Category Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006

Flight Crew

CHIAO, Leroy, 44, civilian, US ISS-10 commander and science officer,

4th mission

Previous missions: STS-65 (1994); STS-72 (1996); STS-92 (2000) SHARIPOV, Salizhan Shakirovich, 40, Russian Air Force, ISS-10 flight engineer and Soyuz commander, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-89 (1998)

SHARGIN, Yuri Georgiyevich, 44, Russian Military Space Forces, Soyuz flight engineer

Flight Log

Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky was scheduled to become the third space flight participant on this flight, but he failed the medical and was replaced by cosmonaut Yuri Shargin. Shargin was a representative of the Russian Space Forces, and became the first member of that force to be selected for cosmonaut training in 1996. He had completed a full course of cosmonaut training, including simulations with the Mir complex. This was perhaps his only chance of a space flight, and he carried out his own programme of scientific studies, although it was stressed that none of these were military in nature as such investigations are banned on ISS. Earth observations and a daily biomedical programme were the main focus of his week on the station. Shargin returned to Earth on 24 October, along with the ISS-9 crew.

There had been a delay to the launch of TMA5, reportedly caused on 15 Sep­tember by a small explosion in a separation bolt on the Soyuz docking ring. A leaking pressure membrane in a small tank of liquid hydrogen peroxide had also ruptured, and procuring the replacement from the TMA6 craft that was under construction at Energiya in Moscow delayed the planned 9 October launch to 14 October. Once on

ISS 10 crew: Sharipov (left) and Chiao (centre) with Yuri Shargin (right) review crew equipment during the final check of the Soyuz TMA5 spacecraft on 9 October 2004 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

orbit, problems with an intermittent forward-firing thruster on TMA5 resulted in Sharipov having to conduct a manual docking with the station.

During the tenth expedition on ISS, the two-man crew would complete two Pirs – based EVAs, receive two Progress re-supply craft and relocate their TMA from the Pirs module (where they docked) to the Zarya module. There were also further problems with the Elektron unit, repairs to US EVA suits and Russian Orlan M suits, upgrades to the computer software, the breakdown of the station’s toilet in the Zvezda living quarters, the replacement of a faulty heat exchanger in the Quest airlock module, and the relocation of the Canadarm2 to deal with. Fitted around all of this was the routine work with the experiments aboard the station and general house­keeping chores.

During the first EVA (26 Jan 2005 for 5 hours 28 minutes), Sharipov photographed the residue around vents on the outside of Zvezda, generated from by-products of the Elektron and carbon dioxide removal systems. The two men also completed the installation of a work platform and deployed a European commercial experiment and a Russian experiment. The second EVA (28 Mar for 4 hours 30 min­utes) included the installation of cables and antennas on Zvezda in support of future

ATV dockings and the deployment by hand of a small satellite to test new control techniques.

In late November, there were concerns that the food supplies onboard the station were less than expected. Three audits of onboard supplies indicated that the rations would run out by mid-January. It was intended that there should be a 45-day buffer of supplies to cope with any delay in the launch of the next re-supply vessel, but it was found that the records of inventory were not being kept as accurately as they should have been, probably due to the increased workload that the smaller crews were having to cover. Re-supply craft Progress M51 resolved the immediate problem by delivering 200 kg of food supplies, which would last until Progress M52 arrived in March.

On the ground, NASA was working toward the resumption of Shuttle flights, with the STS-114 mission planned for May 2005. Though no construction work would be conducted on the first two missions (designated Return-to-Flight missions 114 and 121), there would be an opportunity to deliver supplies, spares and other logistics, as well as removing the significant amount of unwanted gear that had built up since the departure of Endeavour (STS-113) in December 2002. During the early weeks of 2005, the crew began packing and stowing items that were to be returned in bundles on the floor of Zvezda and in a stowage rack in the Destiny lab.

Near the end of their tour of duty, the ISS-10 crew were joined by their replace­ments, the ISS-11 crew, who arrived on Soyuz TMA6 in April 2005. Also on board the new TMA was Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori, who brought some much-enjoyed Italian delicacies with him for the period of joint activities prior to returning to Earth with the ISS-10 crew aboard TMA5.

Milestones

242nd manned space flight

98th Russian manned space flight

91st manned Soyuz mission

5th manned Soyuz TMA mission

38th Russian and 92nd flight with EVA operations

9th ISS Soyuz mission (9S)

7th ISS visiting mission (VC-7)

4th resident caretaker ISS crew (2 person)

As the quest for space began, two methods of getting there were investigated, both requiring rockets for power. One was to develop winged craft which would access space from a carrier aircraft in the upper atmosphere and would perform a guided entry and landing for the return. The other was to use blunt-ended capsules on top of former military missiles shot through the atmosphere on ballistic trajectories, relying on the increasing density of the atmosphere to slow the return sufficiently for parachutes to finish the landing.

Rocket planes

The first powered steps towards space were made by a series of American rocket – propelled aircraft. In October 1947, the first supersonic flight was made by the X-1, piloted by Chuck Yeager. In 1963, an X-15 rocket plane piloted by Joe Walker reached an altitude of 106 km (66 miles). The majority of rocket planes were indeed released from carrier aircraft at high altitude before igniting their onboard rocket engines for a quick climb to the fringes of space and then a gliding landing on a runway. One of the X-15s flew at over Mach 6 in 1967. Together with several strangely shaped, blunt-bodied, wingless vehicles known as lifting bodies (which evaluated the

Pilot Mike Adams with the X-15

technological possibilities of a vehicle that could survive heat of re-entry, fly at subsonic speeds and still make a controlled horizontal landing), such programmes would lay the groundwork for what eventually became the Space Shuttle. The X-Prize winners Spaceship One drew upon the same legacy.

