Category Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006

Vostok 1 weighed 4,726 kg (10,419 lb) and comprised a spherical flight module and an instrument section, shaped like a double cone, containing batteries and a retro-rocket. The total length of the spacecraft was 4.4m (14.4ft), with a maximum diameter of 2.43 m (7.97 ft). The habitable module was 2.3 m (7.55 ft) in diameter and weighed 2,240 kg (4,938 lb). Vostok was designed to support life for ten days in an orbit low enough to guarantee a re-entry due to natural decay in that period, in case of retro- rocket failure. The instrument section, weighing 2,270 kg (5,004 lb) and measuring

2.25 m (7.38 ft) long, utilised the TDU 1 retro-engine, powered by nitrous oxide and an amine-based fuel, with a thrust of 1.6 tonnes and a burn time of 45 seconds. The flight module landed at 10m/sec (32.8 ft/sec) – enough to injure the passenger seriously – so the pilot ejected at a height of 7 km (4 miles) and parachuted separately to the ground, landing at a speed of 5m/sec (16.4 ft/sec). The Vostok capsule had been tested three times successfully in six attempts on Korabl-Sputnik 1-5 (known in the West as Sputnik 4, 5, 6, 9 and 10), four of which carried canine passengers. Another canine­carrying mission failed to reach orbit. Other missions were planned but were cancelled in favour of upgrading the spacecraft into what became Voskhod as an interim measure to compete with the US Gemini series of missions.

Voskhod was essentially a Vostok spacecraft without crew ejector seats and with a back-up retro-rocket pack on top. It also had a landing retro-rocket system. The spacecraft weighed 5,320kg (11,730lb), comprising the 2,900kg (1,802lb) flight Descent Module, a 2,280 kg (5,027 lb) Instrument Module and a 145 kg (320 lb) back-up retro-pack. It was 5 m (16 ft) high, with a maximum diameter of 2.43 m (8 ft). The back-up retro-rocket – needed because Voskhod’s orbit, higher than Vostok on the more powerful SL-4 booster, would not naturally decay in ten days in the event of retro-fire failure – had a thrust of 12 tonnes and comprised 87 kg (192 lb) of solid propellant. It resembled an inverted cup on top of the Descent Module. To enable a 0.2 m/sec (0.65 ft/sec) landing, compared with the Vostok landing speed of 8 to 10m/sec (26-32 ft/sec), a landing retro-rocket was added, deployed with the parachute so that it fired downwards in front of the Descent Module. Voskhod flew one unmanned test flight, Cosmos 47, six days before the first manned flight. Voskhod 2 weighed 5,683 kg (12,531 lb). The main difference compared with Voskhod 1 was the flexible airlock, which was approximately 2.13 m (7 ft) long and 0.91 m (3 ft) in diam­eter. This was jettisoned after the EVA. The payload fairing of the SL-4 launch vehicle was modified to include a blister-like covering for the stowed airlock which protruded slightly from the flight capsule. Again, an unmanned craft (Cosmos 57) flew three weeks before Voskhod 2. There was also a 22-day canine flight flown as Cosmos 110 in early 1966, and a series of other manned Voskhod flights were planned, but they were cancelled in a desire to move on to the more advanced Soyuz programme.

Mercury

The US Mercury capsule was even smaller, with the pilot “putting it on”, rather than getting into it, as some astronauts described the entry. It would splashdown at sea under a single parachute.

The Mercury capsule was a bell-shaped spacecraft, 2.87 m (9.41ft) high, with a maximum diameter across the heat shield base of 1.85m (6.07 ft). At lift-off, with a launch escape system tower on its top, Mercury weighed about 1,905 kg (4,200 lb). The attitude of the heavily instrumented but severely cramped capsule would be changed by the release of short bursts of hydrogen peroxide gas from 18 thrusters located on the

craft. These movements could be controlled by the Automatic Stability and Control System (ASCS, which acted as the craft’s “autopilot” from the ground), through the Rate Stabilisation Control System (RSCS), or manually by the astronaut using a hand controller connected to a fly-by-wire system. At the back of the capsule, over an ablative heat shield, was a retro-pack containing three solid propellant rockets. These were held to the heat shield by three metal “straps” which were deployed along with the heat shield during re-entry. Mercury descended to a sea landing, or “splashdown” under one main parachute. Just before splashdown, the heat shield was dropped 1.21 m (4 ft), pulling out a rubberised fibreglass landing bag to reduce shock. Mercury had been tested unmanned 17 times previously on various rockets, only seven times successfully. Freedom 7 was Mercury capsule 7, the only first-production run, man­rated capsule and the only one to fly manned with one circular porthole, rather than a larger rectangular window, one of several new features requested by the astronauts but not included in time for MR3. Mercury capsule No. 11 (for MR4 the second sub­orbital mission) was in fact the first operational capsule designed for orbital flights, and included a rectangular window and an explosive side hatch, recommended by the astronauts for safety purposes.

Both Vostok and Mercury made six single-person flights between 1961 and 1963. Mercury was succeeded by a larger two-person craft called Gemini, while Vostok basically became Voskhod, into which a three-man crew was crammed for the maiden flight in 1964. A second flight included the first spacewalk, performed in 1965. These two flights in a sense diverted the Soviet Union from its lunar goal, because they were flown for short-term prestige.

1962 beta delta 1 3 October 1962

Pad 14, Cape Canaveral, Florida 3 October 1962

756.35 km northeast of Midway Island, Pacific Ocean Atlas 113D; spacecraft serial number SC-16 9 hrs 13 min 11 sec Sigma 7

Six-orbit mission

Flight Crew

SCHIRRA, Walter Marty Jr., 39, USN, pilot

Flight Log

Carpenter’s science-packed flight plan was being changed until almost launch day, so it was not surprising that he had trouble in orbit. One of his main critics was MA8 pilot Wally Schirra, who was extremely pleased with the smooth running of his own six-orbit mission, which he had made a modest engineering test flight with the minimum of experiments and manoeuvring. Indeed, his flight plan had been cast in stone on 8 August. What was surprising was the conservatism of mission planners, who decided to increase orbital flight experience by just 50 per cent, with a first-time landing in the Pacific Ocean, just short of a full six orbits.

