SOYUZ TMA-20
2010-067A December 15, 2010
Pad 1, Site 5, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of
Kazakhstan
May 24, 2011
Near town of Dzhezkazgan, Republic of Kazakhstan Soyuz-FG (serial number Ы5000-034),
Soyuz TMA (serial number 230)
159 da 8h 17min 15 s Yaryag
ISS resident crew transport ISS-26/27 (25S)
Flight crew
KONDRATYEV, Dmitri Yuriyevich, 41, Russian Federation Air Force, RSA Soyuz TMA commander, ISS-26 flight engineer, ISS-27 commander COLEMAN, Catherine Grace, 50, USAF (Retd.), NASA-Soyuz TMA and ISS-26/27 flight engineer, third mission Previous missions’. STS-73 (1995), STS-93 (1999)
NESPOLI, Paolo, 53, civilian (Italian), ESA-Soyuz TMA and ISS-26/27 flight engineer, second mission Previous mission: STS-120 (2007)
Flight log
The next resident crew to fly to the ISS launched to the station on one of the last TMA versions of the venerable Soyuz spacecraft. The trio was another truly international crew. Commander of the Soyuz was rookie cosmonaut Kondratyev, who would serve as commander of ISS-27 after he and his two Shuttle veteran colleagues served as flight engineers on ISS-26. Docking occurred on December 17 at the Rassvet module with the hatches opened three hours after docking for the crew to join their ISS-26 colleagues.
The Descent Module in which they had flown to the station was not the one they had planned to fly. The original Descent Module of TMA-20 was damaged in October 2009 during transportation to the Baikonur Cosmodrome from the Ener – giya factory where it had been fabricated. Fortunately, Soyuz is comprised of three separate but integrated elements and, as several other components were in various stages of preparation, the Descent Module planned for TMA-21 was available as a replacement. The planned launch date only slipped by two days. This demonstrated the flexibility and versatility of both the Soyuz design and the Russian spacecraft processing system.
Cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev conducts an EVA at the Russian segment. |
The damage was apparently due to “sloppiness” on the part of the transport team, which resulted in serious damage to the transport container and a 1.5 mm displacement in the base of the Descent Module. This was sufficient to create a micro-fracture in the pressure compartment, which would need detailed examination back at Energiya. It was not clear if this would result in taking the affected Descent Module out of the flight manifest permanently. Energiya reported that about 30 different elements of the TMA vehicle were in various stages of production at the time of the incident. Once the new element had been incorporated into the processing flow, preparations for the mission continued without further incident.
Once safely aboard the station, the new crew received their required safety and update briefings. They were given a light-duty weekend before joining their three colleagues in their six-person science program. There were now three cosmonauts working the Russian segment experiments, two Americans handling the U. S. segment, and Nespoli in Columbus (assisted by the Americans where necessary). The joint program for ISS-26/27 was stated to include 504 sessions of 41 experiments in the Russian segment, of which 7 were brand new investigations. There would be over 366 hours of work conducted during the ISS-26 phase. Over in the U. S. segment, the expedition would work on 111 experiments, of which 73 were from NASA. Of these, 22 came under the auspices of the National Laboratory status and a further 38 from other partner agencies. This entailed over 540 hours of planned crew time.
Following Christmas, New Year, and the Russian Orthodox Christmas on January 7, the crew prepared equipment for a Russian EVA on January 21. The 5 h 23 min EVA by Kondratyev and Skripochka saw them install and repair equipment. A second EVA was completed on February 16 lasting 4 hours 51 minutes during which the two cosmonauts installed Earth monitoring experiments to the exterior of Zvezda and removed two exposure panels from the same module and discarded a foot restraint. The two space walks logged 10 hours and 14 minutes of EVA time for the pair of cosmonauts.
The first weeks in the New Year were a busy time for the crew with the arrival of HTV-2, ATV-2, and STS-133, as well as departure and arrival of Progress craft. On March 14, Kondratyev assumed command of the ISS from Kelly. When the TMA-M crew departed on March 16, the Soyuz TMA-20 crew became the ISS-27 expedition, initially as a three-person residency. They would be joined by their three new colleagues on April 6, 2011 with the arrival of Soyuz TMA-21.
April saw much to celebrate on board the station. Nespoli celebrated his 54th birthday on April 6 and this was followed on April 12 by two important anniversary celebrations. The first was the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s historic first manned space flight and the second was the 30th anniversary of the first Shuttle mission. On April 17, new arrival Andrei Borisenko celebrated his 47th birthday on orbit. Yet another anniversary was celebrated on April 19 as the crew observed the 10th anniversary of the launch of the station’s robotic arm systems. This was also the 40th anniversary of the launch of Salyut 1, the world’s first space station, something that was overlooked somewhat by the world’s media. The TMA-20 mission was full of celebrations, and actually missed two as well. Coleman had turned 50 the day before launch (had the mission launched as planned she would have celebrated her birthday in orbit), and Kondratyev celebrated his 42nd birthday the day after landing.