Early planning for Apollo included a series of manned missions designed to evaluate the systems and procedures of the Apollo parent craft (the Command and Service Module, or CSM) in Earth orbit, prior to committing it to lunar distance flights or flights with the Lunar Module. These capsules were termed Block 1 and did not feature the docking and transfer tunnel system utilised on the lunar missions. Sub­sequent Block II CSMs were designed to fly in conjunction with the LM in Earth orbit or deep space, or to support the lunar landing flights. More advanced missions that fell under the Apollo Applications Program banner would use a proposed (but unflown) Block III series of CSMs. Some of the amendments proposed to support extended – duration lunar missions were actually incorporated into the “J” series of scientific Apollo missions flown in 1971-1972 using upgraded Block II CSMs and LMs. Block III CSMs were also planned to support flights to orbital workshops (later Skylab), but none were fabricated. There was also a Block I mission known as Apollo 2, but this was cancelled in 1966 when it became apparent that it was too much of a duplication of the Apollo 1 mission, given the desire to press on with qualifying the Block II series of CSMs, the Lunar Module and the Saturn V for manned flights.

APOLLO 1
Int. Designation	None – fatal pad fire accident prior to planned launch
Launched	Planned 21 February 1967
Launch Site	Pad 34, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Landed	Planned 7 March 1967
Landing Site	Pacific Ocean
Launch Vehicle	Saturn 1B
Duration	Planned 13 days 18 hours 50 minutes
Callsign	Apollo 1
Objective	First manned qualification test of Apollo (Block I) CSM in Earth orbit for up to 14 days; test firings of the Service Propulsion System; evaluation of systems and procedures by crew and vehicle

Flight Crew

GRISSOM, Virgil Ivan “Gus”, 40, USAF, commander, 3rd mission Previous missions: Mercury Redstone 4 (1961); Gemini 3 (1965) WHITE II, Edward Higgins, 36, USAF, senior pilot, 2nd mission Previous mission: Gemini 4 (1965)

CHAFFEE, Roger Bruce, 31, USN

In 1972, after several years of negotiations, the first joint mission between the Soviet Union and the USA was agreed, and was launched in 1975 as the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, or ASTP. In order for the Apollo and Soyuz crews to join together in orbit, a docking module was developed to allow a physical link between the two spacecraft.

Artwork depicting the highlights of the historic ASTP international space mission. Dual launches, a docking in space and the five crew members. l to r Slayton, Brand, Stafford, Kubasov, Leonov with the programme logo in the centre

The docking module was an airlock 3 m (10 ft) long and over 1 m (3 ft) in diameter. It had an Apollo LM-type (drogue) docking port at one end to take the Apollo docking probe, and at the other end was the androgynous docking system. This consisted of an extendable guide ring with three petal-like plates on its circumference, each plate

Table 3.5. ISS major elements dimensions as of 2006 Element Launched Vehicle Length Max dia. Hab. volume Mass (kg) Zarya 1998 Nov 20 Proton 12.5m 4.1 m 71.5m3 11,600 Unity 1998 Dec 4 STS-88 5.4m 4.5 m 70 m3 11,612 Zvezda 2000 Jul 12 Proton 13.10m 4.15 m 89.0m3 19,051 Z1 Truss 2000 Oct 11 STS-92 5.79m 4.6 m n/a 8,100 P6 Truss 2000 Nov 30 STS-97 13.7m 4.6 m n/a 7,900 Destiny 2001 Feb 7 STS-98 8.5 m 4.26 m 10.75m3 14,514 Quest 2001 Jul 12 STS-104 6.0m 4.0m 34m3 6,064 Pirs 2001 Sep 14 Progress 2.55 m 2.20 m 13m3 2,876 S0 Truss 2002 Apr 8 STS-110 13.4m 4.6 m n/a 12,247 S1 Truss 2002 Oct 7 STS-112 13.7m 4.6 m n/a 14,061 P1 Truss 2002 Nov 23 STS-113 13.7m 4.6 m n/a 14,061 P3/4 Truss 2006 Sep 21 STS-115 13.7m 4.6 m n/a 15,876

having a capture latch inside it. Once the latches of both craft were engaged, the active vehicle retracted the guide ring, pulling the craft together. The docking module was jettisoned by the Apollo crew prior to retro-fire.

The Soviet Union also flew a series of Interkosmos missions with cosmonauts from several Soviet bloc countries, starting in 1978. This led to a series of international commercial missions and cooperative missions with European and US astronauts, and the creation of the opportunity to sell seats to rather affluent “tourists”.

NASA’s Space Shuttle Spacelab programme has featured several international missions using a series of modules in the payload bay and these have particularly assisted the crews to gain the experience needed for the International Space Station. Spacelab 1 consisted of a 15,088 kg long module, single pallet and aim (3.3 ft) diameter, 5.8 m (19 ft) long tunnel from the modular Spacelab hardware kit. Over the years, there would be sixteen module flights of Spacelab, six pallet-only missions and a further eleven Shuttle missions featuring Spacelab pallets that supported a variety of payloads, many of them international in nature.

The International Space Station programme evolved from a 1984 US presidential initiative to create a large space station. A cooperative team of 16 nations worked to launch separate elements of the station and construct it in orbit over several years, re­supplied by American Shuttle and Russian Soyuz and Progress vehicles. The Zarya module was a descendant of the add-on Mir modules, whilst Zvezda was similar to the Mir base block.

Shenzhou

This Chinese manned programme aims to establish a manned “space station’’ in orbit within a few years. Two Shenzhou orbital modules will be linked together to establish a precursor space laboratory, before a more permanent station is launched.

After years of speculation and four unmanned test flights, China achieved what it had planned for decades – the capability to put Chinese citizens in space independently.

