HOUSTON -- The
next crew bound for the International Space Station (ISS) is
preparing for a mission that, they hope, will see the arrival of at least one
space shuttle and possibly the addition of a third
crewmember.
Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and
NASA astronaut John Phillips, the crew of the Expedition 11 to the ISS, are
gearing up for an April 15 launch to the ISS. The two space veterans are set to
ride their Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft into orbit and spend six months aboard the
space station. During that time the space shuttle Discovery and Atlantis are slated
to meet up with the orbiting laboratory.
"This
is a very important step," said Krikalev, who is commanding the mission, during
a press briefing here today.
Phillips will serve as NASA's ISS
science officer and the expedition's flight engineer. He and Krikalev
will relieve the space station's current crew, Expedition 10 commander
Leroy Chiao and flight engineer Salizhan Sharipov.
Also launching with the Expedition 11 crew will be Italy's
Roberto Vittori, an Italian Space Agency astronaut, representing the
European Space Agency (ESA). Vittori's time in space will be
brief compared to the Expedition 11 crew, just 10 days, during which
time he will perform a series of experiments for ESA's ENEIDE science
mission. The main objectives of the
mission, which takes its name from the ancient poet Virgil's story of
Aenaes, is for an ESA astronaut to complete major scientific programs on board
the ISS.
Included among Vittori's
many tasks is one technology experiment that will test the feasibility
of detecting earthquakes before they strike through their effects on the Earth's
magnetic field.
"It's the step before
trying to prove this is possible," Vittori said of the experiment, adding that
he also plans to take some time to look out the window during his short stay
aboard the ISS. "We are concentrating this mission on technology
demonstration."
Shuttle's return
According to NASA's current
launch targets, the Expedition 11 crew will host not one, but two space shuttles
during its six months aboard the ISS.
The missions mark the first
shuttle flights to fly since the Feb. 1, 2003 loss of Columbia and its
seven-astronaut crew. A chunk of insulation foam from the Columbia
shuttle's external tank damaged its wing during launch, which allowed hot gases
in during reentry, destroying the orbiter and killing its
crew.
Currently,
NASA's first return to flight mission - STS-114 with the shuttle
Discovery - is slated to launch between May and June of this year,
with the STS-121 crew set for a July liftoff the aboard Atlantis orbiter.
"I am confident we're going
to launch [a shuttle] in May or close to it," Phillips said, adding that renewed
shuttle flights were 'absolutely essential' for the space station. "If it's
delayed a month, that's okay, but if its doesn't launch at all the ISS will
never live up to its potential."
Phillips and Krikalev will
perform a number of new tasks to assist return to flight shuttle crews,
including photographing the bellies of Discovery and Atlantis as they approach
the space station to check their thermal protection tiles.
Preparing ISS for
shuttle emergency
While NASA prepares the
STS-114 mission for launch, the agency is also readying Atlantis in the
off-chance that Discovery is damaged and unable to return to Earth
safely. Should that be the case, a contigency plan would call for the
STS-114 crew to seek refuge aboard the ISS until Atlantis can be launched, a
scenario the Expedition 11 crew has prepared for.
"There should be several
factors that fail in a line for this to occur," Krikalev said, adding that while
unlikely, the ISS would be unable to sustain an enlarged crew for long. "If it
happened, it would have to be relatively short...for maybe several weeks we
could deal with it, but we need to prepare backup plans for this
scenario."
While fundamental concerns
like food and oxygen were a concern, other factors, such as the health of a
large 9-person crew in the relatively close quarters of the space station, need
to be considered. More than just a backup shuttle - NASA officials hope to be
able to launch Atlantis to retrieve a stranded crew within about 33 days - may
be needed, he added.
"We may need to have more
than one option," Krikalev said, adding that during past Russian Soyuz launches,
another Soyuz was in line should the first mission need
rescue.
Krikalev stressed that the
safe haven concept, or Contingency Shuttle Crew Support (CSCS) as NASA calls it,
is just one potential scenario.
"It's not the worst-case
scenario, it's just one of them that is off-nominal," he said of providing safe
haven for shuttle crews. "I think, as professionals, we ought to ber prepared
for it."
Additional
crew
Krikalev and Phillips may
not be the only dedicated ISS crew to serve aboard the space station during
their six month mission.
Original plans for their
mission called for a third crew member to arrive during the STS-121 mission,
possibly Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov or ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter,
Krikalev said, adding that he and Phillips have trained with both men during
their Expedition 11 preparation.
"It might be Sergei, it
might be Thomas or it might be none," Krikalev told SPACE.com. "There
are many options."
With the grounding of NASA
shuttles since the Columbia accident, ISS crews have been reduced to two members
- down from the typical three - due to limited supplies. That limitation has
sparked a few firsts, including leaving the ISS empty of personnel during
spacewalks and at least one unconventional spacewalk to work on U.S. station
segments with Russian Orlan spacesuits.
Space station
veterans
None of the Expedition 11
crew, nor Vittori, are no strangers to the ISS.
Vittori flew to the
station as a visiting astronaut during a Soyuz taxi flight in
April-May 2002 , while Phillips served aboard the space shuttle Endeavor's
12-day STS-100 mission to rendezvous with the ISS in April
2001.
"I actually get to go
outside this time," Phillips said, who will perform the first two spacewalks of
his astronaut career alongside Krikalev during the mission.
But it's Krikalev who tops
the list with seven spacewalks and a total of one year, five months and 10
days of accumulated space time spread across five flights to the space
station Mir, ISS and aboard the space shuttles.
"I think that the experience from those flights helps
you to prioritize," Krikalev said. "I expect this to be a very interesting
mission for two crewmembers and we will have to be efficient, especially when
the [shuttles] come, since it will be more challenging to support return to
flight."
advertisement
