A veteran Russian cosmonaut, a Japanese shuttle flier, and a NASA astronaut making his first space flight docked with the International Space Station Tuesday after a two-day orbital chase, donning Santa hats to mark the holiday season.
With Commander Oleg Kotov monitoring a problem-free automated approach to the huge lab complex, the Russian Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft docked at an Earth-facing port on the Russian Zarya module at 5:48 p.m. EST, as the two spacecraft sailed 220 miles above the Atlantic Ocean east of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
Soyuz Commander Oleg Kotov, left, chats with family members after docking with the International Space Station. Timothy Creamer and Soichi Noguchi look on to his left, while Maxim Suraev and station Commander Jeff Williams float in the foreground.
(Credit: NASA TV)Hatches were opened about an hour and a half later, after leak checks to make sure the Soyuz was firmly latched in place.
Expedition 22 Commander Jeffrey Williams and cosmonaut Maxim Suraev were standing by to welcome Kotov and his two crewmates--Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi and NASA astronaut Timothy Creamer--on board to boost the lab's complement back up to five.
"It's great to see all you guys on orbit," Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's chief of space operations, radioed from the Russian mission control center near Moscow. "Have a great Christmas, a good New Year. I can't think of a better family to have in space than you. I'm here with your families in the control center, so have a great expedition."
"Thank you, Gerst, it's good to hear your voice, it's great to have these guys on board," Williams replied. "It completes the complement of Expedition 22."
"Oleg, hello, we're so happy to see you aboard the station one more time," a family member radioed Kotov. "Daddy, I'm so proud of you. You're the best father in the world! We wish you the best of luck."
The Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft slowly approaches its docking port on the International Space Station after an automated approach.
(Credit: NASA TV)"Thanks to you for coming, thank you for your words, I love you very much and I'll talk to you soon," Kotov replied.
Said Creamer: "Everything's doing really great here. It's better than great, it's 154 times better than great. So thanks for the well wishes."
Williams and Suraev have had the station to themselves since December 1 when cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne, and Canadian Robert Thirsk returned to Earth after a six-month stay in space.
Kotov, Creamer, and Noguchi plan to remain aboard the lab complex for a six-month tour of duty. Williams and Suraev will return to Earth in late March, but three more crew members are scheduled for launch in early April to boost the crew to six.
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying three fresh crew members bound for the International Space Station blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early Monday local time, lighting up a cold, pre-dawn sky with a torrent of flame visible for miles around.
With Soyuz commander Oleg Kotov, a station veteran, Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi, a shuttle veteran, and rookie astronaut Timothy Creamer strapped into the Soyuz TMA-17 capsule, the rocket roared to life at 4:52 p.m. EST Sunday (3:52 a.m. Monday local time) and quickly climbed away from the same pad used by Yuri Gagarin at the dawn of the space age.
The Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
(Credit: NASA)Liftoff was timed for roughly the moment Earth's rotation carried the launch pad into the plane of the space station's orbit. Kotov, seated in the spacecraft's center seat, was flanked by Creamer to his right and Noguchi on his left.
The climb to space appeared normal and live television views from inside the TMA-17's central module showed all three crew members relaxed and at ease as they monitored their cockpit instrument displays. Noguchi flashed a thumbs up and Creamer waved.
A little less than nine minutes after liftoff, the spacecraft slipped into its planned preliminary orbit and Kotov reported "everyone feels great, no problems." Later this evening, Kotov planned to oversee two rendezvous rocket firings to fine-tune the craft's approach to the lab complex.
A third rocket firing is planned for Monday and if all goes well, the TMA-17 spacecraft will execute an automated approach to the Earth-facing port of the station's Zarya module Tuesday for a docking around 5:54 p.m.
Waiting to welcome the new crew members on board will be Expedition 22 commander Jeffrey Williams and Maxim Suraev, launched to the outpost Sept. 30. Suraev and Williams, who has a previous station flight to his credit, have had the lab to themselves since December 1, when cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne and Canadian Robert Thirsk returned to Earth after a six-month stay in space.
