Soyuz-TMA19 (ISS 23S) (Soyuz-FG launched on on June 15)

[EarthlingX]

http://www.physorg.com : International Space Station to manoeuvre to dodge debris

October 26, 2010

The Russian mission control centre has decided to manoeuvre the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday to avoid collision with space debris, Russian news agencies reported.

"A decision has been taken to correct the flight orbit of the ISS. The engines will be switched on at 1425 Moscow time (1025 GMT)," a spokesman for the mission control centre outside Moscow told the RIA Novosti news agency.

The space station would take 180 seconds to manoeuvre to an orbit around 500 metres higher than its current one, the spokesman told the agency.

The mission control centre said earlier that the fragment of space debris of unknown origin was extremely unlikely to collide with the ISS, with experts calculating around a 0.001 percent chance of a direct hit.

The last time that the ISS passed close to space debris was in July, when it passed fragments of a Chinese weather satellite around eight kilometres (five miles) away.

The crew on board, three NASA astronauts and three Russian cosmonauts, were not to take part in the manoeuvre.

(c) 2010 AFP

http://www.nasa.gov : Crew Prepares for Progress 40, Space Shuttle Discovery

Image above: Expedition 25 Commander Doug Wheelock (left) and Flight Engineer Scott Kelly prepare the Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue backpacks for use during the STS-133 space shuttle mission. Credit: NASA TV

The ISS Progress 37 cargo craft successfully undocked from the International Space Station’s Pirs docking compartment Monday at 10:25 a.m. EDT. The Progress will spend three weeks orbiting a safe distance from the station to enable Russian engineers to conduct technology experiments before being deorbited Nov. 15.

The undocking of Progress 37 sets the stage for the launch of the ISS Progress 40 cargo ship Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The new Progress is loaded with 1,918 pounds of propellant, 1,100 pounds of oxygen, 498 pounds of water and 2,804 pounds of food, spare parts and supplies for the Expedition 25 crew. It will dock to the station’s Pirs docking compartment Saturday.

To prepare for the arrival of Progress 40, Expedition 25 Flight Engineers Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka reviewed procedures for the use of TORU, the Russian telerobotically operated rendezvous system. The crew can use TORU to monitor the docking of a Progress cargo craft with the station or take control of the process if difficulties arise.

Commander Doug Wheelock and Flight Engineer Scott Kelly prepared tools and checked out the Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER) backpack units that will be used during two spacewalks to be performed by STS-133 Mission Specialists Tim Kopra and Alvin Drew. If a spacewalker should become untethered and float away, he or she can control the SAFER unit’s nitrogen-jet thrusters with a joystick to move back to safety.

Space shuttle Discovery will launch Nov. 1 to begin the STS-133 mission to the space station. On the orbiter’s final spaceflight, the crew members will install the Permanent Multipurpose Module and deliver important spare parts to the station along with the Express Logistics Carrier-4 and Robonaut 2.

Flight Engineer Shannon Walker worked with the Health Maintenance System performing pressure measurements with a new tonometer on the system’s Eye Simulator. The measurements will be used to verify the tonometer’s functionality in the microgravity environment of space.

Flight Engineer Fyodor Yurchikhin inspected filters in the Russian Elektron oxygen generation system.

...

 

[EarthlingX]

SDC : Space Station Dodges Debris from Old NASA Satellite

By SPACE.com Staff

posted: 26 October 2010
10:39 am ET



The International Space Station was nudged with the help of a docked spaceship today (Oct. 26) to avoid a piece of space junk from a defunct NASA satellite that came uncomfortably close to the orbiting laboratory.

About three hours after the debris avoidance maneuver, the fragment from what had been the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite passed 1.24 miles (2 km) from the space station, at 9:41 a.m. EDT (1341 GMT).

At 6:25 a.m. (1025 GMT), space station flight controllers ordered a Russian cargo ship docked to the station, the Progress 39, to fire its thrusters for three minutes, to steer the station clear of the satellite fragment.

The maneuver came at a busy time for NASA and the space station, but agency officials said today's burn was not expected to significantly affect the upcoming launch and docking schedule of NASA's space shuttle and Russian Soyuz rockets at the space station.

...


www.federalspace.ru : ISS Orbit Boosted to Avoid Fragment of Space Garbage

:: 26.10.2010

Specialists from the Russian Mission Control Centre (MCC) boosted on Tuesday the orbit of the International Space Station in order to avoid its collision with space garbage.

Progress cargo craft’s eight thrusters assisted the maneuver. The thrusters were triggered at 14:25 MSK, for 180 seconds totally.

ISS’s speed increased by 0.4 meters per second, Mission Control Center’ s sources said. As a result, the orbit was raised by about 700 meters. In the point of dangerous approach the station was 1.5 kilometers above the space garbage, they said, ITAR-TASS reports.

NASA specialists on Tuesday warned Russian colleagues that a fragment of space garbage was approaching the International Space Station, and this, according to NASA specialists, could pose danger to the station and its crew.

“If specialists of the Russian Mission Control Centre decide that the approaching has become dangerous, they will make an emergency correction of the ISS orbit,” centre’s spokesman Valery Lyndin said earlier on Tuesday. “The approach is called dangerous, if the possibility of a collision is 0.001 percent,” he added.

The Russian-American crew of Alexander Kaleri, Oleg Skripochka, Fyodor Yurchikhin, Shannon Walker, Douglas Wheelock and Scott Kelly continued working nominally.

