The Space Shot

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.

KENNEDY 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.

Ongoing analysis of the trajectory of a piece of space junk that was believed to pose a possible threat to the International Space Station showed the debris would not pass close enough to the lab complex to force the crew to seek refuge in their Soyuz lifeboats, a NASA official said late Friday.

An agency spokesman said the station's six-member crew would be awakened early, at 10 p.m. EST as planned, but the astronauts would be told to go back to bed and not to press ahead with a tentative plan to shelter in place aboard the station's Soyuz ferry craft.

A graphic representation of debris in low-Earth orbit, defined as "the region of space within 2,000 km of the Earth's surface."

(Credit: NASA)

Earlier Friday, NASA flight controllers predicted the debris, of unknown origin, could pass within about six-tenths of a mile of the space station at 10:48 p.m., toward the end of the crew's normal sleep period. During the evening planning conference Friday afternoon, the astronauts were told to plan on getting up early so they could make their way to the Soyuz lifeboats by around 10:30 p.m. if necessary.

"The ballistics are saying they are looking at conjunction with space debris," Russian mission control radioed. "As you know, this is something we are prepared for. In the past, we have performed avoidance maneuvers, but this time maneuvering away from the path of the debris is not an option.

"Because we cannot perform avoidance maneuver, you will have to ingress Soyuz vehicles. Both Soyuz crews should be in their vehicles. This is what we have. We are going to work on the ballistics data to get greater precision, but right now we are in the red box. The probability of collision is non zero."

NASA flight controllers told the astronauts the tracking data was uncertain and that engineers did not yet have confidence in the trajectory projections. Pending additional analysis later in the afternoon, the crew was told to play it safe and plan on boarding the Soyuz lifeboats after shutting internal hatches in the U.S. segment of the lab complex.

After additional analysis, however, flight controllers concluded the unidentified debris would not pose a threat to the station, according to a NASA spokesman.

Last March, the station's three-man crew - Mike Fincke, Yury Lonchakov and Sandra Magnus - faced a similar situation and briefly took refuge in the lab's single Soyuz ferry craft when another piece of debris from an old rocket motor made a close approach.

There are more than 18,000 pieces of space junk in low-Earth orbit the size of a baseball and larger. U.S. Strategic Command prioritizes radar tracking to protect manned spacecraft first, followed by high-priority military and civilian payloads.

NASA monitors an imaginary volume around the space station roughly the shape of a pizza box measuring 0.466 miles thick and 15.5 miles square.

"Initially, we have a screening box, which is .75 kilometers radial miss, which would be up or down, by 25 kilometers in cross track, which would be left or right, by 25 kilometers down track, which is either in front or behind us," space station Flight Director Ron Spencer said in September.

"Space Command will alert us of any debris objects out there that are going to get that close to us. Then they increase tasking on those objects to try to get a better solution and decrease the uncertainty. Then we calculate a probability of collision based on the data Space Command gives us."

Spencer said NASA has two levels of concern.

"We have two thresholds, yellow and red," he wrote in an email exchange. "The yellow is 1-in-100,000 and the red is 1-in-10,000. We will not take any action if it is below the yellow threshold. If it between the yellow and red, we will only take action if it is easy to do so without impacting the mission. For a red threshold violation we will take action in most cases."

Updated at 6:45 p.m. EST: NASA officials say analysis shows the space debris in question poses no serious threat to the International Space Station.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--Launch of NASA's Ares I-X rocket on a planned $445 million test flight was delayed 24 hours Tuesday because of bad weather and an errant freighter that briefly strayed into the off-shore danger area.

"For everyone, great job today. You gave it a great shot," Launch Director Ed Mango told the team. "We had some opportunities and just couldn't get there, weather didn't cooperate. But good work today."

The Ares I-X rocket atop pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center during launch preparations.

(Credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)

Launch was rescheduled for 8 a.m. Wednesday. Forecasters are predicting a 60 percent chance of acceptable weather during a four-hour launch window, with lighter winds and less cloud cover. It is not yet clear whether Thursday is an option if additional problems force another delay Wednesday.

NASA began Tuesday's launch campaign at 1 a.m. EDT with the start of a seven-hour countdown. With forecasters concerned about high clouds, showers, and friction-induced static charge buildups, NASA passed up the 8 a.m. opening of the window and the countdown remained in an extended hold at the T-minus four-minute mark in hopes conditions would improve.

In a bit of a surprise given a 60 percent "no-go" forecast, conditions improved and NASA was preparing to come out of the hold and proceed to launch when a freighter strayed into the launch danger zone.

The ship was contacted and immediately began moving out of the area. NASA reset launch for 10:49 a.m., but the delay caused by the freighter held things up long enough for clouds to move in. Two minutes and 37 seconds before liftoff, weather officer Kathy Winters ordered a hold.

The countdown was recycled back to T-minus four minutes and holding in hopes conditions would improve.

Throughout the morning, clouds rolled over the Kennedy Space Center from the west and while occasional breaks were seen on radar, the timing didn't work out for NASA. Around 11:20 a.m., launch managers called off the attempt.

"It looks like we're not going to get there with weather on these opportunities and per our discussions, I guess we're looking for your recommendations and what you would like us to implement from a launch perspective," Test Director Jeff Spaulding said to Mango.

"Your team has done outstanding getting the vehicle ready," Mango said. "Weather (officer) has been outstanding in trying to help us. We're not going to be go today. So we can set up for a scrub."

There are no technical issues with the Ares I-X rocket. But in attempting to launch Tuesday, engineers pulled a sock-like cover from an air data probe at the very tip of the rocket that is designed to measure the atmospheric conditions ahead of the launcher.

Because of the booster's height, and the need to use a shuttle launch pad with a gantry that is much shorter than the rocket, the cover had to be removed by technicians, atop the pad's service gantry, manually pulling a long lanyard. The protective cover hung up at the base of the probe, but the technicians were able to pull it free after a few minutes of energetic tugging.

The cover cannot be re-installed. If rain water gets into the probe between now and launch, it could prevent accurate readings. NASA managers said earlier that was an acceptable condition and that the data, while desirable, was not required for launch.

Editor's note: A 4,000-word mission preview is available on the CBS News Space Place Breaking News page.

Amid work to ready NASA's Ares I-X rocket for a long-awaited test flight next week, a presidential panel charged with reviewing the nation's manned space program submitted its completed report Thursday, concluding NASA's planned shuttle replacement will cost too much and take too long to build to be a viable option.

Even so, panel members said they looked forward to the $445 million test flight Tuesday and the data it will generate to help validate computer models and processes that will be useful in any future rocket design efforts.

"We do think it's appropriate to fly the Ares I-X," said Norman Augustine, former CEO of Lockheed Martin and chairman of the U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee. "We think there are important things to be learned that will help the program."

Norman Augustine, left, chairman of a presidential review of manned space options, and panel member Edward Crawley, right, brief reporters Thursday.

(Credit: NASA)

The panel's completed report contained no major surprises--an executive summary was released in late September that included the same five basic options for future manned space activity--but the coincidental timing of the report and next week's test flight highlighted the uncertain future of NASA's plans to replace the space shuttle and return to the moon.

"The premier conclusion of the committee is the human spaceflight program the United States is currently pursuing is one that's on an unsustainable trajectory," said Augustine. "We say that because of a mismatch between the scope of the program and the funds to support the program. That's of great concern to us because human spaceflight, where safety accounts for everything, is a very unforgiving sort of pursuit."

In the wake of the 2003 Columbia disaster, the Bush administration ordered NASA to finish the International Space Station and retire the shuttle by the end of 2010, and to develop new rockets and spacecraft to return astronauts to the moon by the early 2020s.

