Category The International Space Station

The third week in February saw the crew sample their potable water and disinfect parts of the water supply system in the Russian sector of ISS in order to ensure its continued functioning to the highest standard. Pettit replaced the remote power control module in Destiny due to a bad power switch in the unit causing a video recorder to power off unexpectedly. The crew also completed regular maintenance of some of their fitness equipment in Destiny. They conducted an inventory of all articles in Quest. At the same time, new software was loaded into the Command and Control (C&C) computers, and the Guidance, Navigation, and Computers (GNC) on the station.

On February 24, Bowersox and Pettit donned American EMUs without assis­tance from Budarin. This was a test in advance of launching two-man Expedition crews to continue station occupation while the Shuttle remained grounded. The two men went as far as setting up the equipment for pre-breathing oxygen before dis­continuing the experiment and removing the suits. In Houston, Carl Walz told them “Bravo, great job.” He joked with Pettit, “We think you are losing too much weight. You make it look altogether too easy.” Three days later, O’Keefe told Congress that if at any time the crew of ISS were at serious risk then they would “dim the lights, get into the Soyuz and head for home.’’

As March began the Expedition-6 crew celebrated their 100th day in space. All three men were continuing to perform human life sciences experiments, Earth obser­vations, and other onboard scientific experiments. Pettit continued to work on repairing the MSG, working with engineers on the ground. This work appeared to be complete by the end of the month when Pettit applied electrical power to the unit and ran a test run of the Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation (PFMI), which had been in the glovebox since it failed in November 2002. Following the test, the PFMI was replaced by another experiment: Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions (InSPACE). The crew also continued to prepare for a Stage EVA that was planned for April.

Pettit had put the human life science experiments in their historic context during his pre-launch interview:

“When you do research associated with exploration, you’re in a unique environ­ment and you learn new things about people and new things about nature. And these in themselves enrich the knowledge for everybody that doesn’t go on the exploration trip. One example I like about human physiology in exploration is transoceanic exploration in the 14th and 15th century and the role of diet and vitamin deficiencies. And, it was this kind of exploration that helped open the can of worms leading to things like vitamin C and its role in scurvy, and this information was prised, so to speak, from the souls of the early explorers. And once you learn this information, then it helps and benefits everybody back on the continent that didn’t get a chance to go on these trips. And I see this as the goal of the life science research on Space Station.’’

In his own interview, Budarin had discussed the experiments in the Russian segment of ISS:

“[The] Russian segment will have its own share of science and medical experi­ments. We will be performing Earth monitoring and observation for [the] Russian scientific program. One of the experiments is called Diatomeya. It involves observation of ocean surface in order to determine… regions that are best suitable for fishing; fertile regions of the ocean. Currently, these particular regions of the ocean are well-studied and their location is known, but in nature, every­thing changes, everything morphs, and these regions are changing as well. So we’ll be determining the new characteristics of the regions. Also, we will be monitoring the glaciers. Everybody’s talking about global warming, so we will be watching out for glacier dynamics. Medical, well, the goals and objectives are similar across all programs. The equipment may be different, but we will be working towards the same end pretty much.’’

The third week of March began with Pettit installing a new Pump Package Assembly (PPA) in the Moderate Temperature Cooling Loop (MTCL) of Destiny’s Thermal Control System. The original pump had failed the previous day. Due to seating problems in one of the valves the system was not returned to operation until March 20. Meanwhile, Budarin upgraded the Russian computer software.

When the Russian computer system was re-booted on March 19, a Russian Terminal Computer in Zvezda was unable to communicate with the American GNC Computer 2, which was controlling the station at the time. This caused a failure of the routine hand-over of control to the Russian computer. As a result, the American computer began an automatic shutdown of non-critical systems. But attitude control was not lost and, after the communication problem between the two computers had been overcome, all systems were brought back on-line within a few hours.

The last week of March was filled with three primary activities. Work to return the MSG to operational status was finally completed and preparations were made for the first run of InSPACE experiments, which were completed during the first week of April. The crew also began reviewing plans and preparing equipment for their second Stage EVA. Success would reduce the likelihood of the two-man Expedition-7 crew having to make a Stage EVA during their occupation of ISS. Finally, the Expedition-6 crew began computer-based training for their return to Earth in Soyuz TMA-1.

On March 29, representatives from America, Russia, and Europe met to discuss the financing of the two additional Progress vehicles requested for flight in 2004. Russia had hoped that America or Europe might find emergency funds to pay for the two vehicles, but it was not to be. The Americans reminded the Russians that the contract which they had signed when they became an ISS partner committed them to building and launching two Soyuz and five Progress vehicles each year, a target that they had only met in 2001. In 2002, the Russians had quoted financial difficulties as the reason for cutting the number of Progress vehicles to two each year. In March 2003, NASA now demanded that the Russians meet the terms of their original contract and supply the five Progress vehicles required in 2004. In the aftermath of STS-107 no one asked why America continually held the Russians to the letter of their contract and yet they had unilaterally ignored their own legal requirements under the same contract. In related negotiations, Russia offered an Expedition crew position to an ESA astronaut if the Europeans would finance the two additional Progress vehicles. Having failed to extract additional money from their ISS partners, Russian officials were quoted in the press as saying that Russia could not afford to finance the continued crewing of ISS on their own. Once again they suggested that the station may have to be abandoned and mothballed until the Shuttle was flying once more.

On April 4, 2003, Progress M-47 was used to raise the station’s orbit for the second time. The new orbit optimised the conditions for the docking for Soyuz TMA-2. Two days later, the SSRMS was positioned so that its lights could provide support for the up-coming Stage EVA.

