Category The International Space Station

In the immediate aftermath of the loss of STS-107 in February 2003, NASA had asked the Russians to launch an additional, fourth, Progress in 2003. Despite having requested the extra launch, NASA was unable to offer any payment in support of it, due to the terms of the Iran Non-Proliferation Act, which forbade American com­panies and government departments from spending their money in countries that supported Iran’s attempts to develop nuclear power and, through that programme, nuclear weapons. The launch of the extra Progress had been delayed from November 2003 to January 29, 2004.

On that date Progress M1-11 was launched at 06: 58, and followed a standard two-day rendezvous trajectory, before docking to Zvezda’s wake at 08: 13, January 31. The Expedition-8 crew spent the next week unpacking the new arrival. Following a test-firing of the Progress’ thrusters, the crew observed a small strip of material drifting away from the station, but noted that it did not appear to represent any danger to ISS. Two weeks later the object was identified as a bolt and washer used to hold the photovoltaic arrays on Progress M1-11 in their folded position during launch. They served no purpose after the spacecraft’s arrays had been deployed. During the week ending January 31, Foale also initiated the ESA PROMISS-3 cell culture growth experiment that had been carried into space on Progress M1-11. It would be run for 30 days and the results would be returned to Earth on Soyuz TMA-3.

February began with a period of silence to mark the first anniversary of the loss of STS-107, and the unloading of Progress M1-11. The crew also began a highly toxic Japanese experiment called the Granada Crystallisation Facility. Kaleri commenced the Russian Mimtec-K protein crystal growth experiment. He also deployed the Russian Brazdoz radiation detectors inside Zvezda. On February 4, Kaleri began repairs of the Elektron oxygen generator and the Vozdukh carbon dioxide remover. A fan in the latter had begun making a loud noise and would be replaced during the following week. The international experiment programme continued throughout the next week alongside routine maintenance and exercise. During the second week of the month the crew completed the ongoing regular collection of air and swab samples from surfaces inside ISS. Progress M1-11 had been emptied by February 11, and the crew began loading the spacecraft with unwanted items. Elektron failed during the day, but Kaleri had it working again within 24 hours. It failed once more on February 16, and it took 3 days of efforts by Kaleri, with Korolev’s assistance, to put it back in action. It failed again the following day and the station’s atmosphere was topped up using oxygen from Progress M1-11.

On February 16, Korolev released details of the problem with the Soyuz TMA-3 spacecraft. It was

“… a minute pressure decay in the two helium systems that pressurise the Soyuz propellant tanks and lines… The pressure decay was first noted on system-2 when the Soyuz arrived at the station in October, and was confirmed on system-1 during a routine thruster test… Flight directors have concluded that the decay poses no concern. The decay was extremely small and there are no plans to change normal entry and landing procedures.”

As they approached 4 months (February 18) in their occupation, Foale and Kaleri commenced early preparations for their only Stage EVA, planned for February 26. They shifted their sleep schedule to accommodate the start of the EVA. Foale also positioned the SSRMS so that its cameras and lights could offer maximum coverage of their external activities. The EVA would take place from Pirs, with both men wearing Orlan pressure suits. It would be the first EVA from ISS where all crew members were outside of the station, and no one was inside monitoring the station’s systems and choreographing the EVA against the flight plan, or operating the SSRMS to provide the best possible video coverage. Although NASA was originally unhappy about this arrangement, the Soviets/Russians had used it throughout their Salyut and Mir space station programmes.

The following week was spent preparing for the planned EVA. Both men unpacked their Orlan EVA suits and checked them over, working closely with controllers at Korolev. They also carried out another, successful, exercise that proved they could move between Pirs and Soyuz TMA-3 while wearing Orlan pressure suits, in the event that they had to abandon ISS as a result of an unexpected event occurring during the EVA, which prevented them re-entering the station.

After configuring the station for a period of non-occupation, Foale and Kaleri locked themselves inside Pirs. At 16: 17, February 26, they opened the hatch and made their way into open space, leaving ISS unoccupied. They collected their tools, secured their tethers, and made their way to the exterior of Zvezda. There, they replaced one of two cassettes of long-duration material exposure samples that were part of the Japanese Micro-Particle Capture and Space Environment Exposure Devices (MPAC/SEEDs) experiment that had been put in place, to measure micro­meteoroid impacts, in October 2001. Next they installed the Russian “Matryoshka” experiment on handrails on Zvezda’s exterior. The experiment housed simulated human tissue samples, which would be used to study radiation absorption. As they completed this work Kaleri reported water droplets forming on the inside of his visor and a rise in the temperature inside his suit. It was approximately 18: 00. A few minutes later, engineers at Korolev reported problems with the cooling system in Kaleri’s suit, leading to a build-up of condensation on the inside of his helmet.

Kaleri returned to Pirs, while Foale replaced one of two cassettes of long – duration exposure material samples on Zvezda’s wake airlock housing before joining his colleague in Pirs. The hatch was closed at 20: 12, after an EVA lasting 3 hours 55 minutes. After pressurising the airlock Foale climbed out of his suit, so that he could carry out an inspection of Kaleri’s suit. During the inspection he discovered a kink in a cooling water tube. When the kink was straightened out the water began flowing freely once more. The two men re-entered ISS, which had performed flaw­lessly in autonomous mode throughout the EVA. American fears of leaving the station unoccupied had proved groundless. The week following the EVA began with light duties, but the crew also worked on their experiments and routine housekeeping tasks.

Progress M1-11’s thrusters were used to raise the station’s altitude on March 2. During preparations for the burn a momentary spike was observed in the electrical current reaching CMG-3. After the spike all readings returned to normal and CMG-3 continued to operate as planned. Foale had prepared Destiny’s window for the replacement of the jumper hose that had been identified as the source of the pressure leak earlier in the month. The gaps between the various panes of glass in the window were vented over the weekend to disperse condensation that had built up. On Friday March 5, a vacuum was re-established between the panes of glass in the window in advance of replacing the jumper hose. Once installed the new jumper hose was fitted with a new cover, to prevent it being knocked accidentally.

The week ending March 12 began with a three-day weekend off, after which the crew spent three days working closely with Houston to disassemble their exercise treadmill and remove the gyroscope that had malfunctioned in November 2003. They then replaced a bearing within the gyroscope before replacing the gyroscope and reassembling the treadmill. Houston monitored the first few days of treadmill use with the Vibration Isolation System re-activated, to ensure it was functioning correctly. NASA reported:

“The crew heard noises coming from the treadmill in November, which engineers determined was a failed bearing in the gyroscope that stabilises movement in the roll direction. A repair kit was sent to the station in January [on Progress M1-11] … After this week’s repair work, Foale reported the noises had stopped.”

Kaleri continued to work on the Elektron oxygen generator in Zvezda. On March 12, he began a total review of the system, to identify what items needed replacing. Following a final replenishment of oxygen from Progress M1-11, two Russian SFOG oxygen candles were burned each day in Zvezda, commencing on March 13, to supplement the oxygen supply while the Elektron repairs continued. At the end of the week Foale performed further activities while wearing the FOOT experiment to record how he used his limbs in microgravity. He also used a computer training package to familiarise himself with the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity (ADUM) experiment. Later in the flight, Foale would use the experi­ment to make an ultrasound examination of Kaleri. On March 14, CMG-2 in the Z-1 Truss fell off-line for 2 minutes before the emergency system restored it to correct operation. Similar failures and recoveries would occur over the next several days.

The following week Foale and Kaleri spent two days replacing a liquids unit and a water flow system in the Elektron oxygen generator. Following earlier repairs, Russian engineers had decided that air bubbles in the liquids unit had repeatedly caused the Elektron unit to shut down after only a few minutes of operation. The work on Elektron necessitated the re-scheduling of other, lower priority tasks. Following the repair the Elektron unit was activated on Saturday March 20, and performed well. It was left running and the crew stopped burning SFOGs. NASA was at pains to point out that over 100 SFOG candles remained in storage on ISS, along with two tanks of high-pressure oxygen in the Quest airlock, which could supply the crew with breathable oxygen for several months if required. On March 22 and 23, both men participated in noise level measurements. The working week ended on March 26, when Foale carried out a regular inspection of one of the two American EMUs held on the station.

As March turned to April the Expedition-8 crew began their final month onboard ISS. They completed an initial maintenance of the two Russian Orlan suits delivered to the station on Progress M1-11 in January, to replace three older Orlan suits that had been used by earlier Expedition crews. Foale completed a final session of training on the SSRMS on April 2. He used the arm’s cameras to complete an external inspection of the station. He also noted that the noise that the crew had reported earlier in the flight was repeated each time he commanded Destiny’s external

camera to pan up and down. In Russia, controllers were considering having the crew replace the fan in the Soyuz TMA-3 descent module that had failed during the journey up to the station in October. The fan assisted in maintaining the humidity inside the cabin.

American controllers successfully completed tests of the software that would control the Thermal Rotary Radiator Joints on the ITS when its installation con­tinued, following the Shuttle’s Return to Flight. The software would be used to automatically position the cooling radiators mounted on the Truss once the station’s cooling system was activated, following the flight of STS-116.

Foale spent the last two weeks of his occupation completing the FOOT and PFMI experiments, and Kaleri changed a set of two ventilation and humidity fans in Soyuz TMA-3. They also began preparing the items that they would take back to Earth with them. During the week ending April 16, both men participated in a test of Soyuz TMA-3’s thrusters, during which controllers in Korolev noticed the same helium leak that had been monitored during the rendezvous with ISS. Korolev conducted additional tests of the helium system, which was used to pressurise the spacecraft’s propellant tanks, to time the leak rate. The crew also completed environ­mental sampling at various points inside ISS for return to Earth for investigation. Foale also set up the ESA HEAT experiment in the MSG in anticipation of the arrival of Soyuz TMA-4 with Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers, who would use the experiment to see if a grooved heat pipe can be used to transfer heat from hot surfaces, such as electronics, to cold surfaces, such as radiators, in microgravity.

The Soyuz TMA-4/Expedition-9 crew was originally named as Commander Valeri Tokarev and Flight Engineer William McArthur. On January 12, 2004 NASA announced that McArthur had been removed from the crew for “unspecified medical reasons’’ and replaced by Leroy Chiao. Tokarev and Chiao subsequently proved incompatible as a crew, and in February 2004 they were replaced by the original Soyuz TMA-5 prime crew of Gennady Padalka and Michael Fincke, the original Expedition-10 crew. Andre Kuipers, a Dutch ESA astronaut, would continue to fly to ISS with the new crew. By the time the crew change was announced McArthur had already recovered his health, but he and Tokarev had lost too much time training, so they were named as the new Soyuz TMA-7/Expedition-12 crew.

Soyuz TMA-4 was launched at 23: 19, April 18, 2004. Docking with the nadir port on Zarya occurred at 01: 01, April 21, and following pressure checks the hatches were opened at 14:00. The three newcomers entered the station and were given a safety briefing. Padalka and Fincke would spend 6 months on the station as the Expedition-9 crew and make two Stage EVAs from Pirs. Kuipers, the second Dutch national to fly in space, would return to Earth with the Expedition-8 crew, after spending 9 days in flight. While the Expedition-9 crew began their familiarisation and hand-over period, the Expedition-8 crew exercised rigorously prior to their return to Earth. After his recovery, Kuipers would describe his feelings:

“It was amazing, better than I had ever expected. All the different colours of

Earth; such brilliance… Gliding past huge clouds, and vast expanses of water.

You see cities from above and lightning on top of clouds instead of underneath.

At times like that it hits you that you really are in space.”

Kuipers had begun his Dutch Expedition for Life Siences, Technology and Atmospheric Research (DELTA) experiment programme during the solo portion of Soyuz TMA-4’s flight, performing a package of 21 ESA experiments. He com­menced his programme on ISS almost as soon as the hatches were open between the two spacecraft. On April 21, two runs of the HEAT experiment in the MGS were terminated automatically when the upper temperature limit was reached, and a third

run of the experiment was cancelled. After troubleshooting of the experimental hardware the following day, a further four runs of shorter duration were completed before the experiment was stored in Zvezda. Kuipers suffered continual problems with some of his experiments’ hardware, including a centrifuge. Throughout the remainder of the week the Dutchman became a human subject for a number of microgravity and life science experiments. He also assisted Foale and Kaleri to prepare Soyuz TMA-3 for their return to Earth.