Forty years after the Soviet Union and America started the human space flight programme, China became only the third nation to claim manned space flight cap­ability. Such capability was envisaged in the mid-1960s, and in the 1970s, a programme called Dawn (Shuguang) was planned. Even though astronaut trainees were selected in April 1971 (Project 714), the project progressed very little and was terminated in 1972. It remained a guarded secret for over thirty years. A serious space biomedical pro­gramme continued in China, as did a series of flights to develop the technology to recover satellite capsules from orbit, and as the launch infrastructure improved, the idea for conducting a manned space programme resurfaced. Rumours persisted throughout the 1980s, even to the point of releasing photos of Air Force system testers undergoing simulations and pressure suit checks. In 1984, the US offered China a flight for a payload specialist on the Shuttle, and even went so far as to select a group of candidates who toured JSC just days before the loss of Challenger in January 1986. After that tragedy, the whole payload specialist programme was suspended indefi­nitely. An offer to fly a Chinese cosmonaut to Mir was not taken up.

However, in 1992, a new project, called Project 921, was created to support a national Chinese manned programme. Cooperative agreements with the Russians, including visits to the Russian space centres and the cosmonaut training centre, helped the Chinese to advance their own plans and programmes. In 1998, a team of trainees were selected to train for the new flight programme, which began with a series of four unmanned missions, the first of which was placed in orbit in 1999. The first manned orbital flight occurred in October 2003. The Chinese programme is a measured and deliberate one, building on the success of the previous mission and learning from the failures as well as from US and Russian experiences.

Their Shenzhou vehicle can carry up to three crew members. It resembles the Russian Soyuz TM, but differs in several respects. The Chinese vessel is larger, being 2.8 m in diameter and 8.8 m long (Soyuz TM is 7.5 m long). It is also heavier at 7.8 tons (Soyuz TM is 7.2 tons). Shenzhou also has solar panels attached to the Orbital Module in addition to the Instrument Module, with the reported capacity of up to three times the power of the Soyuz arrays. The OM itself is two tons heavier and has the capability of independent orbital flight with its own manoeuvring engines. The Descent Module is also slightly larger than the Soyuz, at 2.5 m diameter by 2 m long (Soyuz is 2.17 m x 1.9 m). Finally, the Instrument Module is about 70 cm longer than the Russian equivalent.

1969-085A (Soyuz 6), 086A (Soyuz 7), 087A (Soyuz 8)

11 (Soyuz 6), 12 (Soyuz 7) and 13 (Soyuz 8) October 1969 Pad 1, Site 5 (Soyuz 7); Pad 31, Site 6 (Soyuz 6, Soyuz 8), Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan 16 (Soyuz 6), 17 (Soyuz 7) and 18 (Soyuz 8) October 1969 Soyuz 6 – 179.2 km (111 miles) northwest, Soyuz 7 – 153.6 km (95 miles) northwest and Soyuz 8 – 144 km (89 miles) north of Karaganda R7 (11A511) for all three launches; spacecraft serial numbers (7K-0K) #14 (Soyuz 4); #15 (Soyuz 5);

#16 (Soyuz 8)

4 days 22hrs 42 min 47 sec (Soyuz 6); 4 days 22hrs 40 min 23 sec (Soyuz 7); 4 days 22hrs 50 min 49 sec (Soyuz 8) Soyuz 6 – Antey (Antaeus); Soyuz 7 – Buran (Snowstorm); Soyuz 8 – Granit (Granite)

Soyuz “troika” group flight; rendezvous and docking between Soyuz 7 and 8; space welding experiments on Soyuz 6

Flight Crew

SHONIN, Georgy Stepanovich, 34, Soviet Air Force, commander Soyuz 6 KUBASOV, Valery Nikoleyevich, 34, civilian, flight engineer Soyuz 6 FILIPCHENKO, Anatoly Vasilyevich, 41, Soviet Air Force, commander, Soyuz 7

VOLKOV, Vladislav Nikoleyevich, 33, civilian, flight engineer Soyuz 7 GORBATKO, Viktor Vasilyevich, 34, Soviet Air Force, research engineer, Soyuz 7

SHATALOV, Vladimir Aleksandrovich, 42, Soviet Air Force, commander Soyuz 8 and group commander, 2nd mission Previous mission: Soyuz 4 (1969)

YELISEYEV, Aleksey Stanislovich, 35, civilian, flight engineer Soyuz 8, 2nd mission

Previous mission: Soyuz 5 (1969)

Flight Log

Soyuz 6 was to have been a solo mission but was flown together with Soyuz 7 and 8 which were to perform a Soyuz 4/5-type rendezvous, docking and transfer mission. Soyuz 6 – without a docking probe – set off first at 16: 10 hrs local time on 11 October. It carried two cosmonauts, Shonin and Kubasov, and entered a 51.7° inclination

The Soyuz 6 crew of Kubasov (left) and Shonin

orbit, which would, after four manoeuvres, reach a maximum altitude of 242 km (150 miles). Their objectives were the usual Soviet ones of “testing, checking, perfect­ing and conducting” plus a unique experiment called Vulcan, in which automatic welding would be attempted inside the unpressurised Orbital Module. On the 77th orbit of Soyuz 6, three processes were attempted: electron beam, fusible electrode and compressed arc welding, under the control of Kubasov. The samples were returned to Earth. In 1990, some 21 years later, it was revealed that the low-pressure compressed arc had inadvertently almost burned a hole right through the inner compartment flooring and damaged the hull of the Orbital Module. The crew were at first unaware of this as they were sealed in the DM during the welding operation, but found the damage when they entered the OM towards the end of their mission.

