International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

cIclops · 2007-06-11 10:15:48

Well if all men are to expore the heavens then this is just the start that Nasa needs to assist with. NASA Open to ISS Use by Industry, U.S.
A 14-page report sent to Congress in late May outlined a plan for operating the U.S. segment of ISS as a "national laboratory". While NASA has no clear commitment to the space station beyond 2016, you have to wonder why the US went to such great expense to build the station in the first place.

This is one of the few areas that ESA are ahead of NASA, they have had a program to exploit the ISS for a few years - AFAIK it's heavily subsidized.

Why was ISS built? Goodness there were so many good reasons back then. It's primary purpose as a zero gee lab has not produced many results but there again it's still not finished and who knows maybe zero gee is not that interesting after all - but unless the basic research is done, we will never know for sure. It's a unique environment, and in the past new environments have held many surprises.

cIclops · 2007-06-13 05:56:45

New array imaged by Astrospider.com

Astrospider 35 frame stack video taken with Meade LX-200 10" scope (YouTube)

cIclops · 2007-06-13 14:54:30

Pat Forrester, the tiny figure upside down near the
the end of the SSRMS, helping to retract the P6 solar array

- image ripped by cIclops from NASA TV 13 Jun 2007

cIclops · 2007-06-14 03:13:12

Expedition 15 Crew change:
Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin (center),
Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov (right) and new member
Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson (replaced Sunita Williams)

cIclops · 2007-06-14 04:29:39

Data Management System for the Russian Segment (DMS-R)

This computer system failed 13 Jun 2007 during EVA-2. Currently ISS can not use its thrusters to assist the CMGs for attitude control and is dependent on the docked Shuttle.

ESA's Data Management System for the Russian Segment of the ISS

SpaceNut · 2007-06-14 11:04:55

Next ship going to the station is in September 3 - Progress M-61 (26P)
that could being up a spare but until then what is the outcome of not getting it fixed? This could cause the crew to need to come back to Earth.

edit
Recent articles Space station computers partly restored

In a worst-case scenario, the computer woes could force the three astronauts aboard the station, including NASA's newly arrived Clayton Anderson, to leave in the escape ship, a Russian Soyuz capsule.

Station teams scramble to resolve computer glitch

With the computer down shuttle is firing up as need be to stabilize altitude.

Computers in the Russian module are redundant and can be interchanged to allow for shuttle to leave hopefully.

Our Russian colleagues believe it's the power source," he said. "That's the latest theory they have. They've suggested that perhaps we could stop feeding them power and let them just use their own internal power to bring up their computers and see if that solves that particular problem.

cIclops · 2007-06-16 05:01:11

At the status briefing after flight day 7 (EVA-3) Program Manager Mike Suffredini said two sets of the computers were working again after their secondary power supply switches were bypassed. The other set of computers will probably need to be replaced. Two sets of computers are sufficient to control the ISS, giving full redundancy.

The P6 solar array was fully retracted too during the spacewalk.

All good news.

Update from status briefing 16 Jun 2007:

All three sets of computers are now working.

cIclops · 2007-06-17 06:37:06

Suni Williams Sets the Record Straight, and Long

Call it a great leap forward for women in space.
After six years of people, three of whom have been women, living in space aboard the International Space Station, the female time-in-space endurance record set 11 years ago has been broken.
And it was broken in a single flight.
NASA Astronaut Sunita Williams set a new record this morning at 12:47 CDT for the longest duration spaceflight by a woman. At that time, Williams surpassed Shannon Lucid’s mark of 188 days, 4 hours set in 1996.
Williams began her record-setting flight when she launched with the crew of STS-116 in December 2006. The Massachusetts native remained onboard the station as a member of the Expedition 14 crew and then joined the Expedition 15 crew in April. Her spaceflight will come to a close when she returns to Earth aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis with the STS-117 crew.
Although this is only her first spaceflight, Williams also became the record-holder for most hours outside a spacecraft by a female by completing four spacewalks during Expedition 15 with a total time of 29 hours, 17 minutes.
ISS014-E-09992 : Sunita Williams conducts spacewalk “It was very exciting to watch her spacewalks and to watch her accumulate more spacewalk time than any other female in the universe,” said Lucid, who set the previous female space duration record while flying aboard the Russian Mir Space Station. “These [long-term] flights are providing the needed confidence so that some day in the near future we can depart low-Earth orbit and head on out to Mars.”

