Category Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006

Flight Crew

CRIPPEN, Robert Laurel, 47, USN, commander, 4th mission Previous missions: STS-1 (1981); STS-7 (1983); STS 41-C (1984) MCBRIDE, Jon Andrew, 41, USN, pilot

RIDE, Sally Kristen, 33, civilian, mission specialist 1, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-7 (1983)

SULLIVAN, Kathryn Dwyer, 32, civilian, mission specialist 2 LEESTMA, David Cornell, 35, USN, mission specialist 3 SCULLY-POWER, Paul Desmond, 40, USN, payload specialist 1 GARNEAU, Marc, 35, Canadian Navy, payload specialist 2

Flight Log

Bob Crippen, the first astronaut to fly four Shuttle missions, was specially selected to command this mission to evaluate the effectiveness of flying two missions close together (he had commanded STS 41-C six months before). The main reason was to determine the feasibility of recycling complete Shuttle flight crews to minimise training time and free up limited simulators and resources as Shuttle flight rates increased. Delayed from 1 October, the launch at 07: 03 hrs on 4 October was early enough to create spectacular colour schemes as Challenger punched a hole in the cloud-filled sky as it headed for its 57° orbit and a maximum altitude of 304 km (189 miles). The scientific mission was almost thrown into disarray immediately when the satellite part of the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment project, ERBE, misbehaved prior to deployment. Computer software errors and the failure of the satellite’s solar panels combined to foil the mission specialists, until Ride got hold of ERBE with the RMS robot arm and shook it. The panel unfolded and the satellite was deployed to begin its work.

Then a Shuttle Imaging Radar, SIR-B, antenna panel failed to deploy and Chal­lenger’s Ku-band antenna failed to lock into position, making it impossible to send SIR data real-time. The crew performed some electronic troubleshooting, locking the antenna into one position, enabling about 40 per cent of SIR data to be relayed in real­time. These images were of such clarity that many were impounded temporarily by the Department of Defense. During their 3 hour 27 minute EVA on 11 October, Leestma (EV1) and Sullivan (EV2) practised an in-orbit refuelling technique, preparing the transfer of highly dangerous hydrazine propellant between two containers before entering the orbiter to monitor events from relative safety.

The first Canadian in space, Marc Garneau, operated a suite of ten experiments, labelled CANEX (Canadian Experiments), that focused on space technology, Earth and space sciences. Australian born, and US naturalized oceanographer Paul Scully – Power was flying for the US Navy to conduct real-time observations of ocean phenomena from space.

After a re-entry over the east coast of the USA for the first time, Challenger made a 384 kph (239 mph) landing at runway 33 North at the Kennedy Space Center, with main gear touchdown at 8 days 5 hours 23 minutes 33 seconds, and a 3,220 m (10,564 ft) 59-second rollout. After the mission, the longest by seven crew, it was found that Challenger could have met with disaster during re-entry. Over 4,000 heatshield tiles were found to be loose, their adhesive weakened by a new injection waterproofing technique.

Milestones

101st manned space flight

44th US manned space flight

13th Shuttle mission

6th flight of Challenger

1st flight with seven crew members

1st manned space flight by a Canadian

1st flight with two female crew members

1st US male-female EVA

19th US and 28th flight with EVA operations

Flight Crew

WALKER, David Mathieson, 44, USN, commander, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS 51-A (1984)

GRABE, Ronald John, 43, USAF, pilot, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS 51-J (1985)

LEE, Mark Charles, 36, USAF, mission specialist 1

THAGARD, Norman Earl, 45, civilian, mission specialist 2, 3rd mission

Previous missions: STS-7 (1983); STS 51-B (1985)

CLEAVE, Mary Louise, 42, civilian, mission specialist 3, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS 61-B (1985)

Flight Log

The radar mapping satellite, Magellan, destined to explore the planet Venus, had been scheduled for a Shuttle launch on STS-72 on 6 April 1988, atop a Centaur-G Prime liquid-fuelled upper stage. The Challenger disaster intervened and not only delayed the mission but also meant that, for new safety reasons, the Centaur would not be carried on Shuttle. With a replacement upper stage, the less powerful IUS, Magellan was scheduled for launch between 28 April and 23 May, preferably as early as possible, but still would not reach Venus for over 16 months.

