| ISS Space Update - Nov 16th |
[Nov. 16th, 2006|08:08 pm] |
There have been a few noteworthy things going on with the ISS in the last few weeks.
The 2.5 ton Progress M-58 cargo ship arrived at the ISS in late October, carrying food, fuel, oxygen and other equipment. Progress M-58 soft docked at the station (hooks and latches engaged) but hard docking was put off for awhile. There were sensors reporting the automated docking antenna aboard the Progress failed to retract after docking, but ground engineers troubleshooted the issue and eventually gave the go-ahead for the hard docking to occur, mechanically pulling the Progress up against the International Space Station. After leak checks were carried out, the hatch was opened and the ISS residents got to start unpacking the Progress.
The Expedition 14 crew of Michael Lopez-Alegria, Mikhail Tyurin and Thomas Reiter used some of that equipment on board the Progress to fix the Elektron oxygen generator. With the Elektron working again, oxygen candles and oxygen from the Quest airlock tank became backup oxygen sources again.
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The Expedition 15 crew was named. Cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin is the commander and cosmonaut Oleg Kotov is the flight engineer and Soyuz commander. Astronauts Clayton Anderson and Daniel Tani are also flight engineers and will round out the Expedition crew.
In March, Yurchikhin and Kotov will fly to the station in a Soyuz and will meet up with Expedition 14's Suni Williams, who will fly to the station aboard Space Shuttle STS-116. Expedition 14's Thomas Reiter will be returning to earth aboard STS-116.
Anderson will arrive at the station onboard Space Shuttle STS-118 to replace Williams and later, Tani will ride aboard Space Shuttle STS-120 and replace Anderson.
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The next space tourist has been announced. Charles Simonyi, who earned his wealth by helping to create Microsoft Excel and Word, is set to launch to the ISS on the same March 2007 flight carrying Expedition 15 members Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov. Simonyi will spend eight days on board the station (and ten days total in orbit) and will return to Earth.
Simonyi's blog about his space journey can be found at:
http://www.charlesinspace.com |
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