On April 21 the Expedition-9 crew were informed that CMG-2 had gone off-line at 16: 20, after the RPCM, a circuit breaker mounted on the S-0 ITS, had mal­functioned and cut power to the CMG. CMG-1 and CMG-2 continued to perform flawlessly and were sufficient to control the station’s attitude. Controllers in Houston began planning an unscheduled third Stage EVA, on June 10, to replace CMG-2 with a CMG held in storage on the station.

The official hand-over ceremony between the Expedition-8 and Expedition-9 crews took place in Destiny on April 26. On the same day Foale, Kaleri, and Kuipers spent several hours in Soyuz TMA-3, rehearsing their undocking and re-entry procedures. Two days later propellant was transferred from Progress M1-11 while the crew slept.

After a week-long hand-over, Foale, Kaleri, and Kuipers said farewell to Padalka and Fincke and sealed themselves in Soyuz TMA-3, preparing to return to Earth. Soyuz TMA-3 undocked at 16:52, April 28, retrofire occurred at 18: 20, with no difficulties, and the re-entry module landed at 20: 12 the same day. The Expedition-8 crew had spent 194 days 18 hours 35 minutes in space. They were just one day behind the Expedition-4 crew. Foale’s personal accumulative record stood at 374 days 11 hours 19 minutes, including his Shuttle flights and his stay on Mir. He was the first American astronaut to spend a total of over one year in space. All three men were in good health and excellent spirits following their landing. As usual, the returning Expedition crew members underwent a 45-day rehabilitation programme.

Meanwhile, NASA admitted that they would be unlikely to meet the March 6, 2005 target date for STS-114, the Return to Flight mission. One of the limiting factors remained the development of the OBSS. The OBSS would give access to most of the Shuttle’s TPS, but not all of it. It would also be strong enough to support an EVA astronaut if any repairs had to be made to a Shuttle’s damaged TPS. It was not even guaranteed that STS-114 would carry the OBSS. If it did not, then the TPS inspection would have to be made by astronauts on an EVA to inspect those areas of the orbiter that could not be seen from the flight deck windows, or with the cameras on the Shuttle’s standard RMS.

A. Establish the ISS Program Office separate from, but residing at JSC, reporting to a new Associate Administrator (AA) for ISS.

B. Consolidate prime and non-prime contracts into a minimum number of resulting contracts all reporting to the program office.

C. Develop a life cycle technical baseline and manage the ISS Program to total cost and schedule as well as fiscal year budgets.

D. Consider revising the ISS crew rotation period to 6 months and reducing the

Space Shuttle flight rate accordingly. The result would be a delay in U. S. core complete assembly sequence by up to 2 months. Target cost savings: $668m, and continue to examine Strategic Resources Review (SRR) and institutional cost reductions. Target cost savings: S350M-S450M.

E. Develop a credible program road map starting with core complete and leading to an end state that achieves expanded research potential. Include gate decisions based on demonstrated ability to execute the program and identify funding to maintain critical activities for potential enhancement options.

F. Establish research priorities. The Task Force is unanimous in that the highest research priority should be solving problems associated with long-duration human space flight, including the engineering required for human support mechanisms, and provide the Centrifuge Accommodation Module (CAM) and centrifuge as mandatory to accomplish top priority biological research. Availability as late as FY08 is unacceptable, and establish a research plan consistent with the priorities, including a prudent level of reserves, and compliant with the approved budget.

G. Provide additional crew time for scientific research through the use of extended duration Shuttle and overlap of Soyuz missions.

H. Create a Deputy Program Manager for Science position in ISS Program Office. Assign a science community representative with dual responsibility to the Program and OBPR.

I. “The IMCE Report proposes a strategy to restore confidence in the ISS Programme”

J. “The goals of the US International Space Station Programme are not well – defined”

K. “The IMCE strategy raises serious issues for the ISS International Partners”

L. “NASA cannot afford to delay”

M. Manage strategically

N. Provide aerospace products and capabilities

O. Generate knowledge

P. Communicate knowledge.

The IMCE addressed the two major concerns over the ISS programme. The problem of severe cost overruns was responsible for the introduction in the report of the new concept of bringing ISS to “American Core Complete”, rather than the original, legally agreed, “Station Complete”. Core Complete was a unilateral American decision to save money by reducing American involvement in ISS while retaining America’s role as the controlling partner in the alliance. Core Complete deleted the American Habitation Module, the American CRV, and Node-3 from the ISS design, without any negotiation with Russia and the International Partners. The decision to eliminate the Habitation Module effectively limited future Expedition crews to just three people for the foreseeable future, which would severely constrain the European and Japanese agencies’ access to their own laboratories.

The cancellation of the X-38 CRV development programme meant that the Space Shuttle would remain NASA’s only access to ISS for the foreseeable future, given that American access to the Russian Soyuz spacecraft was limited by the Iran Non-proliferation Act at that time. Even without that legislation, the idea of NASA paying the Russians to carry American astronauts to and from space had never been very palatable to the Americans, even though it would be cheaper than continuing to fly the Shuttle. Attempts to replace the Shuttle were plagued by lack of long-range goals and a too narrow focus on ISS. Problems developing the X-33 Flight Test Article proved that Lockheed-Martin’s bold talk of the VentureStar vehicle were nothing but hyperbole. The Orbital Space Plane (OSP) would be criticised as being too poorly defined and too narrowly focused on the ISS CRV role. Finally, in the wake of disaster (STS-107, with seven people onboard would be lost in February 2003), NASA would be set a new goal and the definition of a new spacecraft would become easier to complete.

The second area that the IMCE addressed was the lack of science that would be able to be completed on a station that was restricted to the new Core Complete configuration. One recommendation that the committee made was one-month-long Soyuz taxi flights. In this scenario one Expedition crew would already be in space. Their relief would be launched one month before the original crew’s occupation came to an end. The six astronauts would then work together for one month with two Soyuz CRVs docked to the station. At the end of that month the original crew would return to Earth, leaving the new crew in orbit. In turn their relief crew would be launched one month before the end of their occupation and the two crews would work together for one month before the second crew returned to Earth, leaving the third crew alone in orbit. Due to restrictions on consumables, Shuttle flights would only visit the station during the periods when a single Expedition crew was in occupation. This recommendation would not be acted on after Node-3 was re-instated with living quarters for a further three occupants.

On December 5, 2002, representatives of all the national space programmes partici­pating in ISS met in Tokyo, Japan to discuss the future of the programme. Despite earlier words of warning to the contrary, a Rosaviakosmos representative said that his company was not only prepared to meet its Soyuz and Progress commitments to ISS, but was ready to begin work on a living module designed to raise the Expedition crew to six people. The representative pointed out that NASA was responsible for the station’s advanced living quarters and Rosaviakosmos could only construct their new module if NASA compensated them, paid for it. The Russian representative stated that ISS member states had reached an accord to begin six-person operations in 2006.

EXPEDITION-6

Following Endeavour’s departure on December 2, Bowersox, Petitt, and Budarin spent the afternoon unpacking items that the Shuttle had delivered to ISS. Asked what his priorities were for the Expedition-6 occupation, Bowersox had told a pre-launch interview:

“Our number one goal is to have a positive experience for the crew and for the people on the ground. There’s a lot of things that come under that sub-goal: [N]umber one being come back alive, for it to be a safe flight; number two, to show people that Americans and Russians can work together in space and accomplish something meaningful; and then, the last thing is to accomplish some of our science objectives for the mission.’’

Padalka and Fincke began their solo occupation of ISS with three days of light duties to help them get over the hectic hand-over week that had just passed. Padalka described his goals for the occupation as follows:

“The biggest goal for us as a crew is to keep the Space Station in operational condition and maintain the human presence aboard the Space Station because [the] last malfunction—I mean the situation with the leakage—showed us that if we had not had crew on board, we could have lost the Space Station.”

He added:

“We have the West science program, and currently about 40 experiments on behalf of the American side and the same number on behalf of the Russian side, are scheduled for us, and about 20 experiments for the European Space Agency… If we conduct all of the science program, if we can keep Space Station in operational condition, if we manage to perform scheduled spacewalks, if we keep our friendship with Mike, if we hand Space Station in operational condition to the next crew, in this case I would say that our mission was successful.”

The first week of May was spent carrying out a programme of Russian, Amer­ican, and European biomedical experiments to determine how their bodies adapted to microgravity. They also completed maintenance on the battery chargers and the batteries in the American EMUs and the station’s EVA tools, as well as beginning a procedure to regenerate the canisters that would remove C02 in their exhaled breath from the EMUs. The EMUs had not been used for over a year. A second

series of battery recharging took place at the beginning of the next week, while Fincke serviced the water-cooled underwear that would be worn under the EMUs. Both men also spent part of the week loading rubbish, including an Orlan EVA suit that was past its maintainable date, into Progress M1-11, which was scheduled for undocking on May 24. During the week American flight controllers up-linked new software to two multiplexer/demultiplexers and two S-0 ITS MDM computers, as part of a major programme to update the software on the station throughout 2004. The crew also installed the EarthKam in one of Zvezda’s windows on May 11, and performed biomedical experiments.

The Expedition-9 crew’s first month on ISS ended with a week of preparations for the Stage EVA to replace the CMG that had lost electrical power in April. The EVA was originally planned to take place on June 10, with both men wearing American EMUs and egressing from Quest. That changed on May 19, when they began a planned 7-hour check of the two pressure suits. Shortly after beginning the checks, Padalka reported that he had no circulation of cooling water in his EMU. Closer inspection revealed that the water held in the suit was bubbling and frothing. During the same tests Fincke’s EMU also suffered difficulties with its water-cooling system, caused by a sticking valve. On May 21 the water tank in Padalka’s EMU was drained and refilled. America admitted that only one of the three EMUs on ISS was operational. As a result, the EVA was delayed until June 16, and on that date both men would wear Russian Orlan suits and egress from Pirs. Russia would negotiate “compensation’’ for the use of their suits and consumables by having American astronauts spend additional hours working on Russian ISS experiments. The new plans complicated the EVA in that the astronauts would now exit Pirs and use one of the two Russian Strela cranes to reach the required area on the S-0 ITS, which was not as readily accessed from Pirs as from Quest. The two ISS Strela cranes had not been human-rated at that time, and the Russians were concerned for their capabil­ities. Also, the two men would be under Russian control while they exited the station and used the Strela to reach the junction between the Russian and American segments of ISS; once they were on the outside of the American sector and making their way to the S-0 ITS they would pass to American control. They would return to Russian control as they returned to the exterior of the Russian segment for their return to Pirs.

During the week, Progress M1-11’s thrusters were fired to raise the station’s altitude in preparation for the launch of Progress M-49. The burn also corrected the station’s orbital inclination, as NASA explained:

“Since the last inclination correction, about 3 years ago, [the] orbit inclination has decreased by approximately 0.01 degree, to a current value roughly mid-way between the ground rule range of 51.62 and 51.68 degrees. The lower limit would be approached in approximately 5 years, but doing part of the upward correction right now propellant is more efficiently used. Once the inclination is adjusted to the upper limit, no further inclination adjustments should be required for the remaining life of the ISS.’’

Progress M1-11 undocked from ISS at 05: 19, May 24, manoeuvred clear of the station, and entered a parking orbit. For the next 10 days the spacecraft was

monitored to see if future Progress vehicles could be used to support microgravity experiments, although no experiments were conducted on this occasion. Progress M1-11 was commanded to re-enter the atmosphere and burn up on June 3, 2004.

