Updates ISS UPDATES

[orb]

RIA Novosti: New Space Station Crew Approved:

A Russian state commission on Tuesday approved the main and backup crews of a new expedition to the International Space Station (ISS) ahead of the launch on October 23.

The new crew comprises Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin, and NASA astronaut Kevin Ford, while the backup crew includes Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin, and NASA astronaut Christopher Cassidy.

It will be the first space mission for Novitsky and Tarelkin. Ford spent 14 days in space when he traveled to the ISS as the Shuttle Discovery pilot in 2009.

The crew has chosen "Kazbek" as their call-sign after one of the highest peaks in the Caucasus Mountains, and a tiny behemoth toy as their talisman and Zero-gravity indicator.

The launch of the Soyuz TMA-06M manned spacecraft was earlier moved from October 15 to October 23 due to a technical problem detected during a preflight checkup.

Expedition 33 is expected to spend 148 days on board the orbital station. The crew will carry out a series of scientific experiments, and receive four Russian Progress space freighters and a European ATV-4 cargo spacecraft.

No spacewalks have been scheduled for this mission.

{...}

 

[orb]

Universe Today: Space Debris Threat May Require Avoidance Maneuver for Space Station:

International Space Station officials are keeping a watchful eye on two different pieces of space junk that may require the ISS to steer away from potential impact threats. Debris from the Russian COSMOS satellite and a fragment of a rocket from India may come close enough to the space station to require a debris avoidance maneuver. If needed, the maneuver would be done using the ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) “Edoardo Amadi.” The ATV was supposed to undock last night, but a communications glitch forced engineers to call off the departure.

Both pieces of debris are edging just inside the so-called “red zone” of miss distance to the station with a time of closest approach calculated to occur Thursday at 14:42 UTC (10:42 a.m. Eastern time.) It is not known how large the object is.

{...}

If the maneuver is required – and NASA said it could be called off any time — it would occur at 12:12 UTC (8:12 a.m. EDT) Thursday, using the engines on the ATV, which remains docked to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module. It usually takes about 30 hours to plan for and verify the need for an avoidance maneuver.

{...}

SPACE.com: NASA Tracking Space Junk Near International Space Station

RIA Novosti: ATV-3 Freighter to Help Orbital Station Avoid Space Junk

NASASpaceflght: ISS preparing to dodge two debris threats via ATV-3′s extended stay

 

[orb]

ESA Blogs: DAM cancelled:

ESA's ATV-3 Mission Manager, Massimo Cislaghi, has just confirmed: today's debris avoidance manoeuvre is cancelled.

Further analysis during the night showed that the debris object, a piece of an old Indian launch vehicle, will pass by the ISS at a safe miss distance.

The decision for today's DAM came about 7 hours before the scheduled time of ignition (TIG), which was to have been 12:12 GMT | 14:12 CEST.

{...}

 

[orb]

RIA Novosti: Space Station to Dodge Astro-Junk:

The International Space Station (ISS) will make a maneuver to a new orbit on Thursday to avoid debris from a Japanese satellite, a Russian Flight Control Center representative told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

"The maneuver is planned for 7.22 a.m. Moscow time," the source said, adding the danger from the fragments will be closest at 12.31 p.m. The size of the fragment cloud is not known.

A Russian Zvezda service module will help make the maneuver, the source said. The decision to make the move is a provisional one and may be changed, Flight Control added.

{...}

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

The five cubesats brought along on HTV-3 in July has been deployed from the experiment airlock on the Kibo module yesterday:

 

[Suzy]

Year-long ISS stay approved for 2015 and next space tourist to be singer Sarah Brightman.

 

[orb]

NASA News Release:
RELEASE : 12-354
NASA and International Partners Approve Year-Long Space Station Stay

Oct. 5, 2012

WASHINGTON -- NASA and its international partners have announced an agreement to send two crew members to the International Space Station on a one-year mission designed to collect valuable scientific data needed to send humans to new destinations in the solar system.

The crew members, one American astronaut and one Russian cosmonaut, will launch and land in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and are scheduled to begin their voyage in spring 2015.

The space station serves as a laboratory for technological demonstrations and scientific research, including experiments that improve understanding of how the human body reacts and adapts to the harsh environment of space. Data from a year-long expedition also will help inform assumptions about crew performance and health, and will help reduce the risks associated with future exploration.

"In order for us to eventually move beyond low Earth orbit, we need to better understand how humans adapt to long-term spaceflight," said Michael Suffredini, International Space Station program manager. "The space station serves as a vital scientific resource for teaching us those lessons, and this yearlong expedition aboard the complex will help us move closer to those journeys."

