The crew of Expedition 14 took a short ride outside the station last week when they repositioned a Soyuz capsule on the International Space Station. They undocked from the Zvezda port, and then redocked to the Zarya module about 20 minutes later. This Soyuz shuffling was necessary to prepare for the arrival of a new Russian Progress cargo ship, later this month.
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Expedition 14 Reaches the Station
The next crew of residents arrived at the International Space Station on Wednesday, and they brought a special visitor. Expedition 14, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, travelled to orbit with space tourist Anousheh Ansari. Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin will remain on board the station until the Spring, while Ansari will return with Expedition 13 in a week.
Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin of the 14th International Space Station crew docked at the International Space Station at 1:21 a.m. EDT Wednesday to begin a six-month stay on the orbiting laboratory.
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Burning Smell Fills the Station
The crew of the International Space Station had a bit of a scare today when they smelled a noxious odor in the air of the confined station. It turned out the smell was coming from a malfunctioning oxygen generator. NASA now believes a rubber gasket in the generator overheated, creating smoke and an odor. The event won’t cause any problems with the upcoming crew change.
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Expedition 14 Launches in Russian Soyuz
A Russian Soyuz rocket blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome early Monday, carrying a new team to the International Space Station. On board are Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, as well as space tourist Anousheh Ansari. The crew of Expedition 14 will remain on board the station, while Ansari will remain on board for a week, and then return with the crew of Expedition 13. They’re expected to arrive at the station early Wednesday.
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International Space Station Spreads its Wings
The International Space Station got a lot bigger today when it spread out its newly installed solar panel arrays. NASA mission controllers sent commands up instructing the station to open the first panel, and then the second, spanning a total of 73 metres (240 feet). The STS-115 astronauts will have one final spacewalk on Friday; Joe Tanner and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper will spend 6.5 hours outside the station working on a variety of tasks. The Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to depart from the station on Sunday, and land on Wednesday.
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Second Spacewalk Ends
The astronauts of STS-115 spent a second day outside the International Space Station working to connect up the new P3/P4 truss element. During the 7-hour spacewalk Dan Burbank and Steve MacLean had to remove insulation covers and hundreds of bolts from the truss. The final test will come on Thursday, when the new electricity-generating solar panels are unfurled to their full 13.7-metre (45-foot) length. Once operating, the new panels will double the amount electricity available to the station. The third and final spacewalk will occur on Friday.
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First Female Space Tourist Will Participate in Several Experiments
The International Space Station is going to be a busy place. Right after Atlantis undocks, the next Soyuz mission, carrying the crew of Expedition 14, as well as a space tourist will launch on September 18. Iranian-American entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari will live on board the station for a week, partly as a tourist, and partly as a test subject for several research experiments. Four experiments are planned for Ansari, including two that test her blood, one to seek the cause of astronaut low-back pain, and a search for bacteria around the station.
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Astronauts Complete First Spacewalk
NASA astronauts completed the first of three spacewalks this morning, as part of mission STS-115. Mission Specialists Joe Tanner and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper exited the station at 0917 GMT (6:17 am EDT) and completed several tasks that will prepare for the installation of the new P3/P4 truss. As part of their 5-hour spacewalk, the astronauts installed power and data cables, and released the launch restraints that held the huge solar arrays safe during launch. The solar arrays will be completely unfurled on Thursday, and will double the station’s electricity.
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Atlantis Links Up with the Station
The Space Shuttle Atlantis caught up with the International Space Station this morning, linking up at 1048 GMT (6:48am EDT). After 2 hours of preparations, the airlock was opened, and the astronauts were greeted by the current station residents. As one of the first tasks of the day, the Atlantis crew used their robotic arm to transfer the P3/P4 integrated truss from the shuttle’s cargo bay to the robotic arm on the station. The STS-115 crew will conduct three spacewalks during their mission to connect and configure the truss for permanent operations.
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STS-115 Brings More Power to the Station
STS-115 is an ambitious mission that returns the focus of human spaceflight to building the International Space Station, bringing new capabilities to the ISS. While a song by John Lennon asserts that revolution will bring power to the people, it will be a new set of solar arrays and its ability for rotation that will provide more power to the space station.
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