[SN] Russian crew swap should not impact next ISS mission

[Orionid]

Russian crew swap should not impact next ISS mission
by Jeff Foust — March 13, 2020


NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy (left) and Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin (center) and Ivan Vagner during training. Ivanishin and Vagner were added to the crew in February because of a medical issue with the prime crew. Credit: Roscosmos

WASHINGTON — As Russian officials give their final approval for the crew of the next Soyuz mission to the International Space Station, NASA’s space station manager says the swap of Russian cosmonauts should not pose a problem for the flight.

The Russian space agency Roscosmos announced March 13 that the primary crew for the next Soyuz mission, consisting of American astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner, had passed the final exams and were approved for flying the mission. They are scheduled to launch to the ISS on the Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft April 9.

Ivanishin and Vagner, though, were assigned to the mission only in February, replacing Nikolai Tikhonov and Andrei Babkin. Both Russian and American officials would only say that a medical issue led to their replacement, although Russian media reported that Tikhonov suffered an injury in training.

In an interview last week during the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference in Colorado, Kirk Shireman, ISS program manager at NASA, said he did not expect any major difficulties because of the swap. “For a while, Chris Cassidy was training with Ivanishin and Vagner, so he knows them really well,” he said. “Sometimes changing the crew a month out is disruptive, but in this case they know each other pretty well.”

A complicating factor was that Tikhonov and Babkin did additional training to prepare for extended operations of the station with only three people on board. Tikhonov had trained to spacewalk with Cassidy, with Babkin learning how to use the station’s robotic arm, should there been an urgent need for a spacewalk during their mission. Cassidy and the two Russians will likely be the only people on the station for most of their six-month mission, other than during a visit by NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on a Crew Dragon test flight no earlier than May.

Shireman said both Ivanishin and Vagner had received similar training, with Ivanishin trained for a spacewalk and Vagner for robotics. “So, we’re in good shape,” he said.

“We expect everything to go smoothly,” he added, a view he said was shared by Roscosmos. “They don’t see any concerns here.”

The coronavirus pandemic could also affect the mission. Russian officials had previously suggested the pre-flight quarantine of the crew could be started earlier than normal in response to the outbreak. Shireman confirmed that such steps were under discussion.

“We expect them to take additional measures to make sure that quarantine is a little tighter,” he said. “We’re ready to deal with that if it happens.”

Source: https://spacenews.com/russian-crew-swap-should-not-impact-next-iss-mission/

[Orionid]

Rocket for next space station crew arrives on launch pad in Kazakhstan (1)
April 6, 2020 Stephen Clark [SFN]




A Russian Soyuz-2.1a rocket rolled out to a launch pad Monday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, ready for the first crewed flight to use the modernized Soyuz booster configuration. Liftoff with two Russian cosmonauts and a veteran NASA astronaut is scheduled Thursday on an expedition to the International Space Station.

Preparations for crew and cargo launches to the space station are proceeding amid the global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The orbiting research lab has cost the U.S. government and partner nations more than $100 billion over three decades, and maintaining the outpost requires regular crew rotations and supply deliveries.

But there are restrictions imposed for this week’s crew launch. The crew’s families and media representatives are barred from attending the launch at Baikonur due to concerns about the pandemic. Instead, family members and journalists will watch the launch on television.

The liquid-fueled Soyuz rocket emerged on a railcar from its assembly hangar — known by the Russian acronym MIK — around sunrise Monday for the railroad journey across the Russian-operated cosmodrome to the Site 31 launch complex.

After arriving on the pad deck, a hydraulic erector lifted the Soyuz-2.1a launcher vertical. Folding gantry arms were later raised into position around the Soyuz rocket to provide access for technicians to ready the vehicle for liftoff.

The launch is scheduled at 0805:06 GMT (4:05:06 a.m. EDT) with nearly a million pounds of thrust blazing from 32 engine nozzles.

Liftoff is timed for 1:05:06 p.m. EDT local time at Baikonur, around the time the space station flies over the launch base on the steppes of Central Asia.

Russian Soyuz commander Anatoly Ivanishin, making his third trip into space, will occupy the center seat of the Soyuz MS-16 crew capsule. Flight engineer Ivan Vagner, a first-time space flier, will be to his left, and NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy will sit to his right during the nine-minute climb into orbit.