cIclops · 2007-06-18 10:49:55

Sunita Williams made this statement during her report to Mission Control 18 Jun 2007:

Exploration isn't necessary or always logical. It's something that comes from inside each and every one of us. I believe we're all born with this curiosity called exploration. Human spaceflight is just one aspect of exploration, but it's the one that I've been intimately familiar with over the past six months.
So I feel I can talk to how it affects thousands of people around the world who have worked on and still work on this amazing engineering and science project we call the international space station. These folks, along with their families, have dedicated their lives to ensure the success of the astronauts and cosmonauts ... curiosity called exploration for the next generation.

audio

cIclops · 2007-06-19 10:13:33

Imaged with the Atlantis docking camera during departure 19 Jun 2007 - ripped by cIclops from NASA TV

High resolution image from Atlantis (Checkitout!)

cIclops · 2007-06-21 13:04:32

Configuration 19 Jun 2007 with Expedition 15 onboard
Progress P25 is docked aft, Progress P24 is nadir and
Soyuz TMA-10 is docked further forward (just visible)

When the STS-117 crew members undocked space shuttle Atlantis at 10:42 a.m. EDT Tuesday, they left the International Space Station bigger and more powerful than it was when they arrived. Atlantis also delivered a new Expedition 15 crew member to the orbital outpost.
Expedition 15 welcomed its visitors onto the station June 10 shortly after Atlantis docked. A few hours later Astronaut Clayton Anderson replaced Suni Williams as a flight engineer on the Expedition 15 crew. Williams will return to Earth with STS-117, wrapping up a six-month-plus stay in space during which she became the new record holder for the longest single spaceflight by a woman.
On June 11, the STS-117 crew installed the Starboard 3 and 4 truss segment onto the station. The visiting astronauts conducted four spacewalks to activate the new truss and its solar arrays. The S3/S4 is 45 feet long and weighs 35,678 pounds. The S3/S4 also contains a rotary joint that will allow its arrays to track the sun. The S3/S4 arrays increase the station’s power generation capabilities.
The STS-117 crew also assisted with the retraction of the Port 6 (P6) truss array. The P6 will be relocated from atop the station to the end of the Port 5 truss by a future shuttle crew.
The next shuttle mission scheduled to visit the International Space Station is STS-118 in August.

SpaceNut · 2007-06-25 20:56:27

This is not what we want to see or hear from NASA seeks to share excess room on space station

NASA expects to have twice as much room as it needs for its research on the International Space Station and is looking for U.S. partners to share the novel piece of real estate,

Yes a very pricy piece of real estate and even more costly to get to even if you do want to be there...

The U.S. space agency plans to spend $1.5 billion a year to operate the orbital outpost and it won't pass any of those costs on to new partners that come aboard.

Wow....... that much and not even a shuttle going to it....

That is way to much to operate...

cIclops · 2007-06-26 01:33:27

Considering how much the US segment of ISS has cost to develop and its unique characteristics, it's a good idea indeed to share it with other government departments (DOE, NIH etc etc) and commercial organizations. This is nothing new, other government departments share their national laboratories. As in other specialized facilities, customers do not operate them, so there is no need to visit the station. Users will have to pay for their experiments to be transported to the station. Seems like a win win for NASA and others.

Audio of media teleconference - 25 Jun 2007

National Lab Report (PDF) - May 2007

cIclops · 2007-06-26 17:04:34

Suni Williams with STS-117 crew arriving at JSC Houston (YouTube video 3:11 mins) - 23 Jun 2007

See Suni walking and talking the day after returning from her 195 day mission in zero gravity.

