National Aeronautics and Space Administration PRESS KIT/SEPTEMBER 2009 Expedition 21 and 22 Assembling Science www.nasa.gov This page intentionally blank TABLE OF CONTENTS Section Page MISSION OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................... 1 EXPEDITION 21 & 22 CREW .................................................................................................... 11 EXPEDITION 21/22 MAJOR MILESTONES ............................................................................... 23 EXPEDITION 21/22 SPACEWALKS .......................................................................................... 25 RUSSIAN SOYUZ TMA ............................................................................................................. 27 SOYUZ BOOSTER ROCKET CHARACTERISTICS .................................................................................... 31 PRELAUNCH COUNTDOWN TIMELINE ................................................................................................... 32 ASCENT/INSERTION TIMELINE ............................................................................................................ 33 ORBITAL INSERTION TO DOCKING TIMELINE ...................................................................................... 34 KEY TIMES FOR EXPEDITION 21/22 INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION EVENTS ................................... 39 EXPEDITION 20/SOYUZ TMA-14 LANDING ........................................................................................... 41 SOYUZ TMA-14 ENTRY TIMELINE ......................................................................................................... 44 MINI-RESEARCH MODULE 2 ................................................................................................... 47 INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: EXPEDITION 21/22 SCIENCE OVERVIEW ....................... 53 DIGITAL NASA TELEVISION .................................................................................................... 109 EXPEDITION 21/22 PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICERS (PAO) CONTACTS ....................................... 111 OCTOBER 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS i This page intentionally blank ii TABLE OF CONTENTS OCTOBER 2009 Mission Overview Expeditions 21 and 22 The next set of overlapping crews to live and of the station not long after the next crew work aboard the International Space Station will transport arrives to continue outfitting the continue its evolution from orbiting outpost to station for an expanding research portfolio. multidisciplinary laboratory, activating recently delivered research facilities, integrating new De Winne will take over for Commander supply lines and enhancing living conditions. Gennady Padalka, the Russian cosmonaut who has been station commander for the past A total of nine long-term residents will span six months, when Padalka and NASA astronaut the Expedition 21 and 22 timeframe, welcoming Mike Barratt are ready to return home to Earth 13 guests. These comings and goings are in early October. indicative of the fast-paced traffic pattern that will continue as the space station transitions By that time, the next station commander, from construction site to research center. NASA astronaut Jeff Williams, and Russian flight engineer Max Suraev, will have arrived The Expedition 21 and 22 crews will be on the station and joined De Winne, instrumental in setting up and activating new astronaut Nicole Stott, Canadian astronaut research facilities, such as the Fluids Integrated Robert Thirsk and Russian flight engineer Rack and Materials Science Research Rack 1 Roman Romanenko. Those spacefarers will that were delivered to the station by the comprise the Expedition 21 crew. STS-128 shuttle mission. They’ll also activate the new Combined Operational Load-Bearing Williams and Suraev, along with Canadian External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT); spaceflight participant Guy Laliberte, are unberth the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle set for launch to the space station on Sept. 30, when its supply mission is complete; and 2009, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in welcome a new Russian docking module, two Kazakhstan aboard the Russian Soyuz TMA-16 shuttle crews and a Progress resupply ship. spacecraft. Williams and Suraev will serve as Expedition 21 flight engineers until DeWinne, Belgian astronaut Frank De Winne will become Romanenko and Thirsk return to Earth in the first European Space Agency commander November and Williams assumes command of the Expedition 22 crew. OCTOBER 2009 MISSION OVERVIEW 1 Expedition 21 crew members take a break from training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center to pose for a crew portrait. Pictured on the front row are European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne (center), commander; NASA astronaut Nicole Stott and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, both flight engineers. Pictured on the back row (from the left) are Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev, NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk, all flight engineers. Expedition 22 crew members from the left (front row) are NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams, commander; and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, flight engineer. From the left (back row) are NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer, Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, all flight engineers. 2 MISSION OVERVIEW OCTOBER 2007 Astronaut Jeffrey Williams (center), Expedition 21 flight engineer and Expedition 22 commander, participates in a 1-G Extravehicular Activity (EVA) training session in the staging area in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) near NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Crew trainer Ernest Bell (left) assists Williams. The first indirect crew exchange of the De Winne, Thirsk and Romanenko will depart program will result in Williams and Suraev the station Dec. 1, in their Soyuz 19 spacecraft being together alone for 16 days before the after 187 days in orbit. Stott will return home arrival of Russian cosmonaut and Expedition 23 aboard the space shuttle Atlantis at the commander Oleg Kotov, NASA astronaut conclusion of the STS-129 mission, the last T.J. Creamer and Japanese Aerospace astronaut expected to use the shuttle for Exploration Agency spaceflight veteran transportation to or from the station. Soichi Noguchi. They are scheduled to launch from Baikonur in December aboard the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft. OCTOBER 2009 MISSION OVERVIEW 3 Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, Expedition 22/23 flight engineer, gets help in the donning of a training version of his Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuit before being submerged in the waters of the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) near NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Williams, 51, a retired U.S. Army colonel from Suraev, 37, a Russian Air Force major, will be Winter, Wis., is making his third space flight. making his first space flight, commanding the The West Point graduate began working with Soyuz spacecraft for its launch and landing NASA in 1987 on assignment from the Army, and serving as a station flight engineer. Born in and was selected as an astronaut in 1996. Chelyabinsk, Russia, he graduated with honors In May 2000, he served as the flight engineer from the Kachin Air Force Pilot School in 1994. and lead spacewalker on STS-101. In That same year, he entered the Zhukovski July 2002, he commanded a nine-day undersea Air Force Academy, from which he also coral reef expedition operating from the graduated with honors in 1998, as pilot- National Oceanic and Atmospheric engineer-researcher. At the pilot school he flew Administration’s Aquarius habitat off the coast L-39 and Su-27 (Flanker) aircraft and has of Florida. In 2006, he served as Expedition 13 logged around 500 hours of flight time. He flight engineer aboard the station, spending was selected as a test-cosmonaut candidate nearly 183 days in orbit. All totaled, Williams of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center has logged more than 193 days in space, Cosmonaut Office in 1997. including more than19 hours on three spacewalks. 4 MISSION OVERVIEW OCTOBER 2009 NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi (mostly out of frame), both Expedition 22/23 flight engineers, participate in a training session with the Vestibule Operations Trainer (VOT) in the Space Vehicle Mock-up Facility at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Laliberte, 50, from Québec City, Canada, is the flight engineer for Expedition 22, and assume founder and chief executive officer of the the duties of Expedition 23 commander when entertainment troupe Cirque de Soleil. He will Williams departs in March 2010. spend nine days on the station, flying under an agreement between the Russian Federal Space Creamer, 49, a U.S. Army colonel from Upper Agency and Space Adventures, Ltd. Marlboro, Md., will be making his first spaceflight. Assigned to NASA’s Johnson Kotov, 43, a physician and Russian Air Force Space Center in 1995 as a space shuttle colonel, will be making his second spaceflight vehicle integration test engineer, he supported and serving his second tour aboard the station. eight shuttle missions as a vehicle integration Selected as a cosmonaut in 1996, he trained as test team lead and specialized in coordinating a cosmonaut researcher for a flight on the the information technologies for the Astronaut Soyuz and as a backup crew member to the Office. Selected as an astronaut in 1998, Mir-26 mission. A former lead test doctor at Creamer worked with hardware