When Soyuz 7 was launched at 15: 45 hrs local time from Baikonur the day after, most observers felt that a docking was likely since, at the time, it was not known that

The crews of Soyuz 6-8 pose for a “group shot”. Back row from left: Gorbatko, Filipchenko and Volkov (Soyuz 7). Front row from left: Kubasov and Shonin (Soyuz 6), Shatalov and Yeliseyev (Soyuz 8)

Soyuz 6 could not do so. Indeed, one of Soyuz 7’s stated objectives was “manoeuvring and navigation tests” with Soyuz 6. But Filipchenko, Gorbatko and Volkov were supposed to dock not with Soyuz 6 but with Soyuz 8, which was duly launched at 15: 19 hrs local time on 13 October, with Shatalov and Yeliseyev, the first Soviet space – experienced crew.

Problems with the Igla rendezvous system were experienced, and a manual attempt at docking was not successful. The nearest the two craft came to one another was 487m (1,600ft), observed for 4 hours 24 minutes by Soyuz 6 from about 1.6km (1 mile) away. Maximum altitudes achieved by Soyuz 7 and 8 were 244 and 235 km (152 and 146 miles) respectively during their missions which, with Soyuz 6, entailed detailed Earth and celestial observations under the group command of Shatalov.

The “mystery missions”, which in total involved 31 orbital change manoeuvres, ended on 17, 18 and 19 October, 179.2km (111 miles) northwest, 153.6km (95 miles) northwest and 144 km (89 miles) north of Karaganda respectively.

Milestones

34th, 35th and 36th manned space flights 13th, 14th and 15th Soviet manned space flights 1st three-manned-spacecraft mission 1st time with seven people in space at once

Shortest turnaround between missions – ten months, for Shatalov and Yeliseyev

Flight Crew

CONRAD, Charles “Pete” Jr., 39, USN, commander, 3rd mission Previous missions: Gemini 5 (1965); Gemini 11 (1966)

GORDON, Richard Francis Jr., 40, USN, command module pilot, 2nd mission Previous mission: Gemini 11 (1966)

BEAN, Alan LaVern, 37, USN, lunar module pilot

Flight Log

Flying to the Moon a second time wasn’t any easier, but it seemed that way after the euphoria of Apollo 11. Indeed, Apollo 12 had two particular hazards, one deliberate and one unpredictable but none the less avoidable. The deliberate hazard was to be the hybrid trajectory to the Moon, which did not guarantee Apollo 12 a “free return’’ by lunar loop if there was a major systems failure en route. The second hazard could have been avoided had NASA not decided to launch the mighty Saturn V in heavy rain and dark storm clouds, seemingly to please the space budget-cutter, President Richard Nixon, who had come to the KSC to watch.

About 36 seconds after 11: 22 hrs local time, with the Saturn already out of view, Pad 39A was hit by lightning. So was Apollo 12. Commander Conrad saw the multicoloured control panel displaying systems shorts and said that it seemed that “everything in the world had dropped out.’’ LMP Bean restored systems as the second and third stages proceeded effortlessly into 199 km (124 miles) 32° orbit. All the electrical circuits were checked and the go for the Moon was given. The S-IVB burned for 5 minutes 45 seconds and the transposition and docking manoeuvre was success­ful, but the S-IVB was placed into an unusual and highly elliptical orbit of the Earth, rather than into solar orbit, due to a malfunction.

The TV shows were jocular and informative. Conrad and Bean checked out the Lunar Module, and one mid-course correction was made to place Apollo out of the free return and on course for a lunar orbit with desirable lighting conditions at the landing point. Apollo 12’s SPS lit up on the lunar far side and placed the spacecraft

Pete Conrad examines the Surveyor 3 spacecraft. The Apollo 12 Lunar Module can be seen on the horizon.

into a 110 by 312 km (68 x 194 miles) orbit, which was adjusted two orbits later to an eventual 110 km (68 miles). At T + 107 hours 54 minutes, the Lunar Module became Intrepid and the Command Module Yankee Clipper, illustrating that this was an all­Navy crew. DOI began at T + 109 hours 23 minutes with a 29-second firing placing Intrepid at a perilune of 14.4 km (9 miles) for the PDI. Before this, there was hectic activity between the ground and the crew to update the LM’s navigation programme, which continued two minutes into the burn that began at T + 110 hours 20 minutes.

The high-spirited crew came into their Ocean of Storms landing site, close to the unmanned Surveyor 3 spacecraft which had landed there in 1967. Conrad landed Intrepid about 856 m (2,808 ft) northwest of Surveyor at T + 110 hours 32 minutes at 3°11’51" south 23°23’7.5" west. CMP Gordon spotted both Intrepid and Surveyor from orbit in Yankee Clipper. The first moonwalk began at T + 115 hours 10 minutes when the jocular Conrad hopped, skipped and hummed across the surface. After joining him, Bean took the colour television camera to place it on a tripod, but the camera was pointed at the Sun and blacked out. The by now dwindling TV audiences switched off.

The first 3 hour 56 minute EVA on 19 November involved erecting the US flag and deploying the first ALSEP array of lunar experiments, one of which was powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator with a radioactive fuel source. The second

EVA on 20 November, lasting 3 hours 49 minutes, was highlighted by the visit to Surveyor, bits of which were cut off to be taken home for analysis. Conrad’s fall in the lunar dust caused a “spacesuit might leak’’ scare, but from the antics of later moon – walkers, one wonders what the fuss was about.

The highly successful moonwalks over, after 31 hours 31 minutes on the Moon, Intrepid sailed for Yankee Clipper. The rendezvous and docking 3 hours 30 minutes later was watched live by TV audiences, who could even see Intrepid’s crew in the windows of the LM and the little spurts of the RCS jets. Conrad and Bean removed their dusty spacesuits and crossed into Yankee Clipper naked, except for their head­sets. Intrepid was sent crashing into the Moon and the reverberations from the impact were picked up by the ALSEP seismometer now on the surface.

Yankee Clipper broke anchor after 45 orbits and 88 hours 56 minutes over the Moon. The crew witnessed a spectacular solar eclipse on the way home and splashed down near USS Hornet at 15° south 165° west at T + 10 days 4 hours 36 minutes 25 seconds. Like the Apollo 11 crew, Conrad, Gordon and Bean had to live in the Apollo quarantine container for three weeks to ensure that no “moon bugs’’ came home with them.