The orbit is usually boosted to move the station to the necessary point for docking with a cargo craft or a piloted craft. Now and then it is changed in order to avoid space garbage, small meteorites, debris of old satellites and spacecraft.

 

[EarthlingX]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7xj41iXCnE[/youtube]

NASAtelevision | October 26, 2010

On Oct. 26, International Space Station Expedition 25 Commander Doug Wheelock and Flight Engineers Shannon Walker and Scott Kelly paid tribute to the 25th anniversary of the flight of space shuttle Challenger's STS-61/D1 German Spacelab mission during an in-flight event for the European Space Agency. The event included dignitaries and officials gathered in Berlin. Challenger launched on Oct. 30, 1985, with a record size crew of eight on board for the scientific research mission.

 

[EarthlingX]

http://www.nasa.gov : Crew Preps for Arrivals; Conducts Research

Image above: Commander Doug Wheelock (right) and Flight Engineers Shannon Walker and Scott Kelly participate in an in-flight interview aboard the International Space Station. Credit: NASA TV

The Expedition 25 crew members aboard the International Space Station focused Thursday on preparations for a rendezvous with a Russian cargo ship set for Saturday and the arrival of space shuttle Discovery set for next week. They also conducted scientific research in a variety of areas.

The ISS Progress 40 cargo craft is on its way to the International Space Station following its launch Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Russian cargo craft is delivering 1,918 pounds of propellant, 1,100 pounds of oxygen, 498 pounds of water and 2,804 pounds of food, spare parts and supplies for the station’s six crew members. It is set to dock to the Pirs docking compartment Saturday at 12:39 p.m. EDT. The new cargo craft replaces the ISS Progress 37 which undocked Monday.

To prepare for the arrival of Discovery and the STS-133 crew, Flight Engineer Shannon Walker was involved in prepacking activities and hardware stowage.

Space shuttle Discovery will launch Nov. 1 to begin the STS-133 mission to the space station. On the orbiter’s final spaceflight, the crew members will install the Permanent Multipurpose Module and deliver important spare parts to the station along with the Express Logistics Carrier-4 and Robonaut 2.

Read more about STS-133

Commander Doug Wheelock worked with the VO2max experiment, which involves recording the oxygen intake of exercising crew members before, during and after their stays aboard the station to evaluate and document the changes in their aerobic capacity.

Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri worked with the Russian experiment known as Relaxation, observing radiation patterns from Earth’s ionosphere.

Flight Engineer Scott Kelly worked with the Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) experiment. SPHERES consists of three free-flying spheres that fly within the station, performing flight formations. Each satellite is self-contained with power, propulsion, computers and navigation equipment. The results are important for satellite servicing, vehicle assembly and formation flying spacecraft configurations.

Flight Engineer Fyodor Yurchikhin conducted an observation with the Rusalka experiment, which is a test of procedures for remote determination of methane and carbon dioxide content in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Later, Wheelock, Kelly and Walker gathered to answer questions about life on the station and their daily activities during an in-flight interview with Voice of America in Washington, D.C.

After a reboost on Tuesday to avoid a fragment of the defunct Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, the station is in a good configuration for the arrival of space shuttle Discovery next week.

...


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFnc_Q5ftfo[/youtube]

NASAtelevision | October 28, 2010

Aboard the International Space Station, Commander Doug Wheelock and Flight Engineers Shannon Walker and Scott Kelly get an in-flight call from the Voice of America to discuss the progress of the Expedition 25 mission.

 

[EarthlingX]

http://www.nasa.gov : Crew Prepares for Progress Docking and Arrival of Discovery

Image above: Flight Engineer Scott Kelly works on the Combustion Integrated Rack in the Destiny laboratory. Credit: NASA

The Expedition 25 crew members aboard the International Space Station made preparations Friday for the upcoming arrival of two visiting spacecraft, a Russian cargo ship set to dock Saturday and space shuttle Discovery set to arrive next week.

The ISS Progress 40 cargo craft is on its way to the International Space Station following its launch Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Russian cargo craft is delivering 1,918 pounds of propellant, 1,100 pounds of oxygen, 498 pounds of water and 2,804 pounds of food, spare parts and supplies for the station’s six crew members. It is set to dock to the Pirs docking compartment Saturday at 12:39 p.m. EDT.

Live coverage of the docking begins at noon on NASA TV.

...

To prepare for Discovery’s arrival, Flight Engineers Shannon Walker and Fyodor Yurchikhin spent some time sharpening their digital photography skills for the imagery they will collect of the orbiter’s thermal protection system as it performs a back flip known as the Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver prior to docking.

Commander Doug Wheelock gathered tools and configured systems that will be used during the two spacewalks that will be performed by STS-133 Mission Specialists Tim Kopra and Alvin Drew.

Flight Engineer Scott Kelly worked with the Capillary Flow Experiment, which is a suite of fluid physics experiments that investigate capillary flows and flows of fluids in containers with complex geometries. Results will improve computer models used to design fluid transfer systems on future spacecraft.

Flight Engineers Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka reviewed procedures for the docking of the ISS Progress 40 cargo craft and performed routine housekeeping duties in the Russian segment of the station.