Cosmonauts Ivan Vagner and Anatoly Ivanishin, and astronaut Chris Cassidy (left to right) pose outside their Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 3. Credit: Roscosmos

The Soyuz will shed its launch abort motor and four liquid-fueled boosters less than two minutes into the mission. The capsule will then jettison an aerodynamic shield, and core stage will shut down and separate nearly five minutes after liftoff.

A third stage powered by a four-nozzle RD-0110 engine will inject the Soyuz MS-16 spaceship into a preliminary orbit at around T+plus 8 minutes, 46 seconds. Moments later, the crew capsule will fly free of the rocket’s third stage and unfurl two power-generating solar array wings.

Two major thruster firings by the Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft less than 90 minutes after liftoff will commence the ship’s rendezvous with the space station.

If all goes according to plan, the Soyuz will home in on the space station’s Poisk module using a Kurs rendezvous radar. The ship is scheduled to autonomously dock with the Poisk module at 1415 GMT (10:15 a.m. EDT) Thursday to wrap up a six-hour pursuit from the launch pad at Baikonur.

Ivanishin, Vagner and Cassidy will join the station’s current three-person crew — commander Oleg Skripochka and NASA flight engineers Jessica Meir and Drew Morgan — for more than seven days of joint operations before Skripochka and company return to Earth on April 17 aboard the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft currently docked at the orbiting research complex.

Cassidy will take command of the space station from Skripochka, kicking off the Expedition 63 mission on the outpost. Cassidy’s crew will remain at the station for an expected 196-day mission before returning to Earth in late October.

The launch Thursday will be the first time a crew rides a Soyuz-2.1a booster into orbit. The Soyuz-FG variant of Russia’s venerable Soyuz launcher, which previous carried Soyuz crews into space, was retired last year.

The Soyuz-2.1a’s upgrades include a modernized digital flight control system, replacing the analog guidance system on older Soyuz models, along with improvements to engine injection systems.

The digital control system allows the Soyuz-2.1a rocket to execute a roll program a few seconds after liftoff to reach the correct azimuth to align its flight path with the space station’s orbit. The Soyuz-FG rocket previously used to launch Soyuz crews had to be rotated into the correct orientation on the launch pad before liftoff.

An unpiloted Soyuz capsule rode a Soyuz-2.1a rocket to orbit last August on a test flight to ensure the upgraded launcher configuration could safely loft station crews into space. The Soyuz-2.1a rocket variant has launched dozens of times since 2004, including flights with Progress cargo freighters on missions to resupply the space station.

The last flight of the Soyuz-FG rocket last September marked the final planned mission to take off from Site 1 at Baikonur. Site 1 is also called Gagarin’s Start because it was the departure point for Yuri Gagarin’s historic mission in 1961, when the Russian cosmonaut became the first human to fly in space.

Russian officials have said they hope to upgrade Site 1 for Soyuz-2 launches. But Site 31, which is outfitted for the Soyuz-2 rocket family and lies in a different section of the sprawling cosmodrome, will be the launch pad used for crewed missions for the foreseeable future.

More photos of the Soyuz rocket’s rollout to the launch pad Monday are posted below.

[Orionid]

Rocket for next space station crew arrives on launch pad in Kazakhstan (2)

[Orionid]

Rocket for next space station crew arrives on launch pad in Kazakhstan (3)

[Orionid]

Rocket for next space station crew arrives on launch pad in Kazakhstan (4)

[Orionid]

Rocket for next space station crew arrives on launch pad in Kazakhstan (5)




















Credits: Roscosmos

Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/04/06/rocket-for-next-space-station-crew-arrives-on-launch-pad-in-kazakhstan/

[Orionid]

NASA astronaut, two cosmonauts set for Thursday launch to space station
April 8, 2020 William Harwood [SFN]


NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, Russian Soyuz commander Anatoly Ivanishin and flight engineer Ivan Vagner pose for a picture at the Cosmonaut Hotel on Wednesday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credit: Andrey Shelepin/Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center

Working amid coronavirus restrictions, engineers readied a Soyuz spacecraft for launch Thursday to ferry two Russian cosmonauts and Navy SEAL-turned-astronaut Chris Cassidy to the International Space Station.

Liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is targeted for 4:05:06 a.m. EDT (1:05 p.m. local time). It will be the first piloted flight of an upgraded Soyuz 2.1a booster following a series of successful uncrewed launchings.

In a stark departure from normal routine, the usual crowd of family, friends and other well wishers was not on hand at the sprawling spaceport to cheer the crew on thanks to travel restrictions intended to slow the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

“As crew members on a Soyuz rocket, we get 15 guests, including our spouse and children and that sort of thing,” Cassidy said in an interview with CBS News. “And so, none of those folks will come. Very limited operational support down there on the Russian side, as well as the NASA side.

“What’s super cool normally (on launch day) is you come walking out of the hotel where we stay for the whole two weeks that we’re down there, and there’s music playing, and there’s crowds of people lining the walkway as we proceed from the hotel to the buses. And it’s very, very motivating. It’s super exciting.”

This time around, “it’ll be completely quiet,” Cassidy said. “There won’t be anybody there. We’ll just kind of walk out. Maybe we’ll still play music and fire the three of us up ourselves, but who knows?”

To reach the space station, the Soyuz launch was timed to coincide with the moment Earth’s rotation carried the pad into the plane of the lab’s orbit. On Thursday, the station is expected to fly directly over the cosmodrome a few minutes before liftoff, moving nearly 600 miles ahead by the time the crew begins its climb to orbit.

If all goes well, Cassidy, Soyuz MS-16/62S commander Anatoli Ivanishin and co-pilot Ivan Vagner will dock at the station’s upper Poisk module six hours after takeoff, welcomed aboard by Expedition 62 commander Oleg Skripochka and NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Drew Morgan.


Credit: Roscosmos

Just eight days after docking, Skripochka, Meir and Morgan plan to return to Earth aboard the Soyuz MS-15/61S spacecraft, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan near the town of Dzhezkazgan around 1:17 a.m. EDT on April 17.

Cassidy, who will serve as commander of the three-man Expedition 63 crew, will be the lone American on board the station until SpaceX’s commercial Crew Dragon spacecraft finally takes off in late May or thereabouts. That long-awaited flight will be the first piloted launch from U.S. soil since the space shuttle was retired in 2011.

On board the Crew Dragon will be veteran NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken. Despite being classified as a test flight, both men have received additional training to operate station experiments.

But NASA’s commercial crew program, already running two years behind schedule, has been repeatedly delayed by funding shortfalls and technical problems and the current late-May launch target is far from guaranteed.

With the Kennedy Space Center closed to all but essential personnel to minimize possible exposure to the coronavirus, NASA and SpaceX must get through a battery of remotely conducted reviews to verify the readiness of the spacecraft, astronauts and ground systems to support launch.

SpaceX is not subject to the same work rules as NASA civil servants and it’s not yet known what impact the coronavirus might have on the hardware processing schedule, but the company is pressing ahead with launch preparations. Last week, Hurley and Behnken took part in emergency training at launch pad 39A.

NASA managers had expected to already be launching astronauts aboard SpaceX and Boeing commercial crew ships by now, ending the agency’s sole reliance on the Soyuz. Equally important, the new crew ships are needed to ensure the presence of three to four U.S.-sponsored astronauts aboard the station at all times to carry out a full slate of scientific research.

Anticipating the advent of U.S. commercial crew ships, Russia scaled back production of its three-seat Soyuz spacecraft and only two will be launched this year: the Soyuz MS-16/62S vehicle on Thursday and the second on Oct. 14.

NASA currently only has one Soyuz seat — Cassidy’s — under contract with Roscosmos. The agency is negotiating for a seat aboard the October flight and possibly a second seat next spring, but no contracts have yet been signed.

Uncertainty about the commercial crew schedule prompted NASA last year to put Cassidy on the Soyuz MS-16/62S crew in place of Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide. A space veteran, Hoshide was expected to serve as space station commander during the Tokyo Summer Olympics, a prestigious assignment for JAXA, the Japanese space agency.


NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy plays a game of chess at the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credit: Andrey Shelepin/Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

But at least one U.S. astronaut is required to be aboard the space station at all times to operate and maintain NASA systems. Given delays in the commercial crew program, NASA put Cassidy on the Soyuz crew in Hoshide’s place as a precaution to ensure a U.S. presence on the station in the event of additional commercial crew delays.

“We’re good buddies, fortunately,” Cassidy said of Hoshide. “He’s a true professional. Any astronaut wants to be on a rocket with their name on it, and I’m sure he’s no different. But it ultimately wasn’t about any person, it was about protecting U.S. presence in space.”

Tom Stafford, a Gemini and Apollo-era astronaut with a long history of working with the Russians, participated in a joint NASA-Roscosmos review last December. He summed up the consensus in stark terms during a space station advisory committee teleconference on March 30.

“The joint commission believes there is a significant technical risk due to further delay in the U.S. crew vehicle, USCV, schedule,” he said. “Without the USCV and without ensuring additional US Soyuz seats, then there’ll be no U.S. crew members on the ISS after October (21), that is, until we finally get the USCV in operation and up there.

“The ISS has always required at least one U.S. and Russian crew member for safe operations,” he continued. “Without U.S. crew on board, failure of critical U.S. orbital segment (equipment) could result in the loss of the ISS. It is imperative that NASA and Roscosmos find a way to guarantee at least one appropriately trained U.S. and Russian crew members on board the ISS at all times.”

While NASA managers believe commercial crew ships will be flying in the not-too-distant future, “both sides are planning for the reality there may be only one (U.S.) crew member on the ISS for the foreseeable future, until the USCV is available,” Stafford said.

Cassidy, speaking to reporters last November during training at the Johnson Space Center, said his crew is up to the challenge.

“We’re … ready operationally, mentally prepared, to just be the three of us on the space station, which will be a change in operations from what we’re used to today (with) six people,” he said.

“There’ll be less available crew hours (for science), because you still have to devote your baseline number of hours per week or whatever to keeping the thing running. So it’ll be (a) change in philosophy and how we manage crew time. But the goal is still the same, to maximize science hours and research, and we’ll do our best to do that.”

The makeup of near-term crews is just one issue facing space station planners. Stafford also told the space station advisory committee that Roscosmos will not put cosmonauts aboard U.S. commercial crew ships until Boeing and SpaceX have demonstrated their reliability.

Long-standing plans call for launching at least one U.S. astronaut on every Soyuz flight and one cosmonaut aboard each operational commercial crew mission to make sure at least one representative of each country is aboard the station at all times.

That would be critical if illness or some other emergency forced one ferry ship and its crew to make an early return to Earth. Without “mixed crews,” such a contingency could leave the station without a U.S. or Russian crew member.

“This exchange would ensure ISS operations in the event of an anomaly with the crew vehicle or an on-orbit issue that would require the vehicle to return to the Earth ahead of schedule,” Stafford said. “The Russian side noted that prior to agreeing to the mixed crew plan there is need for successful USCV launches. Roscosmos will consider participation after successful launches.”

Cassidy’s addition to the Soyuz MS-16/62S crew wasn’t the only unusual development in the mission’s evolution. Hoshide and later, Cassidy, originally expected to fly with two Russian rookies: Soyuz commander Nikolai Tikhonov and flight engineer Andrei Babkin.

But Tikhonov recently suffered an accidental eye injury, and both cosmonauts were replaced by Ivanishin, a space station veteran, and Vagner, a rookie.

“I was crushed, actually, that we were swapping because the two people that were my crewmates before were my really dear friends, and I was so looking forward to spending six months onboard the space station with them,” Cassidy said. “And then to hear that it was a medical accident just made it even more unfortunate. Life is precious, I guess, and just savor every day is what it made me realize.”

As for Ivanishin and Vagner, “I’ve known Anatoly for years, and we’ve had dinner in each other’s houses in in both countries. So no issues there,” Cassidy said. “I was just really, my heart hurt for my two friends that thought they were so close to a rocket launch and they’re not getting one.”

Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/04/08/nasa-astronaut-two-cosmonauts-set-for-thursday-launch-to-space-station/

[Orionid]

Soyuz launches new crew to the International Space Station
by Jeff Foust — April 9, 2020 [SN]


A Soyuz rocket lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome April 9 carrying the Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft, whose three-person crew will arrive at the International Space Station six hours after launch. Credit: NASA TV

WASHINGTON — A Soyuz rocket successfully launched a new crew to the International Space Station April 9 on a mission that overcame complications from a global pandemic and a change in crew members.

A Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:05 a.m. Eastern and placed the Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft into orbit nine minutes later. The spacecraft, making a four-orbit approach to the ISS, is scheduled to dock with the ISS at approximately 10:15 a.m. Eastern.

On board the Soyuz spacecraft are Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner and American astronaut Chris Cassidy. They will remain on the station for six months as the Expedition 63 crew.

This Soyuz mission faced some unusual challenges. In February, Roscosmos announced it was replacing the two Russian cosmonauts who had been assigned to the mission, Nikolai Tikhonov and Andrei Babkin, with their backups, Ivanishin and Vagner. Both Russian and American officials would only say that a medical issue led to their replacement, although Russian media reported that Tikhonov suffered an injury in training.

NASA and Roscosmos downplayed the effect of the crew swap on the mission. In an interview in early March, Kirk Shireman, ISS program manager at NASA, said that Cassidy had been training with Ivanishin and Vagner for a time before the crew swap, and that the Russian cosmonauts had robotics and spacewalk training should a spacewalk be required during the mission.

“Of course, it was a surprise,” Ivanishin, speaking through an interpreter, said in a prelaunch interview broadcast on NASA TV. But, he added, “any backup crew is ready to become prime.”

A second issue is the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that has led to travel restrictions and stay-at-home orders in countries around the world. While Soyuz crews normally go into a quarantine a couple weeks before launch, there were additional restrictions before this launch, including reduced staffing at the launch site and a prohibition on guests.

“I knew I was going to be in quarantine these two weeks, but what’s really different is everybody else around us is in quarantine, too,” Cassidy said in a prelaunch interview on NASA TV. “It’ll be a really, really skeletal crew in the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which will be quite different.”

“No virus is stronger than the human desire to explore,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted after the Soyuz spacecraft reached orbit. “I’m grateful to the entire NASA and Roscosmos teams for their dedication to making this launch a success.”

Cassidy, Ivanishin and Vagner will join the current ISS crew of NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Andrew Morgan and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka. Those three will return to Earth on the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft April 17.

Two NASA astronauts are scheduled to fly to the station later this spring on the SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo-2 test flight. Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley could remain on the station until as late as August in order to provide additional crew time for maintenance and science work.

Cassidy is, for now, the last NASA astronaut planned to fly on a Soyuz spacecraft. NASA officials have previously discussed buying one or more additional Soyuz seats as a hedge against further commercial crew delays, but have yet to announce a deal.

NASA has also proposed swapping seats between Soyuz and commercial crew vehicles on a no-cost basis, with Russian cosmonauts flying on Crew Dragon and Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner in exchange for astronauts flying on Soyuz missions. Such “mixed crew” missions would ensure there is at least one American and one Russian crew member on the station even if either the Soyuz or commercial crew vehicles are unavailable.

Roscosmos officials, though, told their NASA counterparts at a joint meeting in December that they would not assign cosmonauts to commercial crew missions until those vehicles are flight proven. The four-person crew for the first operational Crew Dragon mission, announced by NASA March 31, features three NASA astronauts and one from the Japanese space agency JAXA.

Source: https://spacenews.com/soyuz-launches-new-crew-to-the-international-space-station/

[Orionid]

Soyuz crew docks with the International Space Station
April 9, 2020 William Harwood [SFN]


The Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft approaches the International Space Station on Thursday. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now

With an absence of fanfare amid coronavirus safety protocols, an upgraded Russian Soyuz rocket making its first piloted flight blasted off from Kazakshstan Thursday carrying two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut on a speedy four-orbit trip to the International Space Station.

The Soyuz 2.1a booster’s first and core stage engines ignited on time at 4:05 a.m. EDT (1:05 p.m. local time), throttled up to full power and lifted the rocket smoothly away from its firing stand at the sprawling Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Strapped into the Soyuz MS-16/62S command module’s center seat was veteran cosmonaut Anatoli Ivanishin, joined by rookie flight engineer Ivan Vagner on the left and Navy SEAL-turned-astronaut Chris Cassidy on the right. Like Ivanishin, Cassidy is making his third space flight.