At 08: 40, April 8, Bowersox and Pettit commenced their second EVA, exiting the station through the Quest airlock. After preparing their tools, the two men began work on separate lists of tasks. Bowersox reconfigured electrical connectors between the S-0 and P-1 ITS. The work put in place additional protection to prevent the unintentional separation of the entire truss structure from the S-0 through the Bolt Bus Controller System: they didn’t want a malfunctioning circuit to withdraw the bolts that held the segments together. Bowersox also inspected a faulty heater cable on the P-1 ITS Nitrogen Tank Assembly, but found nothing obviously wrong. Meanwhile, Pettit replaced a power relay box in one of the CETA carts. The cart had suffered from electrical problems since it had been installed.

Both men then moved to the Z-1 Truss and re-routed power cables to CMG-2 and CMG-3 at that location. The changes would prevent the two CMGs being disabled if they suffered a power failure. Next, they installed two SPDs on the fluid quick-disconnect lines for Destiny’s heat exchanger. Moving on to the S-1 ITS, they worked together to secure a thermal cover on the Radiator Beam Valve Module, which controlled the flow of ammonia to the S-1 radiators. Returning to the CETA carts, Pettit used a hammer to free a stanchion from its stored position and deployed it on the cart, before deploying a light on the stanchion. The two men then stowed

their equipment and returned to Quest, bringing the EVA to a close at 15:06, after 6 hours 26 minutes.

On April 11, Progress M-47 was used to complete the third of three re-boost manoeuvres in preparation for the arrival of Soyuz TMA-2. Three days later the three men donned their Sokol pressure suits and climbed into Soyuz TMA-1. The short exercise was part of their preparations for return to Earth. As the week advanced the crew began packing personal items and answering questions from controllers about onboard maintenance.

Soyuz TMA-2 was rolled out and erected on the launch pad at Baikonur on April 24. Everyone was at pains to point out to the media exactly what the flight represented. Sergei Gorbunov said, “Obviously, this mission is very important in terms of the survival of the International Space Station.”

Meanwhile, a NASA spokesman insisted, “I think everybody that has been sceptical about the strength of the Russian space program and in a broad sense about the viability and status of the Russian space program—those sceptics have been proven wrong.”

SOYUZ TMA-2 DELIVERS EXPEDITION-7, THE FIRST “CARETAKER CREW”

Prior to the loss of STS-107, Soyuz TMA-2 was just another “taxi” flight to replace Soyuz TMA-1, due for launch in April 2003. That changed when the decision was taken to keep ISS occupied by having two-man Expedition crews fly to and from the station in the available Soyuz TMA spacecraft. The crew for this flight were originally members of a three-man Expedition-7 crew with Sergei Moschenko as the third member. They should have been launched on STS-114 with the following Shuttle crew:

COMMANDER: Eileen Collins

PILOT: James Kelly

MISSION SPECIALIST: Soichi Noguchi (Japan), Stephen Robinson

Soyuz TMA-2 was launched at 23: 54, April 25, 2003. In Washington, Sean O’Keefe told journalists, “The real testimonial to how strong that partnership is, is tonight’s launch of the Soyuz.’’ At the same time O’Keefe announced the names of the Shuttle crew that would fly the “Return to Flight’’ mission, possibly in December 2003. That launch date would be pushed back to March 2004, and even then it would not be met. The Shuttle crew would deliver a fully loaded MPLM to ISS as well as the

first three-person Expedition crew since the Expedition-6 crew. The Shuttle would be flown by Eileen Collins’ crew (named above).

Following a two-day rendezvous Soyuz TMA-2 docked Zarya’s nadir at 01:56, April 28. As the Soyuz approached the station Budarin performed a pitch-up manoeuvre to allow the ISS crew to photograph his spacecraft. The photographs would be studied in America, where plans were under consideration to have all future Shuttle orbiters perform a similar manoeuvre before docking to the station. The photographs taken on those occasions would be sent down to the ground, where experts would review the Shuttle before declaring it safe for re-entry.

The hatches between the two vehicles were opened at 02: 27 and the Expedition-7 crew made their way into ISS where the Expedition-6 crew greeted them. Following their official welcome and the standard safety brief the two crews began a five-day hand-over period.

In a press conference held on April 28, Bowersox joked, “I feel a little bit like I’m being kicked out of my apartment for not paying my rent. But when I get back to Earth, the best part is going to be, to be able to hug my wife and hug my kids.’’ At one point Bowersox was wistful about returning to Earth in Soyuz TMA-1, “I’ve been looking down quite a bit from orbit, looking down on Kazakhstan. It’s a beautiful country… I think it’s going to be a very, very interesting life experience.” The fickle

American media made much of the fact that Bowersox and Pettit would be the first American astronauts to return from ISS in a Soyuz spacecraft, but Pettit put their minds at rest, “We’ve had a heap of training for both Soyuz and Shuttle entries and either one is fine with us. I don’t think there’s any extraordinary angst about the particular entry we’re planning to do here.’’ More important to Pettit was the fact that he would soon see his wife and twin 2-year-old sons. On the subject of the loss of STS-107, Bowersox noted, “I think it’s going to be hard for Don and I, after being away from it all, to suddenly be confronted with all that emotion… But at the same time, I think it’s going to be very good for us to be back there with our friends and help them work through it and let them help us work through the changes that we’ll be going through.’’