Milestones

37th manned space flight

22nd US manned space flight

6th manned Apollo flight

6th Apollo CSM manned flight

4th Apollo LM manned flight

4th manned flight to and orbit of the Moon

2nd manned lunar landing and moonwalk

1st manned mission with two EVAs

1st manned spacecraft to spend a day on the Moon

1st manned mission to use radioisotope thermoelectric generators

8th US and 10th flight with EVA operations

Flight Crew

LOVELL, James Arthur Jr., 42, USN, commander, 4th mission Previous missions: Gemini 7 (1965); Gemini 12 (1966); Apollo 8 (1968) SWIGERT, John Leonard “Jack” Jr., 39, command module pilot HAISE, Fred Wallace Jr., 36, lunar module pilot

Flight Log

Command module pilot Thomas “Ken” Mattingly had the bad luck, two days before the flight of Apollo 13, to be declared not immune to the German measles that he had been exposed to by back-up LMP Charlie Duke. He was dropped and replaced by back-up Jack Swigert, who was put through his paces in the simulator to ensure his readiness and compatibility with the remaining prime crew members, James Lovell and Fred Haise. Lift-off seemed routine at 14: 32hrs local time, but the Saturn V burn lasted 44 seconds longer, because the four remaining engines of the S-II had to burn for an extra 34 seconds to make up for the loss of the fifth one, and the S-IVB had to burn for an additional ten seconds.

Initial orbit of 33.5° and 156 km (97 miles) apogee was achieved. The S-IVB ignited, the transposition and docking was successful and the stage was sent towards an impact on the Moon, big enough to be detected by the Apollo 12 seismometer. The television pictures were of high quality, but were not shown live by any network. Apollo 13 indeed seemed a milk run to the Moon, targeted for the Fra Mauro highlands. Then, at T + 55 hours 55 minutes 20 seconds on 13 April, oxygen tank No. 2 in the Service Module, which had undetected heater switches welded together due to an electrical malfunction in a pre-launch test, exploded 328,000 km (222,461 miles) from Earth.

The reaction of the crew was calm and stoic as they faced a lingering death in space. Power was going down fast in the Command Module. The only hope was to use the LM Aquarius, thankfully still attached, as it was the trans-lunar coast rather than

Apollo 13 crew (1 to r) Haise, Swigert and Lovell, relieved to be back on Earth after a trying mission

the return journey. Aquarius’s descent engine was used three times, T + 61 hours 30 minutes, for 30 seconds, to get Apollo 13 back on a lunar looping “free return’’ trajectory which would at least guarantee making landfall on Earth – somewhere, hopefully in the Indian Ocean: for 4 minutes 28 seconds to speed the return journey, at T + 142 hours 53 minutes; and for 15.4 seconds to fine-tune the trajectory. Rookies Haise and Swigert had strained at their windows to get a peek at the lunar far side during the lunar loop, which made them and Lovell the farthest travellers from Earth, at a distance of 397,848 km (247,223 miles).

Conditions on board were pitiful. It was extremely cold and the spacecraft was operating on the power equivalent of a single light bulb by the end of the mission. The crew, ably supported by thousands of engineers, scientists and fellow astronauts on the ground, even had to jury-rig an air conditioning unit to get rid of carbon dioxide. Aquarius was separated just before re-entry, followed by the Service Module, giving the incredulous crew their first view of the devastation that had been below them. Left with a little battery power, the Command Module Odyssey limped home to a splash­down at T + 5 days 22 hours 54 minutes 41 seconds, close to the USS Iwo Jima at 21° south 165°west. The shortest US three-person flight in history had captured the hearts of the world, and ended with a service of thanksgiving on the recovery ship.

The events of Apollo 13, as well as a tightening of the NASA budget, helped to seal the fate of future missions. Apollo 20 had already been axed in January 1970, and

by September, Apollo 15 and 19 had been cancelled and the remaining missions renumbered to end with Apollo 17. The fear of losing a crew in space, or of their being stranded on the Moon with no hope of rescue, and the desire to move on to new programmes closer to Earth, together with the escalating cost of the war in southeast Asia and social unrest in the United States, all contributed to the end of the Apollo lunar programme.

Milestones

38th manned space flight

23rd US manned space flight

7th Apollo manned space flight

7th Apollo CSM manned flight

5th Apollo LM manned flight (docked only)

5th manned flight to the Moon

1st manned lunar loop flight

1st aborted lunar landing mission

1st flight by crewman on fourth mission

1st flight by crewman on second Moon mission

STS 41-C Posted by admin in Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006 on November 2, 2015

Int. Designation	1984-034A
Launched	6 April 1984
Launch Site	Pad 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Landed	13 April 1984
Landing Site	Runway 17, Edwards Air Force Base, California
Launch Vehicle	OV-099 Challenger/ET-10/SRB BI-012/SSME #1 2109; #2 2020; #3 2012
Duration	6 days 23 hrs 40 min 7 sec
Callsign	Challenger
Objective	Repair and re-deployment of Solar Max; deployment of Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF)

Flight Crew

CRIPPEN, Robert Laurel, 46, USN, commander, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS-1 (1981); STS-7 (1983)

SCOBEE, Francis Richard “Dick”, 44, USAF, pilot

HART, Terry Jonathan, 37, civilian, mission specialist 1

NELSON, George Driver, 33, civilian, mission specialist 2

VAN HOFTEN, James Douglas Adrianus, 39, civilian, mission specialist 3

Flight Log

Space Shuttle flights were seemingly becoming more and more audacious mission by mission. STS 41-C was to retrieve, repair and redeploy the Solar Maximum Mission, or Solar Max, a science satellite that had been launched in 1980 but had blown some fuses, spoiling its fine pointing ability and rendering it useless. It was a tough assign­ment for the Challenger crew, led by the inspiring Bob “Mr. Shuttle” Crippen. Challenger took off two days late from the Kennedy Space Center at 08:58 hrs local time. For the first time, the Shuttle made a direct insertion into 28.45° orbit, to conserve valuable OMS propellant for the intensive manoeuvres required for Solar Max rendezvous. Lower than anticipated SRB performance almost resulted in the use of the OMS engines to achieve the planned orbit, which would have cancelled the Solar Max portion of the flight. The crew reached a maximum altitude of 435 km (270 miles) during the mission.

