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ISS-11 Press Kit: Opening the Door for Return-to-Flight

As with previous expedition crews, NASA released an Expedition 11 Press Kit with details of the mission. The full Press Kit is in PDF format and is a hefty 5.2-megabyte download, so I have converted some of the pages into HTML-format below. The PK describes the mission, mainly from a NASA/U.S. viewpoint, so the focus is on the American part of the program. There are no Russian-language versions of these PKs that I know of.

The Russian experiments and space program get only a small mention, while the U.S. experiments get a page each and fill nearly half the booklet.

You can download the full Press Kit (5.2 megabytes) at www.nasa.gov/pdf/112555main_exp11_presskit.pdf (to save without opening, right-click on the link and select “Save Target As”).

Contents

Below, a table of contents listing. I have noted the sections I extracted for this page.

Mission overview

The crew that will greet the first Space Shuttle astronauts to arrive at the International Space Station since November 2002 is scheduled to launch on April 15, 2005 (local time), aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, replacing the American astronaut and the Russian cosmonaut who have been living and working on the Station since October 2004.

Russian Expedition 11 Station and Soyuz Commander Sergei Krikalyov, 46, and NASA Flight Engineer and Science Officer John Phillips, 53, will launch on the ISS Soyuz 10 (TMA-6) spacecraft for a two-day flight to dock to the Pirs Docking Compartment on the ISS. This will be the sixth flight into space for Krikalyov, more than any other Russian cosmonaut, and the second flight into space for Phillips, who previously flew on STS-100 in 2001 that delivered the Canadarm2 robotic arm to the Station. Phillips will launch on his 54th birthday.

Krikalyov will be making his third trip to the International Space Station, having first flown to the ISS on the STS-88 mission that delivered the Unity Module to link up to the first Station element, the Zarya Control Module. He was the Flight Engineer on the first Expedition mission in 2000 that began the permanent human occupancy of the complex. Krikalyov made three previous flights to the Mir Space Station. By the time Krikalyov returns to Earth this fall, he will have accumulated 800 days in space on his six flights, more than any other human.

Krikalyov and Phillips will be joined aboard the Soyuz by European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori, 40, a test pilot for the Italian Air Force, who will be making his second trip into space and his second trip to the International Space Station. Vittori was part of a Russian/South African crew that delivered a new Soyuz return vehicle to the Station in 2002. Vittori will spend eight days on the Station, conducting a variety of experiments before returning home with the Expedition 10 crew, Commander Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Salizhan Sharipov, in the ISS Soyuz 9 (TMA-5) vehicle that is docked to Zarya.

Once on board, Krikalyov and Phillips will conduct more than a week of handover activities with Chiao and Sharipov, familiarizing themselves with Station systems and procedures. They will also receive proficiency training on the Canadarm2 robotic arm from Chiao and will engage in safety briefings with the departing Expedition 10 crew as well as payload and scientific equipment training.

Chiao and Sharipov will assume formal control of the Station at the time of hatch closure for the Expedition 10 crewmembers shortly before they and Vittori undock the Soyuz 10 (TMA-5) craft from Zarya. With Sharipov at the controls of Soyuz, he, Chiao and Vittori will land in the steppes of north central Kazakhstan April 25 (local time) to wrap up six months in orbit. Vittori’s mission will span 10 days.

After landing, Chiao and Sharipov will be flown from Kazakhstan to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, for about two weeks of initial physical rehabilitation. Vittori will spend a much shorter time acclimating himself to Earth’s gravity due to the brevity of his flight.

Krikalyov and Phillips are expected to spend about 180 days aboard the ISS. After the Columbia accident on Feb. 1, 2003, the ISS Program and the international Partners determined that the Station would be occupied by only two crewmembers until the resumption of Shuttle flights because of limitations on consumables. Expedition 11 may see the resumption of a full three-person capability this summer with the addition of another crewmember on the STS-121 mission, dependent on the Space Shuttle’s Return to Flight activities and further discussions with the International Partners.

Krikalyov and Phillips will be on board the Station when Commander Eileen Collins and her six crewmembers launch on the Shuttle Discovery on the first post-Columbia mission. It will mark the first time since the STS-113 mission in November 2002 that a Shuttle will arrive at the Station. The two crews plan eight days of joint docked operations, including the resupply of the Station with several tons of food and equipment as well as three spacewalks out of the Shuttle’s airlock by Discovery astronauts Soichi Noguchi and Steve Robinson to practice orbiter thermal protection system repair techniques and, among other things, to replace a failed electrical gyroscope in the Z1 Truss that has been inoperable since June 2002. They will also install a “tool shed” on the U.S. Airlock Quest called the External Stowage Platform that houses spare parts for future Station assembly spacewalks.

