ISS Crew Changeover and a Space Tourist

Space Tourist Richard Garriott paid 30 million
dollars for his 10-day space journey
A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying space tourist Richard Garriott, and Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov and US astronaut Michael Fincke, has docked at the International space station. From The Associated Press:

Russian spacecraft docks with orbital station

KOROLYOV, Russia - An American computer game designer boarded the international space station Tuesday, floating onto the orbital outpost 35 years after his astronaut father circled the Earth on Skylab.

Richard Garriott was greeted by another man who has turned space flight into a family tradition: Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, whose father is a decorated veteran of the Soviet space program.

[...]

Garriott, 47, paid a reported US$30 million to fulfill his childhood dream of space travel. Growing up steeped in space flight, his determination was only strengthened when he was told his poor eyesight would prevent him from becoming a NASA astronaut like his father.

[...]

Long rivals in the Cold War space race, Washington and Moscow often point to the space program as an example of cooperation in their otherwise difficult relationship, which reached a low point in August when Russia defeated Georgia, a U.S. ally, in a brief war.

During their stint, Fincke and Lonchakov will work to expand the capacity of the station to host a crew of six — up from three — with additional sleep spaces, a second toilet and an exercise machine. Their crewmate Greg Chamioff will be replaced by another U.S. astronaut, Sandra Magnus, who is scheduled to arrive on a space shuttle in November along with equipment for the expansion.

Sounds like it's business as usual, despite international tensions over the Russia/Georgia conflict. Can the Russia/America cooperation continue, without letting politics interfere? It seems they are determined to do just that.

From DailyTech.com:

Russia Space Director Talks Russia-U.S. Business Deal

Even though political tensions between the United States and Russia remain strained and global economic problems are causing credit crunches, space exploration will take place as scheduled, the head of Russia's space agency said over the weekend.

Roscosmos head Anatoly Perminov understands that in two short years the Soyuz space capsule will be the only transportation for astronauts to reach the International Space Station (ISS) until 2014 or 2015. Russia will need to assist the U.S. to get both astronauts and supplies to the ISS, and the ISS crew could be expanded from three people to six, which would add pressure to Russia.

"Cooperation is first and foremost international and it cannot be said that space has any boundaries," Perminov said during the press conference. [...]

The US Congress has made it legal for NASA to purchase seats aboard future Soyuz launches, despite political obstacles. Read the whole thing for more details.

I wonder if they can stay on course with this. The Orion project, our new spacecraft to replace our aging shuttle fleet, could be delayed beyond it's 2015 target date. The multi-billion dollar bailout for banks could affect NASA funding. For now it looks like plans have not changed. Russia needs the money as much as we need them to supply us with Soyuz spacecraft. We shall see as time goes along, if the arrangement, and our space budget, will hold up.


Related Links:

NASA, Russia, and The Space Travel Dilemma

Discovery Returns, Mission Accomplished

NASA goes Back to the Future
     

NASA, Russia, and The Space Travel Dilemma

America's Orion Spacecraft; to launch in 2013 2014?
When the space shuttle fleet is retired in 2010, the Russian Soyuz spacecraft is supposed to be used instead, until the new American Orion ships are ready. But now that plan seems in jeopardy due to political concerns. Do we face having to expand our space program further... or even cutting it back?

Russia-Georgia conflict could affect NASA funding

WASHINGTON — Russia's military campaign in Georgia could have repercussions far beyond its borders, jeopardizing the U.S.-Russian partnership for manning the international space station over the next decade.

Lawmakers, including several from Texas, warned Friday that Moscow's air and tank attacks on its neighbor will likely prompt Congress to re-evaluate legislation allowing NASA to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for Russia to taxi astronauts to the space station.

The Soyuz spaceflights would span the five years between the shuttle's 2010 retirement and the launch of the new Orion spacecraft.

While some members predicted that Congress would eventually give NASA the go-ahead this year or next to work with Moscow's space program, others said they would rather see the retirement of the aging shuttle fleet put off a few years rather than rely on the Russians. [...]