Before Solar Max could be retrieved, Challenger’s payload bay had to be emptied of a rather unique cylindrical satellite which almost filled it completely. This was the Long Duration Exposure Facility, or LDEF, which was a 12-sided craft with 57 materials experiments mounted on the outside. LDEF was scheduled to be retrieved in 1985 to enable scientists to assess the effects of exposure to the space environment on

‘Ox” Van Hoften test-flies an MMU in the payload bay of Challenger during STS 41-C

the different materials. Its deployment over the Kennedy Space Center, using the RMS, was a spectacular sight.

Crippen, his pilot Dick Scobee, and Challenger’s rendezvous radar, star trackers and computers, got to work on the Solar Max rendezvous, which was achieved effortlessly on 8 April. The rotating spacecraft was about 54 m (177 ft) away as mission specialist George Nelson (EV1), wearing an MMU, flew from Challenger. Attached to his chest was a T-pad docking device with which he was to attach himself to Solar Max, to steady it for an RMS grapple. But try as he may, while a soft-docking was achieved, Nelson could not make a hard dock with the satellite. In an effort to steady it manually, Nelson undocked and tried to hold the solar panels. Solar Max went even more out of control and the mission seemed doomed. The unhappy Nelson was recalled to Challenger.

Its solar panels now pointing away from the Sun, Solar Max was losing power, but ground engineers managed to bring it under some sort of control, so that Challenger, its mission extended one day, could attempt a direct RMS grab. Mission specialist Terry Hart’s one and only chance had to succeed and his deft handling worked. Solar Max was captured. During a record 7 hour 16 minute EVA on 11 April, Nelson and James van Hoften, who had assisted during the first 2 hour 57 minute EVA, repaired Solar Max, which was later redeployed to continue its mission. The repair to the satellite’s electronics and attitude control system was a great demon­stration of what a crew and the Shuttle could do. Van Hoften (EV2) was allowed a little go on the MMU, clocking up 28 minutes on Unit 3, compared with Nelson’s 42 minutes on Unit 2. It was during the STS 41-C EVAs that Nelson experienced a spacewalker’s worst nightmare (apart from a punctured pressure suit) – a minor urine contamination problem – in other words his waste collection device leaked. Fortu­nately, the liquid coolant garment (LCG) soaked up some of the liquid like a sponge, and though some helmet fogging was experienced, post-flight inspection revealed that no urine had entered the helmet. The fogging was a result of turning down the LCG after the astronaut felt cold as the urine was soaked up. The real danger of inhaling a small globule of any liquid in an EVA suit is that it could become trapped in the throat. The possibility of an astronaut being drowned by less than a teaspoon of liquid is a very real one. When Nelson returned to the airlock and crew compartment, the aroma of six hours perspiration in the suit coupled with the soaking urine reminded his crew members of “the inside of a toilet that had not been cleaned.’’ The smell was so bad that Nelson’s colleagues threatened to put him back outside for the remainder of the mission!

The icing on the cake was to be a landing back at the Kennedy Space Center but, as was the case with Crippen’s STS-7 mission, bad weather thwarted the attempt. Challenger came home after a one-orbit extension, on runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base at T + 6 days 23 hours 40 minutes 7 seconds. “Mr. Shuttle’’ headed straight for the simulators for his next mission. Solar Max re-entered in 1990.

Milestones

98th manned space flight 42nd US manned space flight 11th Shuttle mission 5th flight of Challenger

1st satellite retrieval, in-orbit repair and redeployment

1st astronaut docking with satellite

19th US and 26th flight with EVA operations

Flight Crew

DZHANIBEKOV, Vladimir Aleksandrovich, 42, Soviet Air Force, commander, 4th mission

Previous missions: Soyuz 27 (1978); Soyuz 39 (1981); Soyuz T6 (1982) SAVITSKAYA, Svetlana Yevgenyevna, 35, civilian, flight engineer, 2nd mission Previous mission: Soyuz T7 (1982)

VOLK, Igor Petrovich, 47, civilian, research engineer

Flight Log

Lift-off of this Soyuz with a difference came at 23: 41 hrs local time at Baikonur. The commander was making his fourth flight, the flight engineer was the first woman to make two missions and the cosmonaut researcher was a Buran space shuttle pilot on a familiarisation trip. To cap it all, the commander and flight engineer made an EVA on the mission, the first by a female and the first by a man and a woman together. All these statistical firsts seemed to be linked to the fact that in three months’ time the US was to launch a Shuttle to perform all these facts and feats.

Soyuz T12 was not altogether a Khrushchev-style propaganda mission, since Vladimir Dzhanibekov, the commander, was giving Salyut 7 a once-over and training the resident crew in the updated repair techniques necessary to keep it operational and which had been developed since their launch. Docking with Salyut occurred on 18 July and seven days later, Dzhanibekov and Svetlana Savitskaya started a 3 hour 55 minute EVA, during which both operated welding equipment. A 30 kg (66 lb) portable electron beam welder was carried outside, together with the control panel, transformer and metal samples. Savitskaya started the cutting, soldering and welding tests and was followed by her commander.

