21 lat temu 7 lipca 1995 Norman Thagard
http://lk.astronautilus.pl/astros/122.htm na pokładzie Atlantisa w locie
STS-71 powrócił na Ziemię po
115
dniach spędzonych na orbicie.
Po 21 latach został ustanowiony nowy rekord długości lotu kosmicznego Amerykanina.
Dr Thagard został pierwszym amerykańskim astronautą, który poleciał w kosmos rosyjskim statkiem kosmicznym i pierwszym Amerykaninem, który wracał na Ziemię na pokładzie innego statku niż wystartował.
Na orbicie spotkał Walerija Polakowa
http://lk.astronautilus.pl/astros/207.htm , który kończył rekordowy lot kosmiczny oraz Jelenę Kondakową
http://lk.astronautilus.pl/astros/317.htm , która jako pierwsza kobieta odbywała długotrwały pobyt na orbicie.
For Thagard, selection in February 1994 to fly the first NASA “increment” to Mir was a prize he had sought for several years. In the summer of 1991, as he was preparing to fly his fourth shuttle mission, STS-42, he heard about a U.S.-Russian agreement, which would involve a long-duration flight to the Russian space station. A year later, Thagard was chatting with fellow astronaut Dave Hilmers about what might entice them to remain at NASA; Hilmers had already accepted a place at medical school, but Thagard was intrigued by the possibility of embarking on a mission with the Russians. His mind was made up when Chief Astronaut Dan Brandenstein asked him, point-blank, if he would fly. Thagard’s response was immediate: “Absolutely!” [...]
On 3 February 1994, NASA formally announced Thagard’s selection, and, bowing to Russian pressure, also assigned a backup crew member in the form of veteran shuttle astronaut Bonnie Dunbar. They would both embark on a year of preparations at the Star City training center, on the forested outskirts of Moscow, in readiness for launch with two Russian cosmonauts aboard Soyuz TM-21 in March 1995. [...]
Funding took two months to arrive between JSC in Houston and Star City, since it had to be funneled through NASA Headquarters, the U.S. State Department, the U.S. embassies in Paris and Moscow, before it ended up (in cash) in the hands of Ken Cameron for distribution to his team. Shipments of the astronauts’ own items from home, including clothes, irons, and ironing boards, were notoriously slow to arrive, and since the arrangement between Russia and the United States was strictly quid pro quo, the astronauts were told in no uncertain terms that they should learn to “live like Russians.” On one occasion, Ken Cameron got hold of some margarita mix and the three astronauts watched videos and ate popcorn as Thagard’s noisy washer breakdanced its way across the bathroom and dislodged the sink from the wall. “That was our entertainment,” said Dunbar, “for several weeks.” [...]
część 1 artykułu
http://www.americaspace.com/?p=78241In traditional fashion, Dezhurov, the commander, symbolically requested permission to conduct the Soyuz TM-21 mission from the commanding general. Arriving at the base of the launch pad, the crew was faced with the gargantuan rocket which would deliver them into orbit. Unlike the United States, where all non-essential personnel were kept away from the launch pad, it surprised Thagard that he, Dezhurov, and Strekalov had to literally wade through a gaggle of people to reach the elevator which took them to the top of the rocket. “You’re literally brushing by them as you go through,” he told the NASA oral historian. As he ascended the steps, someone called his name in an American ascent; Thagard turned to respond and almost lost his grip. Composing himself, he waved back, then walked to the top of the steps and strode across to the elevator, which took the crew up to boarding level. Thagard was first to clamber through the side hatch of Soyuz TM-21’s orbital module, followed by Strekalov, who quickly moved into his couch on the left-hand side of the descent module. “He had to turn on electrical power,” recalled Thagard, “so Gennadi went in, and then I went in and then Veloga [Dezhurov] went in, and then, of course, you shut the hatch.” By this stage, about two hours remained before liftoff. Although Thagard and Strekalov both had windows on their respective sides of the cabin, they were covered by the rocket’s aerodynamic shroud, offering them no view of the titanic events which would soon engulf them as they left Earth. [...]