Some people in Congress want to see our shuttle program extended, so we can avoid having to rely on the Russians for transport until our Orion spacecraft is ready (If it's completed on time, the latest estimate is September 2014. It's already been delayed one year).

The problem with extending the shuttle program would be that it's very costly, and would take money away from the building of the Orion spacecraft, causing even further delays. NASA would also like to stop using the shuttle, because of safety concerns inherent in it's design, and the age of the fleet. The Russian Soyuz spacecraft is known to be reliable, and seemed the ideal answer to the gap between the shuttle and the new Orion spacecraft. Too bad the Russian government isn't as reliable as the Soyuz.

Read the whole article for the details of the political debate. Some in congress are worried that opponents of the space program would use this as an excuse to de-fund it. Others are pushing for expanding NASA's budget to extend shuttle service AND keep the Orion spacecraft launch on schedule. I think that could be a tough sell in these budget-minded times. Yet at least the money spent wouldn't leave the country, but would be providing American's with jobs. And if the surge of the American dollar continues, that could also help economic concerns.

I think a lot is going to depend on the unfolding situation between Russia and Georgia in the coming weeks. But I don't doubt it's put a strain on NASA and their relationship with the Russian Space Agency. It's definitely dampened the enthusiasm of congress.


Orion spacecraft (right) docking at the ISS.


Related Links:

Surge for the dollar as global fears rise

Congress delays Orion Spacecraft launch date
     

All three astronauts appear at news conference

Even after a grueling re-entry and rough landing, they all appear to be well:

Russian flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko, left, American astronaut Peggy Whitson, centre and South Korea's first astronaut Yi So-yeon pose after news conference in Star City, outside Moscow, Monday, April 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)

Yi describes frightening return to Earth

STAR CITY, Russia (AP) — South Korea's first astronaut said Monday she was "really scared" when the Russian space capsule she was in made an unexpectedly steep descent to Earth over the weekend.

"During descent I saw some kind of fire outside as we were going through the atmosphere," said Yi So-yeon, a 29-year-old bioengineer. "At first I was really scared because it looked really, really hot and I thought we could burn."

But then she said she noticed it was not even warm inside the Soyuz capsule. "I looked at the others and I pretended to be OK," Yi said.

The steeper-than-usual descent from the international space station subjected Yi, American astronaut Peggy Whitson and Russian flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko to severe gravitational forces during the re-entry Saturday.

The technical glitch also sent the TMA-11 craft off-course and it landed about 260 miles from its target on Kazakhstan's barren steppe.

All three members of the crew walked slowly and were unsteady on their feet Monday when arriving for the news conference at Russia's Star City cosmonaut training center outside Moscow.

Malenchenko said it was not yet clear what caused the unusual descent.

"There was no action of the crew that led to this," he said. "Time will tell what went wrong." [...]

(bold emphasis mine) Interesting. Previously, a spokesman at the Russian Mission control said that the Soyuz crew failed to notify them of a change in flight path and trajectory. Now the pilot, Malenchenko, says the crew had nothing to do with it. Whatever the problem was, thank goodness it didn't kill or injure them.

You can read more details about the re-entry here:

Soyuz spacecraft has rough landing on Earth
     

Soyuz spacecraft has rough landing on Earth

A new crew has taken over the ISS, and the old crew returned to Earth, but not without some problems. From NASA:

Expedition 16 Soyuz Lands Safely in Kazakhstan

HOUSTON – NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, the first female commander of the International Space Station, returned to Earth at approximately 4:30 a.m. EDT Saturday, ending a mission during which she conducted five spacewalks and set a new record in American spaceflight.

Whitson and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, members of the 16th crew to live and work aboard the station, safely landed their Soyuz spacecraft in the steppes of Kazakhstan. Spaceflight participant So-yeon Yi also returned to Earth aboard the Soyuz. The landing was approximately 295 miles from the expected landing site, delaying the recovery forces’ arrival to the spacecraft by approximately 45 minutes. [...]