Asked about the fact that there were only two people on the new Expedition crew, Lu said, “I think we’ll be able to do just fine.’’ On May 1, the station’s computer server went down. Malenchenko and Lu worked with controllers to solve the problem and the server was back on-line the following day. May 2 also saw the Expedition-7 crew carry out familiarisation training on the SSRMS.

The change of command ceremony took place at 13: 15, May 3, before Bowersox led his crew into Soyuz TMA-1 and handed over to Budarin, who assumed his role as Soyuz Commander. Bowersox told the new Expedition crew, “You guys have to be the two luckiest guys who come from planet Earth today. Over the next six months you get to live aboard this beautiful ship.’’ Then he turned to Malechenko and told him calmly, “Yuri, I’m ready to be relieved.’’ Of his own crew’s occupation of ISS Bowersox said, “We carried out everything we intended to, but most important is that we worked well together as an international crew.’’ Listening in Korolev, O’Keefe joked with the outgoing crew, “Put in your order for how you want your steaks done so we can have them ready for when you arrive.’’

The hatches between the two spacecraft were closed at 15: 38, and Budarin undocked Soyuz TMA-1 from the station at 18: 40. Three hours later, at 21: 07, the re-entry module landed inside Kazakhstan, some 400 km short of its predicted landing site. The offset centre of mass in the re-entry module enabled the Soyuz to generate lift, and thereby control its passage through the atmosphere, generally extending it by several hundred kilometres and aiming for the assigned target spot. Soyuz TMA-1 had defaulted to a ballistic trajectory and therefore fallen “short’’ of its target. During their unplanned ballistic re-entry, the crew, who had spent 5.5 months in microgravity, were subjected to more g forces than they had expected. When the main parachute deployed, some of its lines snapped, including one that carried the main communications antenna. As a result, the Soyuz TMA-1 re­entry module completed its final descent and landing in radio silence. Touchdown was also harder than expected and Pettit’s shoulder was injured. The wind caught the parachute and dragged the module 13 m across the steppe, before leaving it on its side. Recovery helicopters had to re-fuel before they could reach the off-target site. Contact was made with the crew at 23 : 30, and aircrew reported that all three men were out of the spacecraft and waving to them as they landed. It would take 2.5 hours for the recovery team to reach them, so the crew lay on the ground to avoid the cardiovascular stress of gravity.

In reply to their questions about returning to Earth, Bowersox told journalists, “We could smell the dirt. We could smell the grass. It was fantastic.”

Petitt added:

“When the hatch was just cracked open, there were real Earth smells because we stirred up a fair amount of dirt when we landed. You had this fresh dirt smell, which was just a beautiful smell. It had a little bit of crushed grass in it because there was all that fresh spring grass coming up in little clumps… The next thing that hit me were all the birds chirping. It was just music to our ears.”

He continued:

“I was actually relieved to ooze out of the spacecraft and lay on Mother Earth and have a solitude moment in which to get reacquainted.”

On the subject on what had caused the switch to a ballistic re-entry trajectory Budarin was non-committal, “It’s for the specialists to figure out what was the cause. Let’s wait and see, but for now I can say that it was not our own doing.’’

The crew were recovered by helicopter, with Pettit being placed on a stretcher. The following day they were flown to Baikonur. Both the Russians and the Americans played down the difficulties at the end of the Expedition-6 flight.

Having watched the recovery from TsUP in Korolev, O’Keefe was damning when he returned to America. He told journalists that just 8 hours before the landing he had used new cellphone technology to talk to the crew on ISS, but following their off-target landing there was no communication for 2.5 hours. “First we’re talking on a cellphone, and eight hours later we couldn’t reach them… Two tin cans and a string would have been an improvement. It was an absolutely phenomenal contrast.’’ The Russians began an investigation into the cause of the spacecraft leaving its controlled trajectory and commencing a ballistic re-entry. On June 28, it was announced that the fault had been identified as having been caused by the spacecraft’s “yaw gyroscope experiencing gimbal-lock when its angular excursion exceeded its permissible range of 54 degrees.’’ RSC Energia said that corrections would be made to the control systems of all later Soyuz TMA spacecraft.

Prior to flying to ISS, Bowersox had been asked how he viewed the end of the flight, and what, in his mind, would make the Expedition-6 occupation a successful one. Answering, before the loss of STS-107, he replied:

“I guess the most important thing will have been the unity of the crew at the end of the flight. To be successful we have to come back as a crew that was able to support each other, able to forgive each other when we made mistakes or when we accidentally offended someone, when we didn’t mean to, that we were able to get past all those human frailties, and stay united as a supportive crew. And that’s not just the three of us on board but also with our team on the ground, because there will be tons of frustrations that will come down upon us as we’re going through our mission. We’ll be in a high-stress environment, and typically when people are stressed and they have more stress being dumped on them, their teams can break down. And what we want to do instead is to support each other so that we become stronger with that stress. And if we can do that, we’ll be successful; everything else will work out and take care of itself.’’

Judged against that description, Expedition-6 had been very successful indeed.

Progress M-51 was originally scheduled for launch on December 22, 2004, but was delayed by 24 hours as a result of the off-nominal ISS orbital boost carried out on

November 19. The Progress was launched at 17: 19, December 23, and followed a standard rendezvous pattern to dock to Zvezda’s wake at 18:58, December 25. Docking was delayed for approximately 30 minutes so that it would occur over Russian ground stations. Throughout the approach Sharipov stood ready to take over manual control using the TORU system, but his skills were not needed. After the docking, Korolev’s controller told the crew, “Hip, hip, hooray; Congratulations.” Chiao replied, “We’re looking forward to our big Christmas present, the arrival of Progress. Merry Christmas, to all of the people keeping us safe up here.’’