Goldin’s replacement as NASA Administrator was the former Deputy Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget Sean O’Keefe. On taking up his new post on December 21, 2001, O’Keefe stated that he intended to adhere to the rec­ommendations of the Young Committee on how to bring the ISS budget back under control. The report had suggested that NASA be placed on probation until ISS reached “Core Complete’’, with a three-person crew performing both maintenance and science. O’Keefe had said that, if NASA brought the ISS budget under control, then consideration might be given to going beyond “Core Complete’’, such as reinstating an American Habitation Module and the X-38 CRV. He stated that the question of crew size was vital to the programme. The new Administrator was blunt and warned, “If NASA fails to meet the standards, then an end-state beyond ‘Core Complete’ is not an option.’’

O’Keefe also stated that he would ensure that ISS did not dominate NASA’s programmes ‘‘at the expense of everything else this organisation does.’’ The new Administrator said that he believed the civil and military sectors should increase their co-operation on space programmes, especially on the development of any future Shuttle replacement.

In the weeks that followed, the management of ESA demanded a meeting with O’Keefe. The Europeans were unhappy at NASA’s unilateral decision not to con­struct and launch the Habitation Module and the X-38 CRV, thereby restricting the ISS crew to three people and severely limiting the amount of scientific research that could be performed on the station. The Europeans considered that all of the ISS partners, including America, had signed legal documents that committed America to constructing and launching a Habitation Module and thereby supporting an Expedition crew of up to seven people. However, NASA and the American govern­ment now considered that their commitment ended when Node-2 was launched, thereby allowing the European and Japanese Science modules to be launched and docked to ISS. Ultimately, NASA negotiated with ESA to have Node-3, which was being constructed in Italy, reinstated and outfitted with additional sleeping quarters and life support equipment.

At 14:00, April 12, 2002, while STS-110 was docked to ISS, O’Keefe made a public address at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, during which he voiced his vision of the future of NASA under his leadership. In his speech he described NASA’s mandate as:

to pioneer the future, to push the envelope, to do what has never been done before.’’

He called it, “An amazing charter indeed,’’ and continued, “Our greatest asset in fulfilling this demanding charter is the excellence of our people.’’

O’Keefe stated NASA’s mandate under his charge in three simple terms.

• To improve life here.

• To extend life to there.

• To find life beyond.

He expanded each of these three goals, but his vision for NASA was summed up by the headings that he gave to those expansions.

• To understand and protect our home planet.

• To explore the Universe and search for life.

• To inspire the next generation of explorers… as only NASA can.

The Young Report would become a major planning tool by which NASA’s future involvement in the ISS programme would be ruled.

“It just depends on who you talk to how normal a day would be. But, the typical days without a Soyuz visit or without [an] EVA on board, or without a Progress arrival, you wake up, you have an hour-and-a-half or so to do your morning cleanup and have some breakfast. Then there’s a half-hour conference, or fifteen – minute conference, with the ground, the daily planning conference. Then you start into the work time. There’s about eight hours booked for work but part of that is also booked for exercise, so we only consider about six-and-a-half hours as work time. And then in the end of the day it’s the same sort of wind down—we have

another conference, then a couple of hours to put things away and get ready for bed, relax a little bit. And then an eight-and-a-half-hour sleep period, and the whole day starts again.”

Their first day alone on the station began with some free time to get over the hectic hand-over period of joint activities. Thereafter, they began their daily regime of maintenance, experiments, and personal exercise by reconfiguring the station’s com­puter network and loading it with new software. They also checked the HRF rack in Destiny and the station’s defribillator, as well as performing maintenance tasks around the station. By the end of their third week in space they had completed their first PuFF and Renal Stone Experiment runs. Pettit also completed a monthly check of the GASMAP experiment.

As Christmas approached, the Expedition-6 crew were finishing their first month on the station. They spent the week ending December 20 working on their experi­ments, including the Zeolite Crystal Growth (ZCG) experiment, designed to produce zeolite crystals in space that are larger than those produced on Earth. Bowersox completed a practice run of the Foot/Ground Forces experiment (FOOT), which he had described before launch:

“The way it works is there’s a suit that the subject wears, and it’s got sensors on it that measure the angles of the ankle and the knee and the hip, in addition to electrodes on different muscles on the leg and some on the arm. And that senses the electrical activity in the muscles and all that’s being recorded as you do normal daily tasks. There’s also some sensors that are on the bottom of shoes so that if you’re running on a treadmill or standing on the platform doing resistive exercise, those pads will measure the amount of force on your feet. And we’ll collect seven or eight hours of data in that suit three, four times during the mission, about one month apart.’’

Pettit set up the EXPRESS Rack-3 laptop computer prior to activating and checking out the rack itself. The crew also tested the station’s KURS automatic docking system, working with Russian controllers. On December 19, they completed more than 3 hours of SSRMS operations, including a series of grapples on an MBS fixture, to collect Force Movement Sensor (FMS) data. Their final task on December 20 was to install the High Rate Communications Outage Recorder (HCOR) on Destiny. This recorder would store data for later transmission to Earth when the station was not in contact with an American TDRS satellite. It replaced a medium – rate recorder, thereby offering a greater storage capacity. Just before 01: 00, December 21, the crew manoeuvred ISS so that the starboard side was facing the direction of travel. This was called the YW attitude. The manoeuvre was carried out because some areas of the station had been overheating.

Christmas Day, December 25, marked the beginning of the crew’s second month on ISS. They had a day off, although they had to perform some housekeeping chores and their usual two hours of physical exercise each. NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe spoke to the crew and each man had a 15-minute private conversation with his family and opened presents that had been delivered to the station by STS-113. Later in the day they returned ISS to its standard attitude, with Destiny at the ram and the P-6 SAWs locked to the Sun once more, this was the so-called XPOP attitude. During the next week, Bowersox completed the FOOT experiment, recording data on changes in microgravity of his leg joints and muscles. Throughout the same week Budarin worked on the Russian plant growth experiment and Pettit continued work­ing inside Destiny. Prior to launch Pettit had described the basic principles behind the microgravity experiments on the station:

“The microgravity science experiments are generally physical science experi­ments: crystal growth, combustion, things like that. And, they are utilizing an environment where there are small sedimentation forces, no buoyancy forces or reduced buoyancy forces, things that will allow you to do containerless proces­sing, where you can have something floating around without touching the walls of a container, or a high vacuum, high pumping rate environment like an experiment done outside of the pressurized modules on an exposure platform… many observations in science are key around the balance of forces, measuring one force in the absence of another. And many of the phenomenon that we see on Earth are governed by the balance of these forces. So if you remove, say, gravitational force, now all of a sudden you can see surface tension force. And so, experiments done on Space Station are designed around the reduction in the gravitational force so that you can see other forces manifest themselves and you can make new observations that are very difficult, if not impossible, to make any other way.”

The crew celebrated New Year 2003 at midnight GMT, December 31. January 2 saw them carry out a fire drill and setting up the ultrasound equipment in the HRF, which would be used to “image” the crew’s body organs for both research and medical use. The following day, they recorded sound levels in the different ISS modules for health and safety at work monitoring, and continued their work with the Zeolite Crystal Growth experiment. Budarin continued to work with experiments in the Russian sector of the station and also checked the wake docking port on Zvezda in preparation for the arrival of Progress M-47, in February.

All three men spent the week preparing Quest for the upcoming Stage EVA and completed their monthly lung function test. Bowersox and Pettit operated the SSRMS on January 9, to complete a video survey of the thermal control equipment associated with the growing ITS. NASA made an announcement the following day that the 50th EVA dedicated to the construction of ISS was delayed until January 15, with Pettit accompanying Bowersox outside in place of Budarin. During a December 5, pre-EVA session on the station’s stationary bicycle, Budarin had registered a rate of oxygen consumption that was too low to meet American protocols for an EVA that used the EMU and the American-controlled Quest airlock. For NASA, Rob Navias announced that the delay had “no mission impact whatsoever… There is no mission impact to anything else that this crew is doing on orbit or to the objectives.” He added, “There was no rush to conduct this spacewalk and we decided to delay it.’’

While America refused to release the reason behind Budarin’s replacement, quoting the medical privacy of the individual concerned, the Russians did release the information, stating that if it had been a Russian EVA using the Russian Orlan suit and the Pirs airlock Budarin’s oxygen consumption rate would not have barred him from making the EVA. Bowersox had discussed the idea behind the EVA:

“[I]t’s proof of concept as much as anything. We’re trying to show that a station crew, with just three people, really can get suited up, go outside, and do simul­taneous EVA arm ops with the Canadian robot arm, and a mixed-nationality EVA. It’s a lot to take on, if you think about it, and there’s only three of us there when we do these things during the docked time frame, with a Shuttle crew there, there’s a whole lot more support, there’s more cameras from the orbiter, there’s an extra airlock, an extra door to go in and out and a lot more people to help you get things done. It’s quite the challenge to do it with just three people, and so what we’re going to be doing mostly is proving that it is possible.’’

Ironically, it was Budarin who had described the EVA during his own pre-launch interview:

“Well, speaking about EVA, I very much hope that we’ll have this EVA. There will be two crewmembers going outside, stepping outside the station; one will stay

behind, supporting their activity in space. Jim Wetherbee’s crew will have installed the P-1 segment on the S-0 Truss; we will pick up with installing equipment on this truss segment. We will install a UHF antenna, we will install a radiator, we will have to deploy it. It is stowed and latched. In order to deploy this radiator we will need to open the latches, open the locks… there are eighteen of them, so there will be a lot of tedious work. I’m doing these locks. We will also have to install some struts with lights on the CETA cart … and we will also be transferring tools from one truss segment to another; we will be using the robotic arm. I’m hoping that I will get a chance to participate in this EVA. I have eight spacewalks under my belt from the Mir experience, and I’m hoping to get EVA experience on the International Space Station. Maybe there will be other objec­tives, but for now, this is the program of our EVA. But, we are ready to do whatever comes our way.’’

On the day, the EVA was delayed by problems opening Quest’s outer hatch, which the Americans said was caused by dirt in the lock, but the Russians quickly blamed on the inexperience of the two astronauts, who were both making their first EVA. With the hatch finally open, the two men switched their EMUs to internal battery power at 07:50. Bowersox reported a loss of digital data in his EMU, but the problem cleared up when he cycled the internal power switch. Having collected their tools they made their way to the P-1 ITS, where they released ten launch restraint straps on the P-1 radiators. A further eight restraints had been previously released during the STS-113 EVAs in November 2002, when the P-1 ITS was installed on ISS. Controllers in Houston then commanded the central radiator to extend to its full 15 metres. The deployment took 9 minutes to complete. The two men then inspected equipment on the P-1 ITS before making their way to the exterior of Unity, where Pettit used sticky tape to remove grit from the CBM docking seals in preparation for the arrival of the MPLM Raffaello on the next Shuttle flight, STS-114, then planned for March.

Moving to the S-1 ITS, the two men failed to remove a stanchion from its stowed location for installation on one of the two handcarts that future EVA astronauts would use to move themselves along the completed ITS. A pin was interfering with the stanchion’s movement and its installation was deferred to a later EVA. Pettit retrieved tools from a storage box on the Z-1 Truss prior to checking the ammonia system on the P-6 ITS. This task was performed in advance of an ammonia cooling system test on a Shuttle flight planned for later in the year. Returning to Quest, the astronauts used a pair of scissors to cut the strap that had delayed the hatch opening at the start of the EVA. The EVA was completed at 14: 41, after 6 hours 51 minutes. All three men had a rest day on January 16, performing only routine exercise and maintenance.

Progress M-49 lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 09: 34, May 25, 2004, carrying 2,566 kg of food, water, propellant, and equipment for the two men on the station. The spacecraft completed an automatic docking to Zvezda’s wake at 09: 55, May 27. Following pressure and leak checks the crew spent the next few days unloading the new vehicle, beginning on May 28.

