Space Station Expedition 35 Crew Return Safely to Earth

A Soyuz Progress space capsule carrying a three-man crew returning from a five-month mission to the International Space Station has landed safely on the steppes of Kazakhstan.

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, American Thomas Marshburn, and Russian Roman Romanenko landed as planned south east of the town of Dzhezkazgan.

Live footage on NASA TV showed the Soyuz TMA-07M capsule slowly descending by parachute onto the sun-drenched steppes under clear skies. Russian search and rescue helicopters hovered over the landing site for a quick recovery effort.

Rescue teams moved quickly to help the crew in their bulky spacesuits get out through the narrow exit hatch of the capsule. They were then put into reclining chairs to start adjusting to Earth's gravity after 146 days in space.

The three astronauts smiled as they chatted with space agency officials and doctors who were checking their condition. Mr Hadfield, who served as the space station's commander, gave a thumbs-up sign. They then made quick phone calls to family members and friends.

NASA spokesman Josh Byerly said by telephone from the landing site that the three returning astronauts were doing very well.

Cmdr Hadfield, 53, an engineer and former test pilot from Milton, Ontario, was Canada's first professional astronaut to live aboard the space station and became the first Canadian in charge of a spacecraft. He relinquished command of the space station on Sunday.

"It's just been an extremely fulfilling and amazing experience end to end," he told Mission Control.

"From this Canadian to all the rest of them, I offer an enormous debt of thanks." He was referring to all those in the Canadian Space Agency who helped make his flight possible.

He bowed out of orbit by posting a music video on YouTube on Sunday - his own version of David Bowie's Space Oddity. It is believed to be the first music video made in space, according to NASA.

NASA James Webb Telescope: Super-Speed Look at Progress

A full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope was built by the prime contractor, Northrop Grumman, to provide a better understanding of the size, scale and complexity of the observatory. 

The model is constructed mainly of aluminum and steel, weighs 12,000 lb., and is approximately 80 feet long, 40 feet wide and 40 feet tall. 

The model requires 2 trucks to ship it and assembly takes a crew of 12 approximately four days.

Credit: Bobby Bradley/NASA

NASA released a new sped-up, 32-second video that shows engineers working on some of the James Webb Space Telescope's flight components to integrate them together to ensure they will work perfectly together in space.

The "NASA Webb Clean Room at Super-speed" video was filmed in the giant clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and produced at Goddard.

Testing of the two flight instruments that have been delivered to Goddard has been ongoing in the past several months.

The video is available on a NASA website in HD at: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?11220

› Larger image Engineers and scientists at Goddard have begun assembling the four science instruments together. In a recently released video from NASA clean room personnel are shown installing the Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) instrument into a larger structure called the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) structure.

The ISIM structure is the larger skeletal structure in the video, and the FGS is the object on the end of a balance beam being moved by a crane.

"This is the integration of the FGS/NIRISS instrument onto the ISIM structure," said Scott Lambros, Webb Instrument systems manager at Goddard.

"This is the first of the four instruments to be integrated on the structure and is a very exciting time. It clearly shows we are moving into a new phase, from development, into the integration and then testing phase."

The FGS is actually one half of a combination instrument with the Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) science instrument.

The FGS will enable the telescope to accurately and precisely point at the correct, intended objects for it to observe.

"The Webb telescope fine guidance sensor which provides pointing stability, or image stabilizer control, has been installed and being readied for testing together with other instruments in the ISIM," said Ray Lundquist, ISIM systems engineer at Goddard.

The FGS is packaged together as a single unit with the NIRISS science instrument and is developed and provided by the Canadian Space Agency and its prime contractor, COM DEV.

The ISIM is the whole integrated system of instruments on the Webb. It's one of four major elements that comprise the Webb Observatory flight system.

It contains the four science instruments that will detect light from distant stars and galaxies, and planets orbiting other stars.

The ISIM itself provides electrical, computational and heat management services for the science instruments.

"The MIRI instrument will be the next to be integrated onto the structure within the next month, with the NIRCam and NIRSpec instruments to follow later this year," Lambros said.

Another video was released last year produced by the Space Science Telescope Institute of Baltimore, Md., in the "Behind the Webb" series.

That video, called "Canada's Dynamic Duo," took viewers behind the scenes where the instruments were created, and is on-line.

The most powerful space telescope ever built, Webb is the successor to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Webb's four instruments will reveal how the universe evolved from the big bang to the formation of our solar system. Webb is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

To download the "NASA Webb Cleanroom at Super-speed" HD video, visit: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?11220

To see a related "Behind the Webb" video on FGS and NIRISS

To learn more about the ISIM.

Progress Soyuz-2.1V lightweight carrier rocket: Launch Delayed

The new Soyuz-2.1V lightweight carrier rocket is a modernised version of the Soyuz-2.1B, from which the Soyuz rocket's trademark four external booster rockets have been removed.