MA8 could have been the first aborted launch, for just ten seconds after leaving the pad at 07: 15 hrs local time, Atlas 113D developed an alarming clockwise roll rate just 20 per cent short of an abort. The launch was the first to be shown on British television on the same day, three hours later, thanks to the Telstar communications satellite. It was also watched from the Cape by nine new NASA astronauts, who had been selected the previous month. Schirra had been in his capsule, with the engineering name Sigma 7, since 04: 14 hrs, and reached the highest Mercury orbit of 282 km (175 miles) and a speed of 28,256 kph (17,558 mph).

There had been concern that Schirra would be affected by the radiation belt created the previous July by the horrendous US upper-atmosphere nuclear test, Project Dominic. An overheating spacesuit almost forced an early return after just one orbit, but fortunately spacesuits were Schirra’s speciality. He deployed the MA7- type tethered multicoloured balloon, this time with success, and spent at least one orbit letting the spacecraft drift as it pleased. The retros were fired at T + 8 hours 56 minutes 22 seconds and Sigma 7 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean 756.35 km (470 miles) northeast of Midway Island, and just 7.2 km (4 miles) from its target, close to the recovery ship, USS Kearsage. Schirra’s mission lasted 9 hours 13 minutes

11 seconds. He stayed with the ship until winched aboard the Kearsage. Media interest in the flight was minimal.

Milestones

9th manned space flight 5th US manned space flight 5th Mercury manned flight

Flight Crew

YOUNG, John Watts, 50, USN, commander, 5th mission

Previous missions: Gemini 3 (1965); Gemini 10 (1966); Apollo 10 (1969);

Apollo 16 (1972)

CRIPPEN, Robert Laurel, 43, USN, pilot

Flight Log

The build up to this momentous space mission for the US programme was painfully slow. A budget lower than that afforded to Apollo for a space system five times more technically demanding resulted in inevitable glitches at almost every turn. The first space flight by the Space Shuttle was originally scheduled for 1978, but in fact all that happened was that the first four space crews were rather optimistically named for missions that would start the following year. Thus, veteran John Young and rookie Bob “Crip” Crippen began what was to become one of the longest periods of training ever, ending with a lift-off in 1981. Coincidentally, for such a major space milestone, the launch would be on the twentieth anniversary of the first manned space flight by Yuri Gagarin.

That the launch had been scrubbed at T — 36 min, by a computer synchronisation glitch two days before, which had been dubbed by the media assembled at the Kennedy Space Center as a “fiasco”, is indicative of the reputation of the Shuttle. The USA had been through a period of several major technical disasters, including Three Mile Island, and there were many cynics expecting to be reporting another from the Kennedy Space Center on a maiden flight being manned for the first time. There is no doubting the heroism of the crew, who had only the dubious opportunity of ejection seats available to them for an early bail-out.

The cataclysmic blast-off occurred at 07: 00 hrs local time, causing unpredicted over pressurisation of the orbiter and a potential collision with the launch tower, followed almost immediately by the roll programme which alarmed already nervous

The Third Decade: 1981-1990

spectators with its brute force. Thrust was five per cent higher than anticipated, leading to a steeper, “heads down” climb to orbit. The solid rocket boosters were ejected at T + 2 minutes 11 seconds and the three main engines cut off at T + 8 minutes. The Space Shuttle Columbia was in initial orbit and was then boosted by four burns of the orbiter’s own propulsion system. Inclination was 40.3° and maximum altitude 232 km (144 miles).

With Columbia flying “upside-down” with its back facing the Earth, the payload bay doors were opened, exposing a vast interior which was empty for this test flight. TV cameras also showed that some heatshield tiles were missing from the rear of the orbiter and much was made of this in the popular press. They were not critical tiles, but all the same if they were missing, could other more critical tiles on the orbiter’s underside be loose or lost? The crew would find out after their thirty-sixth orbit, when after an almost flawless orbital workout by the jubilant Young and Crippen, the OMS engines initiated the 2 minute 27 second long retro-fire burn.

The Mach 25 re-entry, during which some tiles were exposed to 1,260°C, was accompanied by the usual radio blackout. Then, at Mach 10 and 57.3 km (36 miles), the happy Young reported that all was well. He proceeded to bring Columbia in like an airliner, landing on the dry lake bed runway 23, at Edwards Air Force Base, with main gear touchdown at T + 2 days 6 hours 20 minutes 32 seconds. Routine space flight with airliner-like landings seemed to have begun. Fifty Shuttle flights a year were being predicted.

Milestones

80th manned space flight 32nd US manned space flight 1st Shuttle mission 1st flight of Columbia

1st manned space flight in a reusable spacecraft

1st manned space flight on previously untested spacecraft

1st manned space flight to be boosted by solid propellants

1st flight by crewman on fifth space mission

1st flight to end with conventional runway landing

Flight Crew

POPOV, Leonid Ivanovich, 35, Soviet Air Force, commander, 2nd mission Previous mission: Soyuz 35 (1980)

PRUNARIU, Dumitru Dorin, 28, Romanian Army Air Force, cosmonaut researcher

Flight Log

The final Interkosmos mission involving a cosmonaut researcher from a Soviet bloc country, Soyuz 40, was also the last of this Soyuz model. Crewed by Leonid Popov and Dumitru Prunariu, the mission got under way at 23: 17hrs from Baikonur, followed by the docking with Salyut 6 a day later and greetings from residents Kovalenok and Savinykh. Experiments on board included those to study the Earth’s upper atmosphere and changes in its magnetic field. The mission ended at T + 7 days 20 hours 41 minutes 52 seconds, 224 km (139 miles) southeast of Dzhezkazgan. Maximum altitude during the 51.6° mission was 374 km (232 miles).