"One of the things we've learned over the last couple of years is it's really beneficial to have (experienced) crew members (on board) when a new crew arrives," said Kirk Shireman, deputy manager of the space station program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
"So while it'll be a new experience for these guys, the fact that Max and Jeff have already been up there, they'll know where everything is, they'll know how things work and that'll allow these three guys to quickly adapt and be able to hit the ground running."
According to an Associated Press report, Creamer told reporters he would miss his family over the Christmas holidays, but "we are going as a family together to a family in space." He has been using Twitter to keep friends, family and the public up to date and plans to continue posting from space.
"I thought if I can give you the status of what I am doing, what we are hoping for, what we are looking forward to seeing, those would be good little teasers," he said.
The Soyuz TMA-17 crew, bound for the International Space Station. Left to right: Soyuz commander Oleg Kotov, Timothy Creamer, Soichi Noguchi.
(Credit: NASA)After a break for Christmas and the New Year holidays, the crew will face a busy month in January.
Using the station's robot arm, a NASA pressurized mating adapter currently attached to the left side of the central Unity module will be relocated Jan. 5 to clear the way for attachment of a new U.S. module in February.
Suraev and Kotov plan a spacewalk January 14 to finish outfitting a new Russian docking port known as Poisk, or MRM-2, that was recently attached to the Zvezda command module's upward-facing hatch. Once that work is done, the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft now docked to Zvezda's aft port--the capsule that carried Williams and Suraev to the station--will be moved to Poisk on January 20.
The shuttle Endeavour is scheduled for launch from the Kennedy Space Center on Fabruary 7 to deliver Tranquility, or Node 3, a roomy module that will be attached to Unity's left-side port. Once installed and checked out, a toilet now installed in the Destiny lab module will be moved into Tranquility, along with exercise equipment and other life support gear that has been temporarily housed elsewhere.
"This increment really sets the stage for the last year of the shuttle program," Shireman said. "It's a big growth year...the last major growth spurt for the International Space Station...We're looking forward to a really, really exciting year."
As it currently stands, four Soyuz flights to the station are planned in 2010, NASA's final five shuttle missions and up to six unmanned Progress supply ships. Along with Tranquility, a new Russian module will be delivered by the shuttle, along with a cargo transfer module that will be left aboard the station after the final shuttle visit.
"This is the beginning of another phase where we learn to operate with a larger crew size, more demands on the hardware, more demands on the space station," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associated administrator of space operations. "So for the systems to work right requires a lot of extra preparation and this is the beginning of that preparation."
Said chief astronaut Peggy Whitson: "It's obviously very complicated. I think we have done in the past several years a fantastic job of making very difficult things look easy. We always have problems, but we always seem to be able to overcome them and I think that's kind of NASA's theme for survival.
"We expect that adding on a new module, two new modules this year ... it's going to be pretty exciting, expanding the station even further. I know when I was up there when we increased the station volume with three new modules it was just really exciting, opening up this huge new space to live in and explore."
UPDATED at 5:30 p.m. EST with Soyuz launch.
MOJAVE, Calif.--Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson and legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan, whose SpaceShipOne took the $10 million Ansari X Prize in 2004, unveiled the VSS Enterprise Monday, a sleek commercial rocket plane that represents the ultimate thrill ride for well-heeled space tourists and amateur astronauts.
Seating six passengers and two pilots, Virgin Space Ship Enterprise--also known as SpaceShipTwo--will begin test flights next year with commercial launchings carrying paying customers starting after government regulatory requirements are met. More than 300 people have already put down deposits or paid the full $200,000 cost of a ticket for future sub-orbital up-and-down flights aboard the new spacecraft.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Virgin founder Richard Branson, right, inspect a model of SpaceShipTwo Monday before the craft's roll-out. Designer Burt Rutan looks on from the left.