SpaceNut · 2007-06-27 20:44:31

ISS available for free...if you pay your own way

The United States owns about half of the usage rights of the Japanese experiment module Kibo, meaning space for the module might be made available.

I wonder if this includes meals, room and ect... Just how many Russian ships would this increase to flight rate make since they are by far cheaper to use to get there in...

SpaceNut · 2007-07-05 20:40:33

With all the available room it is time to think about plumbing upgrades... $19-million Russian toilet to fix shortage in outer space

Not your ordinary toilet thou on that it can filter urine into drinkable water.
It is part of a purchase of $46-million US contract to buy assorted hardware from RSC Energia, in Korolev, Russia.

The new toilet will go on the International Space Station, which currently has only one toilet for a crew of three. The crew will expand to six members in 2009, and space bosses don't want astronauts lining up when they have to go.
space toilets don't really flush, because that would waste water. They sort of vacuum.
Since supplies are difficult and expensive to deliver, the space station (like the Russian Mir station before it) has to get along without a lot of fresh water. Water is in such short supply that astronauts use no-rinse shampoo and edible toothpaste so they don't have to rinse and spit.
Every few months a supply ship brings about 450 litres of fresh water. But that's not enough to supply a crew of three over a prolonged period.

cIclops · 2007-07-17 17:05:49

Oxygen generation system tested - 17 Jul 2007

A new oxygen generation system tested between July 11 and 14 aboard the International Space Station will allow the orbiting laboratory's crew size to increase in 2009.
The hardware is part of the station's environmental control and life support system and will be used to augment the Russian Elektron oxygen generator. With the increased capability to produce oxygen, the station can better support six crew members as they work and live aboard the outpost. The station currently supports a three-person crew.
During normal operations, the new system will generate about 12 pounds of oxygen per day, enough for six people. However, it can provide as much as 20 pounds of oxygen per day, enough for as many as 11 people. It is designed to replace oxygen consumed through breathing or lost during experiment use and airlock depressurization. During last week’s test, which started Wednesday and ended Saturday, the system generated approximately 10 pounds of oxygen.
"The successful activation and operation of this new system during its test run is an important step toward establishing a truly international space station," said Mike Suffredini, manager of the space station program. "With this system's oxygen-generating capacity, we can expand the station's crew, providing more opportunities for our partner countries and unlocking more possibilities for research that will open new pathways for future exploration."

cIclops · 2007-07-19 04:20:01

Location of docked spacecraft - 18 Jul 2007

cIclops · 2007-07-23 13:06:04

Clay Anderson on the end of the SSRMS watching the
trajectory of some obsolete equipment he jettisoned

Successful Spacewalk - 23 Jul 2007

Two International Space Station crew members Monday successfully wrapped up a 7-hour, 41-minute spacewalk that saw the removal and jettison of a refrigerator-size ammonia reservoir.
During the spacewalk Flight Engineer Clay Anderson and Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin also installed a television camera stanchion, reconfigured a power supply for an antenna assembly, and performed several get-ahead tasks.
Riding on the end of the space station's robotic arm maneuvered by Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov, Anderson jettisoned the Early Ammonia Servicer (EAS) by shoving it opposite of the station's direction of travel.
After the spacewalk, the docked Progress 25 cargo craft will fire its thrusters raising the International Space Station’s orbit. This reboost, along with a reboost performed Friday, provides the proper phasing for an upcoming Progress 26 launch and docking. Monday's Progress firing also clears the station after the EAS is jettisoned and provides flight day three rendezvous opportunities when space shuttle Endeavour arrives on mission STS-118.
The Progress 24 cargo craft will undock from the Pirs docking compartment on Aug. 1 and burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. Progress 26 is scheduled for launch on Aug. 2 and will reach the station on Aug. 5. Two days later on Aug. 7, space shuttle Endeavour is targeted for launch with a station rendezvous and docking planned for Aug. 9.