The crew took the remainder of the day off to celebrate the Christmas holiday and then had an extended sleep period that night. They opened the hatches into the new Progress the following day. In a Christmas message, Chiao remarked, “Salizhan and I are privileged to be the only humans off our beautiful planet. Although we miss our families and friends, our role on board this international complex is a message for all of us with a fundamental curiosity to explore.’’

On December 26 an earthquake in the seabed below the Indian Ocean sent a tsunami crashing into the coastlines of several Asian countries, causing thousands of deaths and millions of dollars worth of damage. Around the world a major relief effort swung into action. The Expedition-10 crew took photographs of the disaster

area to show coastal change. Those pictures were sent down to Houston for analysis. Sharipov and Chiao then spent the remainder of the year unloading the new Progress and completing routine maintenance. Houston played a recording of the song Auld Lang Syne over the radio link to mark the moment of New Year. The crew also received greetings from controllers in Korolev.

In a press conference from space the two cosmonauts talked about the weight they had lost as a result of having to ration their food intake until Progress M-51 had arrived at the station. Chiao remarked:

“Both of us ended up losing a few pounds, but I guess that’s nothing we can really complain about… A lot of people would be happy to lose about 5 or 10 pounds. We looked at it as kind of a challenge, kind of a camping adventure, roughing it, I guess.’’

He added:

“All throughout this whole thing, we kept real good spirits. Salizhan and I have been keeping each other up, joking around, and it’s been very pleasant even with some of the shortages.’’

Chiao blamed the food shortage on Foale and Padalka, who had sought permission to eat some of the next crew’s food when their own return to Earth was delayed:

“The last crew had gotten into our food and had failed to actively report to the ground what they had taken out of our allotment.’’

During January 1, 2005, air bubbles in the plumbing caused the Elektron oxygen generator to shut down again. Sharipov carried out a number of repairs over the following days, but the unit performed erratically. The crew purged gases from the system’s lines and replaced the electrolyte in the unit, and finally had it running again by January 6. Later that day it was switched from the primary pump to a back-up and continued to function intermittently. On January 4, while the Elektron was not operating, oxygen was added to the station’s atmosphere from tanks in Progress M-51.

The crew observed the Russian Orthodox Christmas on January 7, but both men performed experiments. The first week of the year saw the crew follow a light main­tenance schedule, including the NEUROCOG experiment, which studied how the body’s sense of balance adapted to microgravity. The astronauts sent a message of condolence to the victims of the tsunami. Throughout the following week, the crew assisted Houston in updating 1.5 million lines of computer code. They also began preparations for the Stage EVA planned for January 26. They had a day off on January 15, although controllers in Korolev fired the rockets in Progress M-51 to raise the station’s altitude and place it in the correct position to receive Progress M – 52, due to dock on March 2. These burns are not really designed to change the

altitude, but by setting the altitude to achieve a specific orbital period the phasing could be arranged to suit the rendezvous requirements of the ship about to launch.

The third week of the month was spent preparing for the EVA, charging pressure suit batteries, preparing tools, checking out their Orlan suits, and spending time on the station’s stationary bicycles to complete cardiovascular evaluation exercises. Meanwhile, controllers in Houston completed vibration and electrical current tests on CMG-2, which was run at each of its 15 available speeds over a period of 4 hours. Solar storms on January 18 and 20 led to instructions that both men should shelter in Zvezdawhenever the station passed above the most heavily affected regions of Earth’s atmosphere. Chiao and Sharipov marked their 100th day in space on January 21. The previous night the Elektron unit had shut down and only began working again after air bubbles in the water loop had been purged.

On January 26, both men donned their Orlan EVA suits and sealed themselves in Pirs. As on previous EVAs undertaken by caretaker crews, ISS’ systems were either powered off or placed into automated mode, and the hatches between the Russian and American sectors of the station were closed. After venting the atmosphere in Pirs they opened the outer hatch at 02: 43 and exited. Their first tasks were to set up the tethers and tools for the tasks ahead. Next they installed a Universal Work Platform (Russian initials: URM-D) and a base plate (FP-20) at the forward end of the large conical section of Zvezda, before mounting the German Robotics Component Verification on ISS (ROKVISS) experiment on the platform along with its antenna and cabling. When the 0.5 m long, two-jointed manipulator arm, designed to test small robotic joints in the vacuum of space, was first powered on it did not receive power. Chiao had to return to the location and re-seat the two power plugs. The system would be operated from the ground in Germany, or from a workstation inside Zvezda. The two astronauts then moved the tray holding the sole remaining Japanese MPAC/SEEDs experiment mounted on the exterior of Zvezda during the Expedi­tion-3 occupation, in October 2001. They removed it from its present mounting bracket and moved it to an adjacent bracket, in order to facilitate the installation of the ROKVISS antenna. Moving on again, they inspected vents on the exterior of Zvezda used by a number of environmental control systems, including the Elektron unit. Sharipov reported seeing both brown and white residues near the Elektron and Vozdukh carbon dioxide scrubber vents, and an oily substance on the thermal insulation surrounding the vents. Returning to Pirs, they installed the Biorisk – MSN experiment near the airlock’s hatch. Biorisk contained bracket-mounted canisters holding micro-organisms that would be exposed to the space environment before being returned to Earth for analysis. Entering the airlock, they sealed the hatch at 08 : 11, after an EVA lasting 5 hours 28 minutes. Returning to the station, they removed their suits, opened the hatches to the American sector, and reactivated the systems. They began a sleep period early in the afternoon, had the following day off, and spent the following week reconfiguring ISS for crewed operations. The last day of January was spent dressed in Sokol pressure suits, rehearsing re-entry procedures in Soyuz TMA-5.