The climb to space went smoothly and eight minutes and 46 seconds after liftoff, the booster’s third stage engine shut down and the Soyuz spacecraft was released to fly on its own. A few seconds later, its two solar arrays snapped open and antennas deployed as planned.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted congratulations.

“Chris Cassidy, Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner are safely in orbit,” he said. “No virus is stronger than the human desire to explore. I’m grateful to the entire @NASA and @roscosmos teams for their dedication to making this launch a success.”

The countdown and launch were carried out without the usual cheers and encouragement from the crew’s families, friends and space agency personnel. Non-essential personnel were barred from the launch site under coronavirus travel restrictions.

The relatively small group of support personnel that was present wore face masks and kept their distance during crew walkout for the bus ride to the launch pad.

But the lack of fanfare made no difference to the launch team, and the 2.1a booster chalked up a flawless climb to space. It was the rocket’s first flight with a crew on board after a series of unpiloted missions to prove its reliability.


A Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifts off Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credit: Roscosmos

The space station passed directly over the launch site about three minutes before takeoff and the booster climbed directly into the plane of its orbit. Six orbits after that, at 10:13 a.m., the Soyuz docked at the station’s upper Poisk module.

After tests to verify an airtight seal, hatches were opened and the crew was welcomed aboard by Expedition 62 commander Oleg Skripochka and NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and physician-astronaut Drew Morgan.

All six gathered in the Zvezda module for a brief chat with flight controllers in lieu of a more traditional family video conference, ruled out by the coronavirus travel restrictions.

“For Chris, it was a stunning launch and docking and while we wish we had everyone to see you off from Baikonur, we know your family and friends and your NASA family were watching the whole way and couldn’t be more proud,” Jessica Watkins, spacecraft communicator, or CAPCOM, radioed from mission control in Houston.

“It really means a lot to be back here, representing all of the Johnson Space Center and all of NASA, really, to get this mission going,” Cassidy replied. “It’s going to be a really exciting year in our manned space history for all the obvious reasons.”

The combined six-member station crew will only have eight days together aboard the station. Skripochka, Meir and Morgan plan to return to Earth aboard the Soyuz MS-15/61S spacecraft next Friday, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan near the town of Dzhezkazgan around 1:17 a.m. EDT on April 17.

“We are self isolated here on the station, we are ready for handing over and after that, we’re going to leave the station in good hands,” Skripochka said.


The three newly-arrived crew members, seen in the lighter blue flight suits, joined the International Space Station’s three Expedition 62 crew members. Credit: NASA/Drew Morgan

From that point forward, Cassidy will be the only U.S. crew member aboard the station until SpaceX launches its Crew Dragon spacecraft on its first piloted mission in the late May timeframe.

But NASA’s commercial crew program, already running two years behind schedule, has been repeatedly delayed by funding shortfalls and technical problems and the current launch target is far from guaranteed.

With the Kennedy Space Center closed to all but essential personnel to minimize possible exposure to the coronavirus, NASA and SpaceX must get through a battery of remotely conducted reviews to verify the readiness of the spacecraft, astronauts and ground systems to support launch.

SpaceX is not subject to the same work rules as NASA civil servants and it’s not yet known what impact the coronavirus might have on the hardware processing schedule, but the company is pressing ahead with launch preparations.

NASA managers had expected to already be launching astronauts aboard SpaceX and Boeing commercial crew ships by now, ending the agency’s sole reliance on the Soyuz. Equally important, the new crew ships are needed to ensure the presence of three to four U.S.-sponsored astronauts aboard the station at all times to carry out a full slate of scientific research.

Anticipating the advent of U.S. commercial crew ships, Russia scaled back production of its three-seat Soyuz spacecraft and only two will be launched this year: the Soyuz MS-16/62S vehicle on Thursday and the second on Oct. 14.

NASA currently only has one Soyuz seat — Cassidy’s — under contract with Roscosmos. The agency is negotiating for a seat aboard the October flight and possibly a second seat next spring, but no contracts have yet been signed.