When Soyuz T4 returned later, Salyut 6 had received 16 cosmonaut crews and 15 unmanned spacecraft in three-and-a-half years. No fewer than 35 dockings had been made with it and Salyut 6 was occupied for 676 days. Some 13,000 photographs of the Earth had been taken and 1,310 experiments operated a remarkable record.

Milestones

81st manned space flight

49th Soviet manned space flight

42nd Soyuz manned space flight

39th (original) Soyuz manned space flight

Final flight of original Soyuz variant

1st manned space flight by a Romanian

9th and final Interkosmos mission

Prunariu (right) wears the Chibis lower body negative pressure garment aboard Salyut 6, assisted by Popov

Flight Crew

OVERMYER, Robert Franklyn, 48, USMC, commander, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-5 (1982)

GREGORY, Frederick Drew, 44, USAF, pilot LIND, Don Leslie, 54, civilian, mission specialist 1 THAGARD, Norman Earl, 41, civilian, mission specialist 2 THORNTON, William Edgar, 56, civilian, mission specialist 3 WANG, Taylor G., 44, civilian, payload specialist 1 VAN DEN BERG, Lodewijk, 53, civilian, payload specialist 2

Flight Log

Space Shuttle activities were building up to a frenetic pace by April 1985. Discovery was dispatched on mission 51-D, Challenger rolled out to the now vacant Pad 39A for 51-B, and the new orbiter Atlantis arrived at the KSC in preparation for its first mission later that year. It was all looking rather routine stuff, especially when 51-B finally got off the ground – 17 days after 51-D – with a seven-man crew that included three people over 50, as if to emphasise the apparent routine nature of manned space flight. NASA was pushing the system and time was running out. Spacelab 2 featured the Instrument Pointing System and a pallet-only development flight. It was delayed so much due to preparing the IPS that Spacelab 3 flew before it, adding to the confusing Shuttle identification sequence. Research on Spacelab 3, considered to be the first operational mission of the long series, focused on five disciplines: materials science, life sciences, fluid mechanics, atmospheric physics and astronomy. The flight featured 15 primary experiments, of which 14 were considered successful. The crew worked in two shifts: Gold (Gregory, Thagard, Van Den Berg) and Silver (Overmyer, Lind, Thornton, Wang).

Challenger lifted off just 2 minutes 18 seconds later than anticipated, after a liquid oxygen drain back had to be manually commanded, at 12: 02hrs local time.

Apart from an overheating APU which had to be shut down, the launch was smooth and Challenger, in its 57° orbit which would reach a maximum altitude of 308 km (191 miles), was placed into a tail down, nose up gravity gradient attitude, vital for the array of mainly microgravity processing experiments to be operated inside the Space – lab 3 laboratory. The two payload specialists. Lodewijk van den Berg and Taylor Wang, both naturalised American citizens, operated their own crystal growth and fluid physics experiments, the latter only after spending days getting it to work following an electrical fault that almost spoiled years of hard work.

Also on board Challenger – another Shuttle first – were two monkeys and 24 rats, to help with the study of space adaptation syndrome, SAS, under the guidance of doctors Norman Thagard and William Thornton. The performance of the Animal Holding Facility left much to be desired and the astronauts spent a lot of time clearing up floating droppings. Two small research satellites were to be deployed from GAS canisters in the payload bay, but one failed to get away. Science astronaut Don Lind, having waited a record 19 years to get into space, marvelled at the sight of the aurora borealis from space.

The highly esoteric science mission, which went over most people’s heads, was extremely successful and ended with a long rollout on the Edwards Air Force Base desert runway 17, and with the heaviest cargo to return from space – 14,198 kg (31,307 lb) – at T + 7 days 0 hours 8 minutes 46 seconds. Further landings at the KSC had been banned after the 51-D landing incident.

Milestones

105th manned space flight 48th US manned space flight 17th Shuttle flight 7th flight of Challenger

Thornton retains oldest person in space record (56) 2nd Spacelab Long Module mission

Flight Crew

BRANDENSTEIN, Daniel Charles, 46, USN, commander, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS-8 (1983); STS 51-G (1985)

WETHERBEE, James Donald, 37, USN, pilot

DUNBAR, Bonnie Jean, 40, civilian, mission specialist 1, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS 61-A (1985)

IVINS, Marsha Sue, 38, civilian, mission specialist 2 LOW, George David, 33, civilian, mission specialist 3

Flight Log

When the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) was deployed in 1984, the plan was that it would be retrieved the following year. The NASA Space Shuttle manifest got itself into a real pickle under pressure from all directions and had to push the LDEF retrieval mission into September 1986. That would have been flight STS 61-L, commanded by Don Williams, piloted by Mike Smith-who was also assigned to 51-L Challenger – and with mission specialists Bonnie Dunbar, James Bagian and Manley Carter. After the Shuttle programme had recovered from the Challenger accident, the LDEF retrieval mission was assigned to STS-32 with the lone survivor from 61-L, Bonnie Dunbar. The commander of what was going to be one of the more high-profile Shuttle missions was the new chief of the astronauts, Dan Brandenstein.

STS-32 was subject to several delays, partly due to the longer time in getting the orbiter Columbia spaceworthy. Eventually, Columbia was rolled out to Pad 39A just after the launch of STS-33 and would be the first Shuttle to take off from this refurbished pad since STS 61-C in January 1986. It was set for a mammoth ten-day mission, starting on 18 December and taking in a Christmas in space, but problems bringing the new pad on line for launches meant a delay first to 21 December, then for three weeks to 8 January. NASA felt it prudent to give the launch and support teams a full holiday.

