15. Astronauts Clayton Anderson and Daniel Tani will travel to the station next year and work as flight engineers. Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Dr. Oleg Kotov will spend six months aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Source: NASA - Space Station

Crew Works on Unloading and Repair


Image above: European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Reiter
works with the Plasmakristall Telescience Apparatus in the Zvezda
Service Module of the International Space Station.
Photo credit: NASA.

Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter
had six hours reserved between them Monday for Progress unloading, cargo transfers and inventory logging.

Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin resumed work on the Elektron oxygen-generation unit after it shut down in mid-September. He replaced valves and cables in an effort to bring it back online. The unit should be ready for attempts at reactivation Tuesday.

Mission Control in Houston continues work on troubleshooting the Control Moment Gyroscope 3 (CMG 3) that was taken offline due to a vibration. The CMGs are used to maintain the station’s orientation in space. Plans are being made for a possible CMG 3 swapout on the STS-118 mission.

NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have named two astronauts and two cosmonauts to the next International Space Station crew, known as Expedition 15. Astronauts Clayton Anderson and Daniel Tani will travel to the station next year and work as flight engineers. Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Dr. Oleg Kotov will spend six months aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Source: NASA - Space Station

Crew Practices With Robotics, Preps for Tee Off


Image above: Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria works
with the remote power control modules (RPCM) in the Unity node of
the International Space Station.
Photo credit: NASA.

Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria began several days of robotics proficiency work Wednesday. The robotics work included a “walkoff” of the Canadarm2 from one location to another. He also practiced modified grapple and release procedures.

The commander also performed the scheduled lens change on the EarthKAM, going from 50mm to the 180mm-lens configuration. The camera takes pictures by remote operation from the ground by students who submit image requests to conduct geographic research.

Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin will prepare some of the equipment he will use to hit golf balls outside the Pirs Docking Compartment for a commercial endeavor during the Nov. 22 Russian spacewalk.

NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have named two astronauts and two cosmonauts to the next International Space Station crew, known as Expedition 15. Astronauts Clayton Anderson and Daniel Tani will travel to the station next year and work as flight engineers. Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Dr. Oleg Kotov will spend six months aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Source: NASA - Space Station

Crew Unpacks, Re-activates Elektron and Practices With Robotics


Image above: European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter wears a
communication system headset while using a computer in the Zvezda
Service Module of the International Space Station.
Photo credit: NASA.

The Expedition 14 crew spent time throughout the week unpacking items, including parts for the Elektron oxygen-generation system, fresh food and other system hardware from the Progress cargo ship. The remaining items will be unpacked as needed or when time permits.

The Elektron oxygen-generation unit that had been shut down since mid-September has been re-activated. Early this week, Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin repaired the unit by installing new valves and cables that arrived on the recent Progress cargo craft. The Elektron is supplying oxygen for the cabin atmosphere once again.

Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria worked on robotics proficiency tasks throughout the week. His robotics exercises included maneuvering the Canadarm 2 robotic arm over to the Mobile Transporter and its operating base. He also practiced modified grapple and release procedures.

The commander also performed the scheduled lens change on the EarthKAM, going from 50mm to the 180mm-lens configuration. The camera takes pictures by remote operation from the ground by students who submit image requests to conduct geographic research.

NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have named two astronauts and two cosmonauts to the next International Space Station crew, known as Expedition 15. Astronauts Clayton Anderson and Daniel Tani will travel to the station next year and work as flight engineers. Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Dr. Oleg Kotov will spend six months aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Source: NASA - Space Station

ANITA flight HW consisting of two standard Middeck drawers: Total mass= 53 kg,
power: ~80 W average with a peak power 170 W (20 msec)

Credits: Kayser-Thred

2 November 2006
The Analysing Interferometer for Ambient Air (ANITA) flight experiment, an ESA developed technology demonstrator for monitoring the quality of the air inside manned space vehicles, is being delivered to NASA for final launch preparation during November 2006.

Once launched on the Automatic Transfer Vehicle ‘Jules Verne’, ANITA will fly onboard the International Space Station (ISS). It will be accommodated in an EXPRESS rack in the US Destiny laboratory. ANITA will remain on orbit for six months, with an initial commissioning and science phase of ten days. Subsequently it will be considered to be an ISS system element.


The International Space Station (ISS) seen from Space Shuttle Discovery during
rendezvous and docking activities on 6 July 2006.

Credits: NASA

The air quality of any manned spacecraft needs to be continuously monitored in order to safeguard the health of the crew. The astronauts have to respond rapidly to any accidental release of harmful gaseous contaminants or degradation of the environmental control and life support system. Air quality monitoring grows in importance as mission duration increases.

Measuring modes


Air sampling in remote places (non-local sampling)

Credits: Kayser-Threde

ANITA is designed to monitor the cabin air for contaminants at concentrations down to the low parts per million (ppm) or high parts per billion (ppb), with high precision. Its fast measurement cycle allows the trend in air quality to be analysed in near real-time.

In normal operational mode, ANITA automatically monitors the local air by filling its gas cell, measuring the sample and storing the analysis data. The gas cell is then flushed back into the cabin and refilled for the next measurement cycle, each of which takes six minutes. This process is possible since the air sample is physically and chemically unchanged by the measurement.

If so desired, the crew can also collect air samples at remote locations using a hand pump and sample bags. The sample bags are then manually connected to ANITA’s inlet for analysis.