(Credit: William Harwood)Most of those ticket holders, along with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, were on hand for the SpaceShipTwo unveiling Monday at Mojave airport, braving rain, high winds and frigid temperatures to witness the long-awaited roll-out.
Branson told the enthusiastic crowd that safety was Virgin Galactic's No. 1 priority and that "we will not be putting anybody into space until the test pilots have done many, many, many trips on this spaceship."
"Only when we are absolutely certain we can safely to space will we go into space," he said. "I promise you, it will be well and truly tested before we go into space."
Schwarzenegger said attending the unveiling was "one of the coolest things I've ever done." Describing Branson as "an extraordinary visionary," he called Rutan "one of the greatest space engineers of our time."
"Space is our next great frontier," he said. "When it comes to space enterprise, California is and always has been at the forefront and leading the way."
Virgin Galactic reportedly plans to spend some $400 million to build a fleet of five or six rocket planes. Commercial flights will be launched from taxpayer-funded spaceport under construction in New Mexico. Assuming test flights go well and government requirements are met, commercial launchings could begin by 2011.
"My state is energized and raring to go," Richardson said. "We're proud to be on the ground floor of the second space age...I call on the Obama administration to embrace commercial space travel. We're opening up an opportunity that before now was only available to a select few, a chance to travel in space. Three hundred have already jumped at the chance, signing up to be among the first space tourists."
Turning to Schwarzenegger, Richardson said, "Governor, you should join me in going into space. But I want you to go first."
Construction of SpaceShipTwo, carried out in near-total secrecy at Rutan's Scaled Composites facility in Mojave, began in 2007. The first spacecraft, named VSS Enterprise on Monday, is a scaled-up version of the three-seat SpaceShipOne Rutan designed, with funding from Microsoft founder Paul Allen, to compete for the $10 million Ansari X Prize.
A comparison showing the relative sizes of SpaceShipOne, which won the Ansari X Prize in 2004, and the scaled-up SpaceShipTwo, designed for commercial sub-orbital flights.
(Credit: Virgin Galactic)The X Prize required competitors to complete two manned flights to an altitude of 100 kilometers, or 62 miles, the somewhat arbitrary "boundary" of space. After Rutan won the X-Prize, Branson launched Virgin Galactic and announced plans to build a fleet of larger spacecraft to carry space tourists on sub-orbital flights.
Looking to the future, Rutan said "I believe, to satisfy this market, there will need to be between 40 and 50 spaceships. Assuming we have enough spaceports and assuming we work the cost numbers appropriately we can attract that large number of people. That's what will be required" for the long-term success of commercial manned spaceflight.
Peter Diamandis, who directed the Ansari X Prize program, hailed SpaceShipTwo as an "incredible milestone" and said the industry will flourish despite the high initial cost.
"There is definitely a business model," he said in an interview. "We've got more billionaires on the planet and millionaires than ever before in the history of humanity. It's the same thing with every new technology, whether it's cell phones or airplanes, the wealthy step up first, they pay the higher ticket price and eventually it becomes available to everybody. We need to demonstrate the market and the technology will follow."
SpaceShipTwo will be carried aloft by a futuristic-looking mothercraft called WhiteKnightTwo, a four-engine jet-powered aircraft unveiled last year that features twin fuselages mounted on either side of a huge wing.
For the unveiling Monday, WhiteKnightTwo, with the rocket plane attached to the center of the wing, was rolled into view amid soaring music and floodlights.
SpaceShipTwo, carried by the WhiteKnightTwo carrier plane, rolls out Monday in Mojave, Calif.
(Credit: William Harwood)SpaceShipTwo will be released at an altitude of 50,000 feet. A hybrid rocket motor burning solid propellant with nitrous oxide then will boost SpaceShipTwo onto a steep trajectory to an altitude of more than 62 miles.