As February began the two men began preparing for the Space Shuttle’s return to flight. On February 1, Chiao reported that he had finished packing all American

articles due to be returned to Earth in Discovery’s MPLM on the STS-114 flight. Work was continuing to pack Russian equipment. Chiao also completed an inventory of the food remaining onboard. The crew also worked on their national experiments. These included three runs of the Russian Plasma Crystal experiment, EarthKam, and the Space Experiment Module Satchel (SEMS). The last contained six school experiments in separate vials and had been delivered on the last Progress. Chiao also updated the software in the malfunctioning Space Integrated GPS/Inertial Navigation System, which supplied Global Positioning Satellite information to the station’s guidance and navigation system.

On February 8 the two Asian crewmembers celebrated Chinese New Year. On the same day there was a temporary loss of attitude control, when a wrong command sent from the ground caused one of the CMGs to become saturated. The Russian thruster system on Zvezda assumed the responsibility for attitude control, until the CMG could be reset. The crew spent several hours auditing the EMUs and their supporting equipment held in the Quest airlock. Chiao also replaced the metal oxide (METOX) canisters, which scrubbed the used oxygen in the suits. Both men completed their ongoing experiment programme throughout the week.

The Elektron oxygen generation system was powered off, after failing twice overnight, to allow the station to be repressurised, three times, using the oxygen remaining in the tanks on Progress M-51. The motors on Progress M-51 were used to adjust the station’s orbit on February 15. Remaining propellant was then pumped from the Progress to tanks in Zvezda later in the week. Sharipov removed the KURS docking system from the Progress for return to Earth on Discovery when Shuttle flights resumed. The crew also spent several days carrying out the semi-annual inspection and service of their treadmill, which involved partially disassembling the machine. In Houston, flight controllers powered up the Mobile Base System on the truss, and found they could not receive video from one of the cart’s cameras.

Most of the following week was spent packing rubbish into Progress M-51 prior to its departure. The spacecraft’s hatch was closed on February 25. On the same day American controllers in Houston completed 2 days of tests on the SSRMS, using the new software that had been loaded the previous month. This was the first time the SSRMS had been able to be operated from Earth. Throughout the test Chiao stood at the arm’s operating station in Destiny, ready to assume control if required. The test was successful and Chiao’s intervention was not required. This upgrade in capability would enable the ground to manipulate the arm to observe future two-person EVAs.

Progress M-51 was undocked at 11:06 on February 27. The cargo vessel was manoeuvred to a safe distance where Russian flight controllers used it in a 10-day long series of engineering tests.

“I think, historically… when we look back fifty years to this time, we won’t remember the experiments that were performed, we won’t remember the assembly that was done, we may barely remember any individuals. What we will know was that countries came together to do the first joint international project, and we will know that that was the seed that started us off to the Moon and Mars. Because then, I know, when we’re looking back from Mars, for example, it won’t be just the United States, or it won’t just be China or Russia: it will be an international mission. And it will have come out of the very fact that we’re doing the Inter­national Space Station today.’’

The seventh Progress was launched towards ISS at 15: 13 March 21, carrying the usual combination of water, propellant, and dry goods. Following a standard Soyuz rendezvous Progress M1-8 docked to Zvezda’s wake port at 15: 58 March 24. Pressure and leak checks were completed before the hatches between the two vehicles were opened. The Expedition-4 crew began unloading the new cargo the following day.

Bursch wrote,

“I was amazed at how much I anticipated the arrival of this Progress. I thought that because we had e-mail and the ‘phone,’ that I wouldn’t think the Progress was such a big deal… but it was! I underestimated how much I would anticipate the arrival of fresh fruit and care packages… something from Earth… something from home… that my friends and family had touched not too long ago!! … Everything went well, and after pressure checks we opened the hatch about midnight. I felt as if it was Christmas morning! Everything was tightly packed, but we managed to get to our care packages after about an hour. I honestly forgot that we hadn’t been visited for the past three months… and something ‘fresh’ from home was VERY welcome! We got new books on CD, cards, letters, pictures and some new DVDs.’’

On March 29, Walz performed hammer tests on the ARIS-ICE.

EUROPEAN COMMERCIALISATION

ESA signed an agreement on March 22 with 11 companies to promote commercial­isation of ISS in Europe by making access to the station easier for those companies. ESA agreed to assist the companies in question to promote awareness of the com­mercial possibilities of ISS within Europe, while supporting projects for such use made by the companies in question. With almost 33% of ESA space on ISS allocated to commercial use rented through the Agency, a spokesman said of the agreement,

‘‘The co-operation agreement between ESA and our strategic partners in industry forms the foundation of a true partnership between the public and private sectors. With the complementary skills of ESA and our partners we are now in a very good position to optimise the services we can offer to those customers who recognise the unique utilisation opportunities of the International Space Station.’’

At this time ESA awarded a 03.7 million contract to the German DLR Space Centre to establish the Columbus Control Centre at the German Space Operations Centre, in Oberpfaffenhofen. The new centre would also control Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) operations when they commenced. In the contemporary launch manifest, both the Columbus launch to ISS and the first ATV launch were due to take place in 2004.

Meanwhile, Node-2, the first of two Nodes built by Aleno Spazio in Turin, Italy, had completed its Acceptance Review and was due to be delivered to ESA in mid­May. Due to be launched by Shuttle in 2004, Node-2 would serve as a mounting for Columbus and Kibo. Node-2 would be named “Harmony’’. Following ESA accep­tance testing the Harmony and Columbus modules were to be shipped to KSC in Florida, where they were officially handed over to NASA and placed in line for their respective Shuttle launches.