...



http://www.spaceref.com : NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 29 October 2010

Source: NASA HQ
Posted Friday, October 29, 2010

...


spaceflight.nasa.gov : International Space Station Imagery :

ISS025-E-009840 (28 Oct. 2010) --- Parts of Europe and Africa are very easily recognizable in this night time image shot by one of the Expedition 25 crew members aboard the International Space Station flying 220 miles above Earth on Oct. 28. The view "looks" northward over Sicily and the "boot" of Italy, with the Mediterranean Sea representing most of the visible water in the view and the Adriatic Sea to the right of center. Tunisia is partially visible at left. Part of a docked Russian spacecraft and other components of the ISS are in the foreground.

...

ISS0009858 (28 Oct. 2010) --- From 220 miles above Earth, one of the Expedition 25 crew members on the International Space Station took this night time photo featuring the bright lights of Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt on the Mediterranean coast. The Nile River and its delta stand out clearly as well. On the horizon, the airglow of the atmosphere is seen across the Mediterranean. The Sinai Peninsula, at right, is outlined with lights highlighting the Gulf of Suez and Gulf of Aqaba.

...

ISS025-E-010008 (29 Oct. 2010) --- From 220 miles above Earth, one of the Expedition 25 crew members onboard the International Space Station shot this night time image of the northern Gulf coast. Mobile Bay and the city of Mobile (top left, beneath one of the solar panels of a docked Russian Soyuz spacecraft), New Orleans and Houston are visible as the view "moves" southeastward. The Interstate Highway 20 cities of Jackson, Shreveport, Dallas and Fort Worth are also visible further inland. The view extends northward (left) to Little Rock and Oklahoma City.

...

 

[EarthlingX]

http://www.nasa.gov : Station Crew Awaits Shuttle Visit

ISS025-E-010145 (31 Oct. 2010) --- NASA astronaut Scott Kelly (left) and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka, both Expedition 25 flight engineers, are pictured during transfer activities of the European Space Agency's SPHINX (SPaceflight of Huvec: an Integrated eXperiment) Biobox kit in the Unity node of the International Space Station.

While the six Expedition 25 crew members awaited the arrival of space shuttle Discovery on the STS-133 mission, they remained focused Thursday on their duties aboard the International Space Station, which included unloading cargo from the ISS Progress 40 resupply vehicle, auditing hardware in the Human Resource Facility rack and cleaning ventilation fans throughout the station.

Commander Doug Wheelock and Flight Engineer Scott Kelly cleaned the fans that keep the station’s atmosphere circulating, a job that took longer than expected leaving some additional fans in need of cleaning during the joint mission with the shuttle crew. Flight Engineer Shannon Walker focused on an audit of the crew’s clothing stores. Russian Flight Engineers Alexander Kaleri, Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Skripochka worked on a variety of experiments and housekeeping activities, and helped Walker unpack and stow items from the Progress in the Unity module near the port where the Permanent Multipurpose Module will be berthed, full of additional supplies and equipment, once Discovery arrives. The crew also recorded video for use in upcoming educational products.

The Space Shuttle Program Mission Management Team met Thursday morning and decided to delay Discovery's launch until Friday at 3:04 p.m. EDT due to weather. If Discovery launches Friday, it will dock with the station on Sunday at 10:55 a.m. EST. Discovery is delivering the Permanent Multipurpose Module and Robonaut 2.

The station’s residents also had several opportunities for Earth observation and photography Thursday as they orbited the world every 90 minutes. Among the sites suggested for photography were New Delhi, India, and Teide Volcano in the Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa.

ISS025-E-010084 (1 Nov. 2010) --- Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri, Expedition 25 flight engineer, reads a procedures checklist in the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station.

ISS025-E-010477 (30 Oct. 2010) --- Russian cosmonauts Alexander Kaleri (right) and Oleg Skripochka, both Expedition 25 flight engineers, monitor data at the manual TORU docking system controls in the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station during the docking operations of the unpiloted ISS Progress 40 resupply vehicle. Progress 40 docked to the Pirs Docking Compartment at 12:36 p.m. (EDT) on Oct. 30, 2010, after Kaleri took over manual control to guide the Progress to its final connection.

ISS025-E-005504 (30 Sept. 2010) --- Syr Dar'ya River floodplain in Kazakhstan, central Asia is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 25 crew member on the International Space Station. Central Asia's most important cotton-growing region is concentrated in the floodplain of the Syr Dar'ya, and is irrigated by water from the river. The floodplain is shown here as a tangle of twisting meanders and loops (center). The darkest areas are brushy vegetation along the present course (filled with blue-green water); wisps of vegetation are also visible along flanking swampy depressions, or sloughs. An older floodplain appears as an area of more diffuse dark vegetation (upper left), where a pattern of relict meander bends is overlain by a rectangular pattern of cotton fields. The straight channel of a new diversion canal—one of sixteen from this point downstream—can be seen along the east bank of the river. The older floodplain area is fed from the Chardara Reservoir immediately upstream (not shown). Half the river flow is controlled from reservoirs, and half from direct water take-off from canals. By contrast with the intensive agricultural use of water shown here, upstream water control in the mountain valleys is oriented more toward power generation. The river flows for a total distance of 2,200 kilometers from the Tien Shan Mountains westward and northwestward to the Aral Sea—the dying waterbody at the low point of the basin far to the northwest. Withdrawals of water from the river for agriculture have continued for many decades. Although the Syr Dar'ya is the second largest river flowing into the sea, its discharge is not very large. As such, it has been easily depleted, with none of its water today reaching the Aral Sea. Control of the river is vested in the Syr Dar'ya Basin Water Organization run by nations with territory in the Syr Dar'ya basin. Some of the organization's main efforts are accurate gauging of water use along the river course, and repair of canals to reduce widespread water loss by leakage.