RUSSIA CALLS FOR 12-MONTH EXPEDITION FLIGHTS

In Moscow, Russia was pressing for the Expedition-10 crew to spend 12-months in orbit. While NASA was not prepared to consider such a mission all the time the ISS programme was flying with two-man caretaker crews and relying on the Soyuz TMA for return to Earth, the Russians were adamant that the time had come to advance the Expedition crews’ stay time, and increase the amount of science performed by each crew. Yuri Semenov, director of Energia stated:

“Our position is rigid—the next crew [Expedition-10] must make a long flight. I would urge our American colleagues not to drag their feet on solving this issue. We are ready for long flights. Our equipment is ready and our partners [the Americans] must listen to their Russian colleagues… Russia is keeping the station running while the USA and Japan are cutting down their budgets. This cannot last for long because Russia has had to freeze the construction of later ISS hardware and stop selling trips to rich tourists in order to mobilise its resources to keep the ISS afloat.’’

The Russians were careful not to mention that 12-month Expedition crews would leave two seats available for sale to paying passengers on intervening Soyuz TMA “taxi’’ flights.

NASA replied to Russia’s request that “The time is not right.’’ They explained that the Expedition-10 crew would not stay in space for 12 months, but that the Expedition-11 crew might do so in 2005; but only if the Shuttle was flying again by then. In July, ESA managers also began to call for a six-person Expedition crew. They suggested that this could be achieved by using two Soyuz CRVs and having the three extra astronauts finding sleeping accommodation wherever they could. They did not address the question of who would pay for the extra Soyuz spacecraft, but did criticise America for cancelling the American Habitation Module and the X-38 CRV. Meanwhile, NASA had also failed to act on the Young Committee recommendation that two Expedition crews could work side by side on the station for one month, rather than just one week during hand-over periods.

On June 3, Padalka and Fincke began preparation for the EVA that had been rescheduled after the May 19 EMU checks. The EVA was tentatively planned for no earlier than June 15. During the first week of June, their sixth week on ISS, they also performed experiments and routine housekeeping. On June 10, programme managers scheduled the EVA for June 24. The move placed the EVA at a better time in the crew’s workday, optimised Russian communications coverage, and offered additional time for preparation. The crew carried out training with the tools that they would use and prepared their Orlan suits; they also performed cardiovascular evaluation sessions on the fixed bicycle in Zvezda. Much of the rest of the first half of the month was spent unloading Progress M-49 and performing their experiment programmes in Destiny and Zvezda.

Fincke’s wife, Renita, gave birth to their second child on June 18. The astronaut took the opportunity to remind the world that many men and women in the service of their country were also forced to miss similar important family occasions. Mean­while, EVA preparations, including fitting American EMU helmet lights on to the helmets of their Russian Orlan suits, continued alongside mass measurement checks and software replacement in three racks of experiments in Destiny.

In his pre-launch interview, Fincke had described how he felt about the two planned Stage EVAs during his occupation of ISS:

“[O]nly recently did I actually start to think how really exciting that is, to be alone in the cosmos without a spacecraft around me except for this suit that was put together by human hands. It’s made out of material and a little bit of metal and a lot of plastic, and yet we’ll be able to look out there on our planet below and the stars in the sky and really experience a true spaceflight. [I]t’s an honour as a rookie to get a chance to perform two spacewalks, and it’s an honour to be able to fly on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, and to work in a Russian spacesuit. My instructors spent a lot of time with me, and I’m glad I’ve earned their confidence in the U. S. and Russia to get a chance to do that.’’

The EVA to repair the RPCM finally began at 17: 56, June 24, 2004. Following depressurisation of the Pirs airlock they opened the hatch and made their way outside. Almost immediately, Russian flight controllers noticed that the primary oxygen bottle in Fincke’s PLSS was losing pressure much faster than expected. The two men were ordered to return to the airlock and terminate the EVA. The hatch was closed and the EVA ended at 18: 10, after just 14 minutes 22 seconds. NASA announced, “The overall pressure in Fincke’s suit remained stable at all times and he was not in danger.’’

Following immediate troubleshooting, the astronauts were instructed to remove their pressure suits, return to the station, and reconfigure it for normal use. Although the Russian controllers were not able to immediately identify the cause of the prob­lem, Fincke thanked both control teams for being alert and noticing the problem so quickly. He informed Korolev that the two of them would sleep late the following morning and then resume their normal work/sleep routine until it was time to prepare for a second attempt at the EVA. Programme managers rescheduled the EVA for no earlier than June 29, as dictated by Russian communication coverage. The problem with Fincke’s suit was identified as an injector switch that controlled the flow of oxygen.

Although investigations would continue for the next few days, the crew were informed that they had followed the correct procedures when preparing for the EVA and could expect to wear the same Orlan suits when they completed the rescheduled EVA. On June 29, the EVA was rescheduled again, for the following day. On the same date, Russian engineers confirmed that the selector switch in Fincke’s suit had not seated properly when it was set. Energia told the media, “This valve has a particular design feature—whilst it is being closed, one must make sure not only that the signal light goes out, but also that the handle has been locked.’’ New procedures were put in place to confirm the switch’s seating when preparing for future EVAs.

The second attempt to repair the RPCM began at 17: 19, June 30, 20 minutes ahead of schedule, when the two men left Pirs. Padalka described the scene outside as “Dark, but very beautiful.’’ They moved over to the Strela crane, Padalka turned the hand crank to extend it to its full 15m length, and Fincke made his way along to the end of it. Padalka manoeuvred Finke to a position where he secured the crane to the handrails on Zarya’s wake. Padalka then made his way along the Strela to Fincke’s position before they both transferred to the handrails on the exterior of Unity, at 18: 09. At that time, control of the EVA passed from Korolev to Houston and the two men stopped speaking Russian and began speaking English. Controllers in Houston guided them to their work position on the S-0 ITS, where, by 18: 52, they had completed their tasks to replace the RPCM. Fifteen minutes later, word was passed to the astronauts that power was flowing to CMG-2 once more and that it was spinning at 30rpm. The two men collected their tools and made their way back to the Strela crane, where control of the EVA was handed back to Korolev, at 21 : 11, and they began speaking Russian once more. Having traversed the Strela crane, Padalka cranked the telescopic crane back to its stowed position, bringing Fincke back to the exterior of Pirs. They also completed get-ahead tasks in preparation for later EVAs, when they installed two flexible handrails, mounted a contamination monitor to measure station thruster exhaust, and added end caps to two handrails on the exterior of Pirs. Having entered the airlock they closed the hatch at 22: 59, after an EVA lasting 5 hours 40 minutes. CMG-2 was powered up to verify its full 6,600 rpm, at 14: 30, July 1. After performing tests overnight, the CMG was returned to its role of helping the two working CMGs to control the ISS’s attitude, at 07: 20, July 2. The fourth CMG remained off-line. The two astronauts spent July 2 tidying up after the EVA, after which they had a three-day weekend off, to celebrate July 4, American Independence Day. Meanwhile, controllers in Korolev pumped air from the tanks in Progress M-49 into the station’s atmosphere.

Back at work the crew concentrated their efforts on their experiments and general maintenance of the station. Padalka used the new ultrasound experiment to examine Fincke, and thereby demonstrated a capability to transmit medical data to a flight surgeon on the ground in real time. Meanwhile, Fincke continued to troubleshoot the cooling systems in the two American EMUs. The problems experienced prior to the last EVA were traced to pumps in the cooling system. New pumps would be sent up to the station on the next Progress, due for launch in August. Throughout the third week of July the crew performed more experiments, studying their cardiovascular systems and fluid motion in microgravity. They also spent the week loading rubbish in to Progress M-49 and removing the KURS automatic docking system. Both men donned their Sokol launch and re-entry suits and made their way into Soyuz TMA-4 for fit-checks in their couches, on July 7. A full fire drill at the end of the week was followed by a round of taking air and swab samples around the station. Two false activations of the station’s fire alarms led to the crew cleaning the fire alarms. During his weekend off Padalka completed sessions with the Russian Pulse medical experiment and the ESA Eye Tracking Device experiment. The following week saw him beginning a new round of Russian biomedical experiments. Fincke worked on American experiments in Destiny.

On July 16, Russian controllers at Korolev made an unsuccessful attempt to upload software into computers in Zvezda. The software was designed to support the rendezvous and docking of the ESA-developed Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to Zvezda’s wake. The ATV would be launched by Ariane-V from the ESA launch site in French Guiana. It would carry 2.5 times the payload that a Progress could carry, including propellants, water, oxygen, and nitrogen. It would also be able to re­boost the station’s orbit. At that time the ATV was due to make its maiden flight in 2005 and then operate alongside Progress. During the day, Padalka replaced a pump in Zvezda’s cooling system, which had failed two days earlier. The back-up cooling system had continued to work properly throughout the malfunction and its repair.

Padalka and Fincke passed the halfway point of their mission on July 19. Fincke spent the day removing the water pump from one of the failed EMUs. Two spare water pumps would be launched on Progress M-50. The following day, a computer failed on the station’s starboard thermal radiator, but had no impact on operations, as the radiator was not active. On July 21, they both participated in celebrations of the 35th anniversary of the Apollo-11 Moon landing. The crew spent the week loading rubbish into Progress M-49. On July 23, they began preparations for their second EVA, before they manoeuvred the SSRMS to a position where it could video the EVA planned for August 3.

The leaders of the international space agencies involved in ISS met at Noordwijk, Holland, on July 23. They reviewed the status of ISS operations, and the final configuration of ISS at the end of the decade. The group reaffirmed their commitment to international co-operation and to the completion of the station’s construction and operation. They also committed their agencies to continually review launch schedules and opportunities to accelerate that schedule. American and Russian representatives renewed their commitment to continued occupation of ISS throughout its construc­tion phase. The representatives recognised America’s efforts to return the Shuttle to flight status and Russia’s commitment to maintaining access to the station and to its re-supply. They also discussed access to the station after Energia’s contract to supply Soyuz and Progress spacecraft came to an end. At the beginning of the ISS

programme Russia had agreed to supply 11 Soyuz spacecraft free of charge. The last of those spacecraft was due to be launched in October 2005, and recovered in April 2006. The Russians made it clear that they would require payment for their Soyuz spacecraft when a new contract was negotiated. This presented a major problem, in that the Iran Non-proliferation Act banned NASA from paying money directly to Russia. Congress put the Act in place, in fear that President Clinton’s relationship with Russia’s President Putin was allowing him to overlook Russia’s part in the Iranian nuclear programme. Although the Clinton White House fought the new Act, it was voted into law and forced the President to operate sanctions against any country that helped Iran’s programme. Following the loss of STS-107 a Democratic Party proposal to change the Act, to allow additional Soyuz spacecraft to be purchased from Russia, had received only 3 signatures in 17 months. Mean­while, the prospect arose that, after April 2006, America might only be able to fly short-duration Shuttle flights to ISS because they were unable to pay for American astronauts’ places on the Soyuz CRV docked to the station for return to Earth in the event of an emergency. In such an event all American astronauts would have to be launched to and returned from ISS by Shuttle. A further problem also arose if the Constellation spacecraft were not ready to start crewed orbital flight before the Shuttle was retired in 2010.

Progress M-49 undocked from ISS at 02: 05, July 30. Fincke filmed the spacecraft as it departed. The station’s cameras also recorded the Progress re-entry. The Expedi­tion-10 crew spent the remainder of the week preparing for their third EVA. Fincke also spent part of the week completing soldering experiments in microgravity.

Padalka and Fincke wore Orlan suits when they exited Pirs, at 02: 58, August 3, and made their way to Zvezda’s wake. The EVA was intended to last up to 6 hours. Their first task was to replace the SKK material exposure experiment with a new container full of fresh samples. They also replaced the Kromka experiment, which measured the contamination from the thrusters on Zvezda. Next, the two men made their way onto the wake face of Zvezda, where they installed two antennae and replaced three laser reflectors with more advanced models. The three old reflectors were replaced with a single three-dimentional reflector. All of these items would be used to support the rendezvous and docking of ESA’s ATVs. While they worked at the rear of Zvezda the three CMGs that controlled the station’s orientation approached saturation level. This condition was anticipated, and the station was placed into free drift. As a result, S-band communication was lost as the antennae drifted. At 05: 15, the astronauts were 40 minutes ahead of their flight plan, and were instructed to leave the area. The CMG resumed attitude control at 06: 00, and the two men were allowed to return to the area at the rear of Zvezda. Finally, they disconnected a cable on a malfunctioning camera that would be collected on a later EVA, before removing the Platan-M materials exposure experiment. The crew returned to Pirs and closed the hatch at 07 : 28, after an EVA lasting 4 hours 30 minutes.

