EUROPEAN MISSIONS to the INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: 2013 to 2019 John O’Sullivan European Missions to the International Space Station 2013 to 2019 John O’Sullivan European Missions to the International Space Station 2013 to 2019 John O’Sullivan County Cork, Ireland SPRINGER-PRAXIS BOOKS IN SPACE EXPLORATION Springer Praxis Books Space Exploration ISBN 978-3-030-30325-9 ISBN 978-3-030-30326-6 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30326-6 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. 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Cover design: Jim Wilkie This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To Kate and Victor Contents Foreword.......................................................... vi Preface............................................................ ix Acknowledgements ................................................. xiii About the author ................................................... xiv Acronyms ......................................................... xv Part I Background 1 Earlier European Missions to the ISS .............................. 2 2 Spacecraft Flown to the ISS ...................................... 6 Part II Missions 3 Volare ........................................................ 16 4 Blue Dot....................................................... 57 5 Futura ........................................................ 109 6 Iriss .......................................................... 135 7 Principia ...................................................... 148 8 Proxima....................................................... 183 9 Vita .......................................................... 206 10 Horizons ...................................................... 225 11 Beyond........................................................ 262 vi Contents vii A Note from the Author.............................................. 270 Bibliography ....................................................... 271 Image Links ....................................................... 273 Appendix 1: Charter of the European Astronaut Corps ................... 278 Appendix 2: European Missions to the ISS .............................. 280 Appendix 3: Pre-Flight Interview with Alexander Gerst................... 282 Appendix 4: Alexander Gerst Blog on Science ........................... 296 Appendix 5: Tim Peake’s FAQ ........................................ 302 Appendix 6: Alexander Gerst FAQ..................................... 312 Index ............................................................. 319 Foreword The general public initially associated astronauts with the United States and cosmonauts with the then-USSR. On the basis of bilateral agreements, several European countries managed to have European citizens fly on a number of space missions, be it with NASA (especially involving the provision of the ESA Spacelab module in the shuttle cargo bay) or with the Soyuz rocket to the Russian MIR station. Although this was a highly interesting experience, it put European astronauts on the same footing as many other international astronauts who flew with those two major space powers, typically as payload specialists and often chosen based upon political motivations. There is no doubt that such flights were very important for the image of space in the respective European countries, but it did not provide the opportunity to develop a solid European astronaut program. This changed near the end of the 1990s, when Europe started its own space transporta- tion project, called Hermes. This small spacecraft was scheduled to fly from Kourou with European astronauts onboard. As a consequence, it was decided to initiate a number of astronaut training facilities with a dedicated European astronaut headquarters in Cologne, on the premises of the German space agency, DLR. This astronaut center was named the European Astronaut Centre (EAC). As a member of the Hermes management team, I was detached in 1989 to the forerunner of this center, responsible for coordination of European astronauts. As a next step, it was decided to group the existing astronauts as well as a number of newly recruited ones in a joint European Astronaut Corps. On the basis of the estimated number of flight opportunities a first corps of twelve astronauts was formed, a majority of them experienced test pilots, in view of the planned Hermes flights. Consequently, astronauts received basic training at EAC and were then integrated into the astronaut classes in NASA as mission specialists, or assigned to missions on board of the Russian Mir station, in particular Euromir94 and Euromir95, where I had the privilege of coordinating the European astronaut activities. Both missions were long-duration flights and a first exposure to the very rich experience of Russia with this type of flight. Several other flights followed, also national ones, all in preparation for the flights that would go to the International Space Station (ISS). viii Fig. F.1. European Astronaut Centre (EAC), Cologne, Germany. (Image courtesy of ESA) Fig. F.2. Walter Peeters (Wikipedia) x Foreword It was these steps that led towards the recognition of European astronauts as a full part- ner in the ISS era, with several flights as described in this excellent book. Books of this nature are important, as active participants in the activities are caught in recurring cycles of flight preparation and operations, in combination with chosen experiments and training. Unfortunately, leaves little time for participants to document all their experiences and log them for the future. Books of this kind, therefore, are a treasure for future researchers interested in the evolution of European astronaut activities. Prof. dr. W. Peeters, President (Emeritus), International Space University, Strasbourg, France, and former head of Coordination, European Astronaut Centre, Cologne, Germany Preface I wrote my first book,In the Footsteps of Columbus, European Missions to the International Space Station, because I wanted to read it. I am a reader and collector of the Outward Odyssey series of books published by the University of Nebraska Press and edited by Colin Burgess. In April 2012 Colin posted on the collectSPACE website that UNP had asked him to explore the possibility of going beyond the 12 books in the series. He was asking readers for suggestions. My suggestions were a book on the Soyuz/Salyut/Mir mis- sions and a book on the ESA missions to Mir, the ISS and shuttles. Colin’s reply was that the UNP didn’t see a market for non-U.S. stories. Demonstrating the depth of the forum users, David J. Shayler posted a reply mentioning Clive Horwood of Praxis. I contacted Clive proposing a book covering the European missions to the ISS… and the rest, as they say, is history. I am extremely grateful to Clive and Maury Solomon of Springer for giving me the opportunity to continue telling the story of European spaceflight with this book.1 The history of European human spaceflight is not as straightforward as its American or Russian endeavors. Europe wasn’t a competitor in the ‘space race.’ As a collection of nations with different languages, cultures and goals, the vision for space has been com- plex. For the first three decades of the space age, Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain. Even today, the European Space Agency does not build or fly a human-rated spacecraft. But despite all these factors there is a rich history of Europeans traveling to space on a variety of spacecraft and performing a variety of missions.2 As Europe isn’t a single country with a human space program, European citizens must ‘hitch a ride’ to get into space. This has resulted in many different routes to orbit. Before the period covered by these books, astronauts from communist countries and from France had flown on Soviet Soyuz spacecraft to the Salyut and Mir space stations. Later, 1 And of course, the opportunity to write my second book, Japanese Missions to the International Space Station, Hope from the East. 2 In December 2013, NASA and ESA agreed that the European Service Module (ESM), based on the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), would provide power and propulsion for the first Orion mission, Artemis 1 (formerly Exploration Mission 1). Artemis 2 is planned to be a