Assigned to STS-30 Atlantis, Magellan got to within 31 seconds of launching on the first launch day window, but a fault in one of the SSME fuel recirculation pumps stopped the count. Another problem was discovered later and a leaking fuel pump had to be replaced. A new launch date of 4 May was set, but Atlantis only got away with 5 minutes of the 64 minute window remaining, at 14:47hrs local time and following a hold at T — 5 minutes until the only cloud in the area – sitting over the KSC runway that would have been used for an RTLS abort – cleared and crosswinds died down.

The Shuttle performed the first ascent of its type, called an inertially targeted profile, to place Atlantis at exactly the right point for Magellan’s deployment. This did, however, result in an initial orbit of just 6.4 by 136 km (85 miles) before two OMS burns. The deployment occurred flawlessly at T + 6 hours 18 minutes, only after much in-orbit checking. Magellan’s solar panels deployed and the IUS stages fired, placing it en route. STS-30, in 28.85° orbit with a maximum altitude of 283 km (176 miles), got down to a routine job of experiments, tests and rest. But the routine was broken when the third general purpose computer on board failed and had to be replaced by

the crew – a first for the Shuttle. Once Magellan had been deployed, the crew occupied themselves with a range of mid-deck experiments.

Atlantis was aiming to make a crosswinds landing at Edwards Air Force Base at the end of its mission and such were the conditions there that it was only when the orbiter was at Mach 15 that the final choice of runway, the hard No.22, was made. Mission time was T + 4 days 0 hours 57 minutes 9 seconds.

For Magellan, the interplanetary cruise lasted from 4 May 1989 to 10 August 1990, when it entered orbit around the shrouded planet. The first mapping cycle was completed between 15 September 1990 and 15 September 1991. In an orbit with a period of 3.25 hours and an inclination of 86°, the radar mapped the surface for 37.2 minutes per orbit. In total 98 per cent of the surface of Venus was radar-mapped by Magellan, and 95 per cent of the gravity data from the planet recorded. Magellan’s extended mission lasted between 15 September and 11 October 1994. Split into cycles, the extended mission focused on: (Cycle 2) Imaging the south pole region and gaps from cycle 1; (Cycle 3) filling remaining gaps and collecting stereo imagery; (Cycle 4) measuring Venus’ gravitational field; (Cycle 5) aerobraking to circularise the orbit and global gravity measurements; (Cycle 6) collecting high-resolution gravity data, con­ducting radio science experiments and a windmill experiment to observe the behaviour of molecules in the upper atmosphere. Experiment data collection was completed on 11 October 1995. Magellan was programmed to complete a destructive entry into the Venusian atmosphere on 12 October 1994, ending a highly successful mission and closing the flight operations chapter on STS-30, over five years after the launch from Kennedy Space Center.

Milestones

125th manned space flight 59th US manned space flight

1st deployment of planetary spacecraft on manned space flight 29th Shuttle flight 4th flight of Atlantis

1st Shuttle planetary deployment mission

Flight Crew

WILCUTT, Terrence Wade, 48, USAF, commander, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS-68 (1994); STS-79 (1996)

EDWARDS Jr., Joe Frank, 39, USN, pilot

REILLY II, James Francis, 43, civilian, mission specialist 1

ANDERSON, Michael Phillip, 38, USAF, mission specialist 2

DUNBAR, Bonnie Jean, 48, civilian, mission specialist 3, payload commander,

5th mission

Previous missions: STS 61-A (1985); STS-32 (1990); STS-50 (1992); STS-71 (1995)

SHARIPOV, Salizhan Shakirovich, Russian Air Force, mission specialist 4 NASA 7 Mir resident crew member up only:

THOMAS, Andrew Sydney Withiel, 46, civilian, mission specialist 5, Mir EO-25 cosmonaut researcher, NASA board engineer 7, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-77 (1996)

NASA 6 Mir resident crew member down only:

WOLF, David Alan, 41, civilian, NASA mission specialist 5, Mir EO-24 cosmonaut researcher, NASA board engineer 6, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-58 (1993)

Flight Log

Dave Wolf’s 119-day residency aboard Mir during his 128-day mission attracted much less attention in the media than the tours of either Linenger or Foale. Wolf was

able to perform more science on board the station and his programme involved six areas of research – advanced technology, Earth science, fundamental biology, human life sciences, microgravity research and risk mitigation of ISS issues. In all there were 35 scientific studies and technology demonstrations comprising the NASA 6 science programme, some of which were continuations of experiments conducted by previous resident NASA astronauts. Wolf also completed a 6 hour 38 minute EVA on 14 January with veteran spacewalker Anatoly Solovyov.