 

[EarthlingX]

http://www.federalspace.ru : Soyuz TMA-19 Crew Starts Preparing for Return to the Earth

:: 06.11.2010

Fiodor Yurchukhin, ISS-25 flight engineer and commander of the Soyuz TMA-19 crew vehicle, prepares for his return to the Earth scheduled in about three weeks. Yurchikhin started training sessions with special suit Chibis on. Russian space know-how Chibis is used to apply negative pressure on the lower part of the cosmonaut’s body to simulate gravity.
Yurchukhin with his team Doug Wheelock and Shannon Walker will return on Nov. 30.

Roscosmos PAO

http://www.federalspace.ru : Operations and Experiments in the International Space Station (November 8-14, 2010)

:: 06.11.2010

ISS025-E-011750 (4 Oct. 2010) --- From 220 miles above Earth, one of the Expedition 25 crew members aboard the International Space Station aimed a camera through a Cupola window and recorded this night time image of the Mediterranean Riviera and a panorama along the coastline from Valencia, Spain to Livorno, Italy and many points in between including parts of Andorra and Monaco. Islands in the Mediterranean that can easily be delineated in the Oct. 4 picture are the Balearic Islands, as well as Corsica and Sardinia.

http://twitpic.com/34aj32

Posted on November 6, 2010
by Astro_Wheels


In Node 1 (our dining & food pantry module) juggling our fresh fruit and enjoying the smell of the Earth’s goodness. I never realized how wonderful an unpeeled lemon and orange could smell. When we opened the hatch of the Progress cargo ship, we found the fruit and vegetables on top. It is like finding a treasure! These won’t last long...

 

[EarthlingX]

http://www.nasa.gov : Crew Preps for Spacewalk, Honors Veterans

Expedition 25 Commander Doug Wheelock (right) and Flight Engineer Scott Kelly pay tribute to U.S. servicemen and women in a Veterans Day message. Credit: NASA TV

Flight Engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Skripochka began a week of space walk preparations Monday as they checked out their Orlan spacesuits. The preparations will culminate in a full dress rehearsal Friday as Yurchikhin and Skripochka maneuver in the suits in the International Space Station’s Pirs docking compartment airlock.

The spacewalk is set for Nov. 15 at 9:25 a.m. EST. The two cosmonauts will install work platforms, move a camera on the Rassvet module and install experiment hardware on the Russian segment of the station.

Flight Engineer Scott Kelly worked with the Capillary Flow Experiment, which is a suite of fluid physics experiments that investigate capillary flows and flows of fluids in containers with complex geometries. Results will improve current computer models that are used by designers of low gravity fluid systems and may improve fluid transfer systems on future spacecraft.

Commander Doug Wheelock, an Army colonel, and Kelly, a Navy captain who will become station commander upon Wheelock’s departure on November 30, paid tribute to U.S. servicemen and women around the world in a Veterans Day message. During the message, Wheelock and Kelly displayed the Medal of Honor that was awarded to Army Sergeant Lester R. Stone, who gave his life in the line of duty in Vietnam on March 3, 1969.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5PgNpwSqdI[/youtube]

Flight Engineer Shannon Walker inspected the portable breathing apparatus as well as fire extinguishers aboard the orbital complex to make sure the devices would be ready in the unlikely event of a fire inside the station.

Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri inspected filters in the Elektron oxygen generation system.

...

edit: changed video link to working version.

 

[EarthlingX]

http://www.nasa.gov : Research and Spacewalk Preps for Station Crew

The Expedition 25 crew living and working aboard the International Space Station prepared spacesuits for upcoming Russian and U.S. spacewalks and conducted research with a Star Wars-inspired experiment Tuesday.

Space Station Gallery :

ISS025-E-011182 (3 Nov. 2010) --- NASA astronaut Shannon Walker, Expedition 25 flight engineer, is pictured in the Quest airlock of the International Space Station.

Commander Doug Wheelock spent most of his day troubleshooting the airflow in a crew quarters compartment on the starboard side of the station. Wheelock also worked in the Quest airlock to perform routine maintenance on the U.S. spacesuits that will be used by the STS-133 crew when space shuttle Discovery visits the orbiting complex in December.

Flight Engineers Shannon Walker (right) and Scott Kelly conduct a test session with a trio of free-flying satellites known as Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites, or SPHERES. Credit: NASA TV

Flight Engineers Scott Kelly and Shannon Walker conducted another test session with a trio of bowling-ball-sized free-flying satellites known as Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites, or SPHERES. Inspired by the practice “remote” that Luke Skywalker used to hone his light saber skills in “Star Wars,” these robots are testing techniques that could lead to advancements in automated dockings, satellite servicing, spacecraft assembly and emergency repairs.

Read more about SPHERES

Meanwhile, Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri checked out the ammonia respirator to assure that this essential safety equipment will fit and function properly if needed.

Space Station Gallery :

ISS025-E-010851 (3 Nov. 2010) --- Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri, Expedition 25 flight engineer, works on the newly installed Russian experiment KPT-10 "Kulonovskiy Kristall" (Coulomb Crystal), assembling the payload equipment and initiating operation, in a Russian module on the International Space Station.

Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Skripochka, both flight engineers, continued preparations for a spacewalk they will conduct Monday beginning at 9:25 a.m. EST. The pair will install work platforms, reposition a camera on the Rassvet module and install experiment hardware on the Russian segment of the station.

Additionally, Yurchikhin and Skripochka performed an assessment of their cardiovascular function while exercising on the station’s stationary bicycle known as the cycle ergometer.

The station’s residents also had several opportunities for Earth observation and photography Tuesday as they orbited the world every 90 minutes. Among the sites suggested for photography were the capital cities of Kathmandu, Nepal, and Kabul, Afghanistan. Over half a million photos of our planet taken from aboard the station are available online at the Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.

...

Space Station Gallery :

ISS025-E-011183 (3 Nov. 2010) --- NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock, Expedition 25 commander, equipped with a bungee harness, exercises on the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT) in the Tranquility node of the International Space Station.

ISS025-E-011216 (3 Nov. 2010) --- NASA astronauts Doug Wheelock (background), Expedition 25 commander; and Scott Kelly, flight engineer, are pictured near fresh fruit floating freely in the Unity node of the International Space Station.

 

[EarthlingX]

http://www.nasa.gov : Crew Prepares for Monday Spacewalk, Continues Science

The International Space Station, with the docked Soyuz TMA-19 in the foreground, flies over the Galapagos Islands. Credit: NASA

Flight Engineers Oleg Skripochka and Fyodor Yurchikhin are preparing their Russian Orlan spacesuits for Monday’s six-hour spacewalk. They are conducting a fit check in advance of a dress rehearsal on Friday. On Monday, the spacewalkers will install a workstation, clean and remove science hardware and investigate the possibility of bio-organisms on the outside of the station.

Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri worked in the Russian side of the International Space Station. He spent time cleaning filters and conducting an audit of the Inventory Management System.

Commander Doug Wheelock setup and activated the COLBERT treadmill. He videotaped his exercise session and inspected some of the treadmill gear afterwards.

Flight Engineer Shannon Walker was in the Japanese Kibo Laboratory participating in the BIORHYTHM science experiment. BIORHYTHM measures a crew member’s cardiac activity during long duration stays in space. The research came about after demonstrations showed lack of an earth-bound circadian rhythm can disrupt sleep patterns and adversely affect cardiovascular functions.

Flight Engineer Scott Kelly setup the Capillary Flow Experiment on a maintenance work area and recorded the results with a high-definition video camera. The experiment studies and observes the behavior of fluids in microgravity by tapping, pushing, sliding, swirling, and shaking a special storage container. Benefits include more advanced fluid transfer and storage systems for future spacecraft.

...


spaceflight.nasa.gov : International Space Station Imagery :

ISS025-E-013445 (9 Nov. 2010) --- NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, Expedition 25 flight engineer, is pictured near three Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) floating freely in the Kibo laboratory of the International Space Station.

ISS025-E-012040 (7 Nov. 2010) --- NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock (left), Expedition 25 commander; along with NASA astronauts Shannon Walker and Scott Kelly, both flight engineers, pose for a photo in the Unity node of the International Space Station.

 

[EarthlingX]

www.federalspace.ru : Russian Cosmonauts to Have Pre-EVA Dress Rehearsal Today

:: 12.11.2010

ISS-25 flight engineers Fiodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Skripochka will have pre-EVA dress rehearsal today. The cosmonauts will put on their suits and pressurize them in order to simulate EVA pressure. With their suits on, Yurchikhin and Skripochka will ‘walk’ to the airlock to validate all the steps of the EVA procedure, including off-nominals. The cosmonauts will also operate umbilical cords, locks, tools, etc.
The EVA scheduled for Nov 15, 5.30 p.m. MSK, is to last about 5 hours 55 minutes. It will cover mounting of the universal platform for scientific payloads on the outer surface of Zvezda module, Test experiment which implies sampling of the ISS outer surface, demounting of the Robotik monoblock from Zvezda surface, photo-imaging of the IPI-SM plasma injector, installation of the soft hand-rail on the Pirs module, installation of the SKK cassette on the Poisk module, operations with Zvezda and Poisk scientific hardware.
This is to be the first space walk for Skripochka, and the second one for Yurchikin during this expedition. Yurchikhin will also mark a kind of jubilee, as this will be the 5th EVA in his orbital flight career.

Roscosmos PAO

 

[EarthlingX]

http://www.nasa.gov : Crew Conducts Spacewalk Dress Rehearsal

Expedition 25 Commander Doug Wheelock (right) and Flight Engineer Shannon Walker work in the International Space Station’s Destiny laboratory. Credit: NASA TV

Expedition 25 Flight Engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Skripochka put on their Orlan spacesuits Friday to conduct a dress rehearsal of their upcoming spacewalk. In the Pirs docking compartment, they checked out the suits and communications prior to their spacewalk Monday out of the Pirs airlock to install experiments and a work platform on the Russian segment of the station and to reposition a TV camera on the Rassvet module. Hatch opening for the start of the spacewalk is scheduled for 9:25 a.m. EST Monday.

› Read about the spacewalk
› View spacewalk briefing graphics

Commander Doug Wheelock and Flight Engineer Shannon Walker participated in the Japanese experiment known as BIORHYTHM, which measures a crew member’s cardiac activity during long duration stays in space. The research came about after demonstrations showed lack of an earth-bound circadian rhythm can disrupt sleep patterns and adversely affect cardiovascular functions.

Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri conducted a session with the Coulomb Crystal experiment, which studies dynamic and structural characteristics of the Coulomb systems formed by charged dispersed diamagnetic macroparticles in a magnetic trap. Coulomb systems are structures following Coulomb’s Law, a law of physics describing the electrostatic interaction between electrically charged particles. It was essential to the development of the theory of electromagnetism.

Flight Engineer Scott Kelly spent time on the Capillary Flow Experiment, which he has been working with all week. This is a suite of fluid physics experiments that investigate capillary flows and flows of fluids in containers with complex geometries. Results will improve current computer models that are used by designers of low gravity fluid systems and may improve fluid transfer systems on future spacecraft.

Walker also worked in the Kibo laboratory updating the hardware and software that drives the module’s robotic arm.

...


http://www.federalspace.ru : Operations and Experiments in the International Space Station (November 15-21, 2010)

:: 13.11.2010

...

 

[EarthlingX]

Spacewalk on NASA TV public channel

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..

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[EarthlingX]

SDC : Spacewalking Cosmonauts Upgrade International Space Station

By Clara Moskowitz
SPACE.com Senior Writer
posted: 15 November 2010
03:52 pm ET



Two spacewalking cosmonauts ventured outside the International Space Station today (Nov. 15) and sped through a veritable laundry list of orbital maintenance jobs, with only a stubborn TV camera preventing them from completing their work.

Veteran spacewalker Fyodor Yurchikhin and first-timer Oleg Skripochka, both of Russia's Federal Space Agency, spent about six and a half hours floating outside the space station to install a new staging ground for future spacewalking crews along with several other maintenance tasks.

All went relatively smoothly until their last task, when the cosmonauts were to move a TV camera from one spot to another on one of the station's Russian-built docking modules. Insulation around the module blocked repeated efforts to secure it in place. [ Graphic: The International Space Station Inside and Out ]

Russian mission controllers decided to postpone that job for a later spacewalk since the cosmonauts were running out of time and needed to go back inside.

"Now we have a clear understanding of what is going to be done next," Mission Control radioed.

Another minor hiccup came earlier in the Russian-managed spacewalk when the cosmonauts saw an object floating away and worried that a tool may have escaped in space. They will have to double check their tool bags to make sure they have everything. If an item isn't secured at all times to a spacewalker or the spacecraft, it can easily get lost in microgravity.

...


http://www.nasa.gov : Crew Completes Spacewalk

Expedition 25 Flight Engineer Fyodor Yurchikhin works outside the International Space Station.
Credit: NASA TV

Expedition 25 Flight Engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Skripochka ended Monday’s spacewalk at 4:22 p.m. EST. The excursion lasted six hours and 27 minutes.

The primary assembly and maintenance objectives of the spacewalk were to install a multipurpose workstation on the starboard side of the Zvezda service module’s large-diameter section and relocate a television camera from one end of the Rassvet docking compartment to the other.

Research objectives included cleaning and removing a robotics experiment known as Kontur, short for Development of a System of Supervisory Control Over the Internet of the Robotic Manipulator in the Russian Segment of ISS, from the port side of Zvezda into the Pirs airlock; installing a new materials experiment on a handrail on the Rassvet module, and collecting samples from underneath insulation on the exterior of Zvezda and Pirs.

Skripochka and Yurchikhin completed all the tasks except the relocation of the television camera due to interference with insulation where it was to be installed.

...


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIlJFIX7_ks[/youtube]

NASAtelevision | November 15, 2010

Outside the International Space Station, Expedition 25 Flight Engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Skripochka conducted a 6 hour, 27 minute spacewalk from the Russian Pirs Docking Compartment airlock November 15, 2010. The spacewalk was the 151st in support of space station assembly and maintenance, the fifth in Yurchikhin's career and the first for Skripochka.

 

[EarthlingX]

www.dlr.de : Successful premiere – German robotic arm completes its five-year ISS mission

16 November 2010


Close-up image of Rokviss on the International Space Station

Germany's first experiment in space robotics has now come to an end. On the evening of 15 November 2010, Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurichikhin and Oleg Skripochka performed a space walk during which they removed the Rokviss robotic arm developed by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) from the experimental platform on the Russian service module Svezda and took it inside the ISS. By 2 November 2010, the Rokviss team from the DLR Robotics and Mechatronics Center in Oberpfaffenhofen had moved the robot arm into the required position for this operation. Only in this position could Rokviss be easily transported through the air lock and into the interior of the ISS.

For the last five and a half years – from 22 March 2005 until 2 November 2010 – this robot arm, measuring 50 centimetres in length and weighing seven kilograms, has been operating in space and has completed somewhere in the region of 500 successful tests. With its two articulated joints and a metal finger, Rokviss has been able to perform high-precision work in space.

The German robot experiment Rokviss at the bottom right-hand side of the Svezda module

The technology experiment was controlled either fully automatically or by means of a technique known as telepresence operation – remote control by the DLR Rokviss project team based in Oberpfaffenhofen. Four to six times a month, the researchers established contact with the robot arm, whenever the ISS passed over the reception area of the antenna system at the DLR facility in Weilheim, near Oberpfaffenhofen, thereby making the transfer of data possible.