As the crew left their quarters on 8 January, they knew they would be coming back the same day because the weather gave them less than a ten per cent chance of taking off. Going through a full countdown to T — 5 minutes, however, provided a good opportunity to give Pad 39A a full workout. The following day, Columbia took off at 07: 35 hrs local time, featuring in one of the most beautiful lift-offs of a Shuttle, making a direct insertion burn to 28.5° orbit. On day two, the Shuttle’s major payload on the upward journey, Syncom IV, or Leasat 5, was deployed, and Columbia sailed on towards its dramatic meeting with the LDEF. There was a serious water leak on the third day, involving the collection of two gallons of water globules.

The complicated LDEF rendezvous was completed on the fourth day, 12 January, when Columbia flew towards, over and down to the facility, with its payload bay

doors opening towards the Earth, waiting to receive. While Brandenstein deftly manoeuvred the Shuttle as it had never been manoeuvred before, Dunbar got ready with the RMS robot arm, which she was operating using a monitor showing scenes from the TV camera at its end. Brandenstein stopped all motion and, as rehearsed hundreds of times, Dunbar made the great space catch. As pilot Jim Wetherbee flew Columbia belly first, the LDEF was manoeuvred into several positions while the other mission specialists, David Low and Marsha Ivins, took close up photographs of every part, just in case the LDEF could not be safely secured in the payload bay and had to be left in space. Following the style of the mission, LDEF was berthed in the payload bay later, after 2,093 days autonomous flying in space, pitted, torn and worn. Columbia continued on its winning way, with the crew busying themselves with an array of science experiments, a range of medical experiments under the Extended-Duration Orbiter Medical Programme (EDOMP) and Dunbar getting the news that her husband (Ronald Sega) had been selected for astronaut training.

The landing on the ninth mission day was called off by a failure of one of the suite of five computers on board, and as a result, Columbia returned to Edwards Air Force Base on runway 22 at night, and after a Shuttle-record mission lasting 10 days 21 hours 0 minutes 36 seconds – the longest five-crew space flight, and with the heaviest landing weight of 103,572 kg (228,376 lb). STS-32 was probably the most complicated space flying mission and certainly the most successful and rewarding, as scientists pored over the LDEF to see how its time in space had affected its array of different materials.

Milestones

130th manned space flight 63rd US manned space flight 33rd Shuttle mission 9th flight of Columbia

Brandenstein celebrates his 47th birthday in space (17 Jan)

Flight Crew

SOLOVYOV, Anatoly Yakovlovich, 42, Soviet Air Force, commander, 2nd mission

Previous mission: Soyuz TM5 (1988)

BALANDIN, Aleksandr Nikolayevich, 36, civilian, flight engineer

Flight Log

What was planned as a now-standard five month residency aboard the Mir complex began at 07: 16 hrs local time at Baikonur on 11 February, when Soyuz TM9 lifted off, watched by US astronaut guests Dan Brandenstein, Paul Weitz, Ron Grabe and Jerry Ross. Docking was completed two days later and, yet again, was a manual affair, with the automatic approach malfunctioning at the last moment. The TM9 cosmo­nauts, Anatoly Solovyov and Aleksandr Balandin, joined Aleksandrs Viktorenko and Serebrov for the traditional handover period. The TM9 residency began officially on 19 February and was due to last until 30 July, following the 22 July launch of Soyuz TM10.

The TM9 crew were expected to receive the second large add-on module, Kristall, in April and begin an intensive programme of materials processing, so that they could return to Earth with 100 kg (221 lb) of space products to make a profit of 25 million roubles from the 80 million rouble space flight. Thus, the space flight could be seen as actually contributing to the economy and not as wasteful and extravagant as it was regarded by much of the Soviet public.

As Soyuz TM9 approached Mir, TV pictures, seen on the national news, revealed that the thermal insulation blankets around the flight cabin had become unclipped. The Soviets routinely announced that at some time during the mission the crew would have to make an unscheduled spacewalk to clip them back on. No fuss was made of the event. After settling into the routine of life aboard Mir, TM8 cosmonauts Viktorenko and Serebrov left them to it, and the routine continued with the docking of the Progress M3 supply ship on 3 March.

The mission proceeded very quietly, but the scheduled launch date for Kristall passed before the Soviets announced that the new module had been delayed yet again, this time until June. The crew which had trained especially to operate Kristall would only have about two months to do so, rather than the planned four months. Progress 42, the last of the original spacecraft first launched in 1978, docked to Mir on 8 May and later in the month, the most bizarre case of inaccurate and distorted media hype of the space age occurred when Aviation Week magazine “discovered” the already three – month-old story of the unclipped insulation, leading the western press to print stories of the cosmonauts being stranded in space. If there had been any danger, the Soviets would have launched an unmanned replacement ferry immediately, rather like they did with Soyuz 34 which replaced Soyuz 32 during the Salyut 6 mission of 1979. The delayed Kristall was at last launched on 31 May but at first failed to dock when a computer fouled up during the final approach. It finally moored at Mir on 10 June.

Because of the delay to the launch of Kristall, the Soviets decided to extend the TM9 mission from 29 July to 9 August and to delay the launch of the replacement TM10 from 22 July to 1 August. On 1 July, Solovyov and Balandin made a 7 hour EVA to clip back the loose insulation on their TM9 ferry. They used the Kvant 2 airlock and while exiting, opened the outer hatch before the airlock had fully de­pressurised. It flew open with such a force that it almost came off its hinges. Not surprisingly, after their tortuous record-breaking EVA, scrambling over the Soyuz and successfully re-clipping only two of the three insulation panels, the cosmonauts couldn’t close the hatch properly and were forced to depressurise the rest of Kvant to gain entry to Mir. Another spacewalk, lasting three hours on 26 July, closed the hatch but did not completely seal it.