The following day NASA pumped additional nitrogen from one of the two high – pressure tanks on the exterior of Quest into the station’s atmosphere. The week ended with the crew performing their experiment programmes.

PROGRESS M-50

The Expedition-9 crew was asleep and passing southwest of Baikonur when Progress M-50 lifted off at 01:03, August 11, 2004. The cargo ship, carrying pumps for the two malfunctioning EMUs, clothes for the Expedition-10 crew, and propellant, air, and water; a total of 2,542 kg of cargo. After a standard two-day rendezvous, Progress M50 docked to Zvezda’s wake docking port at 01: 01, August 14. The crew began unloading the cargo the following day.

Using items delivered on the new Progress, Fincke took 4 hours to replace the water pump in the cooling system of one of the malfunctioning Extravehicular Mobility Unit, before turning his hand to repairing an exercise machine. The follow­ing day, the EMU was subjected to several more hours of testing, during which it performed perfectly. Two of three American EMUs on the station were now func­tioning correctly. The third suit, which sufferred a similar problem in its cooling system was left to later. The crew spent most of the remainder of the week preparing for their fourth EVA. On August 25 the thrusters on Progress M-50 were fired to raise the station’s orbit, in preparation for the arrival of Soyuz TMA-5, due for launch in October. Throughout the period the Elektron unit in Zvezda failed, on average, once every three days. NASA referred to the Elektron as “a major source of trouble’’.

STS-108, and the beginning of the Expedition-4 occupation of ISS, was where Creating the International Space Station ended. This manuscript returns to STS-108 as it provides a natural starting point for the original flight accounts that occupy the remainder of this volume.

In Florida preparations progressed, aiming to launch STS-108, Endeavour, on November 29, 2001. Following the Russians’ difficulty confirming Progress M1-7’s hard-docking to ISS the launch was delayed for 24 hours. On November 30, the launch was held at T — 11 hours, ultimately for 96 hours. The Rotating Service Structure was put back around the vehicle to protect it as it remained on the pad in a powered-up, flight-ready condition. The countdown would be resumed at T— 11 hours on December 4.

On that date, the countdown for STS-108 progressed until T — 5 hours when it was stopped and the launch cancelled due to bad weather. Because the fuelling of the ET had not started, it was possible to initiate a 24-hour recycle.

On December 5, the countdown was stopped due to software difficulties in the orbiter. New software was loaded and the countdown was re-cycled to T — 6 hours and restarted. Endeavour lifted off at 17: 19 (all times US Eastern), just 11 seconds before the launch window closed, and climbed into orbit without event. Once in space, the payload bay doors were opened. Gorie and Kelly entered the on-orbit software and set about the first manoeuvres in the rendezvous with ISS.

On the NASA Human Spaceflight website the Shuttle’s rendezvous with ISS was described in the following terms by Nicholas O’Dosey, a NASA Shuttle Rendezvous Guidance Procedure Officer:

“The operations that the Shuttle does from ‘go for orbiter ops’ to docking are as follows. The Shuttle does a series of burns to catch up to the station. These burns NC-1, NC-2, NP-C and NC-3, all use ground tracking to target a point 40 miles [74 km] behind ISS. Ground tracking is the process of using ground-based radars, like C-Bands or S-Bands (big radar dishes), and TDRS satellites to tell the position and velocity of the Shuttle or station at a certain time to the Earth.

Ground tracking is accurate to within a couple of hundred feet of the position. The final ground-targeted burn is done at NC-4, which is nominally 40 nautical miles [74 km] behind the station, sending the Shuttle to an 8-nautical-mile [15 km] point were the TI burn is done. The TI burn sends us on a course to roughly 2,000 feet [610m] away from the station. Now, the TI burn and the midcourse correc­tion burns are done using Onboard Navigation. Onboard Navigation uses either a Star Tracker or the Ku-Band radar to track the station from the Shuttle. Now, Onboard Navigation gives the relative position and velocity between the Shuttle and ISS. Onboard Navigation can tell the distance between the Shuttle and ISS to a couple of feet [0.6 m]. The last midcourse burn aims the Shuttle to arrive below the station. From there, the crew does a quarter-circle around the ISS to dock. Inside 2,000 feet, other sensors are used to measure distance and speed because ISS is too big for the Star Tracker and Ku-Band radar. The crew uses some laser sighting sensors, cameras with special overlays and the windows to pilot the Shuttle from 2,000 feet into docking with the ISS. The Commander has a tough job meeting the contact condition of bull’s-eying a circle to within a couple of feet, but by using the overhead window and a special camera overlay to measure distance inside 15 feet [4.6 m], they do a great job. In general, these are the burns done for ISS rendezvous flights.’’

STS-108 would deliver the MPLM Raffaello to ISS, with 3 tonnes of additional equipment for the Expedition-4 mission. Raffaello would be temporarily docked to Unity while it was unloaded. Goodwin and Tani would perform a single EVA to install thermal blankets around the motors that drive the P-6 ITS photovoltaic arrays.

In Endeavour’s payload bay two experiments were housed in a Multiple Application Customised Hitchhiker-1 (MACH-1) facility. The Capillary Pumped Loop Experiment (CAPL) was a multiple evaporator capillary-pumped loop system. The Prototype Synchrotron Radiation Detector (PSRD) measured cosmic ray data. Both experiments were active throughout the early days of the flight.

Following the crew’s first sleep period, Day 2 was spent preparing for the rendezvous. Gorie and Kelly continued to oversee the rendezvous manoeuvres from the flight deck. The crew also tested the RMS and used its cameras to record a video inspection of the payload bay, including the exterior of Raffaello. Later, Godwin and Tani prepared their EMUs and the tools for their EVA. Godwin powered up the Shuttle’s docking system and extended the docking ring. The Expedition-4 crew participated in the day’s activities as well as overseeing and performing a number of experiments onboard Endeavour. The workday ended with a few hours of sched­uled relaxation prior to the busy week ahead. On ISS, the Expedition-3 crew had spent the day unloading Progress M1-7, which had been launched on November 26 and had soft-docked to ISS two days later. Rubber debris on the ISS docking system had prevented hard-docking at that time, causing Dezhurov and Tyurin to make an unscheduled EVA to clear the debris on December 3, allowing the craft to hard-dock.

On December 7, Day 3, Gorie took manual control of Endeavour as his spacecraft followed the standard rendezvous, approaching ISS from below, before manoeuvring through 90° out in front of the station to place the orbiter with its docking system facing PMA-2 on Destiny’s ram. Viewing the approaching Shuttle through the station’s windows, Expedition-3 commander Frank Culbertson told Endeavour’s crew, “It will be real nice to see you guys.’’ Gorie replied, “It’s great to hear your voice.’’

Docking occurred at 15: 03. During the initial attempt the Shuttle’s docking ring was not correctly aligned with PMA-2. Remaining in the soft-docked position, both vehicles were left to allow their vibrations to damp out before a second, successful hard-docking attempt was completed. Following docking, Godwin and Terry com­pleted the necessary pressure checks before the hatches between the two vehicles were opened at 17: 22, and the Expedition-3 crew welcomed their replacements to ISS, along with the crew that would take them home. The newcomers received the now standard safety briefing given to all visitors to the station.

The following day Culbertson, Dezhurov, and Tyurin removed their couch liners and Sokol re-entry suits from Soyuz TM-33 and transferred them to Endeavour. Culbertson’s crew would now return to America on the Shuttle. The Expedition-4 crew, Onufrienko, Walz, and Bursch, moved their couch liners and pressure suits into the Soyuz. From that point onward Onufrienko and his crew were the new residents of ISS and would return to Earth in the Soyuz, landing in Kazakhstan. On NASA’s website Walz explained that American astronauts

have extensive theoretical and practical training in the Soyuz capsule. In the case of some dire emergency we could fly the Soyuz to a safe landing in accordance with flight procedures and with the help of the ground. Hopefully, that would never happen. Our Commander is a tremendous Soyuz pilot… but we do have the training.’’

The two Expedition crews then began the hand-over briefings that would continue throughout the week of docked operations. Before launch, Bursch had described the hand-over procedures in the following manner:

“I recently talked to Jim Voss… he was on Expedition 2, and he put it a way that I thought was pretty interesting. He says that in hand-over, you have three sets of notes or questions that you need to hand over between the crews. One set is an ongoing set of items that the ground keeps track of, maybe a system we’re operating in a different mode than we’ve been trained for, or … it’s had a failure so this is how we’re operating it… So that is one set of notes or questions. Another set might be just personal notes, from Expedition 3 that Frank and Mikhail or Vladimir will have of notes that they have seen that maybe surprised them when they got on station, that they didn’t realize that were different, or different from what they trained, or maybe tips that they can give us… So that’s the second thing… and then after we can see those first two notes, we’ll probably come up with our own questions, or maybe even after reading the first list we’ll come up with some questions… so it’s a list of our own personal questions. So, through those three lists I think that’s how we conduct the hand-over.’’

For Culbertson the crew change meant that he would have to come to terms with returning to an America still caught up in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The only American not on Earth when the attacks happened reflected that, “The most common thing I hear is that the United States is different now, that I will be surprised.”

During the day, Kelly operated the RMS, with Godwin’s assistance, to lift Raffaello out of Endeavour’s payload bay at 12: 01 and dock it to Unity’s nadir. The transfer was completed at 12:55, December 8. Following pressure checks the hatches giving access to Raffaello were opened at 19: 30 and the crews began unload­ing the MPLM. Expedition-4 Flight Engineer Carl Walz had described the transfer of equipment between the two spacecraft:

“I’m one of the loadmasters. So Linda Godwin and I will be working together to make sure that all the cargo comes off of Raffaello and then all the cargo that’s going back down gets onto Raffaello. And so it’s like moving into a house where the old occupant is moving out, you’re moving in, but you’re using one truck… you have to make sure that you don’t get your boxes mixed up. [W]e’ll be working very hard to make sure that we don’t do that. And then Frank Culbertson and his crew are going to have to help us out by getting their pre-packed items ready to go, so as the upcoming boxes come off, Frank’s boxes will come in, and so it’ll be kind of a constant logistical activity as we make sure that everything coming up comes up, everything going down gets stowed.’’

December 9 began with music from the Fire Department of New York Emerald Society Pipes and Drums. The music was given to Kelly when he visited the wreckage of the World Trade Centre with NASA Administrator Dan Goldin following the terrorist attack on September 11. The three crews took time out at 17: 24 that afternoon to remember the fallen, their families, and the rescue workers of the events of that day. Under Dan Goldin’s “Flags for Heroes and Families’’ initiative several US flags were flown on ISS and Endeavour during this flight. These included one flag that was recovered from “Ground Zero’’, the site of the two World Trade Centre towers, in New York, a Marine Corps flag that had been recovered from the Pentagon in Washington DC, and a US flag from the state of Pennsylvania, where the fourth hijacked aircraft had crashed. Endeavour also carried a New York Fire Department flag, 23 replica New York Police Department shields, and 91 New York Police Department patches for distribution following the Shuttle’s landing. Six thousand small American flags stored in Endeavour would be distributed to the families of victims of the September 11 atrocities.

Endeavour’s crew spent the day unloading Raffaello while the two Expedition crews continued their hand-over briefings. During the day, Gorie and Kelly oversaw the first series of orbital boost manoeuvres using Endeavour’s thrusters. Godwin and Tani checked their EMUs and the tools that they would use during their EVA, which was planned for December 10. In the evening, the STS-108 crew and the Expedition-3 crew made their way back to the Shuttle. The hatches between Endeavour and Destiny were closed at 19: 43, isolating the Expedition-4 crew on ISS for the first time. Endeavour’s internal pressure was then lowered in preparation for the EVA. Following their evening meal the two crews went to bed.

