Expedition 51 gets off to a busy start on ISS

Current docking arrangements on the ISS. (NASA)

Since the crew switch-over in mid-April, Peggy Whitson has been in command of the ISS and operational leader of Expedition 51. With the departure of Soyuz MS-02 earlier, that left three crew on the station to begin the Expedition 51 adventure: NASA astronaut (and station commander) Peggy Whitson, and flight engineers Oleg Novitskiy (Roscosmos), and Thomas Pesquet (ESA). While the crew awaited reiforcements from Earth, they continued biological and technical experiments, and important maintenance for an upcoming EVA on May 12. 

Once again spaceships left Earth to take supplies and new crewmembers to the station. First off the pad (LC-41) was Orbital ATK's Cygnus cargo spaceship, riding atop an Atlas V rocket, on Tuesday April 18. A couple of days later, on April 20th, SOyuz MS-04 blasted off from Baikonur carrying two new crewmembers, Fyodor Yurchikhin (Roscosmos) and Jack Fisher (NASA).

Last minute photos before the roll-out of the rocket that will carry them to orbit. Yurchikhin (L) and Fisher (R). (NASA)

The Cygnus cargo ship was already in orbit when the Soyuz blasted off the pad. But this time, unlike the previous several launches, there were no more new tests to do certifying the advanced Soyuz, so the craft entered a fast-track six-hour orbital path to the station. Cygnus was on a slow approach that would bring it to the station several days later.

The tried-and-true Soyuz arcs upwards on a fast trip to the station. (NASA)

Soyuz MS_04 arrives at the station (NASA TV)

Six hours later, at 7:18 am Mountain daylight time, MS-04 finally docked at the Poisk module on the ISS. Crewmembers began the seemingly long process of equalizing pressures and turning off the propulsion systems. Three hours later the hatches were opened and Expedition 51 had a total of five crew on board. This was Yurchikhin's fifth trip to the space station, and this was Fisher's first trip to space.

NASA TV image of Cygnus spaceship maneuvering into position after reaching the station.

 

 On Saturday the 22nd, The Cygnus spacraft had arrived at the station. Using the robotic arm, Peggy Whitson and Thomas Pesquet grappled the cargo ship and brought it to its docking port on the Unity module. The cargo ship was named the John Glenn, after the famous Mercury astronaut who had passed away last year. The cargo amounted to 7,600 pounds of supplies, fuel, air, and experiments. It will stay at the station for about three months while it is unloaded, and garbage stored back into it. 

On April 24, a special moment arrived for the station. Astronaut Peggy Whitson broke the record for US astronauts cumulative time in space, marking 535 days total on her several missions. During the day she received a congratulatory call from President Trump at the Whitehouse. Congratulations to Commander WHitson on this incredible achievement!

Updates to the ISS Status

Blast-off of Soyuz MS-02 from Baikonur.

Since the last post in September, there have been more comings and goings to and from the ISS. As usual. We last had seen the departure of Expedition 48 on Soyuz TMA-20M, leaving Expedition 49 in charge. Commanding the expedition, and the ISS, was Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos, supported by Flight Engineers Kate Rubins (NASA) and Takuya Onishi (JAXA).

Posing in front of the Soyuz MS-02 capsule are Shane Kimbrough (NASA), Soyuz Commander Sergey Ryzhikov (Roscosmos) and Andrei Norisenko (Roscosmos).

The next to arrive at the station were the crew of Soyuz MS-02 on October 21. They brought the crew total back to six. Astronaut Kimbrough was making his second spaceflight, having flown before on the Space Shuttle Endeavor. Borisenko is also on his second trip to the ISS, having served before in 2011 on expedition 27/28 and as commander of the ISS for three months. Ryzhikov is making his first flight.

View through the station cupola. Cygnus can be seen docking to the station in the upper left.

 

On October 23, the Orbital AK supply ship Cygnus made a visit to the station, bringing supplies and experiments. Cygnus lifted up from the Virginia Wallops-Island launch site on the newly-redesigned Antares rocket.

Cygnus parked near the station awaiting grappling by the robotic arm.

 

This Cygnus vessel was named SS Alan Poindexter, after the NASA astronaut of Shuttle Atlantis STS-122 mission that brought the Columbia module to the station. The Cygnus was docked to the Node-1 hatch. It will stay at the station until November 18.

Astronaut Kate Rubin inside the Soyuz MS-01 capsule during a routine spacesuit checkout procedure. This picture shows well the cramped nature of the capsule interior.

 

 On October 29 it was time for the next crew transfer to begin. Expedition 49 ended when MS-01 undocked from the station, and returned astronaut Kate Rubins, cosmonaut Ivanishin, and astronaut Takuya to Kazakhstan. With their departure, Expedition 50 began with Astronaut Shane Kimbrough assuming command duties.

Retrorockets fire to safely land MS-01 on the flat steppes of Kazakhstan.