Operating principle


ANITA 2.5 1 gas bag and hand pump

Credits: Kayser-Threde

ANITA uses a Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) interferometer based on the Michelson principle and supplemented by advanced analysis software. The gas cell is illuminated by an infrared source and the amount of radiation passing through the cell is measured with a room temperature infrared detector. The measurements cover the wavelength range 2.5 to 20 microns (500 to 4000 cm-1).

The resulting absorption spectra allow individual organic and inorganic contaminants to be identified based on their unique spectral fingerprints. The ‘Lambert-Beer’ law, which relates the attenuation of infrared light passing through the sample cell to gas concentration, is applied to calculate the concentrations of the individual contaminants.

To counter possible changes in the instrument, including ageing effects, background measurements are taken periodically by measuring the intensity of the infrared source through the gas cell at low pressure.


ANITA dedicated laptop computer

Credits: Kayser-Threde

Owing to the high degree of spectral overlapping for the different contaminants, combined with measurement noise and imperfections, the identification and quantification process requires advanced software.

The ANITA will be calibrated on the ground before launch. However, if the actual air contaminants and/or the concentrations are outside the calibration range, the calibration models can be updated on-ground and uploaded to ANITA.

During the mission the measurement results are not visible to the crew and will be further processed on ground by the ANITA team.

During operation on ISS, ANITA requires no consumables and no services except electrical power.

Mission objectives

The main objectives of the flight experiment are to:

• simultaneously identify and quantify 32 gaseous air contaminants at low ppm and high ppb concentrations in the International Space Station crew cabin air, including trace gases that up to now can only be detected in gas samples returned to Earth for analysis
• demonstrate that ANITA FTIR trace gas monitoring is effective in a real space environment, including the maintenance of calibration models from the ground
• prove that modified commercial-off-the-shelf hardware provides a sound basis for ANITA

View of the main parts of the FTIR interferometer

Credits: Kayser-Threde

The identification and quantification objective covers the background gases – water, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and methane – currently measured on ISS using NASA’s Major Constituent Analyser (MCA). In addition, it covers 28 organic and inorganic trace contaminants including formaldehyde, perfluoropropane, ammonia, and three siloxanes, which are currently not measured onboard. Homonuclear diatomic gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen do not have infrared absorption fingerprints and cannot be detected using FTIR spectrometry.

Industrial team

ANITA is an ESA-NASA cooperative programme. The flight experiment has been developed under ESA contract by Kayser-Threde GmbH (Germany), the instrument Prime Contractor and hardware developer, and SINTEF (Norway), responsible for the gas analysis software and instrument calibration.

Source: ESA - News

Station Crew Preps for Space Shuttle Docking


Image above: Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter cuts Flight Engineer
Mikhail Tyurin's hair in the Zarya module of the International Space
Station. Reiter used hair clippers fashioned with a vacuum device to
prevent freshly cut hair from being scattered throughout the module.
Photo credit: NASA.

The Expedition 14 crew members continue to work this week on scientific experiments, station maintenance and activities related to the anticipated arrival of Space Shuttle Discovery in December.

Over the weekend, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria concluded Expedition 14's first week-long session with EarthKAM (Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students) by shutting down, disassembling and stowing the hardware. Nearly 6,600 students from around the globe participated in this most recent session with EarthKAM, a payload which allows students to submit requests and download images from an electronic still camera mounted in a window of the space station.

Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin revisited the Elektron oxygen-generating system on Monday to perform routine maintenance. Early last week, Tyurin repaired and re-activated the unit, returning it to service for the first time since mid-September.

Also on Monday, Tyurin and Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter practiced photography techniques to be used to capture imagery of Discovery's thermal heat shield during its final approach for docking on the STS-116 mission.

NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have named two astronauts and two cosmonauts to the next International Space Station crew, known as Expedition 15. Astronauts Clayton Anderson and Daniel Tani will travel to the station next year and work as flight engineers. Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Dr. Oleg Kotov will spend six months aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Source: NASA - Space Station

Station Crew Preps for Spacewalk and Space Shuttle Launch


Image above: Flight Engineers Mikhail Tyurin (foreground) and Thomas
Reiter install and connect onboard equipment control system cables in
the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station.
Photo credit: NASA.

The Expedition 14 crew prepared throughout the week for the Nov. 22 spacewalk to be performed by Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin. They gathered tools and equipment they will use on the nearly six-hour outing.

Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter spent time during the week packing materials to be returned to Earth on Space Shuttle Discovery launching in December. The STS-116 crew includes astronaut Suni Williams, who will replace Reiter on board the station.

Lopez-Alegria collected his third set of blood and urine samples for a nutrition experiment. Once returned to Earth, the samples will be analyzed to measure physiological indicators of the changes in the human body during spaceflight.

Being in space didn’t prevent Lopez-Alegria from voting in this week’s general election. Texas law permits residents who are in orbit on Election Day to cast a ballot from space. His encrypted ballot was downlinked to Mission Control and forwarded to the county clerk’s office in Houston for tabulation.

NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have named two astronauts and two cosmonauts to the next International Space Station crew, known as Expedition 15. Astronauts Clayton Anderson and Daniel Tani will travel to the station next year and work as flight engineers. Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Dr. Oleg Kotov will spend six months aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Source: NASA - Space Station

Spacewalk Preps Continue, Children Quiz Crew

The Expedition 14 crew continues spacewalk preps with suit light installation, suit sizing and cooling loop servicing. The crew began collecting hardware Monday for installation into their Orlan spacesuits. They also activated and inspected the suits. The Nov. 22 spacewalk includes a commercial golf experiment performed by Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin. This experiment is dedicated to the 200th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties between Russia and the United States and to commemorate the golf shot of Alan Shepard Jr. on the moon.


