The Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft launches atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Florida. Caption and Photo Credit: NASA TV
The fifth Orbital ATKCygnus cargo ship blasted into orbit atop an Atlas V rocket on Tuesday evening on a path to rendezvous and berth with the International Space Station during the early morning hours of March 26. This spacecraft, dubbed S.S. Rick Husband, is carrying 7,756 pounds (3,518 kilograms) of cargo bound for the orbiting outpost. It was launched at 11:05 p.m. EDT into near perfect weather conditions on March 22 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 41. The Atlas V rocket was in the 401 configuration: a four meter faring, zero solid rocket boosters and a single engine Centaur upper stage.
Video courtesy of NASA TV
Flying with the thousands of pounds of food, supplies and equipment is the Saffire-1 experiment. It's goal is to test the spread of fire on certain materials. The setup is contained in it's own compartment and will only be tested once the cargo ship safely leaves the ISS some 55 days from now. It will be the largest purposely-set fire in space. The goal is to understand the spread of flames in microgravity. Two more Saffire experiments will fly on subsequent Cygnus cargo ships. Cygnus will arrive at the ISS on the morning of March 26. NASA TV will cover the rendezvous and berthing operations live at 5:30 a.m. EDT.
A file photo of the previous Cygnus to visit the International Space Station. Photo Credit: NASA
Scott Kelly gives a "thumbs up" just minutes after being extracted from the Soyuz capsule. Photo Credit: Bill Ingalls / NASA
Blazing through the atmosphere and landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Korniyenko returned to Earth on the morning of March 2, 2016, after spending nearly a year at the International Space Station. Kelly and Korniyenko returned in the Soyuz TMA-18M with Sergey Volkov, who launched to the orbiting laboratory back in September and spent 181 days in space. The one-year duo were launched to the ISS on March 27, 2015 in Soyuz TMA-16M and subsequently spent 340 days in space—the longest single flight for an American and longest mission in the history of the ISS program. Over the course of their stay, they orbited Earth over 5,440 times and traveled more than 143 million miles (230 million kilometers). Additionally, nearly 400 experiments were performed in areas ranging from life sciences, robotics, biology and more. Kelly, who had been the commander of the space station since Sept. 5, 2015, relinquished his post to fellow NASA astronaut Tim Kopra on Feb. 29. “It’s kind of hard to believe that we’ve been here for two and a half months and it’s only a portion of Scott and [Mikhail’s] time here,” Kopra said after Kelly handed over command. “Special thank you to Scott. Thank you for your leadership. You’ve been such a great role model to us in every aspect—as a crew member and as a space station commander—so we’re very, very grateful.” Expedition 46 officially ended and Expedition 47 began when the Soyuz undocked at 7:02 p.m. CST on March 1 (00:10 GMT on March 2) from the Poisk module. Hatches between the spacecraft had been closed a few hours prior at 3:43 p.m. CST (21:43 GMT). Remaining on board the space station are Commander Kopra and Flight Engineers Tim Peake, from the European Space Agency (ESA), and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko. All three have been in space for more than 77 days. “We are very grateful to this crew, to you [Mikhail] and to you Scott,” Malenchenko said before hatch closure. “Thank you to the mission control centers in Moscow and Houston. Good luck guys and we’ll see you soon on the ground.”
Photo Credit: Scott Kelly / NASA
After pulling away from the station, the first separation burn occurred when the Soyuz was 66 feet (20 meters) away. The spacecraft fired its thrusters again for a second burn just 90 seconds later. About two and a half hours after undocking at 9:32 p.m. CST (3:32 GMT), while 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) from the ISS, the crew commanded the Soyuz’s SKD engine to fire for four minutes and 49 seconds, slowing the spacecraft down by about 420 feet (128 meters) per second. With that, the vehicle and crew were on an intercept course with the upper atmosphere. Shortly before Entry Interface, 27 minutes after the de-orbit burn, the three modules of the Soyuz—the Orbital Module, Descent Module and the Service Module—separated. Only the Descent Module with crew is intended to return to Earth safely. The Soyuz began to skirt the atmosphere just after 10 p.m. CST (4:00 GMT) going 4.73 miles (7.62 kilometers) per second. They were about 62 miles (100 kilometers) above the Arabian peninsula. Just under seven minutes later, slowing down to 1.41 miles (2.28 kilometers) per second while still 20.7 miles (33.4 kilometers) high, the crew experienced their maximum gravity load of about 4.57 times the force of Earth’s gravity. “Doing OK, feeling the pressure, feeling the G’s,” Volkov said during descent. The spacecraft soared through the atmosphere, creating a trail of super-heated plasma around the capsule for nearly 10 minutes before slowing down enough for the first set of parachutes to deploy.