SpaceNut · 2007-07-24 21:08:28

ISS Altitude Increased by 7.5km

The 635 - kilogram ammonia tank was removed by a spacewalk by Fyodor Yurchikhin and Clayton Anderson from the U.S. segment of ISS.

After its release it will have a velocity of 17 cm/sec as it heads towards the Earth, where it will burn off in the atmospheric layers.

Just like clock work another ship is being readied for delivery to the station.

The orbit adjustment, the official went on, also created the best conditions for docking with Russia’s Progress M-61 and U.S. Endeavor.
The launch of Progress M-61 cargo spaceship to ISS (Baikonur spaceport) is slated for August 2. Endeavor is due to take off from Canaveral on August 8, Kryuchkov reminded.
The orbit’s altitude was adjusted by using engines of Progress M-60. “The adjustment was carried out with no participation of the crew,” Kryuchkov emphasized. Today’s altitude of ISS is 340 kilometers.

cIclops · 2007-08-01 16:35:52

Russian space cargo ship Progress undocks from ISS - 1 Aug 2007

MOSCOW, August 1 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Progress M-59 space cargo ship carrying garbage from the International Space Station has undocked, and its unburned fragments will land in the Pacific Ocean at 23:26 Moscow time (7:26 p.m. GMT).
"The ship has undocked from the ISS in normal mode," a Mission Control spokesman said.
Mission Control is preparing another cargo ship - Progress M-61 - for launch to the orbital station in line with the ISS flight program.
Mission Control said last week it successfully adjusted the station's orbit in preparation for the docking of the U.S. space shuttle Endeavour.
The launch of the NASA STS-118 mission is targeted for August 7. It will be the 22nd flight to the International Space Station (ISS) and the first flight for Endeavour since 2002.

cIclops · 2007-08-05 14:08:56

Progress P26 docks to Pirs 2:40 p.m. EDT Sunday

Progress 26 launched Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1:34 p.m. It was loaded with 5,111 pounds of food, fuel, air, water and supplies.

SpaceNut · 2007-08-05 19:05:13

I have been sort of wondering about the food shelf life and why we are not bringing up greater quantities as a means to test out whether it will still be viable for consumpsion along the duration of a mars mission.

cIclops · 2007-08-06 03:21:57

I have been sort of wondering about the food shelf life and why we are not bringing up greater quantities as a means to test out whether it will still be viable for consumpsion along the duration of a mars mission.

Food science is very mature, such tests would be done on the ground far more cheaply. If samples did need to be in space to check for the effects of increased radiation etc etc, then only small quantities would be used.

cIclops · 2007-09-03 03:50:45

New configuration showing the small S5 truss segment attached - imaged 19 Aug 2007 from STS-118

These changes were made during the visit of STS-118:

o S5 truss segment and external stowage platform 3 attached
o control moment gyroscope unit replaced
o additional work to prepare the P6 truss and array for relocation
o antenna and a stand for the shuttle's robotic arm extension boom attached
o external experiments package retrieved

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#26 2007-06-11 10:15:48

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#27 2007-06-13 05:56:45

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#28 2007-06-13 14:54:30

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#29 2007-06-14 03:13:12

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#30 2007-06-14 04:29:39

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#31 2007-06-14 11:04:55

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#32 2007-06-16 05:01:11

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#33 2007-06-17 06:37:06

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#34 2007-06-18 10:49:55

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#35 2007-06-19 10:13:33

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#36 2007-06-21 13:04:32

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#37 2007-06-25 20:56:27

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#38 2007-06-26 01:33:27

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#39 2007-06-26 17:04:34

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#40 2007-06-27 20:44:31

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#41 2007-07-05 20:40:33

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#42 2007-07-17 17:05:49

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#43 2007-07-19 04:20:01

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#44 2007-07-23 13:06:04

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#45 2007-07-24 21:08:28

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#46 2007-08-01 16:35:52

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#47 2007-08-05 14:08:56

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#48 2007-08-05 19:05:13

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#49 2007-08-06 03:21:57

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#50 2007-09-03 03:50:45

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

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