Progress M-52 lifted off from Baikonur at 14: 09, February 28, 2005, and was soon in orbit with its antennae and photovoltaic arrays deployed. As the launch occurred, ISS was over the Atlantic Ocean, west of Cape Town, South Africa. Among its 2.4 tonnes of cargo, Progress carried 160 days of food for the crews of ISS. Following a standard 2-day approach the spacecraft docked to Zvezda’s nadir, at 15: 10, March 2. This was the first Progress docking to occur outside of direct-line-of-sight commun­ications with Russian ground stations. All telemetry and video links were routed to Korolev through American communications systems.

Meanwhile, NASA had voiced a concern over a projected shortfall of ISS logistics flights in the long term. In 2005 the schedule stood as follows:

• Three Shuttle flights in 2005 and five Shuttle flights per year from 2008 through 2010.

• Two Soyuz flights per year to 2008 and four Soyuz flights per year from 2009 through 2015.

• Four Progress launches per year to 2010 and five per year from 2011 through 2015.

• One European ATV launch per year from 2006 through 2013.

• One Japanese HTV launch per year from 2009.

NASA stated that this “does not meet the projected re-supply and return needs.’’

All of the information included in this manuscript has come from official sources within the space agencies of the countries involved in the International Space Station programme, unless otherwise stated in the manuscript.

LIST OF ISS NATIONAL SPACE AGENCY WEBSITES

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Russian Federation European Space Agency Japan

Canada

Brazil

PHOTOGRAPHS

All of the photographs used in this manuscript are from the NASA Human Space­flight Gallery on the NASA website quoted above. In illustrating the manuscript, I have attempted to include an image of each individual who has visited the Inter­national Space Station in the period covered in this volume. Due to the large number of people involved, Shuttle crews are represented by their official crew portrait. Shuttle mission in-flight images generally show external views. Expedition crews and Soyuz “taxi” crews are generally shown in images of each individual at work inside the station. Occasionally, group photographs are used as these show an indi­vidual, usually a commercial spaceflight participant, who is not available in an individual view.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many people have helped me to find the information in this manuscript. The Public Relations personnel at the space agencies listed above have, as always, been tireless in their assistance. David Harland, my co-aurthor on the first volume in this series, has had an editorial input, as has Bruce Shuttlewood of Originator. At Praxis Publishing, Clive Horwood and all of the Praxis staff have given their usual unending assistance and support. I want to thank them all for their assistance. Finally, I have to thank my wife, Sue, for her patient understanding and support while I was chained to the computer, writing.

John Catchpole

In America the Aerospace Safety Advisory Board warned that NASA was too tightly focused on short-term planning for Shuttle flights and was ignoring the long-term safety planning implications of such a narrow focus. The Board warned, ‘‘Unless appropriate steps to reduce future risk and increase reliability are taken expedi­tiously, NASA may eventually be forced to ground the system until time-consuming improvements can be made.’’ With the Shuttle suffering technical difficulties and foam shedding from the ET on practically every flight, it would only be a matter of time before the Board’s words would be proved to be prophetic in the extreme.

April began with a hunt for unexplained vibrations detected by the SAMS. The Expedition-4 crew entered and left their sleep stations four times while the experiment’s controllers at Huntsville monitored the vibrations picked up by the experiment. Acceleration data was down-linked to Huntsville from one of the MAMS low-frequency sensors. The high-frequency sensor was disabled at that time. The crew continued to take samples from the ADVASC experiment and stored them in the Biotechnology Refrigerator for return to Earth on STS-110. They were also preparing to deactivate the PCG-STES Unit 10.

On a lighter note Bursch described how they entertained themselves on such a long flight,

‘‘We have some foam balls that we try to throw the length of the station and really haven’t been too successful so far. But that’s kind of what we do for fun. Of course, we play with our food, like every good astronaut. Carl’s great on the keyboard. He has a keyboard up here that he plays. And we watch movies.’’

Malenchenko and Lu began their official increment as the Expedition-7 crew follow­ing the undocking of Soyuz TMA-1. The first two days were free days, to allow them to adapt to their new home. The third and fourth days were spent on a familiarisation tour and routine maintenance. May 9 was a Russian holiday, which gave the crew another day off, even so they performed more routine maintenance and two periods of physical fitness training each.

In his pre-flight interview Malenchenko had discussed how the Expedition-7 occupation had changed following the loss of STS-107:

“Our whole program [will] be revised. Some of the things we will not do because… there won’t be any Shuttle flights to deliver consumables and the hardware. And, even the items that were originally planned to be delivered on Progress will not be delivered because Progress will be delivering something else. But, some of the scientific experiments we will do nevertheless… And, I think we will be pretty busy with science as well.’’

Asked how he expected history to view the Expedition-7 occupation Malen – chenko replied:

“It’s hard to say. I think that the tragedy that has occurred, the fact that we lost our comrades, the fact is that they gave their lives for the continued space exploration. The fact that we are together and that it’s an international project allows us to continue this effort. We have the capabilities of different countries that we can put together to continue. I think that our Expedition confirms that, shows that we continue working even in such a difficult time period.’’