It would be left for the TM10 crew to do the necessary repairs. Its cosmonauts, the “two Gennadys”, Manakov and Strekalov, arrived on Mir on 3 August, and on 9 August as advertised, Solovyov and Balandin routinely ended their mission, making a mockery of the media hype the previous June. The mission lasted 179 days 2 hours 19 minutes.

Milestones

131st manned space flight

68th Soviet manned space flight

61st Soyuz manned mission

8th Soyuz TM manned mission

16th Soviet and 39th flight with EVA operations

Baladin celebrates his 37th birthday in space (30 Jul)

STS-45 Posted by admin in Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006 on November 2, 2015

. SOYUZ TM18 Posted by admin in Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006 on November 2, 2015 Flight Crew AFANASYEV, Viktor Mikhailovich, 45, Russian Air Force, 2nd mission Previous mission: Soyuz TM11/Mir EO-8 (1990) USACHEV, Yuri Vladimirovich, 36, civilian NPO Energiya, flight engineer POLYAKOV, Valery Vladimirovich, 51, civilian, cosmonaut researcher, 2nd mission Previous mission: Soyuz TM6/Mir EO-3/4 (1988) Flight Log The launch of TM18 had been delayed due to the unavailability of the more powerful Soyuz U launch vehicle to lift the three-man crew. The flight of Polyakov was a logical step in the Russian quest for long-duration space flight experience and medical data. When Polyakov devised the programme for a second space flight, he aimed for an 18-month duration, but delays forced him to curtail the duration to 14 months, as he could not remain aboard Mir when the first NASA astronaut arrived on the station, which at the time was planned for early 1995. Though he carried out his own research programme, Polyakov still participated in other tasks, working with three different resident crews until his return in March 1995. One of the first tasks on this mission was to relocate the Soyuz TM18 ferry from the aft port to the front port of the base block, which occurred on 24 January. During the short flight, the crew flew past the Kristall module and reported only minor scratches on its hull from where TM17 had struck it. Work for this resident crew was again limited by plans for the upcoming American docking missions, particularly the integration of Soyuz and Progress launches and amendments to subsequent Record-breaker Polyakov (left) with the rest of the Soyuz TM18 crew, Afanasyev (centre) and Usachev resident crews to accommodate the joint programme with the Americans. At the time of Afanasyev and Usachev’s flight, this national and international coordination was difficult to implement, mainly due to the lack of funds, and soon the launch of the next resident crew had slipped from April to July. However, the EO-15 crew continued their research along the lines of previous resident crews, but also conducted medical and technical experiments sponsored by German institutes. Polyakov had also sup­plemented the science payload with smaller items brought up in his personal baggage on TM18. In February, Sergei Krikalev was launched on the American Shuttle mission STS – 60, the first time that cosmonauts had been in space at the same time on different missions in spacecraft belonging to different nations. The following month, Progress M22 was also delayed for three days from 19 March when heavy snowfall at the launch site resulted in snow drifts covering the rail network to a depth of up to seven metres, making it impossible to move the spacecraft and its booster from the assembly building to the launch pad. At the end of March, the cosmonauts on Mir participated in an experiment with a Swedish satellite called Freja, designed to study space plasma and magnetosphere physics in Earth’s magnetosphere and ionosphere. Launched in 1992 by the Chinese, Freja was located 1,770 km above the Alaskan coast when the crew of Mir, situated 383 km above the Pacific south of Alaska, fired an electron beam gun at it. At the time of the experiment, a Canadian ground station monitored the operation. Despite its scientific aim of determining how charged particle beams were scattered in the atmosphere, the media still reported the experiment as a test of Russian “Star Wars” weapons. The difficulties that the post-Soviet Russia was undergoing were brought home to the cosmonauts aboard Mir in May, during unloading of the Progress M23 re-supply craft. They found that some of the food containers intended for the orbiting crew had been tampered with by ground staff, and items that should have been there were missing. Milestones 166th manned space flight 77th Russian manned space flight 18th manned Mir mission 15th Mir resident crew 70th manned Soyuz mission 17th manned Soyuz TM mission 1st Mir resident mission without scheduled EVAs Polyakov sets world endurance record for one flight of 437 days 17hrs, and a career record of 678 days 16hrs on two flights Polyakov celebrates his 52nd birthday in space (27 Apr) . SOYUZ TM23 Posted by admin in Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006 on November 2, 2015 Flight Crew ONUFRIYENKO, Yuri Ivanovich, 35, Russian Air Force, commander USACHEV, Yuri Vladimirovich, 38, civilian, flight engineer, 2nd mission Previous mission: Soyuz TM18 (1994) Flight Log After taking over from the EO-20 crew, the next resident crew for Mir had a busy programme of activities planned for their mission. They were to perform six EVAs, support the arrival of the final Mir science module (Priroda), and work with the second American to live on Mir, Shannon Lucid. In addition there was a change of cosmonauts in the subsequent resident crew and an extension both to Lucid’s mission and to the cosmonauts’ own stay on Mir. The “two Yuris’’, as the press called them, were expecting to conduct a four-and – a-half month residency, but by July, continued problems over the construction of Soyuz rockets at the Samara factory meant that the next mission would have to slip and the cosmonauts were told they would have to fly a six-month mission. Their first EVA (15 May, 5 hours 52 minutes) featured the installation of a second Strela boom to allow easier movement to the repositioned Kristall module. Other EVAs would be performed after the arrival of STS-76 and the transfer of Shannon Lucid to the station. Shannon Lucid had arrived at Mir on 24 March for what was planned as a 140-day mission but, again in July, following technical problems with the Shuttle SRBs and the decision to replace those assigned to STS-79 (the mission that would bring her home), her own residency was extended, eventually reaching 188 days, and setting a new US endurance record both for a single mission and for a career total. During the other EVAs conducted by the two