Image above: European Space
Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter
exercises on the Cycle Ergometer
with Vibration Isolation System.
Photo credit: NASA.

Tuesday morning the crew participated in an event for International Education Week, fielding questions from the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. In attendance were U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Ray Simon, 20 school children from the Washington, D.C. area and STS-118 Mission Specialist and Educator Astronaut Barbara Morgan.

The first live HDTV broadcasts from space will take place on Nov. 15 at 11:30 a.m. EST. They will feature Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter, who will serve as camera operator. The broadcasts will be carried by Discovery HD Theater and NHK and will also be shown at Discovery Channel stores. Known as the Space Video Gateway, the system transmits high bandwidth digital television signals to the ground that are not only spectacular, but also valuable to scientists, engineers and managers.

+ View Promo Video

Source: NASA - Space Station

First Live HDTV Broadcast From Space

The first live HDTV broadcast from space took place Wednesday. It featured Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter, serving as camera operator. The broadcast was carried by Discovery HD Theater and NHK and was also shown at Discovery Channel stores. Known as the Space Video Gateway, the system transmits high bandwidth digital television signals to the ground that are not only spectacular, but also valuable to scientists, engineers and managers.


Image above: European Space
Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter
exercises on the Cycle Ergometer
with Vibration Isolation System.
Photo credit: NASA.

More testing of one of the station's four control moment gyros (CMG-3) took place Wednesday. Engineers repeated some of the CMG-3 testing that was performed earlier. The results will be compared to a previous test and provide additional data on the state of the accelerometer, lubricant and lubrication of the spin bearings. CMG-3 is scheduled to be removed and replaced on shuttle mission STS-118 next summer. The suspect CMG will be stowed on an external stowage platform on the station and will be returned to Earth on the STS-122 mission next fall.

The Expedition 14 crew continues spacewalk preparations. The Nov. 22 spacewalk includes a commercial golf experiment performed by Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin. This experiment is dedicated to the 200th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties between Russia and the United States and to commemorate the golf shot of Alan Shepard Jr. on the moon.

Source: NASA - Space Station

Images from the world's first high definition television (HDTV) broadcast from space flashed across the screen yesterday in Times Square. On Nov. 15, 2006, NASA made history with the first live HDTV broadcasts from space, in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Discovery HD Theater and Japanese broadcast network NHK.

The two HDTV broadcasts featured Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria on the International Space Station, with Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter serving as camera operator aboard the 220-mile-high laboratory.

"HDTV provides up to six times the resolution of regular analog video," said Rodney Grubbs, NASA principal investigator. "On previous missions, we've flown HDTV cameras but had to wait until after the mission to retrieve the tapes, watch the video and share it with the science and engineering community, the media and the public. For the first time ever, this test lets us stream live HDTV from space so the public can experience what its like to be there."

Known as the Space Video Gateway, the system transmits high bandwidth digital television signals to the ground that are not only spectacular, but also valuable to scientists, engineers and managers.

NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, along with both NHK and Discovery, are cooperating in this effort though a Space Act Agreement originally signed in 2002.

Image credit: Discovery Channel

+ Full Resolution


Source: NASA - Multimedia - Image of the Day Gallery

Station Crew Preps for Spacewalk and Space Shuttle Launch


Image above: Cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin works with a sleeve of a
Russian Orlan spacesuit in the Pirs Docking Compartment.
Photo credit: NASA.

After Thursday’s completion of all spacesuit preparations, dry-run activities for the Nov. 22 spacewalk began Friday with Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria tearing down and removing the air duct in the docking compartment airlock to make room for the suited rehearsal. At the same time Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin began configuring the communications systems. After further functionality and leak checks, the crew members donned their spacesuits and gear. The astronauts entered their spacesuits through their “backdoors” and sealed off the backpacks.

Next were functionality checks of the suits and half an hour of testing and training on movement inside the docking compartment. These exercises included moving to all docking compartment work stations, verifying spacesuit fit, checkout of the cooling systems, evaluation of the stowage of hardware to be taken out during the spacewalk and some typical spacewalk tasks. The rehearsal ended around 4:45 p.m.

The Nov. 22 spacewalk, estimated at 5 hours and 45 minutes, will begin at 6:00 p.m. EST. Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin will retrieve equipment and photograph the station's Russian Zvezda Service Module's docking port. Tyurin also will hit a golf ball from a specially designed tee mounted on the Pirs airlock as part of a Russian commercial activity. Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter will remain inside the station tending to systems during the spacewalk.

Source: NASA - Space Station

Crew Gears Up for Spacewalk on Wednesday


Image above: Cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin works with a sleeve of a
Russian Orlan spacesuit in the Pirs Docking Compartment.
Photo credit: NASA.

Expedition 14 crew members will exit the International Space Station on Wednesday, Nov. 22 at 6 p.m. EST. Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin will retrieve equipment, manually retract an antenna and photograph a docking port on the Zvezda service module. Tyurin will also hit a golf ball from the station’s Pirs docking compartment. The golf swing is part of a Russian commercial activity.