Credit: RIA Novosti

The first launch of Russia's new Soyuz-2.1V lightweight carrier rocket, scheduled for early 2013, is now likely to be delayed until the second half of 2013, its maker Progress said on Thursday.

"The first launch of the Soyuz-2.1V rocket has been preliminarily scheduled for the second half of this year," Progress design bureau's general director Alexander Kirilin said, without specifying the reasons for the delay.

Russia originally planned to launch the first Soyuz-2.1V in October but that was postponed after a failed ground test of its first-stage engines in August, Progress said.

Last December, the commander of Russia's Aerospace Defense Forces, Maj.Gen. Alexander Golovko, said the first Soyuz 2.1V launch would take place at the start of 2013.

The new rocket is a modernized version of the Soyuz-2.1B, from which the Soyuz rocket's trademark four external booster rockets have been removed.

The first stage is equipped with a rocket engine derived from the legendary NK-33, according to the Plesetsk cosmodrome website.

The NK-33 was developed in the 1970's to carry Soviet cosmonauts to the moon onboard the giant N1 rocket.

The rocket is capable of delivering a payload of up to 2.85 tons (6,300 lb) to an orbit at an altitude of 200 kilometers (120 miles), Progress claims.

Soyuz-2.1V launches may be carried out from upgraded launch pads at the Plesetsk Space Center in northwestern Russia and the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan.

ESA ISS Image: Soyuz Progress Spacecraft Approaching

Soyuz progress spacecraft approaching the ISS.

ROCOSMOS Soyuz: A Star is launched

Sarah Brightman once sang about losing her heart to a starship trooper. Now she’s paying more than £30million to become one herself – or at least as near as it’s possible for an earthly tourist to get.

The former wife of composer Andrew Lloyd Weber has confirmed she will be travelling to the International Space Station with the Russian Space Agency, ROSCOSMOS.

Reports in the US said she had ‘bumped’ an astronaut off the next flight after outbidding Nasa to secure her seat as the next space tourist.

The 52-year-old singer refused to say how much she paid for her place aboard the Soyuz spacecraft, but said she was getting sponsorship.

A US TV station said she had paid $51million (around £31.8million) – the highest sum ever offered for a ticket.

Miss Brightman will begin training for the mission in 2014 after a 12-month world tour and will lift off later that year for two weeks orbiting Earth.

 She said: ‘I am more excited about this than I have been about anything I have done. ‘Most of my life I have felt an incredible desire to take the journey to space that I have now begun. This is beyond my wildest dreams.'

She has already undergone physical and psychological tests in Moscow to prove she is fit enough for the challenge. ‘I was prodded and poked and a lot of blood was taken,’ she said.

KOUNOTORI3 (HTV3) - Third Expedition to Space - YouTube

In this Japanese video the narrator states that the HTV is only means of providing the ISS crews with fuel and supplies, this is of course, untrue. The European (ESA) ATV and the Soyuz Progress module are still in operation. Progress has long been the most reliable vessel for uplifting astronauts and a key support provider of the ISS.

NASA: Progress Docks To Station, Crew 30 Preps for Departure

The Expedition 30 crew members pose for an in-flight crew portrait in the European Space Agency's "Edoardo Amaldi" Automated Transfer Vehicle-3. Credit NASA

The ISS Progress 47 cargo craft docked to the International Space Station’s Pirs docking compartment Sunday at 10:39 a.m. EDT.

The Russian resupply craft replenishes the Expedition 30 crew with 2.8 tons of food, fuel and supplies.

The cargo delivery includes 1,988 pounds of propellant, 110 pounds of oxygen and air, 926 pounds of water and 2,703 pounds of spare parts, resupply items and experiment hardware.

Aboard the station Monday, Expedition 30 Commander Dan Burbank and Flight Engineers Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin continued to prepare for their return to Earth, packing items and conducting a review of undocking and descent procedures for the Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft that brought them to the orbiting laboratory back in November.

The trio is scheduled to undock in the Soyuz on Friday at 4:19 a.m. and land in Kazakhstan a little over three hours later ending Expedition 30.

Remaining aboard the station will be Flight Engineers Don Pettit, Andre Kuipers and Oleg Kononenko, who will become the Expedition 31 crew.

They will be joined by Flight Engineers Gennady Padalka, Joe Acaba and Sergei Revin, who are currently at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, preparing for their launch on May 14.

Roscosmos: Russia to launch new ISS module in 2013 as scheduled

Russia's federal space agency Roscosmos denied reports Friday of a delay to the launch of the new multi-purpose Nauka lab for the International Space Station (ISS).

"The launch has been planned for the second half of 2013. No decisions about a delay have been made," said Alexei Krasnov, head of Roscosmos' department for manned flights.