Russian cosmonauts, Lucid would remain inside the station, monitoring the activities of her two colleagues. “The two Yuris”, Usachev (left) and Onufriyenko with the second US resident astronaut Shannon Lucid The science module Priroda arrived on 26 April, and the following day was transferred to the left radial (+Z) port, completing the Mir complex. The module contained an array of remote-sensing instruments for ecological and environmental investigations. It also included over 700 kg of NASA equipment and experiments for the American resident crew members to use during their science programmes. Part of the task of the EO-21 resident crew was to begin changing the inside of the new module from its launch configuration to allow it to be used on orbit over the next few years. The two Yuri’s conducted their other five EVAs from mid-May to mid-June (21 May for 5 hours 20 minutes; 24 May for 5 hours 43 minutes; 30 May for 4 hours 20 minutes; 6 Jun for 3 hours 34 minutes; and 14 Jun for 5 hours 42 minutes). Their activities included the installation of the Mir Cooperative Solar Array, the installation of a multi-spectral scanner, retrieval and installation of sample cassettes, the assembly of the Stombus (Ferma-3) 5.9-metre truss, and the deployment of a Symmetric Aper­ture Radar antenna. They also constructed (over two of the EVAs) a 1.2-m replica Pepsi can from aluminium struts and decorated nylon sheets. They filmed each other near the replica and then disassembled it for return to Earth. The video footage was to be used in a PepsiCo commercial campaign. Towards the end of their mission, the two cosmonauts handed over to the 22nd resident crew, who had arrived on 19 August. Also arriving with the new crew was French cosmonaut Claudie Andre-Deshays, who would return to Earth with the EO-21 cosmonauts two weeks later. For a while, six cosmonauts were on board the station, and Usachev noted the increase in noise levels aboard the station, though it still seemed roomy enough for now. Milestones 186th manned space flight 82nd Russian manned space flight 75th manned Soyuz mission 22nd manned Soyuz TM mission 28th Russian and 61st flight with EVA operations 21st Mir resident crew Flight Crew ALLEN, Andrew Michael, 40, USMC, commander, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS-46 (1992); STS-62 (1994) HOROWITZ, Scott Jay, USAF, pilot HOFFMAN, Jeffrey Alan, civilian, mission specialist 1, 5th mission Previous missions: STS 51-D (1985); STS-35 (1990); STS-46 (1992); STS-61 (1993) CHELI, Maurizio, Italian Air Force, ESA mission specialist 2 NICOLLIER, Claude, Swiss Air Force, ESA, mission specialist 3, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS-46 (1992); STS-61 (1993) CHANG-DIAZ, Franklin Ramon, 45, civilian, mission specialist 4, payload commander, 4th mission Previous missions: STS 61-C (1986); STS-34 (1989); STS-46 (1992) GUIDONI, Umberto, 41, civilian, Italian payload specialist 1 Flight Log This mission was the re-flight of the US/Italian Tethered Satellite System that was previously flown on STS-46 in 1992. The crew worked a two-shift system. Allen, Horowitz, Cheli and Guidoni worked the Red Shift while Hoffman, Nicollier and Chang-Diaz formed the Blue Shift. Allen and Hoffman were also designated the White Shift, allowing them to work between shifts as necessary. The deployment of TSS-1R was delayed on STS-75 for 24 hours so that the flight crew could troubleshoot problems with the system’s computers. On FD 3, the tether was extended almost to its maximum 20.5 km length and the satellite was sending back excellent data when the tether suddenly snapped (at 19.7 km) without prior warning. Orbital parameters at the time meant that the satellite separated from Columbia and the crew were placed in no danger. The day after the loss of the satellite, the remaining tether was reeled in and The frayed end of the TSS is seen at the end of the support boom. The TSS broke free during operations on 25 February (FD 3) just short of its 20.5-km full deployment range the deployer retracted. Tether Optical Phenomenon operations continued through to FD 14 and there was some consideration given to a rendezvous and possible retrieval of the free-flying satellite. However, there was insufficient propellant aboard and projections precluded any detailed plans for an attempt from being pursued. Despite this loss, the satellite had recorded useful data for five hours up to the point of separation. Analysis of the data revealed that voltages as high as 3,500 volts developed across the tether, and this achieved current levels of 480 milliamps. In addition, scientists received important data on how satellite thruster gas interacted with Earth’s ionosphere, measurements of ionised shock waves around a satellite for the first time, and data on plasma wakes created by the movement of a body through the electrically charged ionosphere. Some experiments were also conducted using the free-flying satellite and its attached tether prior to its re-entry and destruction in the upper atmosphere. Despite the loss, the data gathered during the TSS-1R operation resulted in a number of space physics and plasma theories being revised or overturned. The other major payload of this mission was the USMP-3 package, which included re-flights of US and international experiments. Most of the operation of USMP experiments was via telescience, with principle investigators located at the Marshall Space Flight Center Spacelab Mission Operations Control Center in Huntsville, Alabama. There were five major experiments in materials science and a glove box on the mid-deck was used to perform a series of combustion experiments to better understand combustion processes and improve fire safety for the ISS. Protein crystal growth experiments included processing nine proteins extracted from the tropical rain forests of Costa Rica into crystals to further the understanding of their molecular structures. This was a joint US, Costa Rican and Chilean experiment, with application for the pharmaceutical treatment of Chagas Disease, an incurable ailment that affects over 15 million people in Latin America. The landing of Columbia on 9 March occurred after a 24-hour waive-off due to unfavourable weather con­ditions. The first attempt on 9 March was also abandoned due to bad weather, but it cleared to allow a landing at the Cape at the second opportunity. On FD 7, Hoffman surpassed Kathy Thornton’s Shuttle space flight record of 978 hours 18 minutes, and by the end of the mission both he and Chang-Diaz had achieved over 1,000 hours cumulative flight time aboard the Shuttle. In June 1996, a joint NASA and ASI (the Italian Space Agency) investigation board report was released, which determined that the tether failed as a result of “arcing and burning of the tether, which led to a tensile failure after a significant portion of the tether had burned away.’’ The board concluded that external penetra­tion (but not space debris or micrometeoroids) or a defect in the tether caused a breach in the layer of insulation surrounding the conductor. This would have allowed a current to jump or arc from the copper wire in the tether to a nearby electrical ground. By examining the data and the frayed end of the tether, the board concluded that there was nothing to preclude any follow-on mission, after sufficient improvements had been made to ensure that the problem would not recur. The data received from the abbreviated experiments indicated that, on the whole, the major objectives had been met, the programme was mostly successful, and it was viable for future development. Milestones 187th manned space flight 105th US manned space flight 75th Shuttle mission 19th flight of Columbia 2nd flight of TSS 7th EDO mission STS-88 Posted by admin in Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006 on November 2, 2015 Int. Designation 1998-069A Launched 4 December 1998 Launch Site Pad 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida Landed 15 December 1998 Landing Site Runway 15, Shuttle Landing Facility, KSC, Florida Launch Vehicle OV-105 Endeavour/ET-097/SRB BI-095; SSME #1 2043; #2 2044; #3 2045 Duration 11 days 19hrs 17 min 57 sec Call sign Endeavour Objective ISS assembly flight 2A; mating of Unity docking node to Zarya control module Flight Crew CABANA, Robert Donald, 49, USMC, commander, 4th mission Previous missions: STS-41 (1990); STS-53 (1992); STS-65 (1994) STURCKOW, Frederick Wilford, 37, USMC, pilot ROSS, Jerry Lynn, 50, USAF, mission specialist 1, 6th mission Previous missions: STS 61-C (1985); STS-27 (1988); STS-37 (1997); STS-55 (1993); STS-74 (1995) CURRIE, Nancy Jane, 39, US Army, mission specialist 2, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS-57 (1993); STS-70 (1995) NEWMAN, James Hanson, 42, civilian, mission specialist 3, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS-51 (1993); STS-69 (1995) KRIKALEV, Sergei Konstantinovich, 40, civilian, Russian, mission specialist 5, 4th mission Previous missions: Soyuz TM7 (1988); Soyuz TM12 (1991); STS-60 (1994) Flight Log This mission initiated the construction of the International Space Station (ISS), a project which had long been proposed but which so often looked as though it would never become reality. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan had challenged NASA to build a space station within a decade. An international team assembled to accomplish the feat, but an over-complicated and expensive design, coupled with the loss of Challenger and doubts over the reliability of the Shuttle had added years to the project. By 1993, the idea was still only on the drawing board and in mock-ups. After several redesigns, a new partnership with Russia helped put the programme back on track. The series of Shuttle-Mir dockings proved that the Shuttle was perfectly capable of doing what it was originally envisioned for back in 1969 – servicing and supplying a space station. A simplified station design helped focus Shortly after release from Endeavour’s cargo bay, the connected Unity and Zarya modules are photographed during a fly-around survey, documenting the completion of a major milestone in the ISS programme with the connection of the first two elements in orbit the ISS project to the point where the first element of the station was launched on 20 November 1998. This was not an American element, however, but the Russian FGB Zarya (“Dawn”), designed to provide electrical power, attitude control and computer command and later serve as a fuel depot and storage facility. The next element of the station would be the link between the US and the Russian elements. Known as Node 1 (“Unity”), it featured six docking ports that would enable the facility to be further expanded. Unity was the primary payload of STS-88, the first American ISS Shuttle mission, which would use the RMS to attach the module to the forward docking port of Zarya. The launch of STS-88 was postponed by 24 hours on 3 December due to problems with hydraulic system number 1. By the time the problem was cleared, it was too late in the launch process to initiate the final countdown, so the first American element had to wait until the following day to lift off without further incident. During the approach to Zarya, the crew used their time to prepare Unity by testing the RMS. On 5 December, they attached the end effector to the node, lifting it out of the rear of the payload bay and relocating it in the front of the payload bay along with the Shuttle docking system. This would later allow the crew access through internal hatches from the crew compartment of Endeavour into Unity and on into Zarya. The attachment of Unity to Zarya occurred on 6 December, using the RMS to grasp a grapple feature on Zarya and using the Shuttle’s engines to gently nudge the Unity docking system on to that of Zarya. The embryonic ISS configuration was created. After powering up Unity and checking the integrity of the docking seals and internal atmospheres, the hatches were opened, allowing Cabana and Krikalev to symbolically float into ISS together for the first time. During the three EVAs (7 Dec for 7 hours 21 minutes; 9 Dec for 7 hours 2 minutes; and 12 Dec for 6 hours 59 minutes), Ross (EV1) and Newman (EV2) removed launch restraint pins on the four hatches on Unity that would be used in future operations, nudged two stuck antennas on Zarya into position, installed sunshades over Unity’s data relay boxes, disconnected the umbilicals that were used to mate the units, and installed a handrail, a tool bag and an S-Band communication system. They also tested the SAFER units. Inside Zarya, Krikalev and Currie replaced a faulty unit, inspected the inside of the module and removed some launch bolts and restraints. The undocking from ISS took place on 13 December. After a fly-around photographic inspection, the crew prepared for landing, having completed one of the most important and critical Shuttle flights. One of the largest international construction projects in history – and certainly the largest off the Earth – had begun. The STS crew called themselves “Dog Crew 3’’, since two of them had flown on previous “Dog Crews’’. Thus, the crew were known as “Mighty Dog’’ (Cabana), “Devil Dog’’ (Sturckow), “Hooch” (Ross), “Laika” (Currie), “Pluto’’ (Newman) and “Spotnik” (Krikalev). Milestones 210th manned space flight 123rd US manned space flight 93rd