The highlight of December 10 was Godwin and Tani’s EVA. Godwin left Endeavour’s airlock at 12:2. Tani followed, telling his colleagues inside the Shuttle, “I’m going for a walk. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.’’ Taking in the view of Earth he remarked, “Wow, look at that view.’’ As Endeavour passed over Houston, Tani observed, “I see it, downtown Houston, Intercontinental Airport. I see Ellington Field and Clearlake. Beautiful.’’

Following the installation of the P-6 ITS on the Z-1 Truss, in November 2001, engineers in Houston had noticed that the P-6 Beta Gimbal Assembly (BGA) motors were drawing more electrical power than expected. Analysis of the problem had led to the conclusion that the additional power was being drawn because the motors were expanding each time the SAW passed from Earth’s shadow into sunlight and con­tracting again each time it passed from sunlight, back into Earth’s shadow. Each expansion caused the BGAs to bunch, creating additional friction, which required additional electrical power to overcome. Godwin and Tani would install thermal blankets in an attempt to equalise the temperature acting on the motors. Sally Davis, Lead Flight Director in Houston, described the thermal blanket installation in the following terms:

“It’s a matter of treating our hardware as carefully as we can. If a motor starts to stall and you don’t start treating it a little more carefully, it could eventually stall in the wrong position… The solar array would be in a position where we cannot generate electricity.’’

The two astronauts were lifted half-way up the P-6 ITS by the Shuttle’s RMS, which was operated by Kelly. From there, they made their way to the top of the 30 m tall tower, where they placed the thermal blankets around the two drum-shaped BGAs that drove the 40 m long SAWs. The blankets were intended to stabilise the heat reaching the two electrically driven motors. On their way back down the P-6 ITS they stopped at a storage bin and removed a cover that had been placed in the bin after it had been removed from an antenna on an earlier EVA. The cover would be returned to Earth. They also performed a number of “get ahead’’ tasks, including positioning two switches on the exterior of the station, where they would be installed during an EVA on STS-110, planned for spring 2002. The two astronauts also recovered a number of tools, which they took inside ISS for use on the STS-110 EVA. The STS-108 EVA ended at 15: 04, after 4 hours 12 minutes. Inside ISS, Onufrienko, Bursch, and Walz had spent the day unloading Raffaello.

December 11 was the 3-month anniversary of the atrocities in New York and was commemorated by President Bush’s “Anthems of Remembrance’’ initiative. In the mission control centres at Houston and Korolev, as well as on Endeavour and ISS, the American and Russian national anthems were played in remembrance of those who had died in the terrorist attacks. The American anthem was commenced at 08: 46, the time when the first aircraft impacted the World Trade Centre. During the day the American and Russian members of the various crews were given oppor-

tunities to express their personal feelings to their respective control centres regarding the events of September 11. In Houston, caps honouring the New York Police Department, Fire Department of New York, New York Port Authority, and New York Office of Emergency Management were displayed in the control centre. Wayne Hale, Flight Director in Houston, told the astronauts,

“More than 3,000 people perished this day three months ago, including more than

200 citizens from countries that are family members of the International Space

Station programme—Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Japan and Russia.”

During the morning Endeavour’s crew were told that their flight had been extended by one day. The extra time would be used to assist in routine maintenance on ISS. STS-108 would now land on December 17. At 15: 48 Culbertson made a ceremonial hand-over of command to Onufrienko. The remainder of the day was spent with all three crews participating in the unloading of Raffaello. Items already unloaded and moved to ISS included food, clothing, medical supplies, EVA equipment, experiments, and other crew provisions for use by the Expedition-4 crew.

December 12 was another day of cargo transfers. With most of the cargo already moved out of Raffaello, the crew began packing the near-empty module with items to be returned to Earth. Endeavour’s crew also spent the day assisting the Expedition-4

crew by replacing some components on the ISS treadmill. The work went well and the task was completed several hours ahead of schedule. Hand-over briefings for the Expedition-4 crew also continued throughout the day. Gorie and Kelly completed the third series of orbital re-boost manoeuvres using Endeavour’s thrusters. During the crews’ sleep period, one of Endeavour’s three Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) suffered a transient problem. The unit was one of three, of which two were powered on and one powered off whilst Endeavour was docked to the station. IMU-1 and IMU-2 were on-line when the fault occurred, with IMU-3 off-line. IMU-2 was taken off-line and IMU-3 was placed on-line to replace it. Only two IMUs were required to fly the Shuttle, the third was carried as a redundancy measure. Although IMU-2 continued to perform correctly, controllers considered it to be “failed”. Endeavour would return to Earth on IMU-1 and IMU-3.

The following day the STS-108 crew packed the last of 2 tonnes of cargo, including laundry, packaging foam, and equipment no longer required on the station inside Raffaello, while the Expedition crews continued their hand-over briefings. Culbertson noted, “Basically, everything’s over there that should go today.’’ He joked that the Expedition-4 crew would be glad “to get rid of those three extra bodies (the Expedition-3 crew).’’ At 16: 09, the three crews gathered together to watch Culbertson officially hand over command of ISS to Onufrienko. Houston reminded the Expedition-3 crew, “In just a few days you’ll be back on Earth, feeling the warm Sun on your faces.’’

Following the final loading of Raffaello, the hatches between the MPLM and Unity were closed at 11 : 00, December 14. After pressure checks Kelly and Godwin used the RMS to undock Raffaello, shortly after 14: 20, and successfully placed it back in Endeavour’s payload bay at 17: 44. The Expedition crews continued with their final briefings and Dezhurov worked with Onufrienko to replace a faulty compressor in an air-conditioning unit inside Zvezda. During the day America’s Space Command informed NASA that a Russian rocket upper stage from the 1970s would pass close to ISS and the decision was made during the night to use Endeavour’s thrusters to raise the station’s orbit before the Shuttle undocked the following day.

December 15 began at 05: 17. The STS-108 and Expedition-3 crews said their farewells and returned to Endeavour. Culbertson presented the Expedition-4 crew with a small Christmas tree, candy canes, and individual presents consisting of small silver pins. He then saluted Onufrienko before shaking his hand and exchanging farewells. Culbertson, Dezhurov, and Tyurin had spent 125 days on ISS. By the time they landed on December 17, they would have been in space for 129 days including the days spent on the Soyuz spacecraft that carried them into space. The hatches between Endeavour and Destiny were closed and the usual pressure checks were completed. At 09 : 55 Endeavour’s thrusters were pulse-fired over a 30-minute period to raise the station’s orbit and move it clear of the spent 30-year-old Russian rocket stage.

Prior to undocking, Culbertson, now settled in the mid-deck of Endeavour, commented, “It’s been a wonderful experience for all of us. The work continues, the research continues and will for many years to come.’’

Kelly undocked Endeavour at 12:28 and made a 90° fly-around of ISS before completing the separation burn. As Endeavour finally began to move away from the station Culbertson told Houston, “It feels wonderful to be heading home.” He made it clear that he was looking forward to seeing his wife and five children, but also that he wanted a hot shower, and a bowl of ice cream covered in chocolate syrup.

Dezhurov was equally personal, saying, “After landing I want to meet with my family. Maybe after that, I will think of some food. I also want to go to the sauna and take a shower.” Tyurin added his similar thoughts, “Mostly we are thinking about opportunities to see our families. But, also, I’ve said a big glass of cold beer would be fine.”

Gorie’s crew packed their gear in preparation for re-entry and then enjoyed a few hours free time before beginning their final night in space. On the station the Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS) recorded the vibrations associated with the undocking. The Protein Crystal Growth-Single Thermal Enclosure System (PCG-STES) had continued to operate throughout the crew hand-over as had the PCG-STES Unit 10 experiment activated on December 6.

At 10: 00, December 16, the last complete day in orbit, the STARSHINE satellite was launched from Endeavour’s payload bay. The crew spent the day preparing Endeavour for re-entry. The final day began on Endeavour at 04: 19, December 17. Endeavour’s payload bay doors were closed at 09: 10. The crew assumed their re-entry positions at 10:50 with Culbertson’s crew strapping themselves into their reclining seats on the mid-deck. Retrofire occurred at 11: 55 after which Gorie turned his spacecraft upright and nose forward for entry into the thick lower atmosphere. Endeavour landed at the Kennedy Space Centre at 12: 55, after a flight lasting 7 days 21 hours 25 minutes. Following the routine making safe of the orbiter, Culbertson, Dezhurov, and Tyurin were removed from the mid-deck to begin their readjustment to life under 1g. They underwent bed rest and initial medical examinations for several days, before being transported to Houston for the official rehabilitation programme undertaken by all returning long-duration space station crews. The third occupation of ISS was at an end.

STS-107 lifted off at the beginning of a solo Shuttle flight on January 16, 2003. The “Freestar” flight carried a seven-person crew and was designed to appease the critics of the ISS science programme. Columbia, the oldest of NASA’s Shuttle orbiter fleet, had just completed an extensive refit programme and this was her first flight after being returned to operations. The orbiter now carried the Extended Duration Orbiter fuel cell system, which would allow Columbia to remain in orbit for 16 days. STS-107 did not visit ISS, which was in a completely different orbit, and did not carry sufficient propellant to make the manoeuvres to do so, but it would have a major impact on the ISS programme.

One minute after lift-off, one of two bipod ramps, made of shaped insulation foam, was seen to detach itself from the ET, at a point near the bipod holding Columbia’s nose. A white cloud suggested that the foam impacted the underside of the left wing and broke up. With no RMS fitted and no EVA planned, it was not possible for the crew to inspect the underside of the left wing. Although the crew could have made a contingency EVA, they were not cleared to leave the payload bay. As Columbia’s orbit meant that she could not reach ISS, there was no opportunity for the ISS crew to inspect the orbiter for damage. The incident was investigated on the ground in Houston, and it was decided that it would not affect the mission, which

years.

continued as per the flight plan. Despite requests from engineers connected with the flight, NASA managers failed to ask the US Air Force to use its satellites to image the orbiter in space in an attempt to identify any damage. On the subject of the observed impact, Flight Director Steve Stich e-mailed the crew saying, “We have seen this phenomenon on several other flights and there is absolutely no concern for re-entry.”

This was the first flight of the new SpaceHab Double Science Module, which was carried in Columbia’s payload bay. Among the 80 experiments that the crew per­formed 30 were sponsored by ESA. STS-107 was dedicated to science, with the crew splitting into two groups and working rotating 12-hour shifts in order to maximise their time in space. For 16 days the 7 astronauts performed their experiments largely ignored by the press and media which had been so critical of the lack of such work on ISS.

On January 28, both the STS-107 crew and the ISS Expedition crew joined the rest of NASA in remembering the astronauts lost in the January 27, 1967 Apollo-1 fire and the January 28,1986 STS-51L Challenger explosion. At Cape Canaveral flags flew at half mast at LC-34 and LC-39 for the two days of remembrance.

Columbia’s Commander Rick Husband radioed, before a moment of silence to mark the exact time that STS-51L exploded:

“It is today that we remember and honour the crews of Apollo 1 and Challenger.

They made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives and service to their country and

for all mankind… Their dedication and devotion to the exploration of space was an inspiration to each of us and still motivates people around the world to achieve great things and service to others.”

On February 1, their mission behind them, the STS-107 crew strapped into their seats and prepared for re-entry. As they crossed the Indian Ocean Husband turned his spacecraft so that the closed payload bay doors were facing Earth and the three SSMEs were facing the direction of travel. Retrofire occurred at 09: 17, and the hour – long descent to KSC began. Husband turned Columbia through 180°, with the nose forward and pitched up, to present the orbiter’s flat, high-drag underside to the atmosphere for re-entry. Columbia entered the upper atmosphere and crossed the Californian coast at 09:51. As it did so, the telemetry from the hydraulic system on the inboard and outboard elevons on the left wing dropped out. Three minutes later telemetry was lost from the brake lines and tyres on the main undercarriage on the left side. At that time the spacecraft’s computer alerted the crew to the loss of data. Charles Hobaugh, Capcom in Houston radioed, “Columbia, Houston. We see your tyre pressure message.’’ Scanning his instruments Husband acknowledged with a simple, “Roger.”

