This article was originally published in Issue 7 of Space Safety Magazine. Every space enthusiast dreams of having a chance to go into orbit on a space mission. Besides the excitement of the launch, the exhilarating experience of floating free in microgravity and the stunning view, the chance to “test drive” a real spacecraft during on-orbit operations is a once in a lifetime opportunity that many dream of. Iacopo [...]
Post Tagged with: “Docking”
New Crew Arrives at ISS
Source: NASA Three new crew members joined their Expedition 33 crewmates after docking the Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft to the Poisk module at 8:29 a.m. EDT Thursday October 25. They join Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineers Aki Hoshide and Yuri Malenchenko who’ve been residing at the orbital laboratory since July 17. Hatches between the International Space Station and the Soyuz [...]
ATV-3 Undocking Called Off
The European Space Agency’s third Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-3) was scheduled to undock from the International Space Station on September 25 at 22:35 GMT on its way to atmospheric reentry over the Pacific Ocean on September 27. At 16:55, station crew closed the cargo ship’s hatch. At 22:15, the avionics and flight control systems were powered up. Then, the glitch manifested. Commander [...]
Progress Cargo Ship Fails to Dock
On July 22, the Progress M-15M cargo ship undocked from the International Space Station in preparation for a test of its new automated docking system, the Kurs-Na. It was supposed to use Kurs-Na to redock on July 23. It failed. “The test was proceeding normally until about the time that the new Kurs-NA rendezvous system was to be engaged,” NASA [...]
Soyuz Docks, Delivers Crew
On the morning of July 17, the Soyuz TMA-05M docked at the Rassvet module, delivering its cargo of three new crewmembers to the International Space Station. The docking took place directly over Kazakhstan, from which the Soyuz had launched two days before. “Everything is perfect,” Yuri Malenchenko, the Soyuz commander, radioed Russia’s Mission Control Center in Korolev, just outside Moscow. Malenchenko, [...]
Getting the Most Out of ISS
Now that the International Space Station is fully operational, the ISS partners are determined to get the maximum possible scientific value out of the orbital laboratory before its scheduled closure in 2020. To that end, NASA is looking to make a few upgrades to the station, as Michael Suffredini, NASA’s station program manager, told the first ISS Research and Development [...]
Chinese President Hu Jintao Calls Space Lab
Source: Xinhua BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Hu Jintao came to the Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Tuesday and spoke with astronauts currently implementing the space mission aboard the conjoint Shenzhou-9 spacecraft and Tiangong-1 orbiter. The President was accompanied by senior leaders Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang. Hu extended his sincere greetings to the [...]
Shenzhou-9 Manual Docking a “Complete Success”
On June 24, six days after successfully executing an automated docking procedure that brought inhabitants to the Chinese space lab Tiangong-1, the Shenzhou-9 successfully withdrew from the station and repeated the performance – this time under manual control. According to Chinese manned space program spokesman Wu Ping, the docking was “a complete success.” “The manual docking was beautifully conducted. It was very [...]
Shenzhou-9: Mission Highlights
Shenzhou-9, which launched on June 16, is only three days into its thirteen day mission but it is already making history. Watch mission highlights, including launching of the first female taikonaut, a crewed docking, and boarding of the first ever Chinese space lab Tiangong-1: Staff WritersMore Posts
Taikonauts Aboard Space Lab After Successful Docking
Shenzhou-9‘s three taikonauts performed a successful automated docking procedure with space lab Tiangong-1 on Monday, June 18. The crew sent live video feed back to Earth as they docked with, then boarded, the space station. The docking procedure, which was identical to that conducted by the unmanned Shenzhou-8 in 2011, was completed in 8 minutes. Three hours later the crew, led by [...]