The plan NASA developed--the Constellation program--calls for a new rocket known as the Ares I, and an Apollo-like crew capsule called Orion, to ferry astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit. A large, unmanned heavy lift rocket known as the Ares V then would be built to launch Orion capsules and lunar landers to the moon.

President Obama expressed general support for the Constellation program during the presidential campaign, but earlier this year he ordered an independent review of NASA's manned space program in the context of the current budget environment. At the same time, the Office of Management and Budget cut some $3 billion from NASA's projected "out-years" budget, money earmarked for development of the Ares V.

Against that uncertain backdrop, NASA pressed ahead with development of the Orion capsule and the Ares I booster envisioned as a replacement for the space shuttle. The new rocket features an extended shuttle solid-fuel booster, a hydrogen-fueled upper stage and an escape rocket that could pull the crew capsule to safety in an emergency.

NASA plans to launch a test version of the rocket Tuesday on a sub-orbital flight to verify computer models being developed to help design the Ares I. For the test flight, a standard four-segment shuttle booster is being used, along with a dummy upper stage and an Orion capsule simulator that duplicate the mass and shape of the Ares I rocket.

"We've reviewed the Ares I and Orion elements of that program, which are the two parts that are principally underway," Augustine said Thursday. "We found those programs to be reasonably well managed, we found them to have technical problems of a nature that's probably not uncommon for complex undertakings of this type.

"It's our belief that given ample time and funds, the engineers at NASA and their contractors are certainly capable of solving those problems. So we think the program within itself has a very good likelihood of succeeding. The issue that comes up under Ares I is whether the program is useful when it has succeeded because of a mismatch of the time schedules and the costs with what will be needed for it to do."

While that observation suggests Augustine and the panel do not support continued development of Ares I, panel member Leroy Chiao, a former astronaut, said "it's important to emphasize that we were presenting options, not recommendations."

"Despite what's been going on in the blogosphere, the panel didn't come up saying (NASA) should cancel Ares I, which a lot of people think we actually did," he said in a telephone interview. "It's really up to the decision makers as to which path to go down. So Ares I is not dead by a long shot."

NASA believes the Ares I could be ready to fly by 2015. The Augustine panel concluded it would take until at least 2017 to complete the work, coming on line too late to provide more than token support to the International Space Station. In the meantime, NASA will be forced to buy seats on Russian Soyuz rockets, at $50 million per ticket, to get U.S. astronauts to and from the lab complex.

The Augustine report also concluded that NASA will be unable to extend human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit without additional funding, suggesting an additional $3 billion per year, plus a hedge against inflation, to fund a realistic space exploration program.

The panel did not make recommendations, but members seem to favor a commercially developed launch system to get astronauts to low-Earth orbit and a government-developed heavy lift rocket to extend human exploration to the moon and beyond.

The so-called "flexible path" option presented by the Augustine panel would allow NASA to launch orbital moon missions and even flights around Mars or to its moons by the early to mid 2020s, while long-term development of landers and associated hardware is developed in parallel.

"The current plan focuses on going to the moon (with) the longer term goal of going to Mars," Augustine said. "There are a lot of things one could do along the way that are very interesting, that let you build up gradually to the immense undertaking of the Mars program.

"The sort of thing we're thinking of, one could fly circumlunar missions, you could circumnavigate Mars, you could land on an asteroid, a near-Earth object, you could land on Phobos or Deimos, the martian moons, and do some very exciting science from there. It seems to us that is a more sensible program than to wait 15 years or so for the first major event."

A White House spokesman thanked the panel for its report, saying "the president has on numerous occasions confirmed his commitment to human space exploration, and the goal of ensuring that the nation is on a vigorous and sustainable path to achieving our boldest aspirations in space."

"Against a backdrop of serious challenges with the existing program, the Augustine committee has offered several key findings and a range of options for how the nation might improve its future human space flight activities," he said. "We will be reviewing the committee's analysis, and then ultimately the president will be making the final decisions."