In answer to a similar question he had previously replied:

“Of course, we will have fewer resources and fewer capabilities available to us. We won’t have any Shuttle flights. Originally, there were three Shuttle flights scheduled for our Expedition, and we had a lot of activities scheduled for the construction of the station. All of this has been postponed. We will use the resources that we have remaining and all our capabilities to continue. We still have our program. It looks different, but we will continue working. We will continue supporting the station. We will continue performing scientific experi­ments… We will be missing our third crewmember, but we realize that two people are enough to maintain the station in a working state and, additionally, to conduct work on science experiments. That’s how I see our future work.’’

Their second week on ISS began with fire and evacuation training. The crew also performed maintenance of Zvezda’s ventilation ducts, and took an inventory of Russian communication equipment on the station. Malenchenko and Lu also har­vested the “Red and White’’ peas planted by the Expedition-6 crew as part of the Russian PLANTS-2 experiment. Lu worked in Destiny, servicing the experiment racks and preparing the InSPACE experiment in the MSG. The experiment studied the behaviour of magnetic particles in a fluid when subjected to a pulsed magnetic field. It was activated on May 20. As the crew completed their first month in orbit they began a series of maintenance tasks to ensure the station remained in good working order. These included monitoring the quality of the station’s internal atmosphere and the operation of the station’s LSS.

During the week ending May 30, Malenchenko and Lu replaced a faulty battery in Zvezda. They also practised donning American EMUs, inside Quest, although part of the test was cancelled when the water flow failed in the water-cooled undergarment of Lu’s EMU. With no Stage EVAs planned during the Expedition-7 occupation, the two men were practicing donning and doffing the EMUs without the assistance of a third crew member in case an unexpected situation developed that required them to complete emergency EVA. On May 30, Progress M-47 raised the station’s orbit.

On June 1, American President George W. Bush met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg, Russia. In a joint statement issued after their meeting Bush told journalists:

“The United States is committed to safely returning the Space Shuttle to flight, and the Russian Federation is committed to meeting the ISS crew transport and logistics re-supply requirements.’’

The President thanked his counterpart for Russia’s commitment to keeping ISS occupied and stocked with vital consumables. President Putin replied:

“Space remains a vital part of our cooperation.’’

Malenchenko and Lu both practised operating the SSRMS on June 4, grappling and releasing a target on the exterior of Destiny. The training session also served to exercise an adjustment made to the arm to improve its grappling procedure. In anticipation of the arrival of Progress M1-10, Malenchenko practised manual docking procedures with the TORU system in Zvezda.

One of the initial recommendations of the STS-107 Investigation Board was that all future Shuttle flights should be imaged while in orbit in an attempt to allow any damage to be identified and assessed. To this end Malenchenko and Lu spent June 7 calibrating and focusing a number of cameras on the exterior of ISS. In future, all Shuttles would be imaged in real time as they approach to dock with ISS. Images would be down-linked to MCC-Houston for assessment before the Shuttle was allowed to return to Earth.

As March began, Michael Griffin was named as NASA’s new Administrator. Although he had worked for NASA in the past, he was not doing so when he accepted the new position. In the past Griffin had been vocal in his criticism of ISS and his belief that the Shuttle should be grounded before 2010. He made no secret of his dislike of O’Keefe’s plans for an Atlas-V or Delta-IV launched Crew Exploration Vehicle, to be developed in three spirals (phases). In 1989, Griffin had been NASA’s Associate Administrator for Exploration, when President George Bush Senior attempted to send NASA back to the Moon. Now he would oversee the beginning of NASA’s attempts to make President Bush Junior’s Vision for Space Exploration a reality.

In orbit, the Expedition-10 crew spent the next few days unloading the supplies that Progress M-51 carried. Chiao also moved the SSRMS to the positions required for its cameras to view the exterior sites where he and Sharipov would perform work during their second EVA, planned for March 28. He left the SSRMS parked in the best position for the camera to view their work. Although a successful test had been made, the SSRMS was not yet certified to be controlled from the ground. The week was marred by the intermittent performance of the Elektron after it was powered on, on March 2. Sharipov performed several hours of maintenance work on the device, but failed to completely correct the problems. Further attempts at repair, between March 16 and 18, also failed and the unit was powered off until after the crew’s final EVA.

The following week Chiao installed a new heat exchanger in Quest, thereby returning the airlock to full operation. The heat exchanger had been delivered on

Progress M-52. Meanwhile, Sharipov worked in Pirs, preparing it for their forth­coming EVA, planned for March 28. American controllers tested the SSRMS for a second time on March 23. On the same day, Russian controllers fired the station’s thrusters to adjust its orbit in advance of the launch of Soyuz TMA-6. The RPC replaced by the Expedition-9 crew in 2004 failed on March 16, causing CMG-2 to stop working once again. The ISS returned to the minimum attitude control capability of just two working CMGs in the Z-1 Truss. If a third CMG failed, attitude control would be passed to the thrusters on Zvezda. Cables would be re-routed to bypass the faulty RPC during an EVA by the STS-114 crew, after the Shuttle returned to flight later in the year. Two Shuttle astronauts would also replace the CMG that had failed in June 2002. On March 25, the engines on Progress M-52 were used to raise the station’s orbit. The following day a cooling loop panel failed in Pirs. The crew had to replace the panel before their planned EVA could proceed.

Having configured ISS for autonomous flight and sealed all of the internal hatches, Chiao and Sharipov exited the Pirs airlock dressed in Orlan suits at 01: 25, March 28. They collected their tools and Sharipov activated a Russian nano-satellite for later deployment. Their first task was to install three WAL S-band low-gain antennae on the conical section at Zvezda’s ram. The antennae were part of the Proximity Communication Equipment (PCE) to be used by ESA’s ATV. Approximately 2 hours into the EVA, Sharipov stood on a ladder mounted on the exterior of Zvezda and launched the nano-satellite by hand. He released the satellite, which was designed to test new attitude sensors and small satellite control systems, towards the station’s wake.