Endeavour was chosen to fly the STS-89 mission instead of Discovery. Because of a schedule of work that needed to be completed on Mir, the Russians requested a postponement of the mission launch. It was initially moved from 15 January to 20 January and finally to 22 January. The docking with Mir occurred on 24 January and the exchange of American resident crew members was made the next day. For a while, it looked like Thomas might not be able to remain aboard Mir. Thomas’s Sokol pressure suit for use in the Soyuz would not fit properly and the crew exchange was allowed only after Wolf adjusted his suit to fit Thomas, as Wolf no longer needed it for his return on the Shuttle. Later, Thomas was able to make suitable adjustments to his own suit.

During the four days of joint operations, a total of 3,629 kg of scientific equip­ment, logistics and other hardware was transferred to Mir. Included in this transfer was over 730 kg of water. During the docked operations Bonnie Dunbar, on her

second visit to Mir and who could have conducted the second residence mission after Norman Thagard had the schedule been worked out early enough, acknowledged the upcoming 25th anniversary of the launch of Skylab, America’s only national space station to reach orbit. With ISS on the horizon, the Skylab programme, together with Mir and Salyut, had helped to develop techniques and procedures for endurance space flights which were still being referred to in preparation for the new station. Interest­ingly, Dunbar had been a flight controller during the de-orbiting of Skylab in 1979. Sharipov had only six months training for his Shuttle flight and had relatively few crew responsibilities during the mission. His primary responsibility was in Russian language liaison and in the transfer of logistics across to Mir. STS-89 undocked on 28 January and three days later, Soyuz TM25 docked at Mir to deliver a new resident crew, just hours before Endeavour touched down in Florida.

Milestones

204th manned space flight

119th US manned space flight

89th Shuttle mission

12th flight of Endeavour

8th Shuttle-Mir docking mission

40th US and 69th flight with EVA operations

10th SpaceHab mission (5th double module)

1st and only Endeavour-Mir docking

Flight Crew

CULBERTSON Jr., Frank Lee, 52, civilian, US ISS-3 commander, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS-38 (1990); STS-51 (1993)

DEZHUROV, Vladimir Nikolayevich, 39, Russian Air Force, ISS-3 Soyuz

commander, 2nd mission

Previous mission: Soyuz TM21 (1995)

TYURIN, Mikhail Vladislavovich, 41, civilian, Russian ISS-3 flight engineer

Flight Log

The third resident crew, under the command of American astronaut Frank Culbertson, arrived at the station aboard STS-105 on 12 August for a four-month stay. During their residency, having assumed official command of the station on 17 August, the crew received two Progress re-supply vehicles, the Russian EVA and docking compartment and the second Soyuz Taxi crew. Four EVAs were also completed, but they did not receive any visiting Shuttle missions until STS-108 arrived to take them home, bringing the ISS-4 crew up to replace them.

The science programme for the mission involved 15 US experiments, 22 Russian, 3 Japanese, 4 French, a Canadian and an ESA experiment, some of which would be performed during the visiting mission. The research fields included biology, the environment of the ISS, radiation, Earth observations, geophysics, protein crystal growth, tissue growth, medical, materials science, technology and education.

Progress M45 arrived on 23 August and remained docked until 22 November. It would be replaced by Progress M1-7, which initially failed to hard-dock with the station and required an unplanned EVA to remove an obstruction to allow the docking operation to be completed. The other unmanned docking with the station during this residency was with Progress M-SO1, which delivered the Russian Docking Compartment (called Pirs, or “Pier”). A few days after docking, the instrumentation and propulsion sections of the Progress were discarded, leaving the forward module section of the vehicle (Pirs) permanently attached to Zvezda’s nadir port (which had

been prepared during the IVA of ISS-2 on 8 June). This new module would be used by crews performing EVAs from the Russian segment of the station.