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying commander Gennady Padalka, flight engineer Michael Barratt, and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté undocked from the International Space Station on Saturday and plunged to a successful landing in Kazakhstan early Sunday.

Descending under a big orange-and-white parachute, the Soyuz TMA-14's descent module settled to a jarring rocket-assisted touchdown at 12:32 a.m. EDT (10:32 a.m. local time) Sunday to close out a 50-minute descent from orbit. Russian recovery forces, including U.S. and Russian flight surgeons, monitored the final stages of the descent before moving in to provide assistance, opening the capsule's hatch within about six minutes.

A few minutes after that, video from the landing site showed the crew members resting comfortably in chairs draped with blankets, with Laliberté wearing his familiar red clown nose. Padalka could be seen enjoying an apple as he and Barratt chatted with support personnel.

The Soyuz TMA-14 crew after landing Sunday. Left to right: Guy Laliberté, wearing a red clown nose, commander Gennady Padalka, and flight engineer Michael Barratt.

(Credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)

For Padalka and Barratt, launched March 26, touchdown closed out a marathon 199-day stay in orbit that was highlighted by the expansion of the crew from three to six astronauts and cosmonauts. Padalka, veteran of a flight to the old Mir space station and two expeditions aboard the ISS, boosted his spaceflight total to 586 days, putting him sixth on the list of most experienced space fliers.

Laliberté, a Canadian billionaire, is believed to have paid around $35 million to spend nine days aboard the station as a tourist. He took off September 30 with cosmonaut Maxim Suraev and NASA flight engineer Jeffrey Williams, who remained behind aboard the station as part of the six-member Expedition 21 crew.

Padalka, Barratt, and Laliberté undocked from the space station's Pirs airlock module at 9:07 p.m. Saturday. Padalka made the trip back to Earth strapped into the central descent module's center seat with Barratt, serving as flight engineer, to his left and Laliberté to his right.

"Gennady, good luck," Suraev radioed from the station as the Soyuz pulled away. "You look wonderful against the backdrop of black space. It's amazing, I don't have enough words."

"You'll do great, I just know it," Padalka replied.

"Good luck to all of you," Suraev said. "Stay safe, have a nominal landing. I hope you do well after you get back and I hope you'll be running later today, once you're on the ground."

"OK, well Max, we wish you a great time aboard the station," Padalka said. "We'll see you sometime in spring. And by the way, call me if you have any questions, because I know you will."

The Soyuz TMA-14's braking rockets fired on time at 11:40 p.m. for about four minutes and 24 seconds, slowing the ship by about 258 mph to drop it out of orbit.

The lower propulsion module and the upper orbital module separated from the central descent module just after midnight, about three minutes before the components fall into the discernible atmosphere at an altitude of 64 miles. The separation sequence went smoothly, setting up a normal descent to the planned landing site as opposed to a steeper "ballistic" trajectory.

Landing near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, was uneventful, although a brisk wind pulled the craft over on its side after touchdown.

The Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft descending toward touchdown in Kazakhstan.

(Credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)

In an interview with CBS News last week, Barratt said he was looking forward to a reunion with his wife and five children.

"I'm really going to miss the station," he said. "Just floating and flying here are tremendous and I would say after six-and-a-half months up here, I can now float and fly fairly proficiently. It's takes a little bit of time to really adapt to this, what my friend Shannon Lucid would call 'deep adaptation' to space flight, it really does take some time and I think I've finally gotten there.

"The Earth views are just amazing, I'm going to miss those. As much as anything, I'm going to miss the time around the galley table with this crew. We really worked well together and had a lot of fun. But the big magnet on the ground, of course, is my family. I have a wonderful, crazy family that I've really missed a lot that I'm looking forward to getting back to them."

