NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 27 April 2012

ISS On-Orbit Status 04/27/12

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Oleg, André and Don: Welcome to Expedition 31!

Yest posadka! (We have Landing!) Welcome back home, Anton, Dan & Anatoly! After 165 days in space (163 days on ISS), Soyuz TMA-22/28S carrying Exp-30 crewmembers Anton Shkaplerov, Dan Burbank & Anatoly Ivanishin landed successfully today at 7:45am EDT in central Kazakhstan, 87 km north-east of the bauxite mining town of Arkalyk near the Russian border. The Descent Capsule tipped over, and the crew, which was in excellent condition, was quickly extracted by SAR (Search & Rescue) personnel. Moscow time at touchdown was 2:45pm; local time at landing site 5:45pm. [TMA-22 (#232) undocked from the MRM2 (Mini Research Module 2) Poisk nadir port this morning at 4:18am EDT, after the crew had closed hatches at 1:12am and performed leak checks of the vestibule area between MRM2 and the Soyuz spacecraft, of their Sokol suits and of the hatch between the Descent Module (SA) and Orbital Module (BO). About 3 min after physical undocking, 28S performed the first manual separation burn. Afterwards the crew activated the spacecraft’s BTsVK onboard digital computer complex and VTsVK MCS (Motion Control System) “Chaika”, putting in the latest guidance parameter settings. The actual de-orbit burn of 4 min 14 sec duration came at 6:49am, resulting in 115.2 m/sec deceleration. Tri-module separation occurred at 7:18am. At ~16 sec after the separation command, software pitched the PAO (Instrumentation/Propulsion Module) in the rear to a specific angle (-78.5 deg from reference axis) which, if PAO would have remained connected to the SA (as has happened twice in Soyuz history), would have resulted in enough heating on the connecting truss to melt it, thus ensuring separation. Atmospheric entry followed at 7:21am and nominal parachute deployment at 7:31am. Following initial observation by Russian SAR (Search & Rescue) personnel in their fixed-wing Antonov plane and helicopters plus receipt of radio comm from the crew, the capsule landed at 7:45am, falling on its side. SAR was there within 2 minutes. After the usual stopover in the medical tent, the crew was flown by helo to Kustanai where Dan Burbank boarded the waiting NASA-990 Gulfstream-III airplane which today is bringing him back to Houston/Ellington AFB (with 2 refueling stops),- the 8th direct return for USOS crewmembers. Anton Shkaplerov & Anatoly Ivanishin meanwhile were flown on the GCTC Tu-134 back to Chkalovsky airfield of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center at Zvezdniy Gorodok (Star City).]

After Soyuz 28S departure this morning, sleeptime for the remaining three crewmembers, CDR Oleg Kononenko, FE-5 André Kuipers & FE-6 Don Pettit, began at 9:00am EDT. To compensate for their extended (17.5-hr.) workday, the crew got today off, with their official rest period extending until the regular 2:00am tomorrow morning.

WRM Update: A new WRM (Water Recovery Management) “cue card” was uplinked to the crew for their reference, updated with their latest CWC (Contingency Water Container) water audit. [The new card (31-0005) lists 16 CWCs (161.3 L total) for the five types of water identified on board: 1. Silver technical water (1 CWC with 25.5 L for Elektron electrolysis, plus 1 empty bag, all containing Wautersia bacteria; 2. Condensate water (3 CWCs with 14.0 L, plus 2 empty bags); 3. Iodinated water (7 CWCs with 121.8 L; and 4. Waste water (1 empty bag EMU waste water). Also one leaky CWC (#1024) with 8.5 L). Other CWCs are stowed behind racks and are currently not being tracked due to unchanging contents. Wautersia bacteria are typical water-borne microorganisms that have been seen previously in ISS water sources. These isolates pose no threat to human health.]

Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time and subject to change):
————–Three-crew operations (Increment 31) —————
04/28/12 — Progress M-14M/46P deorbit burn (6:33am EDT)
05/07/12 — SpaceX Dragon launch
05/15/12 — Soyuz TMA-04M/30S launch – G.Padalka (CDR-32)/J.Acaba/S.Revin
05/17/12 — Soyuz TMA-04M/30S docking (MRM2)
————–Six-crew operations—————-
07/01/12 — Soyuz TMA-03M/29S undock/landing (End of Increment 31)
————–Three-crew operations————-
07/15/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/31S launch – S.Williams (CDR-33)/Y.Malenchenko/A.Hoshide
07/17/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/31S docking
07/20/12 — HTV3 launch (~10:18pm EDT)
07/22/12 — Progress M-15M/47P undock
07/24/12 — Progress M-15M/47P re-docking
07/30/12 — Progress M-15M/47P undocking/deorbit
07/31/12 — Progress M16M/48P launch
08/02/12 — Progress M16M/48P docking
————–Six-crew operations—————-
09/17/12 — Soyuz TMA-04M/30S undock/landing (End of Increment 32)
————–Three-crew operations————-
10/15/12 — Soyuz TMA-06M/32S launch – K.Ford (CDR-34)/O.Novitskiy/E.Tarelkin
10/17/12 — Soyuz TMA-06M/32S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
11/01/12 — Progress M-17M/49P launch
11/03/12 — Progress M-17M/49P docking
11/12/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/31S undock/landing (End of Increment 33)
————–Three-crew operations————-
12/05/12 — Soyuz TMA-07M/33S launch – C.Hadfield (CDR-35)/T.Mashburn/R.Romanenko
12/07/12 — Soyuz TMA-07M/33S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
12/26/12 — Progress M-18M/50P launch
12/28/12 — Progress M-18M/50P docking
03/19/13 — Soyuz TMA-06M/32S undock/landing (End of Increment 34)
————–Three-crew operations————-
04/02/13 — Soyuz TMA-08M/34S launch – P.Vinogradov (CDR-36)/C.Cassidy/A.Misurkin
04/04/13 — Soyuz TMA-08M/34S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
05/16/13 — Soyuz TMA-07M/33S undock/landing (End of Increment 35)
————–Three-crew operations————-
05/29/13 — Soyuz TMA-09M/35S launch – M.Suraev (CDR-37)/K.Nyberg/L.Parmitano
05/31/13 — Soyuz TMA-09M/35S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
09/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-08M/34S undock/landing (End of Increment 36)
————–Three-crew operations————-
09/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-10M/36S launch – M.Hopkins/TBD (CDR-38)/TBD
09/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-10M/36S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
11/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-09M/35S undock/landing (End of Increment 37)
————–Three-crew operations————-
11/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-11M/37S launch – K.Wakata (CDR-39)/R.Mastracchio/TBD
11/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-11M/37S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
03/xx/14 — Soyuz TMA-10M/36S undock/landing (End of Increment 38)
————–Three-crew operations————-