Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: Russian manned spacecraft docks with International Space Station

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: March 19, 2016 at 10:25:10 AM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Russian manned spacecraft docks with International Space Station

ROSCOSMOS. "Soyuz-FG" With TPK "Soyuz TMA-20M" was successfully launched from Baikonur
03.19.2016 00:40
"TMA-20M Soyuz" March 19, 2016 at 00:26 MSK from the site №1 ( "Gagarin's Start") the Baikonur cosmodrome was conducted a successful launch of the launch vehicle (LV) "Soyuz-FG" with transport manned spacecraft (TPC).
On board TPK "Soyuz TMA-20M" members long expedition ISS-47/48: Roscosmos cosmonauts - Alex Ovchinin, Oleg Skripochka and NASA astronaut - Jeffrey Williams.
Rendezvous and docking TPK "Soyuz TMA-20M" with the ISS is scheduled for the "short" circuit chetyrehvitkovoy March 19, 2016 at 6:11 MSK automatically controlled Control Center mission specialist and the Russian ISS crew members Yuri Malenchenko. Manned spacecraft to dock with a small research module "Search" of the International Space Station.

ROSCOSMOS. "Soyuz TMA-20M" docked to the ISS
03.19.2016 6:13
The transport manned spacecraft (TPC) «Soyuz TMA-20M" 19 March 2016 successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS). The ship moored to a small research module "Search" in the Russian segment of the ISS 6:09:58 MSK.
TPK "Soyuz TMA-20M" delivered to the ISS the mission of the ISS-47/48: Russian cosmonauts Alexei Ovchinin (Roscosmos) Oleg Skripochka (Roscosmos) and US astronaut Jeffrey Williams.
The crews of the ISS and TPK perform operations to prepare for the opening of the transfer hatches and shift crew at the station.
During the semi-annual expedition to the ISS crew of ISS-47 Expedition / 48 coming with Russian manned transport spacecraft "TMA-19M Soyuz", "TMA-20M Soyuz", "MS Union" cargo spacecraft "Progress M-29M" and "Progress MS ", American cargo ships Dragon, Cygnus; maintenance of health stations and participate in its retrofitting; the program of scientific and applied research and experimentation; onboard camera and video, and others. The total planned duration of the flight crew will be more than 170 days.
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March 18, 2016
RELEASE 16-035
Launch, Docking Returns International Space Station Crew to Full Strength
Expedition 47 crew members Flight Engineer Jeff Williams of NASA, Soyuz Commander Alexey Ovchinin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos pose for a photo at the conclusion of a press conference on Thursday, March 17, 2016, at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
Credits: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