American and Russian specialists are developing plans for two spacewalks Krikalyov and Phillips will conduct in August and September to outfit the Station with new external experiment hardware, install additional camera gear, and relocate and recover Russian science equipment on the Zvezda Service Module.

The first spacewalk is scheduled to be conducted in U.S. spacesuits out of Quest after the airlock is cleared for use once again following the replacement of a heat exchanger device that began with the Expedition 10 crew. A faulty heat exchanger was identified as the most probable cause for introducing rust and contamination into U.S. suits on the Station last year that forced subsequent spacewalks to be conducted out of the Russian Pirs Docking Compartment. The goal is to have the U.S. airlock available for renewed use by the STS-121 mission this summer.

The second spacewalk will be conducted in Russian Orlan spacesuits out of Pirs. Krikalyov is a spacewalk veteran, having logged seven excursions outside the Mir Space Station. The spacewalks will be the first for Phillips.

In addition to preparing for the return of the Space Shuttle to the Station during the STS-114 mission, Krikalyov and Phillips will see the Shuttle Atlantis visit the complex this summer with a crew led by Commander Steve Lindsey on a mission virtually identical to STS-114. Lindsey and his crew will also resupply the complex and conduct three spacewalks to test Shuttle tile and reinforced carbon-carbon repair techniques and to continue external outfitting of the outpost.

Once the Expedition 10 crew has departed, the Expedition 11 crew will settle down to work. Station operations and Station maintenance will take up a considerable share of the time for the two-person crew. But science will continue, as will science-focused education activities and Earth observations.

The science team at the Payload Operations Center at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, will operate some experiments without crew input and other experiments are designed to function autonomously. Together, operation of individual experiments is expected to total several thousand hours, adding to the more than 100 000 hours of experiment operation time already accumulated aboard the Station.

During more than six months aloft, Krikalyov and Phillips will monitor the arrival of two Russian Progress resupply cargo ships filled with food, fuel, water and supplies that will augment the renewed deliveries of supplies on visiting Shuttles. They will also don their spacesuits and relocate their Soyuz spacecraft from their Pirs docking port to the Zarya docking port in August to free up the Pirs airlock to support spacewalk activity from the Russian segment.

The ISS Progress M-53/18P cargo ship is scheduled to reach the ISS in June and ISS Progress M-54/19P is earmarked to fly to the ISS at the end of August. The first Progress craft will link up to the aft port of Zvezda and the second will dock to Pirs.

Also on the crew’s agenda is work with the Station’s robotic arm, Canadarm2. Robotics work will focus on observations of the Station’s exterior, maintaining operator proficiency, and completing the schedule of on-orbit checkout requirements that were developed to fully characterize the performance of the robotic system.

Krikalyov and Phillips are scheduled to return to Earth in early October after their successors, the Expedition 12, reach the Station to begin their six-month stay.

Expedition 11 Responsibilities for Return to Flight

The Expedition 11 crew will be preparing the Space Station for its first Shuttle visitors in more than two years. Initial preparations include packing equipment that will be sent home on the Shuttle in the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, Raffaello, for refurbishment on Earth. This work was begun in February by the Expedition 10 crew. The crew also will rearrange material to clear the way for the Shuttle crew to enter through Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA) 2 that has served as storage during the Shuttle downtime and to make room in the Station’s modules for the additional crewmembers.

During the Shuttle’s rendezvous with the Station, as Discovery reaches a point 600 feet below the Station, the Shuttle crew will perform a Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver (RPM), a three-quarter-degree-per-second backflip, so that its underside faces the Station. The Expedition 11 crew will use digital still cameras with 400 and 800 millimeter lenses and a detailed plan to photographically map the Shuttle’s underside for about 90 seconds before it continues on to docking. The images will be sent to Earth for inclusion in the collection of data that will be used by the Mission Evaluation Room (MER) and Mission Management Team (MMT) to evaluate the condition of the thermal protection system. That data will be part of the compilation of imagery to allow mission managers to make decisions on how the mission should proceed.