Asked about re-adaptation to gravity after an extended stay in weightlessness, Barratt, a flight surgeon, said a new resistive exercise machine had helped him stay in shape.

"I'm in about as good shape as I can be up here," he said. "We've got a new resistive exercise machine which I've been working on fairly diligently for the last six-and-a-half months and it's the first time we've really had that kind of loading in space. We have the treadmill, of course, and the bike and I've tried to hit every session of exercise I can and I think I'm about as good as I can be.

"I'm not a young guy anymore and there are certainly some challenges associated with re-entry and getting back to the gravity vector. But I'm certainly going to give it my best shot and hopefully go through it OK and as always, try to take meticulous notes about it."

Padalka was replaced as commander of the space station by European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne. His crew, known as Expedition 21, includes Suraev, Williams, NASA astronaut Nicole Stott, cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, and Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk.

"Our mission was very, very long and very productive and, I would say, very eventful," Padalka said last week. "The main goal of our mission was six-person crew, which was started up in June...Right now, we are ready to go home, and I hope space station will be left in a great operational condition for the next commander and the next crew."

Romanenko, Thirsk, and De Winne were launched to the station on May 27. Stott was launched aboard the shuttle Discovery Aug. 28 and she plans to return to Earth in November with the crew of the shuttle Atlantis. De Winne, Thirsk, and Romanenko are scheduled to come home Dec. 1, briefly leaving the station with just two crew members: Williams, serving as commander of Expedition 22, and Suraev. Three fresh crew members--cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, astronaut Timothy Creamer, and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi--are scheduled for launch December 21.

The Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft carrying cosmonaut Maxim Suraev, NASA flight engineer Jeffrey Williams, and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté maneuvered to a smooth docking with the International Space Station early Friday to close out a two-day orbital chase.

With Suraev and Williams closely monitoring the final stages of the automated rendezvous, the small capsule's docking mechanism engaged its counterpart at the aft port of the Zvezda command module at 4:35 a.m. EDT as the two spacecraft sailed high above northeast Kazakhstan. Hooks and latches then engaged to pull the Soyuz firmly into place.

After leak checks, hatches between the two spacecraft were opened at 6:57 a.m., allowing Suraev, Williams and Laliberté, wearing a red clown nose, to float into the space station.

Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté chats with family members back in Moscow after he boarded the International Space Station.

(Credit: NASA TV)

They were welcomed aboard by outgoing commander Gennady Padalka, NASA flight engineer Michael Barratt, cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne, Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk, and NASA astronaut Nicole Stott.

"It's good to see you all, looking very good," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden called from mission control near Moscow.

"Hello Charlie, yeah, we had a great trip up here and we're happy to be on board, with good company," Williams replied.

"Well Jeff, Max and Guy, just want to let you all know we enjoyed a superb launch" on Wednesday, Bolden said. "Your families behaved well, they laughed all the way back from Baikonur to Moscow. You all should rest well and know they're being taken care of."

Suraev's father then congratulated his son on his first spaceflight, saying "all of us here are very happy that so far the mission is very successful...All the best to you, son, please do a good job there."

Laliberté, once again putting on his clown nose, told his family he was enjoying the trip and feeling "pretty good, actually. I'm adapting pretty good." Then he joked, "But I am staying six months, though."

A Canadian worth an estimated $2.5 billion, Laliberté is believed to have paid the Russians around $35 million to visit the space station as a tourist.

Suraev and Williams are replacing Padalka and Barratt, who plan to return to Earth with Laliberté on October 11. De Winne will take over as European Space Agency first commander in Padalka's place.

"We've had a fabulous time up here, the station is in great shape and really well supplied," Barratt said. "We're just really impressed that everything has worked so far with a couple of shuttles, the (Japanese) HTV (cargo ship), and everything worked on that thing. It was a beautiful spaceship and we're really lucky to have such visitations up here and a lot of firsts. So we're ready to come home, but it's been a great time."