The Soyuz TMA-20M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Saturday, March 19, 2016 carrying Expedition 47 Soyuz Commander Alexey Ovchinin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Flight Engineer Jeff Williams of NASA, and Flight Engineer Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos into orbit to begin their five and a half month mission on the International Space Station.
Credits: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
NASA astronaut Jeff Williams is now the first American to become a three-time, long-term resident of the International Space Station. He arrived at the orbiting laboratory at 11:09 p.m. EDT Friday, with cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, where they will continue important research that advances NASA's Journey to Mars.
The trio launched aboard a Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 5:26 p.m. (3:26 a.m. Saturday, March 19, Baikonur time), orbited Earth four times, and docked at the station. The hatches between the spacecraft and station opened at 12:55 a.m. Saturday, March 19.
The arrival of Williams, Ovchinin and Skripochka returns the station's crew complement to six. The three join Expedition 47 Commander Tim Kopra of NASA and Flight Engineers Tim Peake of ESA (European Space Agency) and Yuri Malenchenko of Roscosmos. The Expedition 47 crew members will spend five months conducting more than 250 science investigation in fields that benefit all of humanity, such as biology, Earth science, human research, physical sciences and technology development.
Investigations arriving on Orbital ATK's fifth NASA-contracted commercial resupply mission in late March will include a study of realistic fire scenarios on a spacecraft, enable the first space-based observations of meteors entering Earth's atmosphere from space, explore how regolith, or soil, behaves and moves in microgravity, test a gecko-inspired adhesive gripping device that can stick on command in the harsh environment of space, and add a new 3-D printer for use on station.
Expedition 47 crew members also are expected to receive the first expandable habitat, which will allow NASA its first test of an innovative habitat concept that can support astronauts who live and work in the harsh environment of space. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is an experimental expandable module scheduled for delivery on SpaceX's eighth NASA-contracted cargo resupply mission this spring. Although astronauts will not live in BEAM, it will be attached to the space station, expanded and tested for a minimum two-year demonstration, and crew members will enter periodically to evaluate performance of the habitat.
NASA is considering the use of expandable habitats to support crew members traveling to an asteroid, Mars and other destinations. An expandable habitat such as BEAM takes up less room on a rocket, while allowing additional volume for living and working in space.
The crew members also are scheduled to receive one Russian Progress resupply mission delivering about three tons of food, fuel, supplies and research.
During his six-month mission, Williams will become the American record holder for cumulative days in space -- 534 -- surpassing Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly, who wrapped up his one-year mission March 1. Williams will take command of the station on June 4 for Expedition 48. Williams, Ovchinin and Skripochka will remain aboard the station until early September 2016. Kopra, Peake and Malenchenko will return to Earth on June 5.
For 15 years, humans have been living continuously aboard the International Space Station to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies, making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth and that will enable long-duration human and robotic exploration into deep space. A truly global endeavor, more than 200 people from 15 countries have visited the unique microgravity laboratory that has hosted more than 1,700 research investigations from researchers in more than 83 countries.
Follow space station activities on social media at:
http://www.facebook.com/ISS
http://www.twitter.com/Space_Station
and
https://instagram.com/iss
Follow the crew members on Twitter at:
http://www.twitter.com/nasa_astronauts
-end-
Cheryl Warner
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov
Dan Huot
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
daniel.g.huot@nasa.gov
Last Updated: March 18, 2016
Editor: Karen Northon

Russian manned spacecraft docks with International Space Station
March 19, 9:47 UTC+3
The Soyuz-TMA-20M has brought the new expedition to the ISS

© Sergey Savostyanov/TASS
BAIKONUR, March 19. /TASS/. Russia's manned spacecraft Soyuz TMA-20M with the crew of the new expedition has docked with the International Space Station (ISS), the Roscosmos State Corporation told TASS.
"The docking took place in a normal mode, at the expected time," Roscosmos said.
Gallery
6 photo
Russian space corporation has no plans to postpone launch of rocket to ISS
The Soyuz-TMA-20M with the new expedition to the ISS blasted off at 00:26 a.m. Saturday Moscow Time from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.
The Soyuz TMA-20M has brought Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka, as well as NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams, to the ISS.
The flight is Ovchinin's first, Skripochka's second and Williams' fourth.
The next crews are expected to travel to the space station on board spacecraft of the new series Soyuz MS.
© 2016 TASS

Russia Launches Soyuz TMA-20M Spacecraft With Three New ISS Crewmembers
00:30 19.03.2016(updated 01:38 19.03.2016)
BAIKONUR (Sputnik) – The spacecraft with Russian cosmonauts Alexei (Aleksey) Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka and NASA's Jeff Williams blasted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan atop the Soyuz-FG carrier rocket at 00:26 Moscow time on Saturday (21:26 GMT on Friday).
Minutes later, the spacecraft separated from the third stage of the carrier rocket. It is expected to dock with the ISS six hours after the launch.
The new ISS crewmembers will join Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, NASA (US National Aeronautics and Space Administration) astronaut Timothy Kopra and ESA's (European Space Agency) Timothy Peake who have been on board the ISS since March 1. The new crewmembers are expected to stay at the space station for 173 days.