Russian controllers in Korolev inhibited the station’s thrusters before the two men made their way towards Zvezda’s wake. There, they installed a GPS receiver, which would provide the ATV with its position relative to ISS during rendezvous. They then installed cables for the GPS receiver and photographed the position of another antenna for Russian engineers. They also secured cables along the exterior of the station as they made their way back to Pirs. During this work the station drifted out of alignment and Russian controllers re-activated the thrusters, to resume the correct attitude, as soon as the two men were clear of the area. Having stored their tools, Chiao and Sharipov re-entered Pirs and closed the hatch at 05 : 55, bringing the EVA to an end 1 hour earlier than planned, after 4 hours 30 minutes. Shortly after the EVA ended a series of spikes in vibration were detected in CMG-3, one of the station’s two functioning CMGs. Engineers in Houston began troubleshooting the vibration immediately and ISS was re-positioned so as to minimise demands on the two CMGs.

The crew spent much of the next week preparing the station for re-occupation, stowing tools and cleaning and venting unused oxygen in their Orlan EVA suits into the station’s atmosphere before storing the suits. They also continued stowing equipment that would be returned to Earth in Discovery, during the STS-114 Return to Flight mission, in July. They also tested the cameras that they would use to photograph the approaching Shuttle’s heatshield. The cameras had been delivered on Progress M-52. In the week ending April 8, the Expedition-10 crew began packing for the end of the flight. The station was repressurised using oxygen from the tanks in

Progress M-52, while American engineers continued to work on the CMG vibration spikes. Sharipov continued to work with the Elektron system, but the final repair still eluded him. The unit was powered on, on April 13, and was deliberately powered off on April 16, in advance of the Soyuz TMA-6 docking.

Soyuz TMA-6 was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 20:46, April 14, 2005. At the time, ISS was over the southern Atlantic Ocean. Following a standard rendezvous the Soyuz docked to Pirs at 22: 20, April 16. After routine pressure checks the hatches between the two vehicles were opened at 00: 45, and the Expedition-11 crew of Krikalev and Phillips entered ISS, where they were greeted by the Expedition-10 crew and given a safety brief. Krikalev and Phillips would complete 6 months on the station, with Krikalev passing 800 days of cumulative time spent in space during the flight and making a Russian record-breaking sixth spaceflight. This would be his third visit to ISS, and his first as Commander. Asked how being Commander differed from being Flight Engineer, he has remarked:

“I think that’s a very subtle issue, because when you fly a crew of two or three, the difference between the Commander and every other crewmember is very subtle… In this case you work as much, and maybe even harder, than your partners because you know more, you have more experience. I think for every Commander safety of the mission, mission success, is a primary goal. Mission success is again a very complicated issue. To say after a flight that a mission was successful, you have to know that all experiments were completed, all the work that was scheduled was done, but most importantly, to know that the crew returned safely to the ground. When you become Commander, you have a responsibility not only for mission success but for your crew, basically for the life of your crew.’’

Phillips had also visited ISS on an earlier Shuttle flight. For him the aims of Expedition-11 were fairly basic, but also vital to the programme:

“For me the first goal is to keep the Station in good shape. That is, basically routine maintenance and contingencies—if something comes up that we have to fix, we need to be able to keep it in good shape. We want to leave it in at least as good shape as we found it. Second is to carry out a program of scientific research. Even with only two people on board, where maintenance is a large piece of our

working day, we still have time to do scientific research. But third, and maybe the most dramatic part of all this, is that we’re going to have the privilege and the challenge of being there when the American Space Shuttles return to flight, hopefully in May of this year.’’

For the next week the two Expedition crews worked together preparing for the Expedition-10 crew’s departure. Safety and equipment briefings were dispersed between sessions unpacking the new Soyuz and preparing the old one for return to Earth. The two crews also worked together in a further attempt to repair the Elektron oxygen generator and the cooling system in Quest. Krikalev and Phillips also had a training period on the SSRMS and received additional briefings on the station’s experiments. Vittori spent much of his time completing the “Endine” suite of 23 ESA, Italian Ministry of Defence, and Italian Chamber of Commerce experiments, before returning to Earth in Soyuz TMA-5, with the Expedition-10 crew. In the meantime, he would become the first ESA astronaut to make a second visit to ISS.

On April 20, Chiao and Phillips worked together to flush the cooling system and replace an umbilical in the Quest, in advance of its return to use during the Expedition-11 occupation. The following day they worked to re-size the EMUs stored in the airlock. Meanwhile, they both worked with Vittori to prepare Soyuz TMA-5 for their return to Earth. On April 22 the two crews joined together for the official change of command ceremony.

During the following week Krikalev worked on the condensate removal system of the Elektron oxygen generation system, which remained off-line after a further 12 hours of work. Krikalev also completed the transfer of water to the station from the docked Progress vehicle. Phillips spent his time installing the Expedition-11 software in the station’s computers. Both men also worked to prepare for the arrival of STS-114.

Chiao, Sharipov, and Vittori separated from ISS in Soyuz TMA-5 at 14: 41, April 24. Sharipov completed the undocking manually in order to reduce the drain on the back-up battery, which had been showing reduced current throughout the Expedition-10 occupation. Soyuz TMA-5 landed at 18: 08, the same day, after a flight lasting 192 days 19 hours 2 minutes. Vittori had been in flight for 9 days 21 hours 21 minutes.