Meanwhile, in low-Earth orbit, Dezhurov, Strekalov, and Thagard were bound for a two-day rendezvous to reach Mir. Three hours after reaching orbit, the crew performed the first of two maneuvering system burns to raise their orbit slightly, and, early on 15 March, executed a small “phasing” burn and two further rendezvous burns to adjust their altitude to match that of the space station itself. During those two days, the crew was confined to the cramped descent and orbital modules of the Soyuz, and, although there were rudimentary toilet facilities, the complete lack of privacy had led many cosmonauts to avoid responding to the need “to go” for as long as possible. The toilet, said Thagard, was “a funnel-like affair that’s attached with a flexible tube to the structure,” but stressed that “folks usually tried to get themselves in a position so they don’t have to defecate while they’re on the Soyuz.” Most spacefarers took enemas before launch, as Thagard did, and he noticed that the probability of suffering space sickness was reduced aboard the more confined Russian craft.[...]
część 2
http://www.americaspace.com/?p=78245Opis bez retuszu i z ciekawymi szczegółami przygód dr Thagarda związanych z lotem na Mirze :
Dr. Polyakov gave Thagard good reason for his cheerfulness. Thagard said, "He didn’t look like a person—either from a physical or a psychological standpoint—who had been on a space station for over 141⁄2 months. His legs were just as big as tree trunks, and he was in a great mood. Of course, I’m sure knowing that he was going home in a few days would probably put him in a great mood. Nonetheless, I got the feeling that he had done perfectly fine." Thagard was very interested in the physical and psychological aspects of being in space for months at a time. Seeing Polyakov reassured him that "indeed, at least some humans can do it without much of a problem, and he was clearly one of those who did…. I figured, gee, if he did that well after 141⁄2 months, I probably didn’t have much to worry about, for just three [months]." [...]
Command structure was another thing that Thagard noted early in the flight. Although he was still a rookie at spaceflight, Mir-18’s Commander Vladimir Dezhurov became more authoritarian than he had been before the flight. As the flight progressed, veteran cosmonaut Gennady Strekalov would sometimes chafe under Dezhurov, then "level a blast" at his commander, who would "back off a little." Thagard himself tried Strekalov’s oratorical tactic to a good result. Interpersonal relations warmed during the mission. According to Thagard, "Over the course of time, things just got better and better and better. By the end of the mission, any time Velodya [Dezhurov] would address me, it was always, ‘My friend.’ It was great, but it didn’t start out that way." Other U.S. Mir astronauts would similarly comment that Russian Mir commanders were more autocratic than their U.S. Space Shuttle counterparts, who generally added "please" and "thank you" to their orders.[...]
Deprivation of another kind caused problems, too. This had to do with a human metabolism investigation and Thagard’s diet. According to Thagard, the Mir-18 food supply consisted of a basic, repeating, six-day menu. Four of the entrees were canned fish, which Thagard loathed. All the basic foods were bar-coded so crewmembers could record with a scanner exactly what they ate. Also onboard was a supply of more flavorful supplementary foods. But these were not bar-coded, and crewmembers had been asked to record everything they ate. However, such a dEarth of paper existed onboard Mir that none was available to keep a meal log. Thagard gave this example: "Later on, when we moved the solar battery and had to reroute the electrical cables, … Gennady took marker pens and wrote out the new schematics on an aluminum can lid." Meals and their recording became a situation of diminishing returns.
Thagard biking on Mir "The upshot," Thagard said, was that "the food supply was not adequate for any of us." Dezhurov and Strekalov basically quit the food program. Strekalov told Thagard that half his food was coming from the supplementary supply. "But I," Thagard said, "religiously adhered to the requirement, and I was constantly hungry." Worse, he was losing weight. [...]
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4225/nasa1/nasa1.htm
Wątek: Kalendarium historycznych wydarzeń (Przeczytany 327175 razy)