Soyuz TMA-20M Spacecraft With Three New Crewmembers Docks With ISS
06:17 19.03.2016(updated 07:54 19.03.2016)
BAIKONUR (Sputnik) – The spacecraft with Russian cosmonauts Alexei (Aleksey) Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka and NASA's Jeff Williams blasted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan atop the Soyuz-FG carrier rocket at 00:26 Moscow time on Saturday (21:26 GMT on Friday).
The new ISS crewmembers will join Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, NASA (US National Aeronautics and Space Administration) astronaut Timothy Kopra and ESA's (European Space Agency) Timothy Peake who have been on board the ISS since March 1.
The new crewmembers are expected to stay at the space station for 173 days.

© 2016 Sputnik All rights reserved.

NASA astronaut, two cosmonauts arrive at Space Station for six-month stay
Emilee Speck Contact Reporter
Orlando Sentinel
Roscosmos launches 3 new crew to the Space Station on #Soyuz
One American and two Russians blasted off for their six-month stay on the International Space Station Friday evening from Kazakhstan.
The Russian Soyuz spacecraft lifted off with 9,000 pounds of thrust carrying the three astronauts from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 5:26 p.m. EST.
The Expedition 47 and 48 crew include veteran NASA astronaut Jeff Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin.
Soyuz was successfully captured and docked at the Space Station with the trio on time at 11:11 p.m. EDT after six hours of travel and orbiting the Earth four times to align with the station.
The hatch to the orbiting laboratory is scheduled to open at 12:55 a.m. Saturday.
Williams will set several records during his stay on the Space Station, he will become the new American record holder for cumulative days in space, at 534, beating Scott Kelly's one-year mission. Williams will take command of the station starting on June 4 beginning Expedition 48 and marking his third Space Station expedition, also a record.
Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka holds the world record at 878 days.
Williams said in the pre-launch press conference he has shared the space station with more than 45 different astronauts from different nationalities over his previous missions.
This will be Ovchinin's first flight to the space station. He will serve as flight engineer for both Expeditions 47 and 48.
Flying along with Ovchinin and his crewmates will be his daughter's stuffed pink owl, which could be seen dangling in front of the camera inside Soyuz. The stuffed toy was not just cute, but served a purpose indicating gravity changes.
The bead-eyed owl started floating after the third stage separation and the Soyuz pod entered zero gravity.
The three new arrivals will bring the space station crew up to six join Expedition 47 Commander Tim Kopra, of NASA, ESA astronaut Tim Peake and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko.
"Godspeed and safe travels," tweeted Peake minutes before the Soyuz launch. "Looking forward to welcoming you onboard ISS in a few hours!"
Copyright © 2016, Orlando Sentinel