It was 09 : 59. All communications and data transmissions from Columbia abruptly stopped. Streaking across North America, 61,000 km high and travelling at Mach 18.3 Columbia broke up. STS-107 was 15 minutes away from landing in Florida, where the crew’s families were waiting to watch them return home. Beneath the Shuttle’s flight path people reported a loud sound, like an explosion, or an aircraft breaking the sound barrier. Looking up, they saw trails in the sky as the remains of Columbia passed through the thick lower atmosphere. Debris fell to ground in a long swath covering parts of Texas and Louisiana. Among the debris were human remains. DNA testing would be required to identify the remains of individual crew members.

In Houston, all data relating to the flight was secured, in preparation for the investigation in to the cause of Columbia’s loss. The doors to the control room were locked and all communication with the outside world was stopped. In the VIP viewing area at KSC, NASA personnel escorted the astronauts’ families away from the empty runway where they had been expecting to see Columbia land at 10: 15. The remaining Shuttle fleet was immediately grounded indefinitely. At 10: 30, the Expedition-6 crew were informed that Columbia had been lost during re-entry. NASA organised a press conference to inform the media of what had happened. This was in total contrast to the loss of STS-51L, Challenger, in January 1986 when NASA had adopted a “no comment’’ policy.

President Bush was informed of the tragedy at Camp David. He returned to Washington DC by motorcade because the weather was too bad to allow him to be flown there by helicopter. When he arrived he made a speech to the American People, telling them:

“My fellow Americans, this day has brought terrible news and great sadness to our country. At 9 am this morning mission control in Houston lost contact with our Space Shuttle Columbia. A short time later, debris was seen falling from the skies over Texas. The Columbia is lost; there are no survivors.

On board was a crew of seven: Colonel Rick Husband; Lt Colonel Michael Anderson; Commander Laurel Clark; Captain David Brown; Commander William McCool; Dr. Kalpana Chawla; and Ilan Ramon, a Colonel in the Israeli Air Force. These men and women assumed great risk in the service to all humanity.

In an age when space flight has come to seem almost routine; it is easy to overlook the dangers of travel by rocket, and the difficulties of navigating the fierce outer atmosphere of the Earth. These astronauts knew the dangers, and they faced them willingly, knowing they had a high and noble purpose in life. Because of their courage and daring and idealism, we will miss them all the more.

All Americans today are thinking, as well, of the families of these men and women who have been given this sudden shock and grief. You’re not alone. Our entire nation grieves with you. And those you loved will always have the respect and gratitude of this country. The cause for which they died will continue. Mankind is led into the darkness beyond our world by the inspiration ofdiscovery and longing to understand. Our journey into space will go on.’’

NASA immediately established both internal and external investigation teams while members of the public kept their local police services busy reporting the loca­tion of debris and human remains. While public broadcasts were made making clear how every piece of debris was potential evidence and should be handed over to the authorities, some individuals still tried to sell Columbia debris on the Internet. Those people fell foul of the authorities, who were monitoring the Internet for just such attempts. Those arrested potentially faced ten years in gaol and a huge fine if found guilty.

In the seven days following the disaster the press and media had a feeding frenzy. Journalists that had ignored the space programme for years suddenly became experts overnight. Despite President Bush’s speech, there were the usual, predictable, demands for the Shuttle to be scrapped and the human space programme to be cancelled. All of the old complaints about ISS were aired and demands were made for the Expedition-6 crew to be bought home and the station abandoned. Many claimed that the STS-107 crew had been sent to their deaths by a NASA that had cut spending on safety checks to the point that Columbia was a creaking wreck just waiting to fall apart around them. Such charges ignored the 100 plus modifications that had just been made to Columbia during a major re-fit. Much was made of the impact incident during launch, and of Columbia’s age. There was speculation about a computer malfunction that positioned the spacecraft incorrectly for re-entry, impact with a micrometeorite, or a piece of junk from an earlier space launch. With America preparing for a war in Iraq, some Muslim extremists publicly claimed that Allah had struck Columbia down because of the combination of Americans, an Indian, and an Israeli in the crew. They pointed to the fact that some of the debris fell in Palestine, Texas as proof of their claim. Some television channels showed film of Arabs parading in the streets and cheering at America’s loss in several Middle Eastern

cities. The greater majority of Muslims disassociated themselves from these extremist ideas and expressed their sympathy for the loss of the Shuttle’s crew. Although the flight had been largely ignored by the American media, it had been the focus of much attention in Israel and India, where the public were deeply shocked at the loss of their citizens.

One American television presenter publicly aired his total lack of knowledge of his nation’s space programme when he told his audience in all seriousness, “This is not like Tom Hanks’ film Apollo-13, where they fixed the spacecraft and got home safely. This is real life.’’ Just, for his information, the film Apollo-13 was based on an actual spaceflight. The Apollo-13 spacecraft exploded on the way to the Moon, in April 1970. The crew did not “fix the spacecraft” and only “got home safely’’ because of the professional expertise and personal tenacity of everyone concerned with the flight. The crew consisted of James Lovell, John Swigert, and Fredrick Haise. At the time, Tom Hanks was a schoolboy sitting at home, watching it all on television and pretending to land his plastic model of an Apollo Lunar Module on the lounge carpet. Hanks is an excellent actor, but he has never been selected as an astronaut, at least, not in “real life’’.

As time progressed the hysteria subsided and Columbia left the headlines, temporarily. The search for debris and human remains continued and the official

investigation into what had happened got underway. Meanwhile, there were still three people on ISS.

Fincke had reported photographing Hurricane Francis over the Atlantic Ocean on August 27. The hurricane passed over Kennedy Space Centre on September 7, with winds of 70 mph. Those winds pulled approximately 820 panels off of the side of the VAB along with the insulation beneath them, leaving the building interior open to the weather. The building’s roof proved to be weakened when it was inspected after the storm and nets were hung inside the building to catch any falling debris until the roof could be repaired. The two Shuttle ETs and various SRB components inside the VAB were not damaged. The roof was also partially ripped off a building used to prepare heatshield tiles for the Shuttle, but the three remaining Shuttle orbiters were secured within the three Orbiter Processing Facility Buildings and were not damaged. Only one month earlier, Hurricane Charley had caused $700,000 worth of damage to Cape Canaveral, and Hurricane Ivan, one of the most powerful hurricanes on record, also threatened to add to the damage at the site, until it changed course and missed Florida.

The highlight of September 3 came when Padalka and Fincke donned their Orlan pressure suits and depressurised Pirs for their final EVA. Egress occurred at 12: 43. Having gathered their tools, the two men made their way to the exterior of Zvezda, where they replaced a flow regulator valve panel and installed three communication antennae at the station’s wake. The antennae would be used during rendezvous and docking of the European ATV. Fincke made his way across the exterior of Zvezda to photograph the Japanese MPAC/SEEDS experiment. Upon returning to Pirs they

installed covers on the handrails around the airlock hatch to prevent EVA astronauts’ tethers becoming ensnared during future EVAs. Pirs’ hatch was closed at 18:04, after and EVA lasting 5 hours 21 minutes.

The Elektron unit failed during the night of September 6-7. The new failure involved the unit’s hydrogen gas analyser and had nothing to do with the ongoing problem of air in the water loop. On September 8, Padalka replaced one of the Elektron liquid units with one he had repaired using spare parts. The crew then flushed the Elektron through with water, cleaned a mounting plate and, after it had shut itself down several more times after only short periods of operation, they removed the gas analyser. The unit was then turned on and run for a few days. It was turned off once more before the crew went to sleep on September 17. On the ground engineers began studying the data relayed from the partially repaired unit. Korolev announced that the latest failure may have been caused by crystalline deposits of potassium hydroxide in the oxygen supply line of the liquid unit. While the Elektron was turned off, the station’s atmosphere was repressurised using oxygen carried into orbit on Progress M-50 and nitrogen from the tanks on Quest.

Even as repairs to the Elektron unit continued, on September 17 Fincke depressurised the area between the window panes in Destiny and replaced the flex hose, which had malfunctioned and allowed air to enter the space between the panes of glass. He also installed a cover that he had made previously at the workbench in Destiny. They tested the communications systems in the Soyuz TMA-4 spacecraft and Fincke videoed those areas of the station’s exterior that were visible from windows in the various modules and transmitted the images to Earth.

During the week ending September 24, Padalka and Fincke performed the regular 6-month preventative maintenance of the station’s treadmill. They also continued to troubleshoot the Elektron oxygen generator, working on the assump­tion that the hydrogen line was being prevented from pressurising correctly by contamination in the line. During the week, the two crewmen cleaned out the line in question. Meanwhile, the station’s atmosphere was repressurised twice, using oxygen from the tanks in Progress M-50. The crew also began storing some items for their return to Earth during the second week of October. On the ground, NASA had begun talking publicly about evacuating ISS, if the onboard stock of breathing oxygen fell below 45 days.

The Elektron repairs continued into October. Under instruction from Korolev, the crew disconnected the unit’s hydrogen vent pipe from its overboard vent valve, and Padalka jury-rigged a hose to redirect the vented hydrogen through Zvezda’s micro-purification unit. The unit then operated correctly during several days of testing. Fincke also fitted a mass spectrometer unit to the Major Constituents Analyser in Destiny. Progress M-50 had delivered the mass spectrometer, and its installation allowed the Analyser to be operated continually, rather than only periodically, as it had been up until that time. During the week, Fincke also carried out a series of soldering experiments. Engineers in Houston carried out a remote test of the Thermal Radiator Rotary Joint, which would allow the radiator to rotate to the best position for loosing heat when more SAWs were added to the station, after the Shuttle resumed flying, probably in 2005. Alongside the numerous equipment repairs, regular maintenance, and daily exercise, the crew still found time to perform a number of experiments on themselves.

As their flight approached its end, during the second week of October both men donned their Sokol launch and re-entry suits and entered Soyuz TMA-4 for routine checks. Fincke replaced the gas trap and pump inlet filter in the still malfunctioning EMU. He also replaced the cycle ergometer control panel with one that had been brought up on Progress M-50. Both men collected samples of potable water for in – flight analysis.

In March 2004 the Russians had suggested to NASA that the Expedition-10 crew should double the standard 6-month Expedition crew duration to one year. Such a flight would build on Russian medical experiments from their Salyut and Mir stations. It would also clear a second couch in Soyuz “taxi” spacecraft to be sold to visiting astronauts. NASA refused the proposal, after heated debate. While some NASA employees argued that the Administration was not ready to support a 12-month flight, others pointed to Russia’s experience on Mir, when several cosmonauts had approached 12-months in space and a few had surpassed it. Despite the discussions, Expedition-10 would fly a standard 6-month caretaker mission. Chiao described the role of a two-person caretaker crew in the following terms:

“[I]t is a very demanding timeline for a crew of two, and the past two-person crews have shown that they can accomplish those timelines and remain healthy and well-rested and things like that. [O]ur flight will be the same… and we have a very full schedule; we’ll be doing a lot of work. But at the same time, we’ll be having scheduled time off, where we can kind of re-energize and recharge, and so I really don’t see a problem with that. Now, of course, the thing that suffers sometimes when we are scheduled in like this, is we don’t get as much science done as we’d like. The purpose of the International Space Station is to do all kinds of cutting – edge science that can’t be done on the ground, but our goal right now is to kind of keep that laboratory going… until we can get the Shuttle flying again and… we get the laboratory finished… Neither Salizhan nor I have flown a long-duration flight; however, between us, we have four Shuttle flights, and so we have a wealth of experience being in space and operating in space. We work very well together; our personalities complement each other, and we both have the same views on how things ought to be done. And so I think that everything will be just fine.’’

The third couch on Soyuz TMA-5 became available when prospective spaceflight participant Sergei Polonsky was grounded for unspecified medical reasons. Unable to sell it at short notice to another spaceflight participant, to ESA, or to the French National Space Agency, the Russian Federal Space Agency allocated it to Yuri Shargin, a member of the Russian Rocket Forces, who would complete the usual short visit to ISS, returning to Earth with the Expedition-9 crew.

