Soyuz Re-entry Failure Theory To Be Tested
Aviation Week
“Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineer Yuri Lonchakov will install a Langmuir probe near the Soyuz docked at the station’s Pirs docking compartment so Russian engineers can gauge the temperature and density of the surrounding plasma as well as its electric potential.
“Kirk Shireman, NASA’s deputy ISS program manager, said the probe was a last-minute addition to the cargo in Progress M-66/31P, which docked Nov. 30. Russian engineers believe the plasma environment around the station contributed to the failures of explosive bolts on two successive Soyuz re-entries, and they wanted to characterize the plasma environment as close to the Soyuz as possible.”
Guy Bujold, Canadian Space Agency president; Jean-Jacques Dordain, European Space Agency director-general; NASA Administrator Michael Griffin; Anatolii N. Perminov, Russian Federal Space Agency head; and Keiji Tachikawa, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency president. Credit: ESA/S. Corvaja
The Heads of the Five Families Space Agencies met in Paris this week to discuss ending the Mob war, dividing up the narcotics trade, and bringing Michael Corleone back from Sicily the future of the International Space Station.
Among other things, the meeting produced this statement supporting their own efforts on - of all things - the International Space Station, which they have spent the last 20 years building.
Heads of Agency International Space Station Joint Statement
PARIS — The heads of the International Space Station (ISS) agencies from Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia and the United States met at European Space Agency (ESA) Headquarters in Paris on July 17, 2008, to review ISS cooperation. As part of their discussions, they noted the significantly expanded capability that the ISS now provides for on-orbit research and technology development activities and as an engineering test bed for flight systems and operations that are critical to future space exploration initiatives. These activities improve the quality of life on Earth by expanding the frontiers of human knowledge.
Continue reading ‘Heads of the Five Space Agencies Meet; Is Bloody ISS Turf War Finally Over?’
Having spent near a quarter century and $100 billion on the International Space Station, NASA may have significant problems completing the orbital outpost by 2010 and supporting it after the agency retires the space shuttle the same year.
That is the rather dour assessment delivered by the Government Accountability Office during a Congressional hearing on Thursday. GAO’s Cristina Chaplain said NASA’s station completion plans”require much to happen and very little to go wrong” over the next two years. Once the agency completes station construction, it will retire the space shuttle.
Chaplain said NASA will have a difficult time replacing the shuttle’s large payload capacity. The significant “shortfall in (NASA’s) ability to provide logistical support to the station … may well impact support for a six-person crew and the quality of the research that can be conducted,” she said.
NASA officials disagreed, expressing confidence that they can finish the station in two years and keep the facility supplied with a mixture of Russian, Japanese and European vehicles. The space agency also is funding development of commercial resupply ships under its COTS program.
There’s more about GAO’s report and NASA’s response below:
GAO Report (PDF Document)
Shuttle’s retirement could leave space station lacking support
Orlando Sentinel
Shuttles’ end may leave space station out in the cold
Houston Chronicle
Report: Supplying ISS will be difficult
Florida Today
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has unveiled the first flight model of its H-II Transfer Vehicle, which is set to deliver cargo to the International Space Station in summer 2009, Aviation Week reports.
The 10-meter long, 16.5-metric ton cargo ship will be the heaviest vehicle ever launched by Japan. It will be lofted into orbit by the country’s new Mitsubishi H-IIB rocket. The HTV is capable of supplying the station with about 6 metric tons of equipment and supplies. It will supplement Russia’s Progress and Europe’s ATV freighters.
A Soyuz rocket lifted off from the Baikonaur Cosmodrome on Tuesday carrying a new crew to the International Space Station. Russian cosmonauts Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko were joined by South Korea’s Yi So-yeon, a 29-year-old bioengineering student, on the Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft.
Volkov and Kononenko will join American Garrett Reisman as the new crew ISS crew. Yi will return to Earth with current ISS crew members Yuri Malenchenko and Peggy Whitson on April 19 aboard the Soyuz now docked at the station.
Yi is the first South Korean in space. Volkov is the first second-generation space explorer. His father Alexander logged 391 days in space on three flights during the 1980’s and 1990’s.
The Times of India has a brief report indicating the country may send an astronaut to the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The news follows a meeting between Russian and Indian space officials in Moscow. Negotiations are reported to be in the early stages.
In April 1984, India’s first astronaut, Rakesh Sharma, flew aboard Soyuz T-11 to the Salyut 7 space station, where he spent 8 days.
The Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle is now in a parking orbit about 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) from the International Space Station. Controllers will put the cargo vessel through a series of maneuvers over the next two weeks before they attempt a docking on April 3.
The European Space Agency’s web site has updated information as well as a schedule.
Ko San, a 30-year-old computer science engineer, will take kimchi along with him when he flies to the International Space Station next month aboard a Soyuz spacecraft.
San, who beat out 36,000 contestants for the honor of becoming South Korea’s first astronaut, is scheduled for an April 8 launch to the orbiting outpost. He will conduct experiments aboard the station for 10 days.
The International Herald Tribune reports that Korean scientists have spent millions of dollars developing kimchi and nine other Korean foods suitable for space travel.
“This will greatly help my mission. When you’re working in space-like conditions and aren’t feeling too well, you miss Korean food,” Ko said. “Since I am taking kimchi with me, this will help cultural exchanges in space.”