The crew is reviewing the spacewalk timeline and paying special attention to a recently added task. The spacewalkers will manually retract a Kurs antenna on the Progress cargo vehicle that docked to the aft port of the Zvezda service module on Oct. 26. Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter will remain inside the orbiting outpost while Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin go about their mission’s first spacewalk.

Source: NASA - Space Station

Spacewalkers to Tee Off on Science, Mechanics

The spacewalk will feature everything from science through nuts and bolts to golf.

International Space Station Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin are scheduled to leave the Pirs docking compartment airlock at 6 p.m. EST Wednesday for the almost-six-hour spacewalk.

Tyurin will be the lead spacewalker, EV1, and Lopez-Alegria will be EV2. They will wear Russian Orlan spacesuits with red stripes.


Image above: Artist's rendering of the golf task during
Expedition 14's spacewalk on Nov. 22, 2006.
Image credit: NASA

Golf is the first major spacewalk activity. Lopez-Alegria will put the tee on the ladder outside Pirs. Tyurin will set up a camera and then step up and address the ball for his one-handed shot. Lopez-Alegria will help secure Tyurin's feet if necessary.

As many as three shots are possible during the commercial activity sponsored by a Canadian golf company through a contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency. The ball is expected to leave the station toward the rear and slightly upward at about one meter per second.

The ball weighs just 3 grams, a tenth of an ounce or about three times the weight of a dollar bill, compared to 1.62 ounces for a standard golf ball. At that weight it would be unlikely to damage any station components if the shot should go awry. The ball will have a short stay in orbit, perhaps three days.

Next the two will install a BTN neutron experiment, which characterizes charged and neutral particles in low Earth orbit. Its readings during solar bursts should be of special interest.

Then they'll relocate a WAL antenna, which will guide the unpiloted European cargo carrier to docking with the station. That vehicle, the Automated Transfer Vehicle, is scheduled to make its first flight next year. In its present position the antenna interferes with a cover for a Zvezda booster engine.


Image above: Cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin works with
a sleeve of a Russian Orlan spacesuit in the Pirs Docking
Compartment.
Image credit: NASA

Inspection of a Kurs antenna on the Progress 23 unpiloted cargo carrier that docked at the aft end of the station's Zvezda Service Module Oct. 26 is the next task. Final latching of the spacecraft to the station was delayed by more than three hours because Mission Control Moscow was not sure the antenna was completely retracted.

Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria will move to the rear of Zvezda and photograph the antenna. If it is still fully extended, Tyurin will use a screwdriver to release a latch, manually retract the antenna and secure it with ties. This will avoid any possible interference by the antenna with the undocking process.

The final scheduled task is inspection of bolts on one of two Strela hand-operated cranes on the docking compartment.

If Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria are ahead of schedule near the end of the spacewalk, they can tackle an additional task -- removal of one scientific experiment package and replacing it with another.

The spacewalk is scheduled to end a little before midnight EST.

This is the first spacewalk during Expedition 14, the sixth for Lopez-Alegria and the fourth for Tyurin.

Source: NASA - Station - Expeditions

The Boeing press release is reproduce below:

ST. LOUIS, Nov. 21, 2006 -- The Boeing Company's [NYSE: BA] primary electrical power and cooling systems on the International Space Station (ISS) will go live during Space Shuttle Discovery's next ISS assembly mission.

Astronauts, Boeing engineers and NASA mission controllers will orchestrate a precise ballet of powering down equipment, transferring it to other power channels and then plugging and unplugging more than 140 electrical connectors. The ISS power system will transition to its permanent configuration by rerouting power through electrical components on the Port 1, Starboard 0 and Starboard 1 trusses for the first time.

Boeing engineer Mimi Lovato, Electrical Power System (EPS) flight lead, and her teammates have been preparing for this mission for several years. "It's exciting because it is the next step in prepping for the arrival of the other space station power modules," she explained. "The flight control team has simulated this mission many times, and we have confidence in our hardware."

Like a city's central power plant, the station's giant solar arrays generate primary power at levels too high for consumer use, ranging from 137 to 173 volts direct current (Vdc). The power is regulated between 150 to 160 Vdc, and then routed to batteries for storage and to four Main Bus Switching Units (MBSUs) that route it to distribution networks.

Eight independent power channels (corresponding to each solar array wing) feed the MBSUs, which output the electrical loads. Under normal operations, each power channel supplies power to a specific set of loads. However, if a channel fails, the MBSU directs power to those loads from another channel, greatly enhancing the system's reliability.

DC-to-DC converters "step-down" the primary 160 Vdc stream to a tightly regulated secondary power of 124.5 Vdc and distribute it to laboratories, living quarters and individual users.

Even though the station spends about one-third of every orbit in the Earth's shadow, EPS will continuously provide 84 kilowatts of usable power once all eight solar array wings are on orbit. Boeing, through its Rocketdyne Propulsion and Power division (now Pratt & Whitney), built the EPS hardware and provides sustaining engineering support to NASA.

The high voltage of Boeing's power system meets NASA's test bed research requirements and reduces ohmic power losses through wiring while permitting the use of smaller, lighter power lines.

The original U.S. electric power system configuration, which powered up with the installation of the first solar array power module in November 2000, has consistently provided reliable power exceeding ISS program requirements and expectations as it has safely supported continuous human presence for six years. This latest development in the assembly and activation of the power system further enhances safety and reliability for current and future Expedition crews, while paving the way for additional PV modules and the international partner elements.

