PROGRESS M-51

Progress M-51 was originally scheduled for launch on December 22, 2004, but was delayed by 24 hours as a result of the off-nominal ISS orbital boost carried out on

November 19. The Progress was launched at 17: 19, December 23, and followed a standard rendezvous pattern to dock to Zvezda’s wake at 18:58, December 25. Docking was delayed for approximately 30 minutes so that it would occur over Russian ground stations. Throughout the approach Sharipov stood ready to take over manual control using the TORU system, but his skills were not needed. After the docking, Korolev’s controller told the crew, “Hip, hip, hooray; Congratulations.” Chiao replied, “We’re looking forward to our big Christmas present, the arrival of Progress. Merry Christmas, to all of the people keeping us safe up here.’’

The crew took the remainder of the day off to celebrate the Christmas holiday and then had an extended sleep period that night. They opened the hatches into the new Progress the following day. In a Christmas message, Chiao remarked, “Salizhan and I are privileged to be the only humans off our beautiful planet. Although we miss our families and friends, our role on board this international complex is a message for all of us with a fundamental curiosity to explore.’’

On December 26 an earthquake in the seabed below the Indian Ocean sent a tsunami crashing into the coastlines of several Asian countries, causing thousands of deaths and millions of dollars worth of damage. Around the world a major relief effort swung into action. The Expedition-10 crew took photographs of the disaster

Figure 51. Expedition-10: Salizhan Sharipov holds a docking probe removed from a Progress cargo vehicle. It would be stored in Zarya until the Shuttle resumed flying, at which time it would be returned to Earth for refurbishment and re-use. The doorway on the left-hand edge of the frame gives access to one of Zvezda’s two sleeping quarters. Note the picture of Russian spaceflight pioneers Konstantin Tsiokolvsky and Yuri Gagarin on the wall behind him.

area to show coastal change. Those pictures were sent down to Houston for analysis. Sharipov and Chiao then spent the remainder of the year unloading the new Progress and completing routine maintenance. Houston played a recording of the song Auld Lang Syne over the radio link to mark the moment of New Year. The crew also received greetings from controllers in Korolev.

In a press conference from space the two cosmonauts talked about the weight they had lost as a result of having to ration their food intake until Progress M-51 had arrived at the station. Chiao remarked:

“Both of us ended up losing a few pounds, but I guess that’s nothing we can really complain about… A lot of people would be happy to lose about 5 or 10 pounds. We looked at it as kind of a challenge, kind of a camping adventure, roughing it, I guess.’’

He added:

“All throughout this whole thing, we kept real good spirits. Salizhan and I have been keeping each other up, joking around, and it’s been very pleasant even with some of the shortages.’’

Chiao blamed the food shortage on Foale and Padalka, who had sought permission to eat some of the next crew’s food when their own return to Earth was delayed:

“The last crew had gotten into our food and had failed to actively report to the ground what they had taken out of our allotment.’’

During January 1, 2005, air bubbles in the plumbing caused the Elektron oxygen generator to shut down again. Sharipov carried out a number of repairs over the following days, but the unit performed erratically. The crew purged gases from the system’s lines and replaced the electrolyte in the unit, and finally had it running again by January 6. Later that day it was switched from the primary pump to a back-up and continued to function intermittently. On January 4, while the Elektron was not operating, oxygen was added to the station’s atmosphere from tanks in Progress M-51.

The crew observed the Russian Orthodox Christmas on January 7, but both men performed experiments. The first week of the year saw the crew follow a light main­tenance schedule, including the NEUROCOG experiment, which studied how the body’s sense of balance adapted to microgravity. The astronauts sent a message of condolence to the victims of the tsunami. Throughout the following week, the crew assisted Houston in updating 1.5 million lines of computer code. They also began preparations for the Stage EVA planned for January 26. They had a day off on January 15, although controllers in Korolev fired the rockets in Progress M-51 to raise the station’s altitude and place it in the correct position to receive Progress M – 52, due to dock on March 2. These burns are not really designed to change the

altitude, but by setting the altitude to achieve a specific orbital period the phasing could be arranged to suit the rendezvous requirements of the ship about to launch.

The third week of the month was spent preparing for the EVA, charging pressure suit batteries, preparing tools, checking out their Orlan suits, and spending time on the station’s stationary bicycles to complete cardiovascular evaluation exercises. Meanwhile, controllers in Houston completed vibration and electrical current tests on CMG-2, which was run at each of its 15 available speeds over a period of 4 hours. Solar storms on January 18 and 20 led to instructions that both men should shelter in Zvezdawhenever the station passed above the most heavily affected regions of Earth’s atmosphere. Chiao and Sharipov marked their 100th day in space on January 21. The previous night the Elektron unit had shut down and only began working again after air bubbles in the water loop had been purged.