Uncertainty about the commercial crew schedule prompted NASA last year to put Cassidy on the Soyuz MS-16/62S crew in place of Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide. A space veteran, Hoshide was expected to serve as space station commander during the Tokyo Summer Olympics, a prestigious assignment for JAXA, the Japanese space agency.

But at least one U.S. astronaut is required to be aboard the space station at all times to operate and maintain NASA systems. Given delays in the commercial crew program, NASA put Cassidy on the Soyuz crew in Hoshide’s place as a precaution to ensure a U.S. presence on the station in the event of additional commercial crew delays.

“We’re good buddies, fortunately,” Cassidy said of Hoshide. “He’s a true professional. Any astronaut wants to be on a rocket with their name on it, and I’m sure he’s no different. But it ultimately wasn’t about any person, it was about protecting U.S. presence in space.”

Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/04/09/soyuz-crew-docks-with-the-international-space-station/

[Orionid]

Владимир Путин вышел на связь с МКС
10.04.2020 13:30 [roscosmos.ru]

Президент Российской Федерации Владимир Владимирович Путин поздравил экипаж Международной космической станции с Днём космонавтики.



Владимир Путин: Дорогие друзья, добрый день!

Олег Скрипочка: Добрый день!

Владимир Путин: Я очень рад приветствовать представителей сразу двух экипажей Международной станции. Желаю тем из вас, кто только начинает работу на орбите, выполнить все поставленные задачи. А тем, кто завершает свою вахту, — благополучно вернуться домой, на Землю.

Освоение космоса всегда было и остаётся для человечества символом прогресса и развития, а космическая деятельность год от года открывает новые перспективы в экономике, науке, социальной сфере.

На орбите, в том числе на борту вашей станции, проводятся фундаментальные исследования в области биологии, медицины, физики, химии, решаются важнейшие практические задачи.

У России богатый опыт международного сотрудничества в космосе. Мы рады, что наши специалисты успешно работают по программе МКС с коллегами из Соединённых Штатов Америки — одной из ведущих космических держав. Это наглядный пример эффективного партнёрства наших стран в интересах всего человечества. Так же, как мы сейчас пытаем организовать работу и с актуальными проблемами. Не хочется об этом говорить, но приходится. Имею в виду борьбу с пандемией, имею в виду ситуацию на мировых рынках. Вчера только с Президентом Соединенных Штатов обсуждали эти проблемы, и еще предстоят у нас разговоры на эту тему. В общем, сотрудничество развивается, слава богу, не только в космосе, но и в других областях.

Отмечу также, что в этом году исполнилось 60 лет со дня создания Центра подготовки космонавтов, в стенах которого воспитана целая плеяда покорителей космоса из более чем 25 государств мира.

И в наши дни, во многом благодаря работе Центра, география стран, отправляющих своих исследователей на орбиту, постоянно расширяется. Например, в прошлом году на МКС впервые побывал представитель Объединённых Арабских Эмиратов.

Наша страна всегда шла в авангарде освоения Вселенной. Будем делать всё, чтоб уделять должное внимание и одному из важнейших направлений — пилотируемой космонавтике.

Обязательно продолжим реализацию стратегических планов по освоению космоса. Будем развивать все наши программы.

Сегодня, кстати говоря, в преддверии праздника, Дня космонавтики, будем обсуждать с руководителями отрасли, как она развивается, будем корректировать наши планы, продвигать их, делать всё, для того чтобы всё это осуществилось, в том числе и строительство нового национального космодрома Восточный.

Хочу поздравить вас, уважаемые друзья, всех работников и ветеранов ракетно-космической отрасли России с приближающимся праздником, о котором я только что упомянул.

Хочу напомнить, что рождение и становление ракетно-космической отрасли в нашей стране пришлось на трудное, послевоенное время. Но, несмотря на испытания, люди стремились воплотить в жизнь мечту о полётах во Вселенную, смело шли в неизведанное, добивались успеха.

Убеждён, что и в наши дни, когда мир столкнулся с непростыми вызовами, космическая деятельность, наше сотрудничество с зарубежными партнёрами будут активно развиваться. Потому что человечество не может стоять на месте, будет всегда стремиться идти вперёд, объединять усилия, чтобы расширить границы познания.