Now the astronauts are OK, but it hasn't yet been determined what went wrong. This next report, from the associated press via Fox News, has some interesting remarks:

Capsule carrying first SKorean astronaut lands off target

MOSCOW — A Russian space capsule carrying South Korea's first astronaut landed in northern Kazakhstan Saturday, 260 miles off its mark, Russian space officials said.

It was the second time in a row _ and the third since 2003 _ that the Soyuz landing went awry.

Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said the condition of the crew _ South Korean bioengineer Yi So-yeon, American astronaut Peggy Whitson and Russian flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko _ was satisfactory, though the three had been subjected to severe G-forces during the re-entry.

The Russian TMA-11 craft touched down at 4:51 a.m. EDT about 260 miles off target, Lyndin said, a highly unusual distance given how precisely engineers plan for such landings. It was also around 20 minutes later than scheduled. Search helicopters then took 25 minutes to locate the capsule and determine the crew was unharmed.

Officials said the craft followed a so-called "ballistic re-entry" _ a very steep trajectory that subjects the crew to extreme physical force. Lyndin said the crew had experienced gravitational forces up to 10 times those on Earth during the descent.

The crew were being examined on site by medical officials, and were later to return to Moscow for further evaluation.

"The most important thing is that the crew is healthy and well," Federal Space Agency chief Anatoly Perminov told reporters. "The landing occurred normally, but according to a back-up plan _ the descent was a ballistic trajectory."

Perminov said engineers would examine the capsule to determine what caused the glitch, though he blamed the Soyuz crew for not informing Mission Control about the unusual descent.

Later, Perminov referred to a naval superstition that having women aboard a ship was bad luck when asked about the presence of two women on the Soyuz.

"You know in Russia, there are certain bad omens about this sort of thing, but thank God that everything worked out successfully," he said. "Of course in the future, we will work somehow to ensure that the number of women will not surpass" the number of men.

Challenged by a reporter, Perminov responded: "This isn't discrimination. I'm just saying that when a majority (of the crew) is female, sometimes certain kinds of unsanctioned behavior or something else occurs, that's what I'm talking about." He did not elaborate. [...]

(bold emphasis mine) I bet someone's going to have some fun with those remarks. It will be interesting to see what the final report says.

Then there is this from a Reuter's reporter at Canada.com:


South Korean astronaut OK after rough landing

[...] the crew had begun leaving the capsule, which carried Yi So-yeon, a 29-year old nanotechnology engineer from Seoul, U.S. commander Peggy Whitson and Russian flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko.

A Reuters photographer, who traveled to the landing site in a helicopter with rescue crews, saw plumes of smoke rising from the capsule, which was lying in its side stamped about 30 cm into the ground with its parachute burning.

The photographer said the U.S. astronaut looked pale and was not fit enough to take part in a brief news conference. He said the Korean and the Russian looked fine as they traveled in a helicopter from the site to the Kazakh city of Kustanai.

He said the Korean had been dozing in the helicopter most of the way back to Kustanai but started smiling and made a flower drawing on the wall after she was served tea and had her blood pressure measured.

"Even though it is a very small place you can float back and fourth under each other, over each other," smiling Yi So-yeon told in English of her experiences in zero gravity environment at the International Space Station.

Russian space officials back at mission control in Moscow had waited nervously before confirmation came that all three were safe and their health was satisfactory. [...]

Peggy Whitson is 48 years old. It was her 2nd mission in space, and she had been living in zero gravity since October. It probably made her weaker than Yi So-yeon who is 29, and who had only been up there for a short time. Whitson had said before she returned that she wasn't looking forward to dealing with the gravity; I think she was anticipating it would be difficult for her. Yuri Malenchenko is 46, he had been up there as long as Whitson had. But he's also a Russian Air Force colonel as well as a seasoned cosomonaut, and no doubt very tough. It's a heck of a way to travel, for anyone at any age.

The Soyuz space crafts have been pretty reliable, but they are not reusable. The Americans are building a new capsule spacecraft called Orion, that will replace the space shuttle in 2010, and will be also used for Earth re-entry for Lunar and Mars missions. It will most likely be re-usable, but there is still some debate going on about that.