On September 15 the Russians announced that the launch of Soyuz TMA-5, which had been scheduled to lift off on October 9, had been delayed for 5 to 10 days. The cause of the delay was the premature firing of an explosive bolt on the spacecraft. The few details announced at the time suggested that the bolt was one of those used to separate the orbital compartment prior to re-entry. The Russians subsequently announced that it was actually one of a ring of bolts used to separate the docking system from the front of that compartment in the event of the docking system failing to release as the spacecraft tried to undock from ISS. In that event the spacecraft’s docking system could be explosively severed and left attached to the station’s docking system while the Soyuz returned to Earth. On September 22 the launch was reset for October 11. Six days later the launch was delayed a second time “for a few days’’. RSC Energia officials did not release details of what had caused the delay, but it has been suggested that it was a leaking membrane in a hydrogen peroxide tank. The launch was rescheduled to October 13.

Soyuz TMA-5 lifted off at 23:06, October 13, 2004. A communications problem involving a Russian Molniya satellite delayed each of the first two orbital correction burns by one orbit. Two days later, as the Soyuz approached within 100 metres of the station, an alarm sounded suggesting that the Kurs automatic rendezvous and docking system had malfunctioned. A Russian investigation would show that a forward firing thruster on the Soyuz was producing less thrust than expected and Soyuz TMA-5 therefore approached ISS too fast, causing the docking attempt to be aborted. Sharipov assumed manual control, backed his spacecraft out to 200 metres and then executed a perfect manual docking at 00: 16, October 16, thereby earning himself a bonus. Following leak checks the Expedition-10 crew entered ISS at 03: 13, and was greeted by their predecessors. Shargin transferred his couch liner to Soyuz TMA-4.

For the next week Sharipov and Chiao spent 2 or 3 hours a day working closely with Padalka and Fincke to ensure a smooth hand-over, the remainder of the time they spent setting up their own experiment programme. During the hand-over period Sharipov assisted Padalka in making final repairs to the Elektron unit before it was powered on during the hours the crew was awake, and powered off while they were asleep. Meanwhile, Chiao and Fincke worked to replace the rotor pump in the EMU that Fincke had begun repairs on a few days earlier. The new crew also took the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with the SSRMS and several of the ISS systems. Shargin participated in a number of medical experiments, with assistance from Sharipov and Padalka. He also took a number of photographs of the Earth’s surface. Although Shargin was the first member of the Russian Rocket Force to fly in space, none of his experiments was identified as military in nature. He completed his experiment programme, primarily in the Russian sector of the station.

Figure 49. Expedition-10: having arrived with the Expedition-10 crew, Yuri Shargin worked on his experiment programme before returning to Earth with the Expedition-9 crew. The individual behind him is not identified.

Fincke had described his feelings on returning to Earth before his flight began:

“For the return, I’ll be the Flight Engineer, sitting in the left seat, pushing all the buttons, and Gennady will have his command panel in front of him. [W]e’ll work together as a team to bring… the ship safely home… We do all of our systems checks, and if everything looks good and we have concurrence from the ground, we undock from the Space Station—some springs push us off, and we’re on our way home. It’s going to be a very bitter-sweet moment. I’ll be so excited to go home and see my family… so, that’ll be the sweet part. The bitter part is leaving our home for six months. And, it’ll all happen in just a few hours. We make sure we have a successful undocking from the Space Station, we wait one orbit to upload our commands from… Moscow, who gives us all of our vectors so that we can come in and land right on target. [0]nce we get the ‘go’, we start our de-orbit burn; it slows us down by several hundred meters per second. Then… we… enjoy the ride. I think it’s going to be very… exciting just watching to see if anything goes wrong and to be there ready to solve any malfunction. And once we start to get close to the atmosphere, we’ll separate all three modules… Then the real fun begins. The other Americans that have flown in the Soyuz… have called it an incredible ride because we tumble end-over-end until we stabilize in the atmosphere. And I’ll be sitting right next to a window, and I’m just looking forward to seeing what that would look like. 0nce we stabilize in the atmosphere, the automatic re-entry system engages and brings us close to our point, and then we have a set of primary parachutes that will open up and slow us down. And then right before we land … a series of retro-rockets ignite and soften our blow as we return home to the planet. We open up the door and, hopefully, the helicopters will be outside waiting for us.’’

Following an official hand-over on October 22, Padalka, Fincke, and Shargin locked themselves in Soyuz TMA-4, and undocked from Zvezda’s wake at 21:08, the following day. After retrofire, and a routine separation, Soyuz TMA-4 re-entered the atmosphere and landed at 20:36, the same day. Locally it was dawn, and recovery crews had seen the plasma sheath surrounding the re-entry module as it passed through the atmosphere. The landing took place in semi-darkness. The Expedition-9 crew had spent 187 days 21 hours 17 minutes in space. Shargin’s first spaceflight had lasted 9 days 21 hours 21 minutes.

As October drew to a close NASA announced that the Shuttle’s Return to Flight launch would slip until May or June 2005.

EXPEDITION-10

Following the departure of Soyuz TMA-4 Sharipov and Chiao began the standard 3 days of light duties to allow them to get over the rushed workload of the past week. Their occupation would receive two Progress cargo vehicles and they planned to make two Stage EVAs before Soyuz TMA-6 delivered the Expedition-11 crew, in

April 2005. The new crew activated EarthKam during the first days of their occupa­tion. In 8 days over 800 images were exposed. At the outset of their mission, word was received from the ground that the Elektron unit was performing well in tests and was cleared for permanent use. The joint repairs carried out by Padalka and Sharipov had finally returned the unit to operational use.

On November 4, Chiao used the Advanced Ultrasound in Microgravity experi­ment (ADUM) to make ultrasound scans of Sharipov and the positions were reversed the following day. The experiment relayed the scan directly to doctors on the ground, who could use it to make a real-time diagnosis. On November 5, both men took part in emergency medical drills and collected air and swab samples in Zarya. Chiao used the BCAT experiment. He also practised using the SSRMS on November 8. During the exercise the arm’s video cameras were used to image a possible indentation that had been observed on the exterior of Destiny by the last Shuttle crew to visit ISS (STS-113). The images proved that the dent was not caused by a micrometeorite, or a debris strike. The flat area on one of Destiny’s protective panels appeared similar to flat areas observed on the protective exterior of Unity. The flattening of the panels was thought to be caused by flexure with changes in temperature.

Throughout the week, the two men carried out work with the Binary Colloids Alloy Test (BCAT) experiment. Chiao also worked on the faulty pump in the second of the American EMUs that had suffered a cooling failure during the Expedition-9 occupation. The work had to stop when a metal shim could not be located. Following a search, plans were put in place to launch a replacement on Progress M-51. The American EMUs were not due to be used until the Shuttle resumed flight, in mid-2005.

Chiao explained how he and Sharipov had trained to receive STS-114 during their occupation of ISS:

“That’s something we’re hoping for—we’d love to have STS-114 come up and visit us during our flight. [W]e’d welcome them and well, we’re keeping our fingers crossed. It’ll be a really neat event having the Space Shuttle return to flight and come up during our increment and do some construction work while we’re there, and our two crews will work together, and we sure hope that’ll happen.. .we have been doing the training for these events. Salizhan and I have both received MPLM training and we also received a lot of photography lessons on how to take pictures of the Shuttle tiles and leading edges to inspect the heat shielding. [S]o we’re just keeping our fingers crossed it’ll work out for 114 to come up.’’

On November 8, NASA announced that they had initiated a study to consider how best to continue development of ISS after the Shuttle resumed flying. At the same time, they confirmed that the Shuttle’s return to flight had been delayed from March to May 2005. Bill Readdy, Associate Administrator for Space Operations, told the media, “After four hurricanes in a row, we could not make the March launch.’’ The new schedule called for three Shuttle launches in 2005 and five each year thereafter, until ISS was complete and the Shuttle was retired, in 2010. Readdy stated that, if the first two daytime Shuttle launches were successful, then the third

flight might carry the first three-person Expedition crew to ISS since the loss of STS-107. To cover the continued delay in the Shuttle’s Return to Flight, Russia agreed to continue supplying Soyuz TMA spacecraft for crew transport through 2006. This was a negotiated agreement that allowed Russia to recover the experiment hours it had given up to NASA in the early years of the programme when Zvezda was under-funded and launched late. Twenty-eight Shuttle flights were considered necessary to complete ISS. Studies considered transferring as many as 17 ISS payloads to expendable launch vehicles, leaving only 11 Shuttle flights. Among ideas being considered was a plan to launch the European Columbus and Japanese Kibo modules on Russian Proton launch vehicles. Initial development of the CEV design was underway in a multi-contractor competition.

On November 11, a circuit breaker tripped out on ISS and stopped the supply of electrical power to a number of crew equipment items. After checking the equipment involved the crew were able to power the circuit breaker back on. The following day, Chiao moved the SSRMS to a position that allowed its cameras to view the transfer of Soyuz TMA-5 from Pirs’ nadir to Zarya’s nadir, a manoeuvre planned for November 29. The change of location would allow Pirs to be used for two Stage EVAs, in January and March 2005.

The following week, controllers in Korolev commanded Progress M-50’s rocket motors to fire, to raise the station’s orbit. Although the burn lasted the correct amount of time, it left the station in a slightly lower orbit than had been planned.

Controllers at Korolev later blamed the shortfall on “human error”. Rather than fire a correction burn, it was decided to delay the launch of Progress M-51 by 24 hours to compensate for the station’s lower orbit. Throughout the week, the crew completed a varied science programme. Working with the American ADUM and Serial Network Flow Monitor (SNFM), which used computer software to track the communications and data flow between payloads in Destiny. Sharipov collected samples for the PLANT experiment and worked with the Russian experiments Hematokrit, which counted red blood cells, and Sprut, a study of human body fluids. Sharipov also checked out a new Russian Orlan suit before discarding an old Orlan suit that had exceeded its on-orbit life, on Progress M-50. Both men also participated in routine housekeeping tasks.

A NEW RUSSIAN LAUNCH SCHEDULE

On November 20, managers at Roscosmos decided to develop the FGB-2 module as a Multi-purpose Laboratory Module (MLM), rejecting RSC Energia’s proposal to develop the FGB-2 as the Enterprise Module. RSA announced that MLM would be launched by a Proton launch vehicle in 2007 and would dock to Zarya’s nadir, the European Robotic Arm would then be attached to its side. The MLM would be launched with some scientific equipment pre-installed, but the remainder would be launched separately over the following 2 years. It would also house support equip­ment, hygiene facilities, a sauna, and an additional sleeping room, as well as a storage area to hold spare parts and other cargo on-orbit. An aft docking port would support Soyuz and Progress vehicles, while a lateral port would house a scientific airlock, to be delivered by Shuttle.

The next major Russian launch would be the Scientific Energy Module (Russian initials: MEM), originally called the Scientific Energy Platform (Russian initials: MEP). This would be mounted on Zvezda’s Zenith after delivery by Shuttle in 2010. The new MEM would be downsized from the original MEP and would consist of a pressurised section containing gyrodines, a boom, and eight SAWs. The pressurised section would provide a new docking location for Pirs, which would be moved from its present location on Zarya’s nadir port by means of the SSRMS.

Plans were less substantial and less certain for a Russian dedicated science module using the FGB design, due for launch in 2011. It would be docked to Zvezda’s nadir and two smaller Russian scientific modules built around the Pirs design.

Meanwhile, Energia unveiled plans for the Soyuz replacement, a 13-tonne space­craft to be called “Kliper”. The lifting body design of the re-entry module would be enhanced by a Soyuz-style orbital compartment and would carry six people. Uncrewed flight-tests on a Zenit launch vehicle were planned for 2010, with the first crewed flight to ISS in 2012. Again, no government funding existed for Kliper and attempts to convince ESA to help fund its development were unsuccessful.

While the plans sounded optimistic, there was no budget to build any of this equipment. Russian participation in the ISS programme would remain restricted to those modules already in orbit and any Soyuz and Progress vehicles that were

purchased, either by the Russian government or the other ISS partners in support of the Expedition crews throughout the life of the station, which was originally intended to end in 2016.