On April 29, the STS-134 mission was scrubbed for about a month due to technical issues, which meant that it would arrive at the station towards the end of this residency. On May 3 came the sad news of the death, aged 78, of Nespoli’s mother Maria Motta, in Verano Brianza, northern Italy. The astronaut had been aware that his mother was ill and, as a mark of respect, the combined crew of six gathered the next day in the Cupola for a minute’s silence in her memory as they gazed out over the Earth below them. The STS-134 mission arrived at the station on May 18 and remained docked until May 30, delivering the ExPRESS Logistics Carrier-3 and Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-02. What was different on this mission was that the TMA-20 departed the station before the Shuttle, thus offering the opportunity for the Soyuz crew to photograph from a distance the almost complete complex with a Shuttle orbiter docked with it for the first time.
On May 22, Kondratyev passed the command of station to fellow cosmonaut Andrei Borisenko, formally ending the ISS-27 program which officially ceased with the undocking of TMA-20 two days later. During the fly-around, Nespoli took a series of stunning and unique photos of the ISS complex with the Soyuz TMA, Progress, ATV, and Endeavour docked to it. Never again would such a photo be possible. Only one mission remained on the Shuttle manifest and no Soyuz departures were planned during that flight.
It had been a busy expedition, reflecting the changes in the program as the final Shuttle missions arrived and new resupply craft were being introduced. The TMA-20 crew had spent over 157 days of their mission duration on board the station, with 87 days as part of the ISS-26 crew and about 71 days as lead ISS-27 crew.
Milestones
279th manned space flight 114th Russian manned space flight 107th manned Soyuz flight 20th manned Soyuz TMA mission 25th ISS Soyuz mission (25S)
26/27th ISS resident crew
Nespoli celebrates his 54th birthday (April 6)
Borisenko celebrates his 47th birthday (April 17)
Distant photography conducted of ISS with Shuttle and other current transport vehicles docked to it for the first and only time
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2011-008A
February 24, 2011
LC39A, KSC, Florida, U. S.A.
March 9, 2011
Runway 15, Shuttle Landing Facility, KSC, Florida, U. S.A.
OV-103 Discovery/ET-137/SRBs BI-144/SSME: #1 2044,
#2 2048, #3 2058
12da 19h 3min 51 s
Discovery
ISS flight ULF-5
Flight crew
LINDSEY, Steven Wayne, 50, USAF, NASA commander, fifth mission Previous missions: STS-87 (1997), STS-95 (1998), STS-104 (2001), STS 121 (2008) BOE, Eric Allen, 46, USAF, NASA pilot DREW Jr., Benjamin Alvin, 48, civilian, NASA mission specialist 1, second mission
Previous mission: STS-118 (2007)
BOWEN, Steven George, USN, NASA mission specialist 2, third mission Previous missions’. STS-126 (2008), STS-132 (2010)
BARRATT, Michael Reed, civilian, NASA mission specialist 3, second mission Previous mission: Soyuz TMA-14/ISS-19/20 (2009)
STOTT, Nicole Maria Passano, 48, civilian, NASA mission specialist 4, second mission
Previous mission: STS-128/129/ISS-20/21 (2009)
Flight log
When this crew was named, they were also announced as the final Shuttle crew. At the time, this was indeed planned as the final Shuttle mission, manifested to fly after STS-134. However, as had been the way of the Shuttle program since its inception, the manifest changed and the flight sequence altered. The main payload for STS-134 was delayed and the mission slipped in the launch schedule to fly after STS-133. Then STS-135 was added to the manifest as the new final Shuttle mission. The change in flight sequence was not the only one, as there was also a milestone alteration to the crew. In January 2011, mission specialist Tim Kopra was injured in an off-duty bicycle accident and his lengthy recovery saw Steve Bowen take his place on the mission. Bowen thus became the first (and only)
The newly attached Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) and a docked Soyuz are featured in this image. |
NASA astronaut to fly back-to-back Shuttle missions, having just completed a flight as mission specialist on STS-132.
Aboard Discovery for its final voyage was the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), which had been converted into the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) that would be attached to the station as an additional storage facility. Previously, MPLMs were returned back to Earth in the Shuttle payload bay full of unwanted equipment and trash; but, with volume at a premium on station, it had been decided to convert one of the three available MPLMs for permanent attachment. The Shuttle’s cargo also included the ExPRESS Logistics Carrier 4, which was filled with equipment and spares. Among the delivered cargo was the Robonaut R2 humanoid robot, which was to be evaluated inside the station for its potential as a support for future EYAs or for activities outside the station that were potentially risky or inaccessible for an astronaut in a pressure suit. Reports suggested that later variants of the Robonaut could be used to support future operations on the Moon, at Mars, or the asteroids.