After docking and welcome ceremonies are complete, Shuttle and Station crewmembers will work together, lifting the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) out of the Shuttle cargo bay using the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) and handing it to the Shuttle arm for use in additional thermal protection system surveys the following day. The Station arm, also known as Canadarm2, will be brought into play because the geometry of the combined Shuttle-Station configuration results in obstructions that prevent the Shuttle arm from maneuvering the OBSS out of its cargo bay cradles. The Expedition 11 crew also will help transfer spacewalk equipment and tools to Discovery for use during the three planned spacewalks, and will operate the Station’s robotic arm to provide video covers of the spacewalkers. That video will allow crewmembers inside the Station and experts in Mission Control to track and coordinate the spacewalks as they Progress. They also will depressurize the Quest airlock so that the two spacewalkers may open the exterior hatch, making it available as an emergency entrance in the unlikely event that there is a problem with the Shuttle airlock.

Diagrams:

Mission objectives

Flight 10s tasks (in descending prioritized order)

These tasks, listed in order of International Space Station Program priority, are to be executed during this flight. The order of execution for these tasks in the nominal plan may vary, depending on timeline efficiencies. The following numbered tasks shall be accomplished for successful completion of this flight.

  1. Dock Flight 10 Soyuz TMA to DC1 Nadir port [Intravehicular Activity (IVA)] [Imagery]
  2. Rotate Expedition 10 crew with Expedition 11 crew, transfer mandatory crew rotation cargo and perform mandatory tasks consisting of the safety briefing for all crewmembers. [IVA]
  3. Transfer visiting crew’s cargo including Sokol suit, and transfer and install Individual Equipment Liner Kit (IELK) in 9 Soyuz. [IVA]
  4. Perform minimum crew handover of 12 hours per crewmember [IVA] [Robotics]
  5. Transfer critical items. [IVA]
  6. Undock 9 Soyuz-TMA from FGB nadir port [IVA] [Imagery]
  7. Perform remaining Joint Airlock recovery operations: [IVA]
    1. Cooling Loop flush
    2. SCU2 swap and leak check
  8. Perform USOS/Russian payload research operations tasks [IVA]:
    1. Mandatory daily maintenance for powered payloads
    2. Daily scheduled payload operations and data capture
    3. Perform ADUM, Journals and MSG Re-certification
  9. Perform PAO activities. [IVA] [Imagery]
  10. Conduct visiting crew operations [IVA]. The following activities are 10 Soyuz visiting crew activities (not listed in priority order) and support from ISS crewmembers will be on a non-interference basis.
  11. Perform additional 4 hours per crewmember of ISS crew handover (16 hours per crewmember total) [IVA]
  12. Perform photo/imagery survey on the ISS RS [IVA] [Imagery]
  13. Transfer remaining items. [IVA]
  14. Install Radiation Areas Monitors (RAMs) [IVA]
  15. Perform SDTO 13004-U, Russian Vehicle Docking/Undocking Loads on ISS, for 9S undocking from FGB nadir port. [Ground]

[Note: I have not extracted the “Flight LF1 Requirements” section as this describes tasks assigned to the Shuttle crew.]

Flight LF1 Undock to Flight ULF1.1 Dock (Stage LF1) Requirements

This section identifies ISS requirements applicable for Flight LF1 undock through Flight ULF1.1 dock.

Stage tasks (in descending prioritized order)

These tasks, listed in order of ISS Program priority, are to be executed during this stage. The order of execution for these tasks in the nominal plan may vary, depending on timeline efficiencies. The following numbered tasks which include no Station-based EVAs shall be accomplished for successful completion of this interval.