At the end of the spacewalk, the cosmonauts retrieved some samples from the outside of Salyut. The rest of the mission included experiments with the French Cytos 3 biological unit. The visiting mission was a long one compared with those that went

On board Salyut 7, clockwise from bottom left: Dzhanibekov, Savitskaya, Solovyov, Yolk, Atkov and Kizim

before and ended at T + 11 days 19 hours 14 minutes 36 seconds. Maximum altitude during the 51.6° mission was 372 km (231 miles).

As Buran was still a state secret, the activities of Volk were quite vague. Volk had trained for a flight to Salyut 7 with Kizim and Solovyov but his mission had been delayed due to the problems Salyut was experiencing. After completing the T12 mission and shortly after landing, Volk piloted both the Tupolev 154 and MiG 25 with adapted Buran control systems in order to test the effects of a 12-day space flight on his piloting skills. This was a simulation of what a Buran pilot would have to experience upon returning the shuttle from orbit, something the Americans had been doing for the previous three years.

Milestones

99th manned space flight

57th Soviet manned space flight

50th Soyuz manned space flight

11th Soyuz T manned space flight

1st space flight by female on second mission

1st EVA by female

1st male-female EVA

9th Soviet and 27th flight with EVA operations Final manned space flight from Pad 31, Site 6

First manned flight of new Soyuz uprated booster (11A511U2) – Soyuz U2

STS-27 Posted by admin in Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006 on November 2, 2015

Int. Designation	1988-106A
Launched	2 December 1988
Launch Site	Pad 39B, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Landed 6	December 1988
Landing Site	Runway 17, Edwards Air Force Base, California
Launch Vehicle	OV-104 Atlantis/ET-23/SRB BI-030/SSME #1 2027;
	#2 2030; #3 2029
Duration	4 days 9 hrs 5 min 35 sec
Callsign	Atlantis
Objective	3rd classified DoD Shuttle mission

Flight Crew

GIBSON, Robert Lee “Hoot”, 42, USN, commander, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS 41-B (1984); STS 61-C (1986)

GARDNER, Guy Spence, 40, USAF, pilot

MULLANE, Richard Michael, 43, USAF, mission specialist 1, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS 41-D (1984)

ROSS, Jerry Lynn, 40, USAF, mission specialist 2, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS 61-B (1985)

SHEPHERD, William McMichael, 39, USN, mission specialist 3

Flight Log

STS 62-A, the first manned polar orbiting space flight, was to have been launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in 1986. The flight was cancelled and the Vandenberg pad mothballed after the Challenger disaster. It re-emerged as STS-27, with a new commander, Hoot Gibson, replacing Bob Crippen, and a new mission specialist, William Shepherd, replacing Dale Gardner. Orbiter Atlantis was equipped with an enormous electronic intelligence and digital imaging reconnaissance satellite which was to be placed into a 57° inclination orbit, the highest inclination permitted by a Shuttle from the KSC.

The first launch attempt was called off on 1 December with the crew aboard at T — 9 minutes due to high winds at altitude. There was a minor delay the following day, before the spectacular take-off at 09: 30 hrs local time, with the Shuttle making a dramatic, sloping lateral movement away from the pad as it performed a 140° roll programme and headed up the east coast of the USA. Debris from the top of one of the SRBs broke away and severely damaged some of the underside of Atlantis, as the crew would see after they landed. Once in orbit the official communications, which began at T — 9 minutes, ended for this military mission.

L to r: Gardner, Gibson and Shepard at work during STS-27

According to analysis and ground observations, the giant Lacrosse was deployed from the payload bay by the RMS and inspected. Its 45 m (147 ft) span solar panels were supposed to unfurl but did not at first. If an EVA was required to free the panels it was not announced but the panels were freed, possibly by an RMS-induced shake, and the deployment followed at about T + 7 hours into the mission. Little information about it was released, except that a gallon of water had leaked in the cockpit. STS-27 marked the third time that eleven people were in space at once, with six cosmonauts on board the Mir space station at the same time.

The flight ended at T + 4 days 9 hours 5 minutes 35 seconds on runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base after a northerly approach from its high-inclination orbit, only the second afternoon landing in the Shuttle programme. The crew busied themselves examining the underside of the orbiter, which had suffered extensive damage to its heatshield tiles, resulting in the need to replace 707 of them, the greatest tile loss on the programme. Despite this, STS-27 had qualified Atlantis for the Return – to-Flight programme.

Milestones

123rd manned space flight 57th US manned space flight 27th Shuttle mission 3rd flight of Atlantis

STS-43 Posted by admin in Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006 on November 2, 2015

Int. Designation	1991-054A
Launched	2 August 1991
Launch Site	Pad 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Landed	11 August 1991
Landing Site	Runway 15, Shuttle Landing Facility, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Launch Vehicle	OV-104 Atlantis/ET-47/SRB BI-045/SSME #1 2024; #2 2012; #3 2028
Duration	8 days 21 hrs 21 min 25 sec
Call sign	Atlantis
Objective	Deployment of the fifth Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-E) by IUS-15 upper stage

Flight Crew

BLAHA, John Elmer, 43, USAF, commander, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS-29 (1989), STS-33 (1989)

BAKER, Michael Allen, 37, USN, pilot

LUCID, Shannon Wells, 48, civilian, mission specialist 1, 3rd mission Previous missions: STS 51-G (1985), STS-34 (1989)

LOW, George David, 35, civilian, mission specialist 2 ADAMSON, James Craig, 45, US Army, mission specialist 3

Flight Log

The primary objective of STS-43 was achieved barely twelve hours into the mission, when the fifth TDRS satellite was deployed and then placed in its operational circular orbit after two burns of the IUS. Following the mission, the crew returned to Earth with data and results from four payload bay experiments, eight mid-deck payloads, thirteen Detailed Test Objectives (DTO) and nine Detailed Supplementary Objectives (DSO), most of which were linked to extended-duration missions in orbit.