During the 12 years of permanent human presence aboard the space station, scientists and researchers have gained valuable, and often surprising, data on the effects of microgravity on bone density, muscle mass, strength, vision and other aspects of human physiology. This year-long stay will allow for greater analysis of these effects and trends.

"We have gained new knowledge about the effects of spaceflight on the human body from the scientific research conducted on the space station, and it is the perfect time to test a one-year expedition aboard the orbital laboratory," said Julie Robinson, NASA's program scientist for the International Space Station. "What we will gain from this expedition will influence the way we structure our human research plans in the future."

The expedition also will serve as a test bed for future exploration technologies. Those innovative technologies, the logistics of the trip to and from the space station and the selection of the crew will be announced at a future time.

{...}

 

[orb]

JAXA: Small Satellites Deployment from Kibo were success

 

[orb]

 

[orb]

Aviation Week: ISS Managers Mull Spacewalks To Address Power, Cooling Issues

NASAtelevision:

 

[orb]

RIA Novosti: Space Station’s Orbit to be Adjusted for Next Spacecraft:

Specialists of the Moscow Region-based Mission Control Center will on Wednesday carry out a maneuver to readjust the orbit of the International Space Station, a spokesman for the center said.

The readjustment will be carried out with the use of thrusters of the Russian Zvezda service module.

“The operation is expected to begin at 19:24 Moscow time [15:24 GMT]. The engines of the Zvezda module will operate for 19 seconds,” the spokesman said adding that the station’s average orbit altitude will be raised by one kilometer to 436 km (270.9 miles).

{...}

 

[orb]

Aviation Week: Commercial ISS Research Platform Headed For 2014 Launch

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

ISS Add-on developers take note: is there any way to deploy those old radiators on the P6 truss?

Hopefully there won't be so many faults with station equipment next year (remember that only 1 US EVA was scheduled early in the year, and now it may end up with 4!).....

NASASpaceflight.com: ISS program planning spacewalks to repair power channel faults outside station

 

[orb]

collectSPACE: Space station commander reflects on 100 days in orbit

 

[Donamy]

ISS Add-on developers take note: is there any way to deploy those old radiators on the P6 truss?

Hopefully there won't be so many faults with station equipment next year (remember that only 1 US EVA was scheduled early in the year, and now it may end up with 4!).....

NASASpaceflight.com: ISS program planning spacewalks to repair power channel faults outside station

Yes !!

 

[orb]

NASA News Release:
MEDIA ADVISORY : M12-206
NASA TV to Air Space Station Cargo Ship Launch and Docking

Oct. 24, 2012

HOUSTON -- NASA Television will provide live coverage of the launch and docking of the next Russian cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station Wednesday, Oct. 31.

The ISS Progress 49 resupply ship, loaded with 2.5 tons of food, fuel and supplies for the crew aboard the station, is scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2:41 a.m. CDT (3:41 a.m. EDT and 1:41 p.m. Kazakhstan time). NASA TV coverage of the launch begins at 2:15 a.m.

A few hours later, NASA TV coverage will resume at 8 a.m. CDT for the docking of the Progress to the space station's Zvezda Service Module at 8:40 a.m.

If any technical issues arise, the Russian flight control team may default to a two-day rendezvous plan that would result in docking on Nov. 2.

{...}

 

[orb]

Space Travel: ISS Crew Gets Ready for New Expedition 33 Trio

 

[orb]

 

[orb]

NASA: Expedition 33 Spacewalk Preview Briefing Graphics

{colsp=3}

Click on images to enlarge​

| |

Expedition 33 Crew Members​

|

International Space Station​

|

2B Photovoltaic Thermal Control System (PVTCS)​

| |

P6 Truss Worksite​

|

P6 PVTCS Total Ammonia Mass​

|

2B Photovoltaic Thermal Control System (PVTCS)​

| |

2B Ammonia Servicer Jumper Reconfiguration​

|

Spacewalkers Sunita Williams and Akihiko Hohide​

|

Flight Engineer Kevin Ford​

| |

U.S. EVA #20 Tasks​

|

Fluid Quick Disconnect Coupling (FQDC)​

|

Sunita Williams Spacewalk ​

CBS News Space: Coolant leak prompts Nov. 1 station spacewalk

 

[orb]

NASA: Protective Paint Tested on Space Station Makes for 'Curious' Ride to Mars