During the mission, astronauts and mission controllers also will activate the station's Boeing-designed External Active Thermal Control System for the first time. The system cools the power system's electrical boxes using liquid ammonia and a series of looped radiator panels, which dissipate the heat into space. Ammonia is used because of its low freezing point and thermal properties; a non-toxic internal water coolant loop within the labs and living modules also is used.

"The purpose of this cooling loop is to flow ammonia around heat exchangers and cold plates at a controlled temperature," said Matt Jurick, a member of Boeing's External Active Thermal Control Systems team and lead thermal engineer for the flight. "The mission is closely coordinated to ensure that we have enough time to activate the cooling loops after the EPS components are activated."

The shuttle mission also will deliver the 4,110-pound Boeing-built Port 5 (P5) truss, which will be attached to the P4 truss element. P5 connects power, cooling lines and serves as a spacer between the P4 photovoltaic module (PVM) and P6 PVM. P6 will be joined to P5 during a later assembly mission.

A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world's largest space and defense businesses. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $30.8 billion business. It provides network-centric system solutions to its global military, government, and commercial customers. It is a leading provider of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems; the world's largest military aircraft manufacturer; the world's largest satellite manufacturer; a foremost developer of advanced concepts and technologies; a leading provider of space-based communications; the primary systems integrator for U.S. missile defense; NASA's largest contractor; and a global leader in sustainment solutions and launch services.

###

Source: Boeing press release

Spacewalk Wednesday as Crew Completes Final Preps


Image above: Cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin works with a sleeve of a
Russian Orlan spacesuit in the Pirs Docking Compartment.
Photo credit: NASA.

Expedition 14 crew members will exit the International Space Station on Wednesday, Nov. 22 at 6 p.m. EST. Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin will retrieve equipment, manually retract an antenna and photograph a docking port on the Zvezda service module. Tyurin will also hit a golf ball from the station’s Pirs docking compartment. The golf swing is part of a Russian commercial activity.

The crew members have completed preparations for their mission’s first spacewalk. They had a final conference with Russian specialists, reviewed their timeline and looked over procedures for retracting a Kurs antenna on the Progress 23 cargo vehicle which is docked to the aft end of the Zvezda service module. A video camera for recording Tyurin’s golf swing was also recharged during final preps.

Source: NASA - Space Station

ESA's Columbus Control Centre is located at DLR Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany.

Credits: DLR

22 November 2006
ESA's Columbus Control Centre - Europe's 'Houston' - is in operation now for Astrolab while readying for the European Columbus laboratory in 2007.

Inaugurated in 2004 under contract from ESA, the Columbus Control Centre, located at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) facility in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, joins the ranks of International Space Station (ISS) control centres including Houston and Moscow.

Under the call sign 'Munich', the Columbus Control Centre will, from 2007, be responsible for systems onboard the orbiting Columbus laboratory and for European science activities on board the ISS. The centre is already building operational expertise during ESA's ongoing Astrolab mission.

In the last quarter of 2007, the Columbus laboratory, Europe's cornerstone contribution to the International Space Station, will be launched into space and attached to the ISS. The 4.5-metre diameter cylindrical module is equipped internally with four advanced science facilities and externally with two unpressurised exposed payloads, which together will enable Earth-based researchers to conduct experiments in biology, human physiology, materials science, fluid physics and a range of other disciplines, all in the weightlessness and space conditions of orbit.

Columbus brings new responsibilities


Dieter Sabath is project manager for the Columbus Control Centre at DLR Oberpfaffenhofen.

Credits: ESA/DLR

"Columbus will be the first time we not only have coordination responsibility for the science experiments but also permanent system-wide responsibility for the complete module, comprising services such as air and temperature regulation and power distribution. Once Columbus is in orbit, the control room will be manned, if necessary, twenty-four hours per day," says Dieter Sabath, DLR project manager at the Columbus Control Centre.

Furthermore, a Europe-wide ground support network of User Support and Operations Centres (USOCs) is managed from the Columbus Control Centre, supplying voice, video and data services to remotely located scientists and specialists who receive scientific results from experiments on board the lab.


Thomas Kuch, Mission Operations Manager at the German Aerospace Center (DLR)
facility in Oberpfaffenhofen, Bavaria. The Columbus Control centre is housed within
the German Space Operations Centre (GSOC) at DLR Oberpfaffenhofen.

Credits: ESA/DLR

Two large mission control rooms housed within DLR's German Space Operations Centre (GSOC), have been remodelled for the needs of the pre-Columbus missions, simulations and Columbus continuous operations.

"The Columbus Control Centre now has about 80 engineers, and in 2005 and 2006 we saw a great deal of training, simulations and practices for the launch of Columbus. It's a real cooperative success for ESA, DLR and our industry partners," says Thomas Kuch, head of mission operations at GSOC.

Functional specialisation inside control room

The main Columbus control room houses a series of large display screens on one wall, with rows of command consoles and workstations lined up beneath. The functions of the Columbus Flight Control team comprise:

• Columbus Flight Director, directing the team and interfacing with US and Russian ISS Flight Directors
  
• Systems, responsible for the optimum exploitation of the Columbus technical systems
  
• Operations Coordination, overseeing payload coordination and interfacing also with the remotely located user centres
  
• Communications, overseeing the receipt and transmission of science results and scheduling
  
• Data Management System, responsible for the on board data system, the 'brain' of Columbus
  
• Eurocom, communicating with the astronauts on board ISS and in Columbus
  
• COP (Columbus Operations Planner), responsible for the ongoing planning of European activities

Overall direction of the flight control teams is provided by ESA Operations Managers under the leadership of ESA astronaut Reinhold Ewald.