That deployment came with the release of pilot chutes to pull the drogue chute out. The spacecraft and crew were just over 6 miles (10 kilometers) in altitude at this point, still going 695 feet (212 meters) per second. The drogue slowed the capsule to only 262 feet (80 meters) per second before the main parachute deployed. It’s surface area of 10,764 square feet (1,000 square meters) slowed the vehicle to about 21 feet (6.5 meters) per second. This slow descent lasted for about 10 minutes while the spacecraft and crew began to prepare for touchdown. First, the heat shield was jettisoned, which revealed the Soft Landing engines. Next, the cabin pressure was equalized with the outside. Finally, the crew seats, called Kazbek, were moved slightly upward relative to the horizon in order to absorb the shock of landing. As the spacecraft descended, the recovery team began to locate and track the capsule. Once the main parachute deployed, helicopters began a wide circle around the landing area. About one second before touchdown, the Soft Landing engines ignited in a momentary burst to cushion the final three feet (about one meter) of the crew’s journey. The official landing time was 10:26 p.m. CST (10:26 a.m. local Kazakh time, 4:26 GMT). The spacecraft landed upright. To prevent the parachute from dragging the capsule around, the line connecting the two was automatically cut, as planned. Once confirmation of touchdown occurred, the helicopters landed, and nearby all-terrain vehicles rushed to the capsule to begin the careful extraction of the crew. The first thing the search and rescue teams did was erect a ladder around the module. Then they opened the hatch at the top of the vehicle.
Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Korniyenko, left, Sergey Volkov of Roscosmos, center, and Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly rest in chairs outside of the Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft just minutes after they landed in a romote area near the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Wednesday, March 2, 2016. Photo Credit: Bill Ingalls / NASA
The first to be extracted was Volkov, then Kelly and Korniyenko. They were individually lowered and moved to lawn-chair like couches nearby and given a blanket. Temperatures at the landing area were around 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius). “The air feels great out here,” Kelly said, “I don’t know why you guys are all bundled up.” Kelly, who last flew in space five years ago as part of the Expedition 25/26 increment in 2010 and 2011, told a medical officer that he didn’t feel much different than he did when he landed then. After the medical evaluations were complete, the crew was flown to nearby city Dzhezkazgan, where Kelly parted ways with Korniyenko and Volkov, before flying to their corresponding space agency's headquarters.
This post will be rather quick. Over the last week, NASA held a number of remembrance events for the three biggest tragedies in the US space program's history: Apollo 1 in 1967, Challenger STS-51L in 1986 and Columbia STS-107 in 2003. I am 27 years old. I wasn't alive when Challenger exploded, but I was for Columbia. Next to 9/11, it was the biggest news event of my life. I will never forget where I was when I learned of the break up of the Space Shuttle over Texas. I had been interested in space since 1998 when I watched Discovery send John Glenn back to space. I watched it on TV, but the energy of that launch came through the set and into my soul. I loved it. But for the next four-and-a-half years, it was just another interest. I liked dinosaurs, Titanic, and architecture too. Columbia, however, did something to me that would change me forever. I realized that this was something that people were willing to die for. From that point on, I knew that whatever I did in my life, it would revolve around space in some way. The legacy of the crew of Columbia is many things -- friendship, faith, comradery, science, exploration -- but I think their biggest legacy is the change in trajectory that ultimately happened at NASA. The agency, while it still has many flaws, is pushing outward. I love the International Space Station. It is one of the greatest projects ever attempted. But, because of the end of the Shuttle program and the push for an exploration class rocket, the station has become more than just a research lab in low Earth orbit. It is a testing ground for long-duration missions. It is a place where private companies can do business, and it is our way-station to deep space. I do believe these things would have eventually happened, with or without ISS or a tragic accident, but because of the crew of Columbia and their sacrifice, their memories will be honored by continuing to push the limits of the frontier. May humanity never forget Rick Husband, William McCool, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Michael Anderson, Laurel Clark and Ilan Ramon. Hail Columbia and her final crew.