  1. Perform high priority USOS/Russian maintenance activities, including those systems required as Shuttle Launch Commit Criteria (LCC) for the next flight. [IVA] [Imagery]
    Perform Treadmill Vibration Isolation System (TVIS) replacement, activation and checkout. [IVA]
  2. Perform imagery of Orbiter TPS during rendezvous Rbar Pitch Maneuver (RPM) and downlink the data. [Imagery]
    1. Perform OBT for imagery of Orbiter during RPM [IVA]
  3. Complete 17 Progress trash loading and undock. [IVA] [Imagery]
  4. Dock 18 Progress M to SM aft port and transfer cargo. [IVA] [Imagery]
  5. Perform high priority U.S./Russian medical operations (average of 7 hours/week). [IVA] [Imagery]
  6. Perform high priority OBT (average of 2.67 crew hours per week) [IVA] [Robotics]
  7. Unpack and stow hardware delivered by Flight LF1 to permanent stowage locations. [IVA]
  8. Complete preparations for arrival of ULF1.1 including [IVA]:
    1. MSS prelaunch checkout [Robotics]
    2. Install and checkout CBCS.
    3. Prepack for ULF1.1
    4. Destow lab rack location LAB1O4 and remove Zero-g stowage rack (ZSR) for MELFI.
    5. Prepare Lab Starboard Common Cabin Air Assembly (CCAA) H/X for removal.
    6. Clear PMA 2 and NODE1 D2 of stowage.
    7. Clear EXPRESS Rack 3 for the European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS).
    8. Clear EXPRESS Rack 5 for SpaceDrums.
    9. EVA preparation:
      1. Airlock unstow
      2. EVA Tool Configuration
      3. SAFER checkout / Perform Joint Airlock cooling loop scrubbing and re-iodinization
      4. Replace failed General Luminaire Assemblies (GLAs) in the Joint Airlock.
    10. Perform Internal Thermal Cooling Loop (ITCS) fluid sampling not earlier than ULF1.1 launch. [IVA]
    11. Perform Respiratory Support Pack (RSP) checkout [IVA]
  9. Perform PCS transition from XDs (R8) to A31Ps (R9). [IVA]
  10. Perform high priority USOS/Russian payload operations (average of 4.5 crew hours per week). [IVA]
    1. Mandatory daily maintenance for powered payloads.
    2. Daily scheduled payload operations and data capture.
    3. HRF Rack 2 reconfiguration.
  11. Perform high priority PAO activities (average of 1.25 crew hours per week). [IVA] [Imagery]
  12. Perform remaining high priority USOS payload operations (average of 0.5 crew hours per week). [IVA]
  13. Perform medium priority USOS/Russian maintenance activities. [IVA] [Imagery]
  14. Reboost ISS with Progress as required. [Ground]
  15. Perform survey of S1 and P1 HRS radiators from RS windows (to be performed once, 6 months after completion during Increment 10). [IVA] [Imagery]
  16. Install permanent Fire Port labels and update SODF. [IVA]
  17. Assemble equipment to set up the proximity communications equipment (МБРЛ, MBRL) via the ATV – ISS RS radio channel: [IVA]
    1. Install the onboard computer system (БВС, BVS) network channel controller [КСК-2, KSK-2] in the nominal location for relaying multiplex exchange channel [МКО, MKO] interface signals to the SM МБРЛ hardware.
    2. Route the onboard cable network (БКС, BKS), install and connect the МБРЛ monoblock.
    3. Install the ATV control panel (ПУ, PU), route and connect the onboard cable network (БКС, BKS).
    4. Install and connect the antenna switch control unit (БУАП, BUAP).

Spacewalks

[Note: The spacewalk using NASA EMU suits was later canceled due to time constraints (the schedule outlined in the Press Kit proved a bit too ambitious). A description of the Orlan-suited spacewalk is on a separate page in this section.]

Two spacewalks are planned during Expedition 11 by Commander Sergei Krikalyov and Flight Engineer and NASA International Space Station Science Officer John Phillips. The first is scheduled in August; the other is scheduled in September.

Krikalyov has made seven spacewalks during his previous spaceflight missions. The spacewalks will be the first for Phillips who has experience in intravehicular activity support during a Space Shuttle mission.

The following activities are to be accomplished during the Expedition 11 spacewalks: U.S. Segment Extravehicular Activity:

  • Install Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) 3 & 4
  • Replace S1 truss Multiplexer De-Multiplexer (STR MDM)
  • Install Floating Potential Measurement Unit (FPMU)
  • Install Video Stanchion Support Assembly (VSSA)
  • Install Node 2 Shunt Jumper
  • Install 4 Spool Position Devices (SPDs) at the S0/Node 2 location
  • If required, install SPD on S1 Radiator Beam Valve Module (RBVM) F15 or F21

Russian Segment Extravehicular Activity (ВКД VKD):

  • Relocate Strela adapter from Functional Cargo Block (FGB) to Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA) 3
  • Remove panel 3 of Micro-Particles Capture/Space Environment Exposure Device (MPAC/SEEDS)
  • Retrieve Matroyska payload
  • Retrieve Biorisk container No. 1
  • Jettison Orlan spacesuit with radio
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