ESA astronaut Reinhold Ewald

Born December 18, 1956 in Mönchengladbach, Germany. He is
married and has three children. He enjoys reading and spending
time with his family, and performs with an amateur theatre group.
He also plays soccer and holds a black belt in karate.

Credits: ESA/J-L.Atteleyn

This team is responsible for ensuring the flight readiness certification of the ground segment and operations as well as for providing direction to the flight control teams in situations not covered by the flight rules, plan and procedures.

The main control room is backed up by a second, smaller - but functionally identical - control room, which provides redundancy as well as spare capacity for training controllers, running simulations and testing software and procedures.


Controllers maintain real-time communications worldwide

Engineers on duty at the Columbus centre are in real-time communication via voice and video with ISS control centres in Russia (Moscow) and the US (Houston and Huntsville), as well as with European USOCs (User Support and Operations Centres).


Controllers communicate via voice and video

Credits: DLR

These 10 centres are located throughout Europe and provide the data interface for research scientists to operate the Columbus research facilities and manage science results returned by their experiments onboard Columbus.

USOCs in France, Denmark, Italy, Germany and Norway are already active in receiving science results during the current Astrolab mission.

The Columbus Control Centre is also connected to ESA's Crew Medical Support Office (CMSO), a health operations centre staffed by doctors and biomedical engineers and located at ESA's European Astronaut Centre, Cologne, Germany. The CMSO provides European astronauts with medical advice and monitoring while onboard the ISS.

"All our communications go via leased fibre optic lines. Our commands are actually transmitted to the ISS via mission control in Houston, then to the ISS Payload Operations Centre in Huntsville, Alabama, then to the NASA ground stations in New Mexico and up to the ISS," says Sabath, adding, "All communications via external lines are encrypted for security reasons."

He also explains that the working language for all ISS controllers is English, but that regional accents (not least including US regional accents!) and the 2- to 3-second delay on the voice communications loop sometimes make understanding difficult. "It's tough for new controllers to listen in and understand, but they usually get pretty good after a few weeks. For communication with the Russian flight controllers, ESA maintains a team of expert interpreters on duty in Moscow who understand Russian space jargon," he says.


ESA's Columbus Control Centre already in action

The centre is already building expertise during ESA's ongoing Astrolab mission, Thomas Reiter's 6-month, long-duration science mission on the ISS that started in July 2006. Ewald, ESA's manager of the Columbus Control Centre, is also an experienced ESA astronaut.


An artist's impression of Columbus - cutaway view - the European laboratory on the
International Space Station.

Credits: ESA / D.Ducros

"Reiter's Astrolab science programme, which is ESA's first long-duration mission on the ISS, consists of experiments in physics, human physiology and biology, and technology and educational demonstrations as well as industrial experiments," says Ewald.

"ESA and the contractor operations team running the mission operations are gaining valuable first-hand experience. We will be able to take our place in the ISS partnership much easier once Columbus has arrived."

Ewald and a team of specialists are on console 10 hours each day, starting and ending around the daily morning and evening planning conference (DPC) between US, European and Russian controllers and ISS astronauts (the ISS follows GMT time). Consoles are staffed longer when required for special activities, such as during Reiter's successful EVA (extra vehicular activity) in August, or during Shuttle and Soyuz docked periods.

The centre's controllers are already looking forward to an intense period in December 2006, when NASA Shuttle mission STS-116 will deliver the P5 Truss section to the ISS, during which ESA astronaut Christer Fuglesang, from Sweden, is scheduled to perform two EVAs. The same mission will bring Thomas Reiter back home, and then the Columbus Control Centre will hopefully have time for a short Christmas break.

Next year, activity for Columbus and on the ISS will increase significantly. Two more ESA astronauts are scheduled to take part in highly complex ISS assembly missions to install the European-built Node 2 in the summer and, finally, to bring the European Columbus laboratory itself to the ISS in October.

Source: ESA - News

First Spacewalk for Expedition 14 Begins


Image above: Cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin works with a sleeve of a
Russian Orlan spacesuit in the Pirs Docking Compartment.
Photo credit: NASA.

The first spacewalk of Expedition 14 has started, having begun at 7:17 p.m. EST. Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin exited the Pirs docking compartment in their Russian Orlan space suits.

Originally scheduled to begin at 6 p.m., the spacewalk was delayed because of a cooling issue in Tyurin’s suit. Tyurin got out his suit and straightened a suspect hose that had apparently become kinked.

Several tasks include setting up and retrieving equipment, inspecting and retracting a Kurs antenna on a docked Progress cargo craft and hitting a golf ball as part of a Russian commercial activity. The spacewalk is planned to last about six hours.

Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter will remain inside the International Space Station monitoring station systems.

Source: NASA - Space Station

Expedition 14 Completes First Spacewalk


Image above: Expedition 14 spacewalkers work with the BTN experiment
during the Nov. 22 EVA.
Photo credit: NASA TV.

Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin completed their expedition’s first spacewalk at 12:55 a.m. EST Thursday. They re-entered the Pirs docking compartment after a successful excursion that saw the retrieval of equipment, installation of an experiment and the inspection of a Kurs antenna on a docked Progress cargo craft. The highlight of the spacewalk was a golf swing as Mikhail hit a golf ball from the International Space Station as part of a Russian commercial activity.

Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter remained inside the orbiting platform monitoring station systems while his crew mates were working outside. The spacewalk lasted 5 hours and 38 minutes.

Source: NASA - Space Station

Spacewalkers Tee Off on Science, Mechanics

Two International Space Station crew members wrapped up a 5-hour, 38-minute spacewalk from the Pirs docking compartment airlock at 12:55 a.m. EST Thursday.

The spacewalk included a golf shot that merited a high-flying birdie rating.


Image above: Artist's rendering of the golf task during
Expedition 14's spacewalk on Nov. 22, 2006.
Image credit: NASA

Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin was the lead spacewalker, EV1, and Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria was EV2. They wore Russian Orlan spacesuits.

Golf was the first major spacewalk activity. Lopez-Alegria put the tee on the ladder outside Pirs. Tyurin set up a camera and then stepped up and addressed the ball for his one-handed shot. Lopez-Alegria helped secure Tyurin's feet.

The golf was a commercial activity sponsored by a Canadian golf company through a contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency. The ball left the station toward the right side instead of to the rear, a substantial slice.

The ball weighs just 3 grams, a tenth of an ounce or about three times the weight of a dollar bill, compared to 1.62 ounces for a standard golf ball. At that weight it was unlikely to damage any station components if the shot had gone awry. The ball will have a short stay in orbit, perhaps three days.

Inspection of a Kurs antenna on the Progress 23 unpiloted cargo carrier that docked at the aft end of the station's Zvezda Service Module Oct. 26 was the next task. Final latching of the spacecraft to the station was delayed by more than three hours because Mission Control Moscow was not sure the antenna was completely retracted.

Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria moved to the rear of Zvezda and photographed the antenna. It was still fully extended, so Tyurin used a screwdriver to release a latch and tried to retract the antenna. Russian flight controllers also tried to retract it by activating a drive. Neither succeeded, and the task was abandoned.

Next they relocated a WAL antenna, which will guide the unpiloted European cargo carrier to docking with the station. That vehicle, the Automated Transfer Vehicle, is scheduled to make its first flight next year. In its previous position the antenna interfered with a cover for a Zvezda booster engine.


Image above: The Expedition 14 spacewalkers work on
the WAL antenna during the Nov. 22 EVA.
Credit: NASA TV

Then the two installed a BTN neutron experiment, which characterizes charged and neutral particles in low Earth orbit. Atop Zvezda, its readings during solar bursts should be of special interest to scientists.

Two thermal covers from the BTN were jettisoned before the spacewalkers returned to the Pirs airlock.

A final scheduled task, an inspection of bolts on one of two Strela hand-operated cranes on the docking compartment, was postponed.

The scheduled 6 p.m. EST start of the spacewalk was delayed because of a cooling issue in Tyurin's suit. Tyurin got out of the suit and straightened a suspect hose which apparently had become kinked. A balky hatch further delayed start of the spacewalk.

This was the first spacewalk during Expedition 14, the sixth for Lopez-Alegria and the fourth for Tyurin.

Source: NASA - Station - Expeditions

Wheel or doughnut shaped space stations were all the rage in the 50's and 60's.

A 1977 concept drawing for a space station. Known as the 'spider' concept, this station
was designed to use Space Shuttle hardware. A solar array was to be unwound from the
exhausted main fuel tank. The structure could then be formed and assembled in one
operation. The main engine tank would then be used as a space operations control center,
a Shuttle astronaut crew habitat, and a space operations focal point for missions to the
Moon and Mars.

Credits: NASA

17 November 2006
Ever since humans first began to imagine space travel, space stations have been a popular theme. Ideas have been many and varied and often reflect the spirit of the time, remarkably many of the visionaries also showed remarkable foresight.

One of the first to mention space stations was the American clergyman and author Edward Everett Hale in his book The Brick Moon. One of his ideas was to use space to help sailors find their way across the seas. This was in 1869, just about the time when Jules Verne sent his protagonists around the moon.

The first to discuss a space station recognisable as such today was probably the Transylvanian-born German space pioneer Hermann Oberth. In 1923 he proposed a space station to be placed at an altitude of 1000 km that could be used for observing the Earth and the sky, supporting rescue operations, for meteorological and military observations and as a fuel depot for further space exploration. Oberth's station would be supplied by a fleet of smaller cargo rockets. It was up to one of his pupils, Werner von Braun, to realise many of Oberth's ideas.

At about the same time, two officers of the Austrian army, Baron Guido von Pirquet and Hermann Noordung, wrote about similar designs. Their space station would be powered by solar panels and Noordung was the first to calculate a geostationary orbit. His station was built in the shape of a toroid, similar to that of a doughnut; an idea that came to be widely used in science fiction.

Two cooks and four orderlies

Weightlessness was recognised as a problem very early on. The usual way to get around it was to spin the station, thus creating an artificial sense of gravity on the inside. The spinning wheel-like space station in 2001 – a Space Odyssey established a norm and counted Werner von Braun among its supporters.

In 1949, the British engineer H.E. Ross suggested sending up a space station in modules to be assembled in orbit. Unable to free himself from the spirit of the time, he included in the crew of 24 two cooks and four orderlies.