The view of the main pressurized modules of ISS from
the astronauts during US EVA-35. Credit: NASA
Welcome to 2016. I know it is already February. It has been a busy last couple of months. I plan to expand the website this year, and get into better posting habits. But for now, here is my outlook on what to expect at our favorite palace in space. This year, the International Space Station turns 16 years old—at least some of the pieces. This was the year that ISS program was originally supposed to end. In 2010, all five space station partner agencies decided to delay that to 2020. Even now, talks are underway to continue the life of the outpost to 2024. Had the decision held to end the program, it is arguable that the burgeoning commercial cargo and crew industries would still be a decade or more away. Instead, today, active private cargo ships are routinely delivering supplies to the station. Next year, commercial crews will begin visiting the outpost. This year, Bigelow Aerospace, a company that develops expandable space habitats, will have it's first module attached to the ISS, and there are talks of a private airlock being added to ISS by 2018. Instead of planning for the disposal the 400 ton satellite into the Pacific Ocean this year, mission planners are busy working on "traffic jams" of visiting vehicles constantly coming and going to and from the station. They do this all while working on training for more than a half-dozen spacewalks. This year promises to be one of the busiest at the outpost. Starting in March, the first of up to five SpaceX Dragon cargo ships will be launched to resupply the orbiting lab. Commercial Resupply Service 8 will be a return to flight for SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship after a launch mishap in June of last year during the CRS-7 mission. The company already returned the Falcon 9 booster to flight in December.
BEAM seen attached to Tranquility's aft port. Photo Credit: NASA
CRS-8 will haul with it the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM). Once the capsule berths to the Harmony node, the BEAM will then be pulled out of the "trunk" of Dragon by the space station's robotic arm and be attached to the aft port of the Tranquility module. BEAM is a small test module that will study the structural integrity, leakage, radiation exposure and more, during its two year stay on the outpost. Afterwords, it will be removed and allowed to burn up in the atmosphere. Bigelow Aerospace intends to use a similar design for an airlock on it's eventual private space stations sometime in the 2020s. SpaceX will launch International Docking Adapter 2 in March on CRS-9. This will be attached to Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 on forward end of Harmony. IDA-1 was originally supposed to be attached there, however, it was lost during CRS-7. A replacement, IDA-3, will be launched on a future SpaceX Dragon flight. It will be attached to PMA-3. To prepare for that, it will be moved from it's current location (port side of Tranquility) to the zenith port of Harmony.
Cygnus OA-4 as seen from the ISS crew below the station moments before being captured by the space stations robotic arm. Photo Credit NASA
The other company delivering cargo, Orbital ATK, recently returned it's Cygnus cargo ship to flight. This year, the company plans to launch three times. As early as late May, the OA-5 Cygnus mission should see the return to flight of the Antares rocket, which exploded shortly after liftoff in October 2014. If the schedule holds, SpaceX and Orbital ATK should both have cargo ships berthed to the space station at the same time in late spring or early summer. While commercial resupply is poised to have it's biggest year yet, the Russian's plan to continue their steady supply of Progress spacecraft. Three are scheduled to launch this year - all of which are of the new modernized MS variant. Additionally, Japan will launch it's HTV-6 cargo ship in October. In all, up to 12 resupply ships could reach the station in 2016. In March, the first one-year crew members on the ISS are scheduled to return to Earth. Scott Kelly and Mikhail Korniyenko launched in late March 2015 and are scheduled to return to Earth on March 3, 2016. Also leaving with them will be Sergey Volkov, who launched in September 2015. Launching a couple of weeks later, Soyuz TMA-20M will take Russian cosmonauts Aleksey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka as well as NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams. They will stay aboard as part of Expedition 47 and 48 and return to Earth in September. This will put Williams about 14 days ahead of Kelly as the most experienced U.S. astronaut with a cumulative 534 days over four missions.