The roomy cabin of SpaceShipTwo, about the same size as a large executive jet, features multiple portholes to give its passengers a spectacular view of Earth and space.
After about five minutes of weightlessness as the spaceplane arcs through the top of its ballistic trajectory, the rocket plane will fall back into the atmosphere, pivoting its wings upward in a technique invented by Rutan to ease the stress or re-entry. From there, with the wings back down in their normal orientation, the spacecraft will glide to a runway landing.
An artist's rendering of SpaceShipTwo with its wings pivoted up to reduce the stress of re-entry.
(Credit: Virgin Galactic)Rutan said the spacecraft is being built with a design philosophy that requires a much greater factor of safety than government standards for manned space flight.
"I believe it's not enough, in terms of developing something for the public, to say we'll just do the best that we can," he said. "I believe you also have to have a goal. And clearly the goal of meeting the safety of government manned spaceflight is not anywhere near acceptable, where 4 percent of the people who have left the atmosphere have died. I believe we need to set our sights more on the goal of the safety of the early airliners, and that's an extremely difficult goal.
"That's what we're shooting for, that's what has (guided) our decisions on redundancy and on quality and on training," he said. "What we will achieve now is based on how well we do in our best efforts. But at least we have a proper goal. Making sure spaceflight can attract customers and can fly safely is a much bigger job than doing a research program like we've done before."
How the budding commercial space market might react to a failure early in the program remains to be seen. But Diamandis said he is optimistic.
"If anybody can, Scaled can build a vehicle that's robust and highly reliable," he said.
Updated at 8 p.m. PST with comments from SpaceShipTwo participants.
Updated December 8 at 7:20 a.m. PST to clarify re-entry technique.
The Soyuz TMA-15 spacecraft undocks from the International Space Station.
(Credit: NASA TV)Outgoing space station commander Frank De Winne, cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, and Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk strapped into a Russian Soyuz capsule, undocked and fell back to Earth on Tuesday, braving icy weather in Kazakhstan to close out a 188-day stay in space.
Descending under a large orange-and-white parachute, Soyuz TMA-15 spacecraft made a rocket-assisted touchdown about 50 miles northeast of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, at 2:15:34 a.m. EST, about three hours and 20 minutes after undocking from the International Space Station.
Recovery forces, including U.S. and Russian flight surgeons, were near the landing site to help the returning spacemen out of the spacecraft's cramped descent module. Despite icy weather that forced authorities to ground the helicopters normally used, recovery crews in all-terrain vehicles reached the spacecraft within about 15 minutes of touchdown.
It was the first December landing of a Soyuz since 1990, but the Russians said the weather was acceptable for a safe descent.
Russian recovery teams surround the Soyuz TMA-15 spacecraft, helping extract the crew members.
(Credit: NASA TV)Monitoring the re-entry and landing from the International Space Station were Expedition 22 commander Jeffrey Williams and flight engineer Maxim Suraev, who arrived at the outpost in early October.
"Four more months, guys, then it's your turn," De Winne said before departing. "Have a good flight. It's wonderful in space, enjoy it.
The Soyuz descent module landed upright, and recovery crews extracted Romanenko, Thirsk and then De Winne one at a time, transporting them on stretchers to nearby vehicles. All three were reported to be in good condition.
Because NASA is responsible for arranging Canadian, Japanese, and European Space Agency rides to and from the space station aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft, NASA flight surgeons and managers joined Russian recovery crews to assist the returning station fliers and carry out initial medical checks.
Frank De Winne waves as he is helped from the Soyuz descent module.
(Credit: NASA TV)With the departure of Romanenko, Thirsk and Belgium's De Winne, the European Space Agency's first station commander, the International Space Station was left in the hands of Williams and Suraev. It is the first time since mid-2006 the station has been staffed by just two crew members.
