Jacques van Oene
April 17th 05, 04:50 PM
International Space Station Status Report #20
2005
Report #20
11:55 p.m. CDT, Saturday, April 16, 2005
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas
New residents arrived at the International Space Station tonight to begin a
six-month mission and to prepare for the arrival of the first Space Shuttle
crew to visit the complex since November 2002.
With Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev at the controls, the Soyuz
TMA-6 spacecraft automatically linked up to the Pirs Docking Compartment at
9:20 p.m. CDT as the Soyuz and the Station flew over eastern Asia. Within
minutes, hooks and latches between the two vehicles joined together to form
a tight seal.
Aboard the Soyuz with Krikalev were NASA Expedition 11 Flight Engineer and
Science Officer John Phillips and European Space Agency (ESA) Astronaut
Roberto Vittori of Italy.
Hatches between the Soyuz and the Station were opened at 11:45 p.m.
Saturday. The two crews greeted one another with handshakes and hugs. The
first activity scheduled for the five crewmembers was a safety briefing to
familiarize the newly arrived trio with emergency escape procedures.
Krikalev and Phillips will remain on board the Station until October.
Vittori will return to Earth next week after eight days of scientific
experiments on the complex under a commercial agreement between ESA and the
Russian Federal Space Agency. The trio launched at dawn Friday from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for their two-day journey to the outpost.
Aboard the Station at the time of docking were Expedition 10 Commander and
NASA Science Officer Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov, who
are wrapping up their six-month mission and who will ride home on their
Soyuz TMA-5 capsule with Vittori on April 25 for a pre-dawn landing in
central Kazakhstan. Saturday marked the 185th day in space for Chiao and
Sharipov and their 183rd day on the Station.
Krikalev and Phillips will relocate the new Soyuz from Pirs to the Zarya
module docking port this summer.
On hand for the docking activities at the Russian Mission Control Center
outside Moscow were NASA Deputy Administrator Fred Gregory, NASA Deputy
Associate Administrator for Space Station and Space Shuttle Programs Michael
Kostelnik, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Craig
Steidle and ISS Program Manager William Gerstenmaier along with Russian and
European space officials.
On Sunday before they begin an extended sleep period, the new crew will
transfer their custom-made Soyuz seatliners as well as cargo carried aloft
on the Soyuz for the complex. Later in the day, initial briefings on the
handover from the current residents to their replacements will be conducted
and the new Soyuz' systems will be deactivated.
Over the next week, Krikalev and Phillips will familiarize themselves with
Station systems and stowed equipment, conduct robotics training with the
Canadarm2 robot arm, and receive detailed briefings on scientific payloads.
Phillips and Chiao will also continue the maintenance and repair work on the
cooling systems in the U.S. airlock Quest for the resumption of spacewalk
capability from the Station this summer.
In addition, they will pack discarded gear and equipment for return to Earth
on the Raffaello cargo module that will be brought to the Station on the
Space Shuttle's Return to Flight mission, STS-114, targeted to arrive next
month on the Shuttle Discovery.
Information on the crew's activities aboard the Space Station, future launch
dates, as well as Station sighting opportunities from anywhere on the Earth,
is available on the Internet at:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/
The next ISS status report will be issued on Friday, April 22, or earlier if
events warrant.
--
--------------
Jacques :-)
www.spacepatches.info
2005
Report #20
11:55 p.m. CDT, Saturday, April 16, 2005
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas
New residents arrived at the International Space Station tonight to begin a
six-month mission and to prepare for the arrival of the first Space Shuttle
crew to visit the complex since November 2002.
With Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev at the controls, the Soyuz
TMA-6 spacecraft automatically linked up to the Pirs Docking Compartment at
9:20 p.m. CDT as the Soyuz and the Station flew over eastern Asia. Within
minutes, hooks and latches between the two vehicles joined together to form
a tight seal.
Aboard the Soyuz with Krikalev were NASA Expedition 11 Flight Engineer and
Science Officer John Phillips and European Space Agency (ESA) Astronaut
Roberto Vittori of Italy.
Hatches between the Soyuz and the Station were opened at 11:45 p.m.
Saturday. The two crews greeted one another with handshakes and hugs. The
first activity scheduled for the five crewmembers was a safety briefing to
familiarize the newly arrived trio with emergency escape procedures.
Krikalev and Phillips will remain on board the Station until October.
Vittori will return to Earth next week after eight days of scientific
experiments on the complex under a commercial agreement between ESA and the
Russian Federal Space Agency. The trio launched at dawn Friday from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for their two-day journey to the outpost.
Aboard the Station at the time of docking were Expedition 10 Commander and
NASA Science Officer Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov, who
are wrapping up their six-month mission and who will ride home on their
Soyuz TMA-5 capsule with Vittori on April 25 for a pre-dawn landing in
central Kazakhstan. Saturday marked the 185th day in space for Chiao and
Sharipov and their 183rd day on the Station.
Krikalev and Phillips will relocate the new Soyuz from Pirs to the Zarya
module docking port this summer.
On hand for the docking activities at the Russian Mission Control Center
outside Moscow were NASA Deputy Administrator Fred Gregory, NASA Deputy
Associate Administrator for Space Station and Space Shuttle Programs Michael
Kostelnik, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Craig
Steidle and ISS Program Manager William Gerstenmaier along with Russian and
European space officials.
On Sunday before they begin an extended sleep period, the new crew will
transfer their custom-made Soyuz seatliners as well as cargo carried aloft
on the Soyuz for the complex. Later in the day, initial briefings on the
handover from the current residents to their replacements will be conducted
and the new Soyuz' systems will be deactivated.
Over the next week, Krikalev and Phillips will familiarize themselves with
Station systems and stowed equipment, conduct robotics training with the
Canadarm2 robot arm, and receive detailed briefings on scientific payloads.
Phillips and Chiao will also continue the maintenance and repair work on the
cooling systems in the U.S. airlock Quest for the resumption of spacewalk
capability from the Station this summer.
In addition, they will pack discarded gear and equipment for return to Earth
on the Raffaello cargo module that will be brought to the Station on the
Space Shuttle's Return to Flight mission, STS-114, targeted to arrive next
month on the Shuttle Discovery.
Information on the crew's activities aboard the Space Station, future launch
dates, as well as Station sighting opportunities from anywhere on the Earth,
is available on the Internet at:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/
The next ISS status report will be issued on Friday, April 22, or earlier if
events warrant.
--
--------------
Jacques :-)
www.spacepatches.info