The aim of the experiment was to test and verify new hardware and powerful robot control concepts during real mission operations. In future, this technology will support astronauts and lighten their workload during complex tasks, and it will also help to repair satellites in orbit. Conditions in space are radically different from those on Earth; there is no air and temperatures inside the robot joints range from minus 20 to plus 60 degrees Celsius.

Rokviss in space

However, removal of Rokviss from the ISS does not complete the work of the DLR researchers. By March 2011, the two joint units are to be unfastened from their baseplate and the camera unit is also scheduled for disassembly. This is the only way to get the joints to fit in the small storage space available on the Soyuz capsule in which they are to be returned to Earth. By the end of April 2011, project manager Klaus Landzettel and his colleagues expect Rokviss to be back in the DLR Robotics and Mechatronics Center in Oberpfaffenhofen. Then, by carefully examining the extent of the mechanical wear, further essential information can be obtained and then applied to the building of future space robots.

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[EarthlingX]

en.rian.ru : Russia's Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft to return to Earth earlier than planned

18:51 15/11/2010

Russia's Soyuz TMA-19 spaceship with a Russian cosmonaut and U.S. astronauts on board will return to Earth earlier than planned because of an OSCE summit due on December 1-2 in Astana, a spokesman for Russian state-run space corporation Roscosmos said.

The spacecraft, which blasted off from the Baikonur Space Center for its half year mission on the International Space Station in June, was initially scheduled to land in Kazakhstan on November 30. But the Kazakh authorities decided to restrict air traffic several days ahead of the summit, that is why the landing of the spaceship was moved to November 26, the spokesman said.

The Soyuz TMA-19 is planned to land about 70 kilometers from the central Kazakh city of Arkalyk at 9:00 a.m. local time (03:00 GMT) on that day. November 27 has been planned as a reserve day for the landing, the spokesman said.

The spaceship's crew consists of Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and U.S. astronauts Douglas Wheelock and Shannon Walker.

The TMA-19 mission is the 106th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft since the start of the program in 1967.

MOSCOW, November 15 (RIA Novosti)

 

[EarthlingX]

www.nasa.gov : Crew Completes Post-Spacewalk Duties

ISS025-E-013164 (7 Nov. 2010) --- NASA astronaut Shannon Walker, Expedition 25 flight engineer, is pictured near the windows in the Cupola of the International Space Station.

After the completion of a successful six-hour, 27-minute spacewalk Monday, the Expedition 25 crew members aboard the International Space Station worked on a variety of post-spacewalk activities and science experiments Tuesday.

› Read about the spacewalk

Flight Engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Skripochka discussed their excursion outside the Pirs docking compartment with Russian spacewalk specialists. They also conducted post-spacewalk maintenance on their Orlan spacesuits, performing system checks, drying them and discharging their batteries.

Commander Doug Wheelock stowed U.S. spacewalking tools and equipment that were used during Monday’s spacewalk to prepare for the two spacewalks scheduled during the upcoming STS-133 mission.

Flight Engineer Shannon Walker set up hardware and equipment for a session of the Space Linear Acceleration Mass Measurement Device (SLAMMD). SLAMMD follows Newton's Second Law of Motion by having two springs generate a known force against a crew member mounted on an extension arm, the resulting acceleration being used to calculate the subject's mass, in effect weighing the individuals.

Expedition 25 crew members Wheelock, Walker and Yurchikhin are now scheduled to land on Nov. 25 (Nov. 26 Kazakhstan time) in the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft. The landing was moved up due to a requirement to clear air space in Kazakhstan for an international security conference taking place in the Kazakh capital of Astana Dec. 1-2.

The Soyuz undocking will mark the beginning of Expedition 26 led by Commander Scott Kelly, currently an Expedition 25 flight engineer.

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spaceflight.nasa.gov : International Space Station Imagery

ISS025-E-013957 (10 Nov. 2010) --- Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, Expedition 25 flight engineer, works in the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station.

 

[EarthlingX]

http://www.federalspace.ru : Operations and Experiments in the International Space Station (November 22-28, 2010)

:: 20.11.2010

...


http://www.nasa.gov : Station Crew Wraps Up Busy Week

ISS025-E-013961 (10 Nov. 2010) --- Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronaut Shannon Walker, both Expedition 25 flight engineers, work in the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station.

After a week which included a Russian spacewalk, maintenance work on the environmental control and life support system and a variety of research opportunities, the Expedition 25 crew aboard the International Space Station turned its focus Friday to the upcoming departure of three of its members.

Commander Doug Wheelock and Flight Engineers Shannon Walker and Fyodor Yurchikhin continued ongoing preparations for their departure, packing items and reviewing undocking procedures. They are set to depart the station and return to Earth Nov. 25 at 11:46 p.m. EST (Nov. 26 at 10:46 a.m. Kazakhstan time) aboard their Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft.

The Soyuz undocking will mark the beginning of Expedition 26 led by Commander Scott Kelly, currently an Expedition 25 flight engineer. Flight Engineers Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka will continue their stay aboard the station with Kelly.

The crew members continued maintenance work, which began earlier this week, and troubleshooting procedures that finally resulted in the removal of an adsorbent bed inside the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA). Part of the environmental control and life support system, the CDRA removes carbon dioxide and trace contaminants from the station’s atmosphere allowing crew members to breathe safely. A replacement bed is due to arrive on the space shuttle Discovery during STS-133.