Хочу еще раз вас поздравить (прежде всего обращаюсь сейчас к российской части вашей команды) с приближающимся нашим праздником — Днём космонавтики.

Удачи вам!

Олег Скрипочка: Спасибо огромное за тёплые слова.

Мы также очень рады приветствовать всех накануне Дня космонавтики. Рады поздравить Вас с этим прекрасным событием, прекрасным праздником, пожелать дальнейших успехов и развития как космической отрасли, так и другим отраслям.

Спасибо большое!

Владимир Путин: Спасибо! Всего вам доброго! Успехов!

 Администрация Президента РФ

Источник: https://www.roscosmos.ru/28348/

[Orionid]

Новая ракета-носитель «Союз 2.1а» с пилотируемым кораблем «Союз МС-16» стартовала с Байконура [gctc.ru] (1)
09 апреля 2020



9 апреля 2020 года в 11:05 мск с 31 площадки космодрома Байконур успешно стартовала ракета космического назначения «Союз 2.1а», которая вывела на орбиту транспортный пилотируемый корабль «Союз МС-16». Пилотируемый запуск новой ракеты состоялся впервые.

В составе экипажа – командир корабля, космонавт Роскосмоса Анатолий Иванишин, бортинженер корабля, космонавт Роскосмоса Иван Вагнер и бортинженер-2 корабля, астронавт НАСА Кристофер Кэссиди.

Оставив на дверях номеров автографы, космонавты и астронавт под традиционную песню «Трава у дома» вышли из гостиницы «Космонавт», заняли места в специально оборудованном автобусе «Звёздный» и отправились на 254-ю площадку космодрома. Вслед за ними на другом автобусе выехал дублирующий экипаж в составе космонавтов Роскосмоса Сергея Рыжикова и Андрея Бабкина, астронавта НАСА Стивена Боуэна.



В монтажно-испытательном комплексе А. Иванишин, И. Вагнер и К. Кэссиди надели скафандры и проверили их на герметичность.

Провожали космонавтов руководитель Госкорпорации Роскосмос Дмитрий Рогозин, начальник ЦПК имени Ю.А. Гагарина Павел Власов, а также сотрудники Центра и других предприятий ракетно-космической отрасли, представители космических агентств.



После доклада членам Государственной комиссии о готовности к полету экипаж МКС-63 занял свои места в корабле «Союз МС-16».







Программой полета предусмотрена четырехвитковая схема сближения ТПК с МКС. Стыковка корабля со станцией запланирована на 9 апреля 2020 года в 17:15 мск.

Стоит отметить, что пандемия коронавируса внесла свои коррективы в проведение традиционных мероприятий с участием экипажа в Звёздном городке и на Байконуре. Быть рядом с космонавтами и проводить их в космическую командировку родные и близкие не имели возможности в связи с усиленными мерами по борьбе с распространением вирусной инфекции.

На орбите экипаж МКС-63 проведет 196 суток. За это время космонавты поддержат работоспособность станции, выполнят работы по ее дооснащению, проведут научные эксперименты, реализуют разгрузку, загрузку и расстыковку прибывающих и убывающих пилотируемых и грузовых кораблей, сделают бортовые фото-, видеосъемки хроники полета РС МКС и др.

Встретят прибывающий экипаж находящиеся на борту Международной космической станции космонавт Роскосмоса Олег Скрипочка, астронавты НАСА Джессика Меир и Эндрю Морган. Они вернутся на Землю 17 апреля 2020 года.

[Orionid]

Новая ракета-носитель «Союз 2.1а» с пилотируемым кораблем «Союз МС-16» стартовала с Байконура [gctc.ru] (2)

[Orionid]

Новая ракета-носитель «Союз 2.1а» с пилотируемым кораблем «Союз МС-16» стартовала с Байконура [gctc.ru] (3)

[Orionid]

Новая ракета-носитель «Союз 2.1а» с пилотируемым кораблем «Союз МС-16» стартовала с Байконура [gctc.ru] (4)

[Orionid]

Новая ракета-носитель «Союз 2.1а» с пилотируемым кораблем «Союз МС-16» стартовала с Байконура [gctc.ru] (5)