But the solitude will not last long. Three more crew members--cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, NASA flight engineer Timothy Creamer, and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi--are scheduled for launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft on December 20. Docking is expected two days later.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--The shuttle Atlantis dropped out of a crystal clear Florida sky and glided to a "picture-perfect" landing at the Kennedy Space Center Friday to close out a successful 11-day space station mission, bringing astronaut Nicole Stott back to Earth after 91 days in space.
The view through shuttle pilot Barry Wilmore's heads-up display as Atlantis lined up on runway 33 at the Kennedy Space Center.
(Credit: NASA TV)With commander Charles Hobaugh at the controls, Atlantis executed a sweeping right overhead turn to line up on runway 33, pilot Barry Wilmore deployed the ship's landing gear and the shuttle settled to a tire-smoking touchdown at 9:44:23 a.m. EST.
"Houston, Atlantis, wheels stopped," Hobaugh radioed as the orbiter rolled to a halt on the runway center line.
"Roger, wheels stopped, Atlantis, that was a picture-perfect end to a top-fuel mission to the space station," replied astronaut Chris Ferguson from mission control at the Johnson Space Center. "Everybody, welcome back to Earth, especially you, Nicole."
Hobaugh, Wilmore, flight engineer Leland Melvin, and spacewalkers Robert Satcher, Michael Foreman, and Randolph Bresnik doffed their pressure suits for a traditional runway inspection about an hour and a half after touchdown.
"We really had truly an amazing mission," Hobaugh said on the runway. "It was not us, it was not any single group, but it was just an incredible team from all around the nation.
"We were lucky, I mean, part of it's luck and part of it's just pure, great skill, workmanship in processing Atlantis, getting it ready for us. We had no hitches, we went off on time, we landed on time. ... Nicole came back with us, she's doing great, she's headed back to see her family."
Atlantis settles to a smooth landing at the Kennedy Space Center.
(Credit: NASA TV)Launched to the lab in August, Stott made the trip back to Earth resting on her back in a recumbent seat on the shuttle's lower deck to ease her return to gravity after 91 days in orbit.
Flight surgeons were standing by to help her off the shuttle and carry out initial medical checks before accompanying her to crew quarters for a more detailed exam. Looking comfortable and in good spirits, she told a NASA interviewer a few hours later that while her vestibular system had not yet re-adapted to gravity, she was in good shape and glad to be home.
"As you move, everything else seems to be moving around you," she said. "And it's not a spinning, dizzy feel, it's more if I get up, then everything else seems to want to move up. ... But other than that, the main thing was when they opened the hatch, it smelled like fresh, clean, fall air. And that was really nice."
Her husband and 7-year-old son were on hand to welcome her back to Earth and "I have the promise of a Coca-Cola with crushed ice in a styrofoam cup and some good food, Thanksgiving left overs, waiting for me upstairs. There are also nice, warm showers here so that's a definite luxury I think I will enjoy for some time."
Stott, Hobaugh, Wilmore, Melvin, Foreman, and Satcher planned to fly back to Houston early Saturday. Bresnik, whose wife Rebecca gave birth to the couple's second child on Saturday, flew home right away aboard a NASA training jet to meet his daughter for the first time.
Stott is the last space station crew member to launch and land aboard a space shuttle. With just five more shuttle missions before the fleet is retired next year, all future U.S. station astronauts will fly to and from the lab complex aboard Russian Soyuz capsules.
Stott's former station crewmates face a busy weekend in orbit preparing for the December 1 departure and landing of Expedition 21 commander Frank De Winne of Belgium, cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk, who were launched to the lab May 27. They are scheduled to land in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz TMA-15 capsule around 2:16 a.m. EST Tuesday to close out a 188-day stay in space.
Expedition 22 commander Jeffrey Williams and cosmonaut Maxim Suraev, who arrived at the lab complex in October, will have the outpost to themselves until December 23 when three fresh crew members--cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, astronaut Timothy Creamer and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi--are scheduled to arrive.
A braking parachute is deployed as the shuttle Atlantis races down the runway .