On January 26, both men donned their Orlan EVA suits and sealed themselves in Pirs. As on previous EVAs undertaken by caretaker crews, ISS’ systems were either powered off or placed into automated mode, and the hatches between the Russian and American sectors of the station were closed. After venting the atmosphere in Pirs they opened the outer hatch at 02: 43 and exited. Their first tasks were to set up the tethers and tools for the tasks ahead. Next they installed a Universal Work Platform (Russian initials: URM-D) and a base plate (FP-20) at the forward end of the large conical section of Zvezda, before mounting the German Robotics Component Verification on ISS (ROKVISS) experiment on the platform along with its antenna and cabling. When the 0.5 m long, two-jointed manipulator arm, designed to test small robotic joints in the vacuum of space, was first powered on it did not receive power. Chiao had to return to the location and re-seat the two power plugs. The system would be operated from the ground in Germany, or from a workstation inside Zvezda. The two astronauts then moved the tray holding the sole remaining Japanese MPAC/SEEDs experiment mounted on the exterior of Zvezda during the Expedi­tion-3 occupation, in October 2001. They removed it from its present mounting bracket and moved it to an adjacent bracket, in order to facilitate the installation of the ROKVISS antenna. Moving on again, they inspected vents on the exterior of Zvezda used by a number of environmental control systems, including the Elektron unit. Sharipov reported seeing both brown and white residues near the Elektron and Vozdukh carbon dioxide scrubber vents, and an oily substance on the thermal insulation surrounding the vents. Returning to Pirs, they installed the Biorisk – MSN experiment near the airlock’s hatch. Biorisk contained bracket-mounted canisters holding micro-organisms that would be exposed to the space environment before being returned to Earth for analysis. Entering the airlock, they sealed the hatch at 08 : 11, after an EVA lasting 5 hours 28 minutes. Returning to the station, they removed their suits, opened the hatches to the American sector, and reactivated the systems. They began a sleep period early in the afternoon, had the following day off, and spent the following week reconfiguring ISS for crewed operations. The last day of January was spent dressed in Sokol pressure suits, rehearsing re-entry procedures in Soyuz TMA-5.

As February began the two men began preparing for the Space Shuttle’s return to flight. On February 1, Chiao reported that he had finished packing all American

articles due to be returned to Earth in Discovery’s MPLM on the STS-114 flight. Work was continuing to pack Russian equipment. Chiao also completed an inventory of the food remaining onboard. The crew also worked on their national experiments. These included three runs of the Russian Plasma Crystal experiment, EarthKam, and the Space Experiment Module Satchel (SEMS). The last contained six school experiments in separate vials and had been delivered on the last Progress. Chiao also updated the software in the malfunctioning Space Integrated GPS/Inertial Navigation System, which supplied Global Positioning Satellite information to the station’s guidance and navigation system.

On February 8 the two Asian crewmembers celebrated Chinese New Year. On the same day there was a temporary loss of attitude control, when a wrong command sent from the ground caused one of the CMGs to become saturated. The Russian thruster system on Zvezda assumed the responsibility for attitude control, until the CMG could be reset. The crew spent several hours auditing the EMUs and their supporting equipment held in the Quest airlock. Chiao also replaced the metal oxide (METOX) canisters, which scrubbed the used oxygen in the suits. Both men completed their ongoing experiment programme throughout the week.

The Elektron oxygen generation system was powered off, after failing twice overnight, to allow the station to be repressurised, three times, using the oxygen remaining in the tanks on Progress M-51. The motors on Progress M-51 were used to adjust the station’s orbit on February 15. Remaining propellant was then pumped from the Progress to tanks in Zvezda later in the week. Sharipov removed the KURS docking system from the Progress for return to Earth on Discovery when Shuttle flights resumed. The crew also spent several days carrying out the semi-annual inspection and service of their treadmill, which involved partially disassembling the machine. In Houston, flight controllers powered up the Mobile Base System on the truss, and found they could not receive video from one of the cart’s cameras.

Most of the following week was spent packing rubbish into Progress M-51 prior to its departure. The spacecraft’s hatch was closed on February 25. On the same day American controllers in Houston completed 2 days of tests on the SSRMS, using the new software that had been loaded the previous month. This was the first time the SSRMS had been able to be operated from Earth. Throughout the test Chiao stood at the arm’s operating station in Destiny, ready to assume control if required. The test was successful and Chiao’s intervention was not required. This upgrade in capability would enable the ground to manipulate the arm to observe future two-person EVAs.

Progress M-51 was undocked at 11:06 on February 27. The cargo vessel was manoeuvred to a safe distance where Russian flight controllers used it in a 10-day long series of engineering tests.