posted 09-08-2010 12:25 PM               

JSC2010-E-124006 (August 2010) -- Attired in Russian Sokol launch and entry suits, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly (left), Expedition 25 flight engineer and Expedition 26 commander; along with cosmonauts Alexander Kaleri (center) and Oleg Skripochka, both Expedition 25/26 flight engineers, take a break from training in Star City to pose for a portrait.

posted 10-05-2010 03:57 PM               

The Soyuz TMA-01M spacecraft and its booster were moved to the launch pad by railcar Oct. 5 for final preparations prior to launch Oct. 8 to the International Space Station.

Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi

Additional photographs: NASA | Energia

posted 10-06-2010 04:00 PM               

State Board Approves Soyuz TMA-01M Crew

State Board at Baikonur approved the crew of the Soyuz TMA-01M vehicle slated to fly to the International Space Station on Oct. 8.

The crews of the Soyuz:

• prime (Alexander Kaleri (Roscosmos), Oleg Skripochka (Roscosmos), Scott Kelly (NASA)),
  
• backup (Sergey Volkov, Oleg Kononenko and Ronald Garan).

Soyuz TMA-19 launch is scheduled for Oct. 8, 03:10 Moscow time. The vehicle is due to dock to the ISS Poisk module on Oct. 10, at 04:05 MSK.

The meeting of the State Board was traditionally attended by the young winners of Roscosmos’ patch contest 7-year-old Marina Korolenko of Murmansk region, and 13-year-old Sasha Turovsky of Tambov region, who's design will fly aboard the Soyuz-01M.

posted 10-07-2010 06:12 PM               

Digital Soyuz uploaded to space station

Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka along with NASA astronaut Scott Kelly lifted off aboard Soyuz TMA-01M from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Thursday at 6:10 p.m. CDT (Friday, Kazakhstan time) beginning their two-day journey to the International Space Station (ISS).

Less than ten minutes after launch, the spacecraft -- the first in a new line of Russian spacecraft upgraded with a digital telemetry system and digital flight computer -- reached orbit and its antennae and solar arrays were deployed.

The trio will dock Soyuz TMA-01M to the station's Poisk mini-research module on Saturday at 7:02 p.m. CDT to join the Expedition 25 crew, starting their five-month tour of duty aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Welcoming them aboard will be current ISS residents, Expedition 25 commander Doug Wheelock and flight engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Shannon Walker. Wheelock, Yurchikhin and Walker arrived June 17 aboard the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft.

The six-person crew will usher in the second decade of continuous human presence onboard the station, continuing scientific research and maintenance activities, which began with the first crew arriving in November 2000.

Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi

The TMA-01 crewmates will welcome multiple vehicles to the station during their months-long stay. In addition to Russia's Soyuz and Progress, JAXA's HTV and ESA's ATV, the trio will be aboard for the arrival of two of the last NASA space shuttle missions.

The second of those missions, STS-134, which is targeted to arrive in late February 2011, will be commanded by Kelly's twin brother, Mark. The mission is currently planned as the last flight of the U.S. space shuttle program.

Skripochka is scheduled to conduct three spacewalks, including one with Yurchikhin in mid-November to work on science experiments and hardware outside the station's Russian segment.

Wheelock, Walker and Yurchikhin are scheduled to return to Earth on Nov. 29. Before departing, Wheelock will hand over command of the station to Kelly for Expedition 26, which will begin with the undocking of Soyuz TMA-19.

Roscosmos' Dimitry Kondratyev, NASA's Cady Coleman and ESA's Paolo Nespoli will join Kelly, Kaleri and Skripochka in mid-December to complete the Expedition 26 crew.

posted 10-09-2010 10:58 AM               

Chapman was sighted by the Associated Press at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan just before the 7:10 p.m. EDT (2310 GMT) launch of a new Soyuz TMA-01M spacecraft to ferry an American astronaut and two cosmonauts to the International Space Station. A photo released by the AP shows the red-haired Chapman, clad in red jacket and carrying a blue bag.

posted 10-09-2010 11:08 AM               

Russian media reports said she has been working as an advisor for a bank that is involved in the Russian space programme but officials at Russia's space agency Roskosmos were quick to deny it was involved in her visit.

"Roskosmos has nothing to do with Anna Chapman's visit. As far as we know, she came here as a private individual on the invitation of an executive of a commercial bank," a Roskosmos official said.

"Miss Chapman neither met with the Roskosmos leadership nor with members of the Soyuz crew," the official told the Interfax news agency.

posted 10-09-2010 07:01 PM               

Soyuz TMA-01M docks at station

After a two-day journey, three new Expedition 25 crew members arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) and docked to the Poisk mini-research module at 7:01 p.m. CDT on Saturday. Flight engineers Scott Kelly, Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka will now begin a five-month stay aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Expedition 25 commander Doug Wheelock and flight engineers Shannon Walker and Fyodor Yurchikhin have been aboard the station since June. They will greet their new crewmates at hatch opening about three hours after docking.

posted 10-09-2010 11:30 PM               

The hatches between the Poisk module and Soyuz TMA-01M were opened at 10:09 p.m. CDT, after which the newly-doubled Expedition 25 crew spoke with officials and family members gathered in TsUP Mission Control located just outside Moscow.