Earlier Friday, a source in the Russian space rocket industry reported the launch had been pushed back until at least spring 2014 but gave no reason.

Initially, the 20-ton Nauka lab was scheduled to launch in 2007 but it has been postponed several times due to underfinancing and re-design works.

The module will enable the Russian-manned Soyuz and Progress cargo ships to dock with the ISS, transfer fuel, control the station's orientation and store cargo. It is to replace the Pirs module, which will be decommissioned after undocking from the ISS.

Russian Space City: ISS Mock-up

At Space City Russian Segment ISS mockup receives a new addition. A docked Progress supply vehicle. (Right side)

Astronauts undergo Survival Training

It's much colder this week in Star City for Nemo, Canadian astronaut @Astro_Jeremy & Ivan!

Aurora and two Soyuz spacecraft docked to the ISS

Aurora and two Soyuz spacecraft docked to the International Space Station are seen in this photo taken by astronaut Mike Fossum.

The closest Soyuz spacecraft will be used to transport the astronauts home at the end of their mission.

The farthest Soyuz spacecraft is the Progress cargo ship. 

It is used to deliver new supplies to the ISS, and carry away waste. It is designed to burn up in the atmosphere once released from the ISS.

Picture: BARCROFT

Argentina from the ISS

This view of eastern Argentina and its coastline, taken by an astronaut on board the space station, shows a large plume of dust blowing from the interior to the Atlantic Ocean.

A docked Russian Progress spacecraft is visible at image upper right.

Picture: NASA / AFP/Getty

Soyuz ISS Progress 45 Cargo Uplift Lift-off

The unpiloted ISS Progress 45 cargo craft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:11 a.m. EDT Sunday.

Less than nine minutes later, the Progress reached its preliminary orbit and deployed its solar arrays and navigational antennas.

The Russian cargo craft is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station on Wednesday at 7:40 a.m.

It contains 2.8 tons of food, fuel and supplies for the Expedition 29 crew, including 1,653 pounds of propellant, 110 pounds of oxygen and air, 926 pounds of water and 3,108 pounds of spare parts, experiment hardware and other supplies.

It replaces the trash-filled ISS Progress 42 cargo craft which undocked from the station’s Pirs docking compartment Saturday. (See below)

The unpiloted Progress 42, which arrived at the station in late April, was deorbited for a destructive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere a few hours after undocking.

Once the station crew members have unloaded the cargo, Progress 45 will be filled with trash and station discards, then undocked from the station in late January.

Following its departure, controllers in Mission Control, Moscow, will raise its orbit to 310 miles (500 kilometers) so that they can deploy a microsatellite called Chibis.

Once the microsatellite is deployed, Progress 45 will be deorbited for a destructive re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.

› Read more about Progress resupply vehicles

Soyuz Progress cargo ship burns up in Earth's atmosphere

Mike Fossum (@Astro_Aggie): I Enjoy this picture taken from the ISS, of the Soyuz Progress cargo ship burning up in the atmosphere.

The Soyuz docking station on the ISS is now standing vacant and awaits the arrival of the new Progress supply vessel, launched today 29th Oct 2011.

Soyuz Spacecraft Loss: Russian Prosecutors Claim Management and Workers Negligent

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office blames the loss of the Express-AM4 telecommunications satellite Aug. 18 and the Progress M-12M space freighter six days later on employee negligence.

The Prosecution Office has proposed introducing criminal punishment for those found guilty of causing serious damage to the country’s space industry, the state-owned RIA Novosti news agency reported Oct. 18.

“Both incidents were the result of negligence by employees of state space industry enterprises subordinate to [Russian space agency] Roscosmos, [negligence] during control procedures, as well as the absence of proper control by Roscosmos of decision-making by authorised persons,” Marina Gridneva, spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office, said.

In addition to possible criminal punishment, the Prosecutor General’s Office is demanding fines and reprimands for those responsible for the loss of the spacecraft.

NASA Astronaut Ron Garan's Blog on Descent from ISS in Soyuz Capsule

A NASA Blog by Ron Garan relating a fabulous description of what it's like to descend from the ISS, through the seering heat of Earth's protective atmosphere, in a Soyuz Capsule.

Ron Garan:

About two weeks before my return to Earth, I had a videoconference from the International Space Station with astronaut Scott Kelly who told me about his experience plunging over Niagara Falls in a burning barrel six months before. 

 

He was actually describing what his own ride home from the ISS on a Soyuz spacecraft was like. Now that I’ve taken the same trip, I can tell you that it was as advertised, and more.

Travel Day

I spent undocking day completing a biological study and stowing it onboard the Soyuz for return to Earth, packing cargo, taking some last minute pictures of our beautiful planet from the space station Cupola, and Tweeting pictures I took on my last full day in space. 