Research opportunities included a session with the VO2max experiment, which studies changes in the astronauts’ aerobic capacity during long-duration spaceflight. NASA is interested in tracking these changes because a reduction in maximum oxygen uptake directly impacts a crew member’s ability to perform strenuous activities such as spacewalks or emergency operations. Data from this research also may provide valuable insight into the aerobic capacity of teams in closed environments on Earth, such as arctic bases and submarines.

After the completion of a successful six-hour, 27-minute spacewalk Monday by Yurchikhin and Skripochka, the station crew members worked throughout the week to clean up the Orlan spacesuits, organize tools and reconfigure the Pirs docking compartment’s airlock.

Over the weekend, the crew members will complete their daily physical exercise routines to counteract the effects of long-term exposure to weightlessness in space. They also will enjoy some off-duty time, continue regular maintenance duties and have an opportunity to speak with family members.

Astronauts open up world to Earthlings via photos

(AP) – 10 hours ago

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Earthlings are seeing their planet in a whole new light, thanks to NASA and its astronauts aboard the Internet-wired space station.

They're beaming down dazzling images and guess-this-mystery-location photos via Twitter and have even launched a game. Landlubbers the world over are eating it up. From schoolchildren to grown-up business entrepreneurs and artists, the public is captivated and can't seem to get enough.

It's clear from the photos why orbiting astronauts rate Earth-gazing as their favorite pastime.

"The Earth never disappoints," the commander of the International Space Station, Douglas Wheelock, said in a broadcast interview Thursday.

Known to his nearly 68,000 Twitter followers as Astro_Wheels, Wheelock has been posting impressive photos of the Earth and some of his thoughts ever since he moved into the space station in June, five months after it got Internet access.

"It's been a real thrill to be able to do that," said Wheelock.

Wheelock's photos this week included Mount Fuji in Japan as well as the aurora borealis, or northern lights, with a glittering space station solar wing in the foreground.

...

Mt. Fuji towering over the beautiful autumn landscape near Tokyo. Captured this photo for my friend Nara-san and our training team in Tsukuba, Japan. You are right here with us in spirit. Seeing the majesty of Mt. Fuji from space is a profoundly emotional moment…flooded with great memories of our time together. It seems that time slips by so quickly like sand through an hourglass.

Aurora Borealis as I will forever paint it in my dreams. Almost time to return home... no regrets... but mixed emotions. Leonardo da Vinci was right... "For once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been... and there you will long to return."

Let #spacegeo begin! This country's contributions to science include the barometer, electric battery, nitroglycerin and wireless telegraphy to boot. Name it!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXX5Z5vbOlA[/youtube]

NASAtelevision | November 18, 2010

Expedition 25 Commander Doug "Wheels" Wheelock, and ISS Flight Engineers Shannon Walker and Scott Kelly speak from the International Space Station with syndicated radio show hosts Rick and Bubba about life aboard the orbiting complex.

 

[EarthlingX]

www.federalspace.ru : Soyuz TMA-19 Crew Prepares for Landing

:: 22.11.2010

The crew of the Soyuz TMA-19 vehicle prepares for landing scheduled for Nov. 26.
Today, the crew will test the Soyuz guidance system and perform descent OBT. In addition, Soyuz commander Fiodor Yurchikhin will train in the Chibis suit which imposes negative pressure on the legs in order to prepare his organism for return to the Earth.
Soyuz is to depart from the station at 04:19 MSK (01:19 GMT). The vehicle is to land at 7:46 (04:46 GMT), 84 km away from the city of Arkalyk.
After the departure of NASA astronauts Shannon Walker and Douglas Wheelock and Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, the space station will be down to a three-person crew until mid-December, when Catherine Coleman, Paolo Nespoli and Dmitri Kondratyev arrive to round out the outpost's Expedition 26 crew.

Roscosmos PAO

Posted on November 20, 2010
by Astro_Wheels :

Shannon, me, and Fyodor all suited up in our Sokol (Russian word for 'Falcon') pressure suits in the Russian MRM-1 module. We strapped into our Soyuz capsule 'Olympus' to conduct pressurization and leak checks on our suits. All systems 'go'... the countdown to landing has begun. Leave a light on for us... we’ll be home soon...

The lights of Japan on a clear November night. These mosaics and patterns of light from our cities, towns and villages are unintentional works of art when viewed from space... a silent and brilliant mapping of our coastlines and landscapes.

 

[EarthlingX]

www.federalspace.ru : Soyuz TMA-19 Departed from the ISS

:: 26.11.2010

Soyuz TMA-19 with the crew – commander Fiodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronauts Shannon Walker and Douglas Wheelock - this morning, at 4.23.13 MSK, successfully undocked from the International Space Station’s Zvezda module.
The retroburn to occur at 6:55:12 MSK to deorbit the Soyuz for further landing 84 km away from Kazakh’s Arkalyk at 7:47 (04:47 GMT).

Roscosmos PAO

 

[MeteorWayne]

The lights of Japan on a clear November night. These mosaics and patterns of light from our cities, towns and villages are unintentional works of art when viewed from space... a silent and brilliant mapping of our coastlines and landscapes.

And a sickening display of waste of the planet's resources and a despoiling of the nighttime sky. :evil: :evil: :evil:

 

[JonClarke]

It's still pretty!

 

[Zipi]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY08g_8XKbE[/youtube]