Among those who exchanged greetings were twin brothers, Scott Mark Kelly in space and Mark Scott Kelly on the ground, as well as Scott's younger daughter Samantha, who requested a special gift for her birthday.

posted 03-13-2011 12:20 AM            

The new “digital” version of the Soyuz spacecraft is having some decidedly analog problems on its maiden voyage. Astronauts will test on-orbit repairs done to its troubled control systems ahead of a scheduled landing next Wednesday. The tests will determine whether the Soyuz can perform a gentle guided descent or instead must rely on a backup emergency “ballistic” landing, involving a much rougher deceleration and landing several hundred kilometers short of the main recovery zone.

posted 03-15-2011 04:36 AM               

NASA TV To Cover Soyuz Landing

NASA TV will cover the March 16th return of three crew members who have called the International Space Station home for more than five months.

NASA's Expedition 26 Commander Scott Kelly, Soyuz Commander Alexander Kaleri and Russian Flight Engineer Oleg Skripochka are scheduled to land the Soyuz TMA-01M spacecraft near the town of Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan at 2:48 a.m. CDT (1:48 p.m. local time) on March 16.

Kelly handed over command of the station to Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev during a ceremony on March 14.

NASA TV's scheduled coverage includes (all times Central):

Tuesday, March 15

• 7:45 p.m. -- Soyuz TMA-01M crew farewells and hatch closure (hatch closure at 8:20 p.m.)

• 11 p.m. -- Undocking coverage (undocking at 11:27 p.m.)

Wednesday, March 16

• 1:30 a.m. -- Deorbit burn and landing in Kazakhstan (deorbit burn at 1:57 a.m., landing at 2:48 a.m.)

posted 03-16-2011 12:24 AM               

Soyuz TMA-01M undocks from space station

The International Space Station's (ISS) 26th expedition has ended and three of its crew members are heading home.

Soyuz commander Alexander Kaleri, station commander Scott Kelly and flight engineer Oleg Skripochka undocked the Soyuz TMA-01M spacecraft from the station's Poisk mini research module at 11:27 p.m. CDT Tuesday (March 16) as the two vehicles were traveling 218 miles over China.

After backing away from the station and between two separation burns using the Soyuz's thrusters, the crew performed a test of their spacecraft's annmeters to monitor their roll rate. According to Mission Control in Moscow, the test was successful and the Soyuz performed as expected.

Soyuz TMA-01M is set to land in northern Kazakhstan at 2:53 a.m. on Wednesday following a four minute, 17 second deorbit burn at 2:03 a.m. CDT.

posted 03-16-2011 03:10 AM               

Soyuz TMA-01M makes snowy landing on Earth

Soyuz TMA-01M and its three International Space Station Expedition 26 crew members are back on Earth after 159 days in space.

Soyuz commander Alexander Kaleri, station commander Scott Kelly and flight engineer Oleg Skripochka landed in their Soyuz TMA-01M spacecraft at 2:54 a.m. CDT Wednesday, March 16 (1:54 p.m. local time) near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan.

TMA-01M lands on the snowy Kazakhstan steppe. Credit: Dmitry Kostyukov/Pool

The first of Russia's "digital" Soyuz upgraded with modern navigation equipment, TMA-01M completed its maiden mission by landing safely on its side on the snow-covered steppe.

First out of the spacecraft was Kaleri, who with this flight is now the second most experienced space traveler in history with 770 days in space over the course of his five missions. He is surpassed only by Sergei Krikalev, the head of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, who spent 803 days in space on his six flights.

This was Skripochka's first space flight and Kelly's third, the latter having previously flown twice on the space shuttle. Kelly, whose twin brother Mark is set to command the next shuttle mission to launch to the station on April 19, has now logged 180 days in space.

Credit: NASA TV

During their 157 days aboard the station, Kelly, Kaleri and Skripochka worked with their Expedition 25 and 26 crewmates on more than 150 experiments in human research; biology and biotechnology; physical and material sciences; technology development; and Earth and space sciences.

A quick succession of visiting vehicles arrived at the station during Expedition 26. The Japanese Kounotori2 H-II Transfer Vehicle 2; the Russian cargo ship Progress M-09M (41P); the European "Johannes Kepler" Automated Transfer Vehicle 2; and space shuttle Discovery delivered more than 11 tons of supplies necessary for working and living aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Working in the arctic conditions at the landing site, Russian recovery teams were on hand to help the cosmonauts and astronaut exit the Soyuz and adjust to gravity. Kaleri and Skripochka will return to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, outside of Moscow, while Kelly will fly directly home to Houston.

Credit: Dmitry Kostyukov/Pool

posted 03-16-2011 05:40 PM               

Soyuz TMA-01M crew given heroes' welcome

Soyuz TMA-01M commander Alexander Kaleri, ISS Expedition 26 commander Scott Kelly and flight engineer Oleg Skripochka were honored during post-landing festivities in Kazakhstan before making their return to Star City, Russia.

Included is a post-landing interview with Kelly.

posted 03-18-2011 06:52 PM               

The first direct return was in June 2010 by TJ Creamer and Soichi Noguchi. The second, in September 2010, brought back Tracy Caldwell Dyson. Doug Wheelock and Shannon Walker made the third direct trip to Houston in November 2010.

posted 04-19-2011 06:53 AM               

Alexander Kaleri (Soyuz TMA-01M) and Oleg Kotov (Soyuz TMA-17) received the Order for Services to the Fatherland, IV degree, and Scott Kelly (Soyuz TMA-01M) the new medal Merits in Space Exploration.

posted 04-19-2011 11:51 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Lewis007:
So, no repeat of the Maxim Suraev drama this time.

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