(Credit: NASA)Hobaugh and his shuttle crewmates delivered nearly 15 tons of spare parts and equipment to the space station, including two pallets loaded with large components as a hedge against failures after the shuttle is retired.
The gear included two orientation control gyroscopes, a spare pump module, nitrogen pressurization tank and ammonia coolant for the lab's external cooling system, equipment for the mobile transporter that carries the station's mechanical arm, a new latching end effector, or hand, for the space crane, and equipment for the lab's electrical system.
The astronauts also carried out three spacewalks to prepare the complex for the attachment of NASA's final major module in February and the eventual arrival of additional spare parts and equipment that will be ferried up next year. In addition, a high-pressure oxygen tank was attached to the station's Quest airlock module.
For the trip back to Earth, the shuttle carried 2,100 pounds of station gear, including a urine distillation centrifuge that failed shortly before Atlantis took off. A replacement will be carried aloft on the next shuttle mission in February.
Only five shuttle flights reamin on NASA's manifest between now and the end of September as the agency works to complete the space station and retire the fleet.
UPDATED at 4 p.m. EST: Astronaut Randy Bresnik flew back to Houston shortly after landing to meet his new daughter; adding comments from Stott.
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Houston--Astronaut Randy Bresnik carried out a spacewalk Saturday awaiting word of the birth of his second child. Responding to a wake-up call from Houston early Sunday, he delivered the news that his wife, Rebecca, had given birth, saying "good morning, Houston. Good morning, Rebecca, good morning, Wyatt, and good morning to our little girl."
"I just wanted to take this opportunity to report some good news," he said later in the morning. "At 11:04 last night, Abigail Mae Bresnik joined the NASA family and momma and baby are doing very well. I'm very thankful for everyone...that's been so supportive and so helpful the last couple of days with everything that's been going on."
Rebecca and Randy Bresnik discussed the pending birth of their daughter in a pre-flight NASA interview.
(Credit: NASA TV)The shuttle crew's wake-up music--chosen by Bresnik's wife--was a song titled "Butterfly Kisses," which starts off with the lyrics: "There's two things I know for sure: She was sent here from heaven and she's daddy's little girl."
For medical reasons, Rebecca Bresnik was scheduled for an induced delivery Friday, two weeks before her December due date. There was no word Friday, and her husband, after participating in a six-hour spacewalk Saturday, presumably went to bed awaiting word of the birth.
"Like most parents, I would prefer to be there at the birth for sure, but we don't pick this timing," he said during a pre-launch NASA interview. "Fortunately, through the wonders of modern technical advancements and our amazing communications systems on the ISS and space shuttle, hopefully I'll be able to see the pictures and maybe talk to her on the IP (internet protocol) phone and see some video shortly thereafter. I'll be home only a few days afterward."
Rebecca said she, too, was "a little disappointed he won't be able to be there, but understanding that we don't choose the timing. I'm excited for him that he's doing what he's doing. He's trained one year for this mission, but really he's been here five, almost six years and I'm just real excited for him, excited for us, and just be gone basically a week beyond her being born."
She said the couple's son Wyatt "thinks he's naming the baby Nemo. He's just ready to be big brother, he's excited about the baby, he's always asking 'when is the baby going to come out and play?'"
"He goes up to her belly button and says 'baby, come out!'" said her husband.
"I say that too, sometimes," she joked.
"The amazing thing about him, you know, a year ago today we hadn't even met him yet," Bresnik said. "Within 48 hours of me being assigned to (shuttle mission) STS-129, we got the call saying we had a date to go to the Ukraine for our adoption.
"So we were over there 40 days last fall adopting him, came back in late December. So we've got this wonderfully happy, healthy little three-and-a-half-year-old boy who's life changed completely and he's gone from being in an orphanage on the other side of the planet to being in the space shuttle simulator here flying with his dad a couple of weeks ago.