Shuttle mission 41st US and 72nd flight with EVA operations 13th flight of Endeavour 1st Shuttle ISS mission 1st Endeavour ISS mission STS-109 Posted by admin in Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006 on November 2, 2015 Int. Designation 2002-010A Launched 1 March 2002 Launch Site Pad 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida Landed 12 March 2002 Landing Site Runway 33, Shuttle Landing Facility, KSC, Florida Launch Vehicle OV-102 Columbia/ET-112/SRB BI-111/SSME #1 2056; #2 2053; #3 2047 Duration 10 days 22 hrs 11 min 9 sec Call sign Columbia Objective 4th Hubble Service Mission (HST SM 3B) Flight Crew ALTMAN, Scott Douglas, 42, USN, commander, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS-90 (1998); STS-106 (2000) CAREY, Duane Gene, 44, USAF, pilot GRUNSFELD, John Mace, 43, civilian, mission specialist 1, payload commander, 4th mission Previous missions: STS-67 (1995); STS-81 (1997); STS-103 (1999) CURRIE, Nancy Jane, 43, US Army, mission specialist 2, 4th mission Previous missions: STS-57 (1993); STS-70 (1995); STS-88 (1998) LINNEHAN, Richard Michael, 44, civilian, mission specialist 3, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS-78 (1996); STS-90 (1998) NEWMAN, James Hansen, 45, civilian, mission specialist 4, 4th mission Previous missions: STS-51 (1993); STS-69 (1995); STS-88 (1998) MASSIMINO, Michael James, 39, civilian, mission specialist 5 Flight Log The scheduled launch on 28 February was postponed 24 hours before tanking operations commenced when adverse weather conditions threatened launch criteria. Waiting 24 hours also gave the launch team the option of back-to-back launch opportunities, but they did not need them as launch occurred without delay on 1 March. Following the launch, controllers noted a degradation of the flow rate in one of two freon coolant loops which help dissipate heat from the orbiter. After a management review, the mission was given a “go” for its full duration. The problem had no impact on the crew’s activities and the vehicle de-orbited nominally. Hubble was grappled and secured in the payload bay by the RMS on 2 March (FD 2). A series of five EVAs were completed by the crew, working in pairs. Grunsfeld (EV1) and Linnehan (EV2) completed EVAs 1, 3 and 5, while Newman (EV3) and Massimino (EV4) completed EVAs 2 and 4. When not performing an EVA, the resting John Grunsfeld (right) and Richard Linnehan signal the close of the fifth and final EVA at Hubble. One more service mission is planned for the telescope in 2008   team also acted as IV crew for those who were outside, and serviced, cleaned and prepared their own equipment ready for their next excursion. Each EVA was supported by Nancy Currie operating the RMS, with Altman and Carey photo – documenting the activities. During the first EVA (4 Mar for 7 hours 1 minute), the astronauts removed the older starboard solar array from the telescope (attached during STS-61 in December 1993) and installed a new third-generation array. The old (retracted) array was then stowed in Columbia’s payload bay for return to Earth for analysis of its condition after nine years in space. During EVA 2 (5 Mar for 7 hours 16 minutes), the new port array was installed, together with a new Reaction Wheel Assembly after the removal of the older array. The astronauts also installed thermal blankets on Bay 6, door stop extensions on Bay 5 and foot restraints to assist with the next EVA. EVA 2 also included a test of bolts located on the aft shroud doors. The lower two bolts were found to need replacing, which they accomplished successfully. EVA 3 (6 Mar for 6 hours 48 minutes) was delayed by a fault in Grunsfeld’s suit, but after changing the HUT, they continued with the EVA programme. This included replacing the Power Control Unit (PCU) with a new unit capable of handling 20 per cent of power output generated from the new arrays. The extracted PCU was the original launched on the telescope in 1990, and this operation required the telescope to be powered down. This was the first time since its launch that Hubble had been turned off. The astronauts removed all 36 connectors to the old PCU and stowed it in the payload bay before attaching the new unit within 90 minutes. One hour later, the new unit passed its tests and Hubble came back to life. EVA 4 (7 Mar for 7 hours 18 minutes) completed the first science instrument upgrade of the mission by removing the last original instrument on the telescope, the Faint Object Camera, and installing the Advanced Camera for Surveys. They also installed the first element of an environmental cooling system, called the Electronics Support Module (ESM). The rest of the system would be installed the following day. The final EVA (8 Mar for 7 hours 32 minutes) saw the installation of the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) in the aft shroud and the connection of cables to the ESM. They also installed the Cooling System Radiator on the outside of Hubble and fed radiator wires through the bottom of the telescope to connections on NICMOS. Hubble was released by the RMS on 9 March (FD 9) and the next day was a rest day for the astronauts. During the day, they took the opportunity to speak with the ISS-4 crew (Yuri Onufriyenko, Carl Walz and Dan Bursch). FD 11 saw a full systems check before landing at the first opportunity at the Cape on FD 12, rounding out a highly successful mission. At this time, there was a further Hubble service mission on the manifest (HST SM #4) in 2004 or 2005, with a close-out mission in 2010. The options of either bringing the telescope back to Earth for eventual display in a museum or leaving it in orbit, boosted to a higher apogee to reduce atmospheric drag, were still being considered when Columbia was lost in February 2003. It looked as though Hubble was likely be abandoned when its systems eventually failed, but there was also growing support both inside and outside of NASA to devote one Shuttle mission to revisit the telescope before the Shuttle fleet is retired in 2010. In October 2006, a return to Hubble was authorised for 2008 due to public and scientific demand for keeping the telescope working for as long as possible. Milestones 230th manned space flight 138th US manned space flight 108th Shuttle mission 27th flight of Columbia 52nd US and 85th flight with EVA operations 4th Hubble service mission (3B) EVA duration record for single Shuttle mission (35hrs 55 min) « Previous 1 … 9 10 11 12 13 … 20 Next » Tweet Copyright © 2024 Aviation – airports, aircraft, helicopters … - Everything about aviation. Aviation News from around the world. Commercial and General Aviation, airports, airplanes, helicopters and other aircraft.