The deployment of a TDRS satellite from a Shuttle rarely attracted headline news and these became some of the “quieter” missions in the programme. However, the work conducted by the crew after the deployment contributed to the development of techniques and procedures that would be significant for missions carried out years later on Mir and ISS. The launch was originally set for 23 July, but was delayed by a day to replace a faulty integrated electronics assembly (which controlled the separa­tion of the ET from the orbiter). Five hours before the second launch attempt, the mission was postponed again due to a faulty main engine controller on SSME #3. The launch was reset for 1 August, but was again delayed, this time due to cabin pressure

TDRS-E leaves the payload bay of Atlantis atop IUS-15 just six hours after launch from KSC. When it reached its operational station it was renamed TDRS-5, replacing TDRS-3 at 174° west longitude. The GAS canisters are seen to the right of frame along the side of the payload bay wall

vent valve problems. It was postponed a further 24 hours due to infringements of Return-To-Launch-Site (RTLS) weather parameters.

When the mission did finally launch, the crew observed and photographed auroras and lightning discharges, along with four hurricanes in the Pacific Ocean. Measurements of solar UV radiation and UV backscatter radiation from Earth’s clouds were also obtained, which would be used to corroborate readings from instruments aboard NIMBUS 7 and the NOAA 9 and 11 satellites, which measured ozone concentration in the upper atmosphere. The In-Flame Preparation in Micro­gravity experiment was part of an improved fire safety technology investigation connected with safety in future manned spacecraft, while studies of the operation of two large heat pipe radiation elements were linked to the space station. The crew also worked with protein crystallisation, polymer membrane processing and bio­medical and fluid science experiments. They also evaluated new Shuttle computers, associated software and improved cursor control devices. In the medical experiments, data was obtained from use of the Lower Body Negative Pressure Device, as well as monitoring cardiovascular performance of the crew in anticipation of future inves­tigations during long space flights. Blaha and Lucid would both participate in their own long-duration flights aboard space station Mir in 1996 and 1997.

Milestones

143rd manned space flight

72nd US manned space flight

42nd Space Shuttle mission

9th mission for Atlantis

5th TDRS Shuttle deployment mission

1st female astronaut to make three space flights (Lucid)

1st planned landing at KSC since January 1986

STS-56 Posted by admin in Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006 on November 2, 2015

Int. Designation	1993-023A
Launched	7 April 1993
Launch Site	Pad 39B, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Landed	17 April 1993
Landing Site	Runway 33, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Launch Vehicle	OV-103 Discovery/ET-54/SRB BI-058/SSME #1 2024; #2 2033; #3 2018
Duration	9 days 6 hrs 8 min 24 sec
Call sign	Endeavour
Objective	Operation of ATLAS-2 science package located in the payload bay; SPARTAN-201 free flying astronomy platform

Flight Crew

CAMERON, Kenneth Donald, 43, USMC, commander, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-37 (1991)

OSWALD, Stephen Scott, 41, USNR, pilot, 2nd mission Previous mission: STS-42 (1992)

FOALE, Colin Michael, 36, civilian, mission specialist 1, payload commander, 2nd mission

Previous mission: STS-45 (1992)

COCKRELL, Kenneth Dale, 42, USNR, mission specialist 2 OCHOA, Ellen Lauri, 34, civilian, mission specialist 3

Flight Log

The 6 April launch attempt for STS-56 was halted at T — 11 seconds by the orbiter’s computers. Incorrectly configured instrumentation on the LH high-point bleed valve in the main propulsion system indicated it was in an “off” position instead of the “on” position. The launch was set for 8 April, after a 48-hour scrub was implemented.

Once again the crew worked in two shifts throughout the mission. Foale and Cockrell operated the Red Shift, while Cameron, Oswald and Ochoa worked the Blue Shift. All seven ATLAS instruments had flown on ATLAS-1 in 1992 and were scheduled to fly a third time on ATLAS 3 in 1994. The ATLAS payload continued the collection of data regarding the relationship between energy from the Sun and the middle atmosphere of Earth, and how such a relationship affects the ozone layer. The other primary payload was deployed by the RMS on 11 April. The Shuttle Pointing Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy-201 (SPARTAN-201) was a free-flying science platform whose configuration was designed to study the velocity and acceleration of solar wind particles and to make observations of the Sun’s

Mounted on a Spacelab pallet at centre is the primary payload of STS-56, ATLAS-2. The SPARTAN-201, with a protective covering over its instruments, is mounted directly behind ATLAS-2. This photo was taken in Bay 3 of the Orbiter Processing Facility at KSC during cargo-processing in February 1993

corona. The data collected during its independent flight was stored onboard tape recorders for play-back after its return to Earth. The RMS retrieved the SPARTAN – 201 on 13 April.

In addition to the primary payload, the flight included a suite of mid-deck payloads, focusing on biomedical and life science research, Earth location targeting equipment and optical calibration tests. In addition, SAREX was flown again, with the crew making numerous radio contracts with schools across the globe. They also reported brief contact with the Russian Mir space station, the first such confirmed contact between the Shuttle and space station using amateur equipment.

The landing of STS-56 was originally planned for 16 April, but was delayed due to bad weather conditions. The payload commander on this mission, Mike Foale, indicated that he did not wish to fly the third ATLAS mission having flown the first two, as he did not wish to become known as “Mr. Atlas” for the rest of his astronaut career. He suggested Ellen Ochoa as the next PC. This format of re-flying crew members on the same series of missions freed up training time and utilised actual flight experience to provide an on-going flow of CB contact with series payloads from one flight to the next.

Milestones

159th manned space flight

84th US manned space flight

54th Shuttle mission

16th flight of Discovery

4th Spacelab pallet-only mission

1st amateur radio contact between Shuttle and Mir

Cockrell celebrates his 43rd birthday in space (9 Apr)

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