 

Now ISS awaits the next crew of Expedition 50/51, scheduled to launch on November 17. Below, you can see their ship, the Soyuz MS-03 awaiting them on the launch pad in Baikonur. Behind the ship is a telephoto-effect view of the recent Supermoon lunar event.

 

 

4th Cygnus Cargo Ship Undocks, Burns Up

Farewell to the "Deke Slayton II." Credit NASA TV.

 

On Friday Feb. 19, Orbital ATK's 4th Cygnus resupply mission ended when the "Deke Slayton II" undocked from the ISS and maneuvered away from the station. It had arrived in December 2015 with supplies and experiments for the station, blasting off using an Atlas V rocket. Orbital ATK's own rocket, the Antares, is being redesigned following a catastrophic explosion the year before. 

Fiery re-entry of a Cygnus spacecraft.

 

Once the spacecraft had been carefully maneuvered away from the station, engineers sent commands that propelled the craft into a de-orbit burn high over the Pacific Ocean. Since the craft is not designed for re-use, it broke apart and burned up safely away from habitable areas.

Cygnus Supply Spacecraft Reaches ISS

Cygnus cargo ship OA-4 "SS Deke Slayton II" approaches the ISS. Credit: Roscosmos.

 

Early this morning, the International Space Station received a large package from Earth carrying supplies and experiments. Orbital ATK's Cygnus cargo spacecraft reached the station after careful maneuvering by ground controllers following a two and a half day flight mission from Earth. The last attempt to send a Cygnus cargo ship to the ISS failed last year when the company's new Antares booster exploded at launch, destroying the ship and the pad in a ball of fire. SpaceX's Dragon was destroyed in its last attempt. SpaceX plans to launch again soon after correcting booster problems. While the Antares is under further review and correction, Orbital ATK is using the Atlas V booster to reach orbit.

 

 Cygnus spacecraft on the Atlas V rocket at pad SLC-41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Credit: NASA.

The rocket took off Sunday at 4:44 pm Eastern from Space Launch Complex 41 under the care of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) which manages Atlas V flights with NASA.  The spacecraft is an improved cargo vessel allowing over 7,700 pounds of supplies to reach the station. The craft was the heaviest object yet to be launched by the Atlas V rocket, weighing over 16,000 pounds.

Current locations of docked spacecraft at the ISS. NASA.

 

After the Cygnus docked at 7:14 am Eastern, astronauts started the process of equalizing pressures and making sure all spacecraft systems are set for the stay to the end of January. They will open the hatch tomorrow and begin transferring the equipment and supplies. Meanwhile, astronauts are also preparing for half the crew to leave on Friday to return to Earth.

Rocket Rumbles in the Utah Desert

The 5-segment SRB ignites. NASA TV.

Another step has been taken in the development of the NASA SLS rocket system. On March 11, Orbital ATK successfully tested the new version of the 5-segment Solid Rocket Booster which will be part of NASA's new giant rocket. For two minutes, the booster shot superheated gas and exhaust out over the desert while officials and visitors some distance away shook from the shockwaves.

The enormous plume of fire gives an idea of the power of just one booster.

Originally Thiokol, then ATK, the company that built the SRBs for the space shuttle has been working to include the system in the future of American spaceflight. Planned for the Ares-1 rocket system, the new 5-segment booster (the shuttle used two 4-segment SRBs) would have been designated the first stage of the Ares-1. A successful test of the Ares-1 occurred in 2009. However, with rising costs, the Obama Administration cancelled the program. Too bad, because according to the proposed schedule the Ares-1 would be flying by next year. The new SLS rocket is not planned to lift astronauts until after 2020.

Planned development of the Ares-1.

When NASA began working with the Commercial Development of manned rockets, ATK joined with Astrium to develop the Liberty rocket to compete with submitted plans by Boeing, SpaceX, and several other companies. Liberty would have been similar to the Ares-1 and also would use the 5-segment motor. Unfortunately for ATK, NASA selected Boeing and SpaceX for further development, even though ATK had already done initial testing with the Ares rocket. Again, too bad, as the plan would have had the system flying by now.

ATK illustration of Liberty launch.

Fortunately for the company the new NASA design for the giant SLS rocket included two SRBs for the first stage launch. The 5-segment motor would therefor be used in missions designed to lift heavy items into orbit and for missions that would eventually go to Mars. Recently, the company has completed a merger with Orbital Sciences, maker of the Antares rocket, the Pegasus sub-rbital rocket, and the Cygnus cargo spacecraft. Now named Orbital-ATK, the company needs to complete one more test firing of the booster before it is ready to begin shipping to the Kennedy Space Center for the first launch tests.

Planned development of the SLS rocket family.

During the test firing, the booster produced 3.6 million pounds of thrust. 102 design objectives were met by the success of the test. Temperatures inside the booster reached 5,600 degrees. Now THAT is a great piece of engineering.

All done! Water is sprayed into the motor to cool it down for post-test analysis.