ام الياس
عضو محترف
عدد الرسائل : 756
العمر : 39
نقاط : 5803
تاريخ التسجيل : 16/09/2008
بطاقة الشخصية
اغراضي:
 |  موضوع: HOME IN SPACE الجمعة فبراير 20, 2009 12:11 am | |
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 HOME IN SPACEThe Soyuz
spacecraft with the 12th international
space station crew, Commander William McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery
Tokarev, docked with the orbiting laboratory at 1:27 a.m. EDT Monday.
With them was American Greg Olsen, the third private citizen in space, flying
under a contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency. He will spend about
eight days on the station.
They launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan just before midnight
on Friday.
Image to right: The Expedition
11 and 12 crewmembers gather in Zvezda for a quick welcome ceremony. They are,
from left, Spaceflight Participant Greg Olsen, Expedition 11 Commander Sergei
Krikalev, Expedition 12 Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev, Expedition 11 Flight
Engineer and Science Officer John Phillips, and Expedition 12 Commander William
McArthur. Credit: NASA TVOlsen will
conduct scientific experiments on the station, and then return to Earth with
Expedition 11. That crew, Commander Sergei Krikalev and NASA Science Officer
John Phillips, has been on the orbiting laboratory since April.
They will undock Oct. 10 in the Soyuz TMA that brought them to the station
April 16. Landing is scheduled for 9:08 p.m. EDT that day in the steppes of
Kazakhstan, winding up their 180-day increment.
McArthur, 54, a retired Army colonel, is a veteran of three shuttle flights,
including one to the station and one to the Russian space station Mir. Tokarev,
52, a colonel in the Russian Air Force, is a veteran of one spaceflight, to the
international space station aboard a space shuttle.
Hatches were opened at 4:36 a.m. EDT. After hugs and greetings with the
traditional bread and salt, they got a safety briefing from the Expedition 11
crew. In extensive handover briefings during their eight days together, they
will get training on systems and experiments on the station and on the
Canadarm2 robotic arm.
During their six months on the station McArthur and Tokarev will do two or
three spacewalks. The first, from the Quest airlock in U.S. spacesuits, is
planned for early November. Tasks include installation of a camera group and
retrieval of the station's floating potential probe.
Image to left: The Soyuz
TMA spacecraft carrying the Expedition 12 crewmembers approaches the space
station. Credit: NASA TV
That will be McArthur's third spacewalk and the first for Tokarev.
About two weeks later the crewmembers will board their Soyuz spacecraft and
move it from the Pirs docking compartment to a docking port on the Zarya
module. That will clear the Pirs for use of its airlock in a spacewalk using Russian
Orlan suits in December.
That spacewalk will focus on retrieving scientific experiments and photography
of a micrometeoroid monitoring system andA third
spacewalk early next year in U.S. spacesuits is under consideration.
Image to right: The Soyuz
TMA spacecraft carrying the Expedition 12 crewmembers launches from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome. Credit: NASA TV
McArthur and Tokarev also are scheduled to welcome an unpiloted Progress cargo
craft to the station, just in time for Christmas. That Progress will bring
fuel, equipment, supplies, water, oxygen and air to the station. Docking is
planned for Dec. 23.
Station maintenance will occupy considerable time. They will continue scientific
investigations aboard the orbiting laboratory, as well as a program of
scientific education activities and Earth observations.
Their replacements, the 13th crew of the station, are scheduled to arrive in
March. | |
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