Two Russian
cosmonauts and American space tourist Richard Garriott are set to cast off from
the International Space Station tonight for the return to Earth, and they're
hoping for a smooth ride home.
Space
station commander Sergei Volkov and flight engineer Oleg Kononenko are due to
undock their Russian Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft from the station at about 8:15
p.m. EDT (0015 Oct. 24 GMT) and land on the Central Asian steppes of Kazakhstan
with
Garriott at about 11:36 p.m. EDT (0336 GMT). But unlike the last two Soyuz
landings, the spaceflyers are confident they'll have an uneventful ride home.
"About our
vehicle, we're absolutely confident," Volkov told reporters this week. "We hope
that everything is going to be normal and we'll land in a normal way, not a
ballistic reentry."
The last
two Soyuz vehicles to return to Earth - in April and October 2007 - landed
in a backup ballistic mode, which touched down off-target and subjected their
three-astronaut crews to higher than normal G-forces, after a separation
failure prevented the three-segment spacecraft from separating properly. After
months of scrutiny, Russian engineers believe a failed explosive bolt to be the
cause.
In July,
Volkov and Kononenko removed
the suspect bolt from their own TMA-12 spacecraft during a spacewalk.
Russian engineers have also come up with new software to keep the Soyuz on
target during tonight's landing as it reenters the Earth's atmosphere, Volkov
said Monday.
Garriott,
too, said he has full confidence in the Soyuz spacecraft and is fully prepared
for the extra stress on his body if tonight's landing does return under the
ballistic, backup mode.
"I have no
concerns about reentry ... I'm excited about the trip home regardless,"
Garriott told reporters, adding that he has simulated the extra gravitational
loads - which can reach more than eight times Earth's gravity - in a centrifuge
on Earth. "I think that even if we were to have a ballistic reentry, it's
something of course I'll tolerate well, but it also doesn't alarm me in any
way."
Garriott is
paying $30 million for his 10-day flight to the space station under a deal
between Russia's Federal Space Agency and the Vienna, Va.-based firm Space
Adventures. He launched to the station on Oct. 12 with Expedition 18 commander
Michael Fincke and flight engineer Yury Lonchakov, who are replacing Volkov and
Kononenko as the cosmonauts complete their own six-month Expedition 17 mission.
"It's kind
of sad to see our guys leaving the space station, but it's time for them to go
home," Lonchakov said on Wednesday. "I wish you a successful landing and we'll
see you back on Earth."
Fincke and
Lonchakov joined the third member of their crew, NASA astronaut Greg Chamitoff,
already aboard the station. Chamitoff joined the station's Expedition 17 crew and
will stay on for the first stage of Expedition 18 until his relief arrives with
NASA's shuttle Endeavour next month.
Garriott is
completing his own private spaceflight, which he packed with science experiments,
educational events and Earth observation, while setting some time aside for
zero gravity painting. An Austin, Texas-based computer game developer, Garriott
created the successful Ultima online computer game series and is the sixth
paying visitor to the International Space Station.
Garriott is
also the son of former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, who flew aboard the U.S.
Skylab space station and shuttle Columbia in the 1970s and 1980s, and plans to
greet his son at the landing site. The younger Garriott is the first second-generation
American spaceflyer.
By
coincidence, the younger Garriott is also flying with a Russian spaceflight
legacy. Volkov is the son of famed Russian cosmonaut Alexander Volkov, and made
history during his April launch when he became the first second-generation
cosmonaut to reach space.
On
Wednesday, Volkov handed control over to Fincke and his Expedition 18 crew and
wished his fellow space travelers well as they work to install new equipment
over the next few months that will set the stage for larger crews.
"These guys
have a lot of difficult tasks ahead of them and I want to wish them success,"
Volkov said.
Richard
Garriott is chronicling his spaceflight training and mission at his personal
Web site: www.richardinspace.com.
NASA
will broadcast the undocking and landing activities of Garriott and the
Expedition 17 crew live on NASA TV beginning at 4:45 p.m. EDT (2045 GMT). Click here for SPACE.com's NASA TV feed
and space station mission updates.
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