"A miracle adoption as well as the miracle of childbirth, all in one year," he said. "We're just amazingly blessed."
Bresnik and his shuttle crewmates are scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center the day after Thanksgiving.
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Houston--Commander Charles "Scorch" Hobaugh piloted the shuttle Atlantis to a precision docking with the International Space Station Wednesday after a spectacular back-flip maneuver 220 miles above the Atlantic Ocean that allowed the lab crew to inspect the ship's fragile heat shield.
Approaching from directly in front of the 670,000-pound lab complex, the shuttle's docking mechanism engaged its counterpart on the station at 10:51 a.m. CST to cap a two-day rendezvous as the two ships orbited southeast of Australia.
The shuttle Atlantis docked with the International Space Station.
(Credit: NASA TV)A few moments later, the docking mechanism pulled the two spacecraft firmly together. And after a series of leak checks were conducted, the hatches were opened around 12:28 p.m.
Waiting in the forward Harmoney module, European Space Agency commander Frank De Winne of Belgium, cosmonauts Maxim Suraev and Roman Romanenko, NASA astronauts Jeffrey Williams and Nicole Stott, and Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk welcomed Hobaugh and his shuttle crewmates--pilot Barry Wilmore, Leland Melvin, and spacewalkers Robert Satcher, Michael Foreman, and Randolph Bresnik.
Facing a busy afternoon in space, the two crews shared brief hugs and handshakes before a mandatory safety briefing and the start of equipment transfers from the shuttle to the station.
Along with delivering 15 tons of spare components and supplies to the orbital complex, Atlantis will bring Stott back to Earth after three months in space. With Atlantis docked to the station, Stott is now considered a shuttle crew member and will start sleeping aboard the orbiter.
Approaching the station from behind and below, Hobaugh paused at a distance of roughly 600 feet directly below the lab complex as the two spacecraft passed high above South America. He then kicked off a computer-controlled 360-degree back-flip maneuver, exposing heat shield tiles on the orbiter's belly to the space station.
Shuttle Atlantis begins a back-flip maneuver crossing the northeastern coast of South America. The rendezvous pitch maneuver allows station crew members to photograph fragile heat shield tiles on the shuttle's belly to look for signs of damage.
(Credit: NASA TV)Stott and Williams, looking down through portholes in the Russian Zvezda command module, then snapped hundreds of digital images using powerful telephoto lenses to help engineers assess the health of the shuttle's heat shield.
Spectacular television images from the station showed Atlantis slowly flipping about as the shuttle passed over the coast of northeastern South America and out over the Atlantic Ocean. Zoomed-in views of the shuttle's belly revealed no obvious problems, but engineers will base their assessment on the digital images shot by Stott and Williams.
After the rendezvous pitch maneuver was complete, Hobaugh guided Atlantis up to a point directly in front of the space station before the final approach to docking.
The primary goal of the 129th shuttle mission is to deliver some 15 tons of spare components and equipment to the station to protect against failures after the shuttle is retired next year. The equipment is mounted on two Express Logistics Carrier pallets in Atlantis' cargo bay.
Atlantis, midway through the rendezvous pitch maneuver.
(Credit: NASA TV)Mounted on the pallet's upper deck are a 600-pound control moment gyroscope, a solar array battery charge-discharge unit, a device to prevent electrical arcing between the station and the space environment, and a latching end effector for the station's robot arm. Mounted on the lower surface are a 550-pound nitrogen tank assembly, a 780-pound external cooling system pump module, and a 1,700-pound ammonia coolant tank.
Shuttle Flight Director Mike Sarafin said Atlantis completed the rendezvous in good shape. The only technical problem of any significance was a bandwidth issue that is slowing data transfers to and from the ground.
On the station side, engineers are continuing to troubleshoot a problem with the lab's water processing system, but Sarafin said enough stored water was available to avoid any near-term concern.