By William Harwood CBS News March 18, 2016, 6:18 PM
Three-man crew launched to International Space Station
Last Updated Mar 18, 2016 11:23 PM EDT
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying two cosmonauts and a veteran NASA astronaut blasted off from Kazakhstan Friday, chased down the International Space Station and glided to a smooth automated docking, boosting the lab's crew back to six.
After an apparently trouble-free countdown, the Soyuz TMA-20M/46S booster's main engines roared to life at 5:26:38 p.m. EDT (GMT-5), spun up to full power and smoothly pushed the rocket away from launch pad 1 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the same pad used by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin at the dawn of the space age more than five decades ago.
Liftoff came just a few minutes after the space station passed 251 miles directly above the sprawling spaceport and the Soyuz climbed directly into the plane of the lab's orbit, setting up a six-hour, four-orbit rendezvous.
The Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft climbs away from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, setting off after the International Space Station to boost the lab's crew back to six.
NASA TV
Live television views from inside the central command module showed rookie commander Alexey Ovchinin, strapped into the capsule's center seat, flanked on his left by flight engineer Oleg Skripochka and on his right by NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams, all appearing relaxed as they monitored their flight plans and cockpit displays.
Eight minutes and 45 seconds after liftoff, the booster's third stage shut down, the Soyuz spacecraft separated and a few moments after that, flight controllers reported the spacecraft's antennas and solar arrays had deployed and locked in place as planned.
"Enjoy yourself, and take very good care of the space station for us," Bill Gerstenmaier, director of space operations at NASA Headquarters, told the crew shortly before launch.
NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams monitors his flight plan from the right seat of the Soyuz during the climb to space.
NASA TV
Initially trailing the space station by less than a thousand miles, Ovchinin monitored an automated approach to the laboratory, gliding in for a docking at the upper Poisk module at 11:09 p.m.
Standing by to welcome them aboard, after leak checks to ensure a tight seal, were Expedition 47 commander Timothy Kopra, British astronaut Timothy Peake and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, who were launched to the outpost aboard the Soyuz TMA-19M/45S ferry ship on Dec. 15.
They've had the station to themselves since astronaut Scott Kelly, fellow long-duration crew member Mikhail Kornienko and Soyuz TMA-18M commander Sergey Volkov departed and returned to Earth March 1.
Kelly set a new record for longest single flight by a U.S. astronaut -- 340 days -- and the most cumulative time in orbit, 520 days over four flights. But Williams, veteran of a shuttle flight in 2000 and two six-month stays aboard the station in 2006 and 2009-10, will set a new NASA record for total time aloft -- 534 days -- when he returns to Earth Sept. 6.
Williams served as Kelly's backup for the just completed, nearly-yearlong mission, setting the stage for his fourth spaceflight.
"I didn't expect, realistically, to fly again," Williams said in an interview. "It was really the one-year flight that put me back in the queue."
NASA was looking for volunteers for the long-duration flight and after his wife agreed to another long separation, Williams threw his name in the hat.
"It ended up a very small number of (volunteers), which included Scott Kelly," he said. "Scott got the prime, I got the backup. I was happy with that arrangement, but that's what put me in the pipeline to go back again."
Williams, a West Point graduate, military parachute jumpmaster and test pilot with more than 3,000 hours flying time, said he focused primarily on refresher courses to get him back up to speed on current systems aboard the station.
Skripochka, with a degree in mechanical engineering, also is a station veteran, logging 159 days aboard the lab in 2010-11. Ovchinin is making his first flight.
"What prompted me to become a cosmonaut, it was other Russian cosmonauts, because after every launch and landing there was wide coverage on Russian TV and in Russian newspapers and it was presented in such a way I really wanted to become a cosmonaut," he said before launch. "I made my decision when I was about seven or eight years old."
The Soyuz TMA-20M crew enjoys a final chat with family members and space program officials before heading to the launch pad Friday.
NASA TV
While his flight is the "fulfillment of my lifelong dream," Ovchinin said his wife and eight-and-a-half-year-old daughter "are concerned because I'm flying into space."
"But this is the way I have chosen, and I'm going to continue on this path," he said. "They'll just have to put up with it!"
The combined station crew faces an especially busy first few weeks in space. Orbital ATK plans to launch a Cygnus cargo ship atop an Atlas 5 rocket Tuesday night from Cape Canaveral that will deliver more than 7,000 pounds of supplies and equipment.
A Russian Progress supply ship is scheduled for launch from Baikonur on March 31, followed by launch of a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule from Cape Canaveral on April 8 that will deliver an experimental inflatable module that will be attached to the station's Tranquility module.
The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, supplied by a company owned by motel magnate Robert Bigelow, could offer a low-cost approach to building commercial space stations or habitats for deep space missions.
"We're very excited anticipating the BEAM coming up on SpaceX and deploying it as an experiment," Williams said. "BEAM is a technology demonstration. It's an inflatable module, so it's volume is smaller when it launches than when it's utilized in space. It takes less room, and that technology has great promise for the launching of future spacecraft."
Kopra, Peake and Malenchenko are scheduled to return to Earth June 5, leaving Ovchinin, Skripochka and Williams behind as the core of the Expedition 48 crew. Kopra and his crewmates will be replaced by cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin, Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, scheduled for launch aboard the Soyuz MS-1 spacecraft on June 21.
The Russians plan to launch another Progress freighter July 4 while both SpaceX and Orbital ATK plan resupply missions of their own within a few days or weeks of the new crew's arrival.
The SpaceX Dragon, making the company's ninth operational resupply flight, will deliver a particularly critical component: the first of two docking adapters needed by commercial crew ferry ships being built by SpaceX and Boeing.
An international docking adapter, or IDA, was destroyed in a SpaceX launch failure last June. The one going up next June, and another now being built by Boeing to replace the one lost last year, will be mounted on the front and top of the station's forward Harmony module. Operational flights by Boeing and SpaceX are expected to begin in late 2018.
© 2016 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