The first EVA from Pirs was conducted by Dezhurov and Tyurin (8 Oct for 4 hours 58 minutes) and involved the installation of external equipment to bring the facility up to operational status. The cosmonauts also commenced construction of the Strela boom (GStM-1) designed for further movements across the station’s Russian segments, and installed some antennas. During the second EVA (15 Oct for 5 hours 51 minutes), the cosmonauts deployed several small experiment and materials sample cassettes on the outside of the station. These were long-duration exposure facilities that would be retrieved and replaced at regular intervals on future EVAs. The Soyuz TM32 was relocated to the rear Pirs docking port on 18 October in preparation for the arrival of the second visiting crew. The two Russian cosmonauts and French ESA astronaut Claudie Haignere (formerly Andre-Deshays) arrived on 23 October for a week of science activities. They would depart in the older Soyuz TM32 spacecraft leaving a new vehicle for the ISS-3 crew to use in the event of an emergency. The third EVA (12 Nov for 5 hours 5 minutes) involved Frank Culbertson, who accompanied Dezhurov outside to continue the installation of handrails and cables on the outside of Pirs and Zvezda. They also tested the extension of the Stella cargo crane, as well as inspecting and photographing a solar battery which had failed to deploy from Zvezda after entering orbit and had remained stuck. The final EVA (3 Dec for 2 hours 46 minutes) was completed by Dezhurov and Tyurin and was unplanned. They inspected the aft port of Zvezda where Progress M1-7 had failed to hard-dock and reported the presence of a foreign object, a sealing ring left behind by the previous Progress (M45) when it undocked. Ground command signalled the Progress M1-7 to extend its docking probe, allowing the cosmonauts to use a cutting tool to remove the tangled rubber ring and free up the system to allow the Progress to successfully hard-dock with the station. A few days later, STS-108 arrived, and the third expedition drew to a close.

Frank Culbertson had been a former US manager of the Shuttle-Mir programme and had used this experience to evaluate the working conditions on the new station for future US resident crew planning, experiment and logistics activities. One of the more difficult periods on board the station was in the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US. Informed of the day’s events during a medical check-up, the station later flew over New York and the crew saw the huge plume of smoke and dust from the attack and subsequent collapse of the World Trade Center buildings. Regular updates were sent to the crew following the attacks.

Milestones

3rd ISS resident crew

2nd ISS EO crew to be launched by Shuttle 1st EVAs by ISS resident crew

Flight Crew

MCARTHUR Jr., William Surles, 54, US Army, ISS-12 commander and science officer, 4th mission

Previous missions: STS-58 (1993); STS-74 (1995); STS-92 (2000) TOKAREV, Valery Ivanovich, 52, Russian Air Force, ISS-12 Soyuz commander and flight engineer, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-96 (1999)

OLSEN, Gregory Hammond, 60, civilian, US space flight participant

Flight Log

Greg Olsen had prepared for his mission with over 900 hours training, but had been medically disqualified from flying TMA6. His medical condition cleared up, however, and he was cleared to fly by Russian medical specialists. He was assigned to the next mission. During his week on ISS, Olsen did perform some experiments for ESA, but failed equipment and the lack of an export licence for an infrared camera prevented him completing his full programme. He did participate in the three live video and ham radio sessions with schools during the mission and spent his time Earth watching, exercising and photographing, mainly from the Russian segment. He was restricted in his activities, however, especially aboard US elements.

When the ISS-11 crew returned home, along with Olsen, the new resident crew got down to work with their own programme of experiments, maintenance and house­keeping, including two EVAs. The first of these saw the first use of US EVA suits and the Quest Airlock since April 2003. Tokarev became the first Russian to use US EVA equipment and facilities at the station. The two men installed a new camera at the end of the P1 Truss and removed a failed Rotary Joint Motor Controller (electronics box) and the Floating Potential Probe, which had been installed during STS-97 in 2000. They tossed this overboard, where it would orbit until re-entry about 100 days later.

They also removed a failed circuit breaker in the Mobile Transporter and replaced it with a new unit. The second EVA was rescheduled from December to February to allow more time for preparation. This EVA was from Pirs, using Russian Orlan M suits, and featured the deployment of an Orlan SuitSat, which was an old suit outfitted with a transmitter and radio, beaming faint recorded voices of children to amateur radio operators for a few days. It was expected to orbit for several weeks before eventually re-entering the atmosphere. Other tasks performed during this EVA included relocation of the Strela grapple fixture to the PMA-3 on Unity, retrieval of exterior sample cassettes and external photography. A third EVA was cancelled as unnecessary.