Then in 1969, a few years before the first space station was built, Gerard O'Neill, pilot, Apollo candidate and professor of physics, queried whether the surface of a planet was the ideal place to found space colonies. His idea was to build one hundred-kilometre-long cylinders that could be spun to create artificial gravity and house thousands or even millions of people. A worldwide organisation sprung up in O'Neill's footsteps: the L 5 Society, named after the point in the Earth–Moon system that O'Neill suggested would be the most suitable for his colonies.

The Soviets are first – again

NASA, founded in 1958, planned to launch a space station around 1970; had they succeeded the US would have been the first country to orbit a space station. However, they were not ready in time and the honour went instead to the Soviet Union as they launched Saljut-1 on 19 April 1971. Saljut-1 was 20 m long, 4 m in diameter, weighed 18 tonnes and had an effective volume of about 90 m3. The space station hosted a crew of one that during a 23-day visit worked through a series of scientific, engineering and observational experiments. Saljut-1 orbited the Earth for 6 months before being destroyed on re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.

Two years later on 14 May 1973, the American space station, Skylab was finally launched. Skylab was a much larger beast as it was 36 m long, 6 m in diameter and weighed 76 tonnes with a volume of 360 m3.

Skylab – pioneer with problems

The launch was not straightforward and came very close to being a complete disaster. The micro-meteorite shield that doubled as a sun block tore loose during launch, as did one of the solar panels. Debris from the shield pinned the remaining solar panel preventing it from opening fully, so that when Skylab reached orbit it was nearly powerless.

During their 28-day stay the first crew managed to make sufficient repairs to put the station in some semblance of working order, and also managed to carry out scientific experiments and observations. The second crew continued both the repairs and the scientific work and stayed on board for 59 days. On 16 November 1973 the third crew lifted off and stayed for a then remarkable 84 days. All three Skylab crews set new records for time spent in space.

Skylab was then supposed to power down and wait for the first Shuttle launch in 1979 but delays set in and the first Shuttle did not launch until 1981. Given its state of disrepair it was decided that no further measures could be justified and the station met its end on 11 July 1979 amid public outcry when it crashed and burned over the South Pacific. Most of the debris that reached the ground landed in Australia, which led to the US Government being fined $400 for litter by an Australian municipality.

Salyut and Mir


Space Shuttle docked with Mir

Mir was the first space station launched in modules and assembled in space, even if the idea had been around for almost half a century. Mir was also the first large scale international collaboration in space.
Salyut and Mir

Meanwhile the Soviet Salyut programme continued with both civilian and military launches until the launch of Saljut-7 on 19 April 1982. During the programme, 72 crews, consisting of both Soviet and international cosmonauts, spent a total of 1697 days on board the Salyuts and many cosmonauts shattered the Skylab records for time in space, some many times over.

Mir, the successor to the Salyuts, was the first space station with international collaboration and a number of American and European astronauts visited the space station during its lifetime. Mir was also the first space station to be launched in modules, although the later Salyut versions had experimented with modularity.

The first Mir module was launched on 19 February 1986 and the last on 23 April 1996. Once fully constructed, Mir weighed around 130 tonnes and was 35 m long. In the early 1990s, what had by then become the Russian Federation decided it could no longer afford to keep Mir in space. On 23 March 2001 Mir entered the Earth’s atmosphere and its remnants crashed into the ocean.

By that time Al Gore, the American Vice President and Viktor Chernomyrdin, the Russian Prime Minister, had announced a collaboration that would eventually become the International Space Station, the ISS. In November 1998 the first ISS component was launched and the first real module, originally destined for Mir 2, on 12 July 2000. The first crew arrived just a few months later. Now, six years on, the ISS is to have its first Swedish crew member.

Source: ESA - Celsius Mission

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Reiter, Expedition 13 flight engineer,
looks over a procedures checklist in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space
Station while Space Shuttle Discovery was docked with the station. Reiter launched on
Discovery with the STS-121 crew and officially became an Expedition 13 crewmember
after the shuttle docked with the station.

Credits: NASA

17 November 2006
What exactly have Christer Fuglesang and the rest of the STS-116 crew got to look forward to when the reach the Space Station? Life on board the ISS makes great demands on astronauts. It is strenuous, difficult, confusing and – quite wonderful!

The weightlessness in space does not mean everything is easy to handle. Tools and equipment still have inertial mass and as the astronauts are weightless it can be hard work pushing and pulling to move objects around.

For one thing it is difficult to brace your feet and this leads to astronauts taking up awkward positions in an effort to stay upright. To make activities easier on board the ISS, there are numerous restraining loops which astronauts use to anchor their feet.


Keeping in shape!

Before the first human spaceflight scientists were not sure that humans could even survive in a state of weightlessness, this is one of the reasons why Yuri Gagarin only made one orbit. The biggest physiological problems facing astronauts are the loss of bone and muscle mass.

"Nowadays much more is known about muscle loss," says Dag Linnarsson who is a professor at the Karolinska Institute just outside Stockholm. His main field of enquiry is the effect of extreme environments on humans, with a particular focus on weightlessness.

"Bone mass is a little bit more difficult," says Linarsson. "The only way to measure the loss of bone accurately is by x-ray but you cannot X-ray astronauts all the time. Work is being done to find other methods but there is still a way to go."

Fortunately, however, once back on Earth astronauts regain most of the tissue lost in about the same time it took to lose it.


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