"You guys enjoy all your time together this week," Gerstenmaier said. "Take good care of (the) space station."

A Russian Soyuz rocket blasted off from Yuri Gagarin's launch pad in Kazakhstan Wednesday, carrying two fresh crew members and the founder of Cirque du Soleil on a voyage to the International Space Station.

Under a cloudless blue sky, the Soyuz TMA-16 rumbled to life and soared away from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:14:42 a.m. EDT, roughly the moment Earth's rotation carried the launch pad into the plane of the station's orbit.

The Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early Wednesday, carrying two space station crew members and a wealthy space tourist.

(Credit: NASA TV)

Soyuz commander Maxim Suraev, making his first flight, monitored the ascent from the cramped capsule's center seat, assisted by NASA flight engineer Jeffrey Williams to his left. Space tourist Guy Laliberté made the climb to space seated in the capsule's right seat.

The nine-minute ascent went smoothly as the launcher arced away to the east, shedding its liquid-fueled strap-on boosters and core stages without incident. In live television views from inside the spacecraft's central compartment, Laliberté could be seen smiling and giving ground controllers an enthusiastic thumbs up, telling Suraev he felt "super."

After separating from the rocket's third stage, the Soyuz TMA-16's two solar wings and radio antennas deployed as planned and flight controllers in the Russian mission control center near Moscow reported the vehicle was in good shape and operating normally.

If all goes well, Suraev, a Russian air force colonel, and Williams, a veteran shuttle and space station astronaut, will oversee an automated docking at the aft port of the station's Zvezda command module around 4:37 a.m. on Oct. 2.

"This is a very exciting day for me," Laliberté said during a pre-launch news conference Tuesday. "I just turned 50 years old a couple of weeks ago and for celebrating that half of my life, hopefully, I have approaching the great privilege to fly in space.

"I was only 10 years old when the first man put his foot on the moon. I was in summer camp and I was watching that on a black-and-white TV. And for me, it nurtured not the dream of going in space, but it nurtured the understanding and the belief that fairy tales are possible to live."

Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté, left, waves at the camera during launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft.

(Credit: NASA TV)

Asked if he was frightened at the risk of launching aboard a rocket and flying through space at five miles per second, Laliberté, who frequently whips out and wears a red clown nose, said "I'm not scared of anything up there."

"That question's been asked many, many times," he said. "As you know, I'm not a professional, but the one question you have to answer is if you will nurture fear or not? I'm not there to be scared at all. I'm there after evaluating danger. There is, of course, risk coming up there, there are things that you have to be careful of, but I've been well trained."

Williams said he looked forward to watching Suraev and Laliberté experience weightlessness and the view of Earth from 220 miles up.

"I'm very happy now to be getting ready to go again with Max and Guy," he said. "The training has gone very well and we're going to have a great time. I look forward to enjoying their first experiences on orbit."

Suraev and Williams will replace outgoing Expedition 20 commander Gennady Padalka and NASA flight engineer Michael Barratt, who were launched to the station March 27. Laliberté will enjoy just nine days aboard the lab complex before returning to Earth Oct. 11 with Padalka and Barratt aboard the TMA-14 capsule that carried the two professionals into orbit last March.

Laliberté, a Canadian worth an estimated $2.5 billion, is believed to be paying upward of $35 million to visit the International Space Station as a "spaceflight participant," or space tourist, in a deal with the Russian space agency arranged through Space Adventures Ltd.

Overseeing a "poetic social mission"
Toward the end of his stay aboard the orbital lab, Laliberté plans to remotely oversee a five-continent, 14-city extravaganza as part of his "poetic social mission" to raise awareness of water as a critical cultural and environmental issue.

Beginning in Montreal at 8 p.m. on Oct. 9 and closing in Moscow, "we will travel the world, unveiling part of a poetic tale to a voice of international personality," Laliberté said during a news conference in August. "We will also be presenting ... artistic presentations linked to water as an inspiration and as a source of life."