During their stay on the station, the two men continued repairs on Elektron, the station toilet, and in the US laboratory Destiny. The crew also continued regular exercise and science work, along with unloading a Progress re-supply vehicle, per­forming tests with the Canadarm2, and a communications test in preparation for receiving ATV re-supply flights. McArthur’s wife was the principle investigator for the educational payload operations and together they instigated a programme of science demonstrations for schools. Shuttle mission STS-114 had delivered much needed

supplies and alleviated the clutter of unwanted gear, but extensive science operations would have to await the arrival of the next main crew in April and the third resident crew member (Thomas Reiter) on STS-121 in July 2006.

The crew had to relocate their Soyuz twice during the mission. The first relocation from the Pirs Module to the nadir port on Zarya took place on 18 November and lasted about 19 minutes. This freed up the Pirs docking compartment for use as the airlock for the EVA that was scheduled for 7 December but moved to February. The second relocation, on 20 March, lasted 22 minutes. The crew moved TMA7 from Zarya to the recently vacated rear port of Zvezda (Progress M54), to allow TMA8 to dock with Zarya so that it would not require relocation during the six-month mission. The ISS-12 crew came home with Brazilian astronaut Marcos Pontes in TMA7 on 8 April.

Milestones

245th manned space flight

100th Russian manned space flight

93rd manned Soyuz mission

7th manned Soyuz TMA mission

40th Russian and 95th flight with EVA operations

9th ISS Soyuz mission (9S)

9th visiting mission (VC-9)

6th resident caretaker ISS crew (2 person)

3rd space flight participant

Tokarev celebrates 53rd birthday (29 Oct) in space

1st Russian to perform EVA from Quest using EMU (Tokarev)

All US manned space mission landings up to the Space Shuttle programme were “splashdowns” in either the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean. The crew vehicles descended under parachutes after re-entry into the atmosphere, and a recovery crew would

attach a flotation device to the capsule once it had hit the ocean. This was not always the case with some Mercury and Gemini missions, which landed outside the planned recovery area. This method was easier than developing terrain landing capabilities, although Gemini and Apollo spacecraft development teams did investigate this option. Splashdowns still carried the risk of drowning the crew or the possibility of a parachute failure, and there was also the added expense of drafting a flotilla of military ships for each mission recovery.

Soviet or Russian missions have always been targeted for landing in home territory, normally Kazakhstan. Vostok pilots ejected from their capsules and landed by separate parachute as developing a soft landing system to protect the occupant was deemed too complicated and time-consuming in the race to beat the Americans to orbit. Voskhod crews landed in their craft under parachutes, aided by retro-rockets in the parachute support system. A more effective system was incorporated in the base of the Soyuz, with four solid propellant rocket engines fired 1.5 metres off the ground to effect what is known as a “dust-down” or a “soft-landing”. While this is usually reliable, it has occasionally proven otherwise. This method is also used by the Chinese Shenzhou, which is based on the Russian Soyuz design.

The Space Shuttle orbiter lands on a runway and has used three sites – mainly the concrete Shuttle Landing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the concrete or dry lake bed runways at Edwards AFB in California. One landing was made at the Northrop Strip (gypsum) at White Sands in New Mexico. There is also a network of contingency landing sites around the globe, all with long runways for use as emergency return options for the Shuttle.

The initial X-Prize flight occurred on 29 September 2004 when Mike Melvill piloted Spaceship One for 24 minutes and reached an altitude of 337,500 ft (102.87 km). The

second 24-minute flight, by Binnie, reached 367,442 ft (111.99 km) above the surface of the Earth and, in addition to securing the X-Prize, also broke the altitude record set by X-15 NASA test pilot Joseph Walker on 22 August 1963. An initial flight, and first attempt at the X-Prize, had taken place on 21 June 2004, when Mike Melvill flew a 24-minute flight to 328,491ft (100.12 km) to the fringes of space. However, a flight control malfunction during the flight meant that the second attempt, to win the X-Prize, would have to be delayed beyond the required two-week turnaround. The Spaceship One programme was completed with the attainment of the X-Prize and the team is now working with Virgin Galactic on Spaceship Two designs to extend the objectives and opportunities further than the original prize.