New US-Russian Crew Launches Toward Space Station on Soyuz
By Sarah Lewin, Staff Writer | March 19, 2016 01:00am ET
A Russian Soyuz rocket launched a joint U.S.-Russian crew to the International Space Station Friday (March 18), a space team that includes an astronaut aiming to break an American spaceflight record recently set by NASA's year-in-space astronaut Scott Kelly.
American astronaut Jeff Williams of NASA and cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Aleksey Ovchinin of Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) launched toward the space station at 5:26 p.m. EDT (2126 GMT) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The trio, riding in a Soyuz space capsule, arrived at the space station after a 6-hour journey, with their spacecraft docking at 11:09 p.m. EDT (0309 GMT on March 19), according to a NASA update. [Watch tonight's Soyuz launch in this video replay]
Finally, at 12:55 a.m. EDT Saturday (0455 GMT), the two crews opened the hatches between the Soyuz and space station, allowing the three new crewmembers to join American astronaut Tim Kopra, British astronaut Tim Peake and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko in the giant orbiting lab.
.@Astro_Jeff on 3rd #Soyuz ride to space. You can see the pink owl talisman swaying as rocket soars into space. https://t.co/fSwINzYznI
— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) March 18, 2016
"The Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft [is] now safely in orbit, Jeff Williams, Aleksey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka on board and ready to chase down the International Space Station," NASA spokesman Dan Huot said just after the launch.
"In four windows I can see the Earth," one of the cosmonauts told Mission Control as they rose.
The six-month space station stay will be Ovchinin's first flight to space and Skripochka's second, but Williams is a spaceflight and space station veteran. Williams is visiting the station for a fourth time; his first time was more than 15 years ago via the space shuttle Atlantis while the station was still under construction. While he's in space, he will break Scott Kelly's new record of the most cumulative time in space by an American.
By the end of Kelly's recent near-yearlong mission (he landed March 1), the astronaut racked up a lifetime total of 520 days in space. On this new mission, Williams, who is making a record third long-duration stay on space station, should reach 534 cumulative days once he returns to Earth in six months. He will have spent time in space with at least 50 other space explorers, Williams said.
American astronaut Jeff Williams and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexei Ovchinin launched to the International Space Station March 18 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Here, they posed before their Soyuz qualification exams Feb. 24.
Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Credit: Karl Tate, Space.com Infographics Artist
"The first time I was there [was] before Expedition 1, and I was there in Expedition 13, about halfway through the assembly [of the International Space Station]. And the last time was Expeditions 21 and 22, right at the end of the assembly," Williams told Space.com in a video interview during a break from training in February. "I plan on taking the opportunity to refresh the world on what an adventure it's been building the space station, and what an achievement it's been in terms of human accomplishments in the history of human exploration."
Next week, an Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo spacecraft will launch to the station, bringing supplies, spacewalking gear and new experiments for the six crewmembers to conduct. During the expedition, the crewmembers will look into spaceflight's effect on the musculoskeletal system, how tablets dissolve in microgravity and the effectiveness of extra-small exercise equipment, NASA said in a mission summary. (The three new arrivals will stay on for both Expedition 47 and Expedition 48.)
When not occupied by experiments or exercise, Williams will be taking the opportunity to add to his (already substantial) space photography, seeking out alternate views of places he's seen over his 15 years of spaceflight.
"I do have a long list of targets that I want to try to get again, maybe in a different way, catch in different lighting conditions," he told Space.com. "The equipment we have on board now is far advanced from what it was before, when I was there last, particularly for night photography. So I want to try to add to my collection some good night photography."
Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com
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