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Houston--The United States and China have agreed to discuss expanded cooperation in space science and to start a "dialogue" on human space flight and exploration, according to a joint statement released in Beijing on Tuesday. The U.S.-China Joint Statement said both nations looked forward to reciprocal visits by the NASA administrator and appropriate Chinese space leaders in 2010.
"The United States and China look forward to expanding discussions on space science cooperation and starting a dialogue on human space flight and space exploration, based on the principles of transparency, reciprocity, and mutual benefit," the joint statement said. "Both sides welcome reciprocal visits of the NASA administrator and the appropriate Chinese counterpart in 2010."
President Obama visits the Forbidden City in Beijing.
(Credit: Pete Souza/White House)John Logsdon, a space policy analyst at George Washington University, said expanded cooperation makes sense, but only if both sides are open with each other and share the technical data necessary to ensure safe operations.
"I think it's great," he said in a telephone interview. "It opens the door to see whether, in fact, there's a basis for cooperation. I think the operative word in there is 'transparency.' If China is willing to provide the information we need to work with them and vice versa--they were the ones who have been somewhat reticent to do that--I think it makes total sense."
The future direction of the U.S. manned space program is unclear as NASA waits for the Obama administration to make a decision on how the agency should proceed after the space shuttle is retired next year.
... Read moreKENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--The space shuttle Atlantis roared to life and raced into orbit Monday on a critical mission to deliver 15 tons of equipment and spare parts to the International Space Station, gear needed to protect against failures after the shuttle fleet is retired next year.
The shuttle's three hydrogen-fueled main engines fired up at 120-millisecond intervals and six seconds later, after computers verified the powerplants were operating normally, Atlantis' twin solid-fuel boosters ignited with a flash at 2:28 p.m. EST, instantly pushing the orbiter skyward.
The space shuttle Atlantis begins an 11-day space station delivery mission with an on-time launch from the Kennedy Space Center.
(Credit: NASA TV)As commander Charles Hobaugh and pilot Barry "Butch" Wilmore monitored the computer-controlled ascent, Atlantis wheeled about its vertical axis and arced away to the northeast, into the plane of the space station's orbit in the first step of a complex two-day rendezvous.
The shuttle's boosters operated normally, separating from Atlantis' external fuel tank as planned two minutes and four seconds after liftoff, and the spaceplane continued toward its planned preliminary orbit on the power of its three main engines.
A television camera mounted on the side of Atlantis' external tank provided spectacular views as the shuttle thundered toward space, showing the Florida coastline and scattered clouds dropping away below as the ship accelerated toward space.
... Read moreMaking a bigger splash than expected, the crash of an empty rocket stage in a permanently shadowed crater near the moon's south pole last month kicked up a surprising amount of water ice and vapor, confirming the presence of a potentially valuable resource for future space travelers.
"I'm here today to tell you that indeed, yes, we found water," said Anthony Colaprete, the project scientist and principal investigator for the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite. "And we didn't find just a little bit, we found a significant amount."
Holding up water jugs to make the point, he said "if you remember, a month ago we were talking about teaspoons going into glasses over football fields. Well, now I can say today that in the 20- to 30-meter (65- to 100-foot-wide) crater LCROSS made, we found maybe about a dozen of these two-gallon buckets worth of water."
And more than water. Data from the LCROSS instruments show signs of other compounds that may shed light on the moon's evolution.
"It's a whole lot more beyond the water," Colaprete said. "That's the exciting part in my mind, it's not only about the water now. There's actually a lot more here that we're going to be talking about in the months ahead, looking at the LCROSS data."
Spectroscopic data from NASA's LCROSS lunar impactor shows the presence of water in two specific bands (yellow regions).
(Credit: NASA)Said Greg Delory, a researcher at the University of California at Berkeley: "This is not your father's moon. Rather than a dead and unchanging world, it could in fact be a very dynamic and interesting one that could tell us unique things about the Earth-moon system and the early solar system."
... Read more