A new Soyuz model, called MS, will replace the TMA-M series currently serving the space station. Photo Credit: NASA
Following the departure of TMA-19M in June with Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and astronauts Timothy Peake and Timothy Kopra of ESA and NASA respectively, Expedition 48 will begin. Joining the expedition a couple weeks later will be the crew of a brand new Soyuz: Soyuz MS-1. Aboard will be NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins, Russian cosmonaut Anatoli Ivanishin and Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi. They will stay in space till November. Launching on Soyuz MS-2 in September to be part of Expedition 49 will be NASA astronaut Robert Kimbrough and Russian cosmonauts Andrei Borisenko and Sergey Ryzhikov. They will land in March 2017. Finally, in November, the 50th expedition to the orbiting outpost will launch. Soyuz MS-3 will carry NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and French astronaut Tomas Pesquet. They will stay in space till May 2017. So far in 2016, the ISS has seen one extravehicular activity. US EVA-35 saw astronauts Tim Kopra and Tim Peake step outside to fix a failed power regulator. The Sequential Shunt Unit, as it is called, failed in November and needed to be replaced at the earliest convenience. The SSU was fixed, and other tasks completed as well, however, only a few hours into the spacewalk, water was discovered in Kopra's helmet forcing a "termination" of the EVA. The suit will be evaluated before used further. This month, the ISS should see a Russian EVA, as well as the departure of the Cygnus currently berthed at the Earth facing port of Node 1.
A highlight video of EVA-35, which occurred on Jan. 15.
NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly assists Japanese astronaut
Kimya Yui with the Ocular Health study.
Photo Credit: NASA
It has been a few weeks since the last "experiment of the week," so it is about time for another one. This week, it's the Ocular Health study. There are hundreds of experiments ongoing on the International Space Station. One of the most prominent is the Prospective Observational Study of Ocular Health in ISS Crews. The main goal is to gather data on crew members' visual health during and after long-duration space station mission. In space, fluids in the body shift toward the head. On Earth, gravity pulls fluids down, so the heart and other muscles have to work harder to push fluid up. In space, the muscles work just has hard, so the body's fluid distribution is altered. This is why astronauts typically have "fat heads" and "chicken legs" while floating in the space station. Some astronauts have noticed their vision blur slightly while on longer space mission. It is believed this is due to extra intracranial pressure from the upward fluid shift pushing on the eye. I can be so bad, that some astronauts wear special "space glasses" after a while.
A close up of the device used to gather eye data.
Photo Credit: NASA
The investigation looks at who is most effected by the change and how long it persists after crews return to Earth. It is possible, that prolonged pressure could permanently damage vision, and even cause blindness. Data is still being gathered, but NASA wants to solve this problem before astronauts and cosmonauts head off to deep space destinations, such as Mars. Nobody wants astronauts on Mars to go blind in the middle of a flight. Additionally, it is hoped that research into this problem will help with terrestrial eye problems, such as glaucoma. For more information, NASA has a fact sheet HERE.
astronauts to control robots on the surface of a planet
or moon remotely from orbit. Photo Credit: ESA
Starting with this post, I will aim to write about one experiment or science rack each week. This week's experiment is the Haptics-1 experiment. First, what is "haptics?" Haptics is any form of touch sensation, in particular, relating to perception and manipulation of objects using senses. Haptics-1 is a European Space Agency (ESA) investigation into remote-controlled robotic operation and how to make human operators "feel" what a robot "feels." According to ESA, future human exploration of planets will almost certainly involve robots controlled by humans. Robots can do specialized tasks in harsh environments, while humans are more fragile. Humans are unrivaled, however, at adaptive quick-thinking - robots are not. Telerobotics allow for a "best of both words" situation where humans can control a robot in near real time. But in order to control something efficiently, feedback is required. A cell phone has haptic feedback. When you press a button on your on-screen keyboard, the phone usually vibrates to signal that you have pressed something. Robots being controlled from orbit above Mars will need similar feedback for the controller. With the proper feedback, an astronaut could use a robot to adjudge the force needed to grip a rock or tool the right amount. While work like this could be done on Earth, one major unknown is how astronauts experience haptic feedback in the microgravity environment of space.