Discovery was rolled over to the YAB on September 9, 2010 and mated with the ET two days later. Discovery’s final rollout to the launchpad occurred on September 20, with a planned launch for the end of October. However, problems with a leak in the Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS), followed by a main engine controller problem and a leak from a ground umbilical plate pushed the mission into 2011.
Prelaunch preparations were blighted with niggling problems, especially with the ET, where inner stringers had to be strengthened. Things did not bode well when further leaks were found in the tank’s insulation and a seal had to be replaced. A loose screw in an inspection tool caused it to fall on to the ET and it was thought that another delay would ensue. Fortunately no serious damage was found and processing continued without further problems. Another issue, however, was the upcoming launch and docking of ATV-2 with the station and the launch of an ELV (Delta IV) from the Cape. To prevent these conflicts, a 24 h launch slip was proposed for STS-133, to allow time to dock the ATV with the station and still allow for the flight rule of 72 hours between station dockings. However, a slip on the ATV launch moved the Shuttle docking closer again, so NASA decided to return to the original schedule for the Shuttle—launching just 6 hours after the ATV docked with the space station. The scheduled date to launch the Delta, March 11, would require the Shuttle to land by March 10. This still allowed the mission plan, with a landing at the Cape planned for either March 8 or 9 and a 2-day contingency for safety. Launching vehicles into space, bringing them together in orbit, and returning them home again is never straightforward.
The ascent to orbit occurred without incident on February 24, and over the next two days the crew checked the orbiter’s heat shield and EVA equipment. Following the backflip for further heat shield inspection by the station crew, Discovery docked on February 26 at the Harmony module. Within 2 hours, the internal hatches were open and the combined crew of 12 astronauts and cosmonauts completed the ceremonial greetings before getting straight down to the joint work program.
Another space first for this mission was the combined docking of all available resupply craft at the station at the same time—Shuttle, Progress, Soyuz, ATV, and the recently arrived Japanese HTV—something that would not be achieved again. A planned fly-around of the new Soyuz TMA-M was canceled by the Russians as an unnecessary risk for the new spacecraft on its maiden flight, a safety issue agreed to by both the American and Russian partners.
From inside the docked vehicles, the astronauts used the Shuttle RMS and station robotic arm to move the ELC-4 across to the truss structure on February 24 for unloading at a later date. There were two EVAs (totaling 12 h 48 min) completed during this mission, by Drew and Bowen.
The first EVA (February 28, 6h 34 min) featured the installation of a backup power cable between the Unity and Tranquility nodes. The two astronauts also moved the now redundant failed 800 lb (362.88 kg) ammonia pump to the External Stowage Platform-2 for return to Earth (possibly during the STS-135 flight at this point) for postflight analysis and determination of its unexpected and unexplained July 2010 failure. The astronauts also installed a Japanese education exposure experiment that would be retrieved on the very next EVA.
Between EVAs, on March 1, the PMM was moved to its permanent position on the Earth-facing (nadir) port on Unity. Protection shields had been fitted to its exterior to ensure it would endure at least 10 years in orbit as part of the ISS. The second EVA (March 2, 6h 14 min) featured a range of maintenance tasks and the retrieval of the Japanese education exposure experiment.
During the docked phase, logistics transfers continued and the crew assisted in outfitting the station to expand its scientific operations. The Robonaut unit, which was still boxed up in foam packaging, raised a few smiles during the crew’s conversation with U. S. President Barack Obama when Lindsey joked that the crew was sure that every now and again they could hear scratching from inside the crate! The crew also tested a SpaceX DragonEye sensor, essentially a Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) system, designed to evaluate alternative technologies for use in future automated and manned spacecraft docking with the station.
The crew enjoyed a couple of days rest prior to undocking on March 6 after 7 days 23 hours 55 minutes of joint activities. The landing occurred during the night of March 9 and with it Discovery completed its final mission into space.
In a 27 yr career which began with the STS-41D mission during August and September 1984, the orbiter had logged 39 missions, completed 15,830 orbits, and flown 148,221,675 miles. A few hours after landing, Discovery was towed to the OPF for the final time, where it would be de-processed, decontaminated, and finally decommissioned before relocation to a museum for public display. Sadly, the final acts of the operational Shuttle era were being played out.
Milestones
280th world manned space flight 163rd U. S. manned space flight 35th Shuttle ISS mission 133rd Shuttle flight 13 th Discovery ISS flight 39th and last Discovery flight First back-to-back Shuttle flight by an astronaut (Bowen) First time public helped to choose crew wake-up songs