Among those Laliberté said had agreed to participate are former Vice President Al Gore, U2, Shakira, Canadian astronaut Julie Payette, and Peter Gabriel. The theme of the production is "Moving Stars and Earth for Water."

The Soyuz TMA-16 flight is the latest chapter in an especially busy few months aboard the space station.

European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne will assume command of the outpost from Padalka when the veteran cosmonaut, Barratt and Laliberté depart. The Expedition 21 crew will be made up of De Winne, Williams, Suraev, Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk, cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, and NASA flight engineer Nicole Stott.

On Oct. 30, the crew will oversee the departure of Japan's HTV-1 cargo craft, an unmanned spacecraft that was captured by Stott, operating the station's robot arm, on Sept. 17 and then berthed at the Harmony module's Earth-facing port. The HTV will be undocked by the robot arm and released so it can maneuver away on its own for re-entry and atmospheric burn up on Nov. 1.

Nine days later, on Nov. 10, the Russians plan to launch a new docking compartment that will be attached to the upper port of the Zvezda module, providing a fourth port for visiting Soyuz ferry craft and unmanned Progress supply ships. The module is scheduled to make an automated approach and docking on Nov. 12, the same day NASA hopes to launch the shuttle Atlantis on a mission to deliver critical spare parts.

Stott is scheduled to return to Earth aboard Atlantis on Nov. 23, leaving the station with a crew of five. De Winne, Thirsk, and Romanenko are scheduled to come home a week later on Dec. 1, leaving Williams and Suraev behind on the station as the core members of the Expedition 22 crew. Three more crew members--cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, NASA astronaut Timothy Creamer, and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi--are scheduled for launch Dec. 21.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--Chief astronaut Steven Lindsey, a veteran of four shuttle missions, will command an all-veteran six-member crew for the final planned space shuttle flight next year, NASA announced Friday. Peggy Whitson, an experienced space station commander, will take over as chief astronaut as the shuttle program winds down.

Lindsey will be joined by pilot Eric Boe and mission specialists Benjamin "Al" Drew, Michael Barratt, Nicole Stott, and Timothy Kopra, all space veterans. Barratt and Stott are currently in orbit aboard the International Space Station while Kopra just returned from a long-duration stay.

Astronaut Steven Lindsey, seen here preparing a meal during his most recent shuttle mission in 2006, will lead an all-veteran crew for the final shuttle flight next year.

(Credit: NASA)

Launch aboard the shuttle Discovery on mission STS-133 is targeted for September 2010. During the eight-day flight, a modified logistics module used to ferry equipment and supplies to and from the space station will be permanently mounted on the Earth-facing port of the central Unity module. No spacewalks are currently planned.

Barratt, who launched to the station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft last March, is scheduled to return to Earth with Expedition 20 commander Gennady Padalka on October 11. Stott, who replaced Kopra aboard the station during Discovery's just-completed mission, is scheduled to come home with the crew of the next shuttle flight in November.

Only six shuttle flights remain before the program is retired, all bound for the International Space Station. With Friday's announcement, all of the crews are now assigned and no unassigned rookies remain in NASA's astronaut office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Here is the shuttle manifest as it currently stands:

• 11/12/09: Atlantis, STS-129/ISS-ULF-3 (external spares); 3 EVAs (spacewalks)
• 02/04/10: Endeavour, STS-130/ISS-20A (Tranquility module; cupola); 3 EVAs
• 03/18/10: Discovery, STS-131/ISS-19A (logistics module; science racks); 3 EVAs
• 05/14/10: Atlantis, STS-132/ISS-ULF-4 (Russian research module; spares); 3 EVAs
• 07/29/10: Endeavour, STS-134/ISS-ULF-6 (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer); 3 EVAs
• 09/16/10: Discovery, STS-133/ISS-ULF-5 (Permanent Logistics Module); 0 EVAs