NASA astronaut Barry Willmore operates the Haptics-1
joystick. The simple-looking lever is connected to a
servomotor that can withstand any force an astronaut
might unleash on it. Photo Credit: NASA
Haptics-1 aims to answer that question by astronauts using a joystick to control games, and simple tasks. By studying how the astronaut reacts to the feedback, engineers can design systems tailored to future astronauts on journeys to Mars. The joystick is highly advanced. It can sense motion that humans cannot feel and can withstand an astronauts kick and still function properly. It is strapped to the waist of an astronaut as to not push the astronaut away. Haptics-1 was the first haptic telerobotics experiment done in space. It was launched on the final Automated Transfer Vehicle, ATV-5, in August 2014. Since then, Haptics-2 and "Interact" have launched. They are a bit more evolved and all three are still being used aboard ISS. Whereas Haptics-1 is more about real-time force feedback, Haptics-2 "extends" the human arm from space to ground. By controlling a lever on ISS, it moves one on Earth. A person on the ground can move that same lever and effectively "shake hands" with the astronaut. Interact goes a step further by allowing the astronaut to control basic functions of a robot on the surface of Earth. All three are part of the METERON project. METERON stands for Multi-Purpose End to End Robotics Operations Network. The goal is to "test the waters" on human operation of robots from space - something that, until now, has never been done. Teleoperating robots requires the Internet to send commands and receive information. Because distances in space are so vast, signal times can take anywhere from seconds (at the Moon) to upwards of 45 minutes (at Mars). The creation of a new network protocol called the Disruption Tolerant Network assures correct operation, even if signal is lost. For more information visit ESA's METERON page. Learn about the three flight experiments here.
Andreas Mogensen teleoperates the Interact rover from space.
An Atlas V 551 launches with the Navy's fourth Mobile User
Objective System on Sept. 2, 2015. Photo by me!
This won't be one of my usual blog posts. It's more of a status update for what has been going on in my life. I am a college student studying mass media at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. School is in full swing at the moment and, while I'm trying to insure that I get decent grades, I am a managing editor for the school newspaper, the Washburn Review. These two things, alone, take up the vast majority of my time. I have been studying and running a student newspaper. But, I haven't forgotten about this blog. I still believe there should be a source for all things International Space Station. It gets more complicated though. Right when school started, I got selected by the United Launch Alliance to go down to Florida to be part of their ULASocial to view the launch of an Atlas V 551 rocket. The rocket was launching the fourth Mobile User Objective System for the U.S. Navy.
Because the Atlas V launch was during
twilight before dawn, the conditions
were just right for this beautiful contrail
formation to occur. Photo by me!
While I was down there I met Jason Rhian, who is the founder of SpaceFlight Insider. He offered me a freelance writing gig. Since then I have written seven articles for them. So now I am doing school, running a student newspaper and writing (as well as editing) for SpaceFlight Insider. I am extremely busy. But I still have a strong passion for ISS and I plan to keep going strong on the blogs and the videos. Because I have been getting into the role of a managing editor for the Washburn Review, I have had literally zero time for making videos about the history of ISS. I have notes for the Apollo Soyuz Test Project, but no script. As it is fall break, I anticipate that I will have a little bit more time to work on the videos. In the mean time, I do plan on posting more blog entry's here. I will be focusing more on the science going onboard ISS, and, when I post something on SpaceFlight Insider, I will repost them here. I hope you all understand and will continue to read this blog. Please follow this blog and tell your friends and, as always, if you or someone you know is interesting in helping, email me. Ad Astra!
A writer's job never stops. While I was in Florida waiting for the Atlas V to launch,
I still had to help my team in Kansas finish production of the weekly newspaper!
Photo courtesy of Reuben Worthington