 

Following a brief goodbye to Mike Fossum, Satoshi Furukawa and Sergei Volkov, who remain onboard the space station, Sasha, Andrey and I hurried into our Soyuz spacecraft, closed the hatch and started preparing for undocking. 

 

Once the hatch was closed, I put on special garments worn under my spacesuit to help counteract the negative effects of the g-forces we would encounter upon re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. 

 

Sasha and Andrey also dressed in their spacesuits, and then we all strapped into the same seats we occupied when we launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 5, 2011. Andrey was on the left, Sasha in the middle, and I sat on the right. 

Undocking

As the hooks securing our spacecraft released, springs pushed us slowly away from the space station. As we backed away, I took in my last views of the amazing orbital complex that we called home for five and a half months. I strained for a last glimpse of the outboard edge of the space station’s massive solar arrays through the window next to my seat.

We made a lap and a half around the Earth before the spacecraft fishtailed to point backwards, just as the moon was setting west of South America. Then, moments before passing the southern tip of the continent, I watched an orbital sunrise one last time. We then fired the main engines for about four and a half minutes, enough to slow us down for re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. 

The next big event during our return to Earth was the separation of our Soyuz spacecraft into three separate parts: the orbital compartment, the propulsion compartment and the descent capsule, the only part that would survive the transition through the atmosphere. Separation occurred with a small explosion followed by debris flying everywhere out my window!

 

Read More of this wild ride on Ron Garan's Blog

NASA Soyuz Alliance: ISS Crew Launch slated for Novemebr 14th 2011

NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have agreed on a Nov. 14 date for the first manned Soyuz rocket launch since the failure of a similar booster carrying a robotic cargo ship last month.

The decision follows an investigation by Russian space officials to identify the source of that failure and ensure it won't plague future launches, NASA announced today (Sept. 15).

It also clears the way for a new three-man crew to launch on the Soyuz to the International Space Station, sustaining the orbiting lab's 10-year streak for a continuous human presence in space.

"Our Russian colleagues have completed an amazing amount of work in a very short time to determine root cause and develop a recovery plan that allows for a safe return to flight," International Space Station program manager Michael Suffredini said in a statement.

Roscosmos plans to return three ISS crew members on Sept 16

Three crew members of the International Space Station (ISS) will return to Earth on Sept. 16.

This is later than previously scheduled due to a failed launch of the Progress cargo vehicle, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said Wednesday.

"There is no any danger for the ISS crew.

The crew possesses everything it needs for work," Roscosmos deputy head Vitali Davydov said during a television link between Moscow and Astana, the Interfax news agency reported.

Davydov said two Russian cosmonauts and one American astronauts would be sent back to Earth.

The official also promised that the launches of the Proton and Soyuz carrier rockets, which have been temporarily suspended due to the recent accidents, would not be postponed for a long time.

A Progress M-12M cargo ship failed to reach orbit Aug. 24 after the engine of a Soyuz-U carrier rocket turned off during the ascent. Following this incident, Russia decided to delay the launch of the next manned spaceship to the ISS.

Besides, Russia would not abandon the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, even after completion of the construction works at the new Vostochny launch site in Russia, said Davydov.

"There are no plans to abandon Baikonur. We have an agreement (with Kazakhstan) on using that space center until 2050," he was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.

Located in the desert steppe of Kazakhstan, Baikonur cosmodrome was originally built by the Soviet Union in 1955 and is currently leased by the Kazakh government to Russia until 2050.

Russian Crash Could Delay SpaceX Mission to Space Station

Last week's crash of a Russian cargo spacecraft could delay the first-ever private mission to the International Space Station, according to NASA officials.

Space Exploration Technologies — better known as SpaceX — is planning to launch its Dragon capsule toward the orbiting lab on Nov. 30, with a historic docking slated for nine days later.

BUT as a result of the Aug. 24 crash of the unmanned Russian Progress 44 supply ship, there might not be any astronauts aboard the station to receive Dragon in early December.

If that's the case, Dragon's launch would have to be postponed, officials said

How Would NASA & Russia Evacuate the International Space Station?

In the wake of a Russian rocket failure, NASA is considering evacuating the crew of the International Space Station later this year.

The unprecedented move would mark the first time in more than 10 years that the orbiting outpost has gone unmanned.

The space station evacuation is one possibility following the failure of the unmanned Russian supply spacecraft just after its Aug. 24 launch — a surprise given the reliable track record of its workhorse Soyuz rocket.

The vehicle’s Progress 44 cargo craft, and its 2.9 tons of supplies bound for the International Space Station, crashed in Siberia.

An investigation into the cause of the failure is under way, but until the issue is resolved NASA and its Russian partners are delaying upcoming launches to crews and cargo to the space station.

The Soyuz rockets used to launch Progress vehicles are similar to ones used to launch crews into orbit, station managers said.

[Photos: Russia's Lost Cargo Ship Progress 44]