TABLE OF CONTENTS Section Page Mission Overview ............................................................................................................ 1 Expedition 15 Crew ......................................................................................................... 7 Expedition 14 Spacewalks.............................................................................................. 13 Russian Soyuz TMA ........................................................................................................ 17 Soyuz Booster Rocket Characteristics ......................................................................... 23 Prelaunch Countdown Timeline ................................................................................... 24 Ascent/Insertion Timeline ............................................................................................. 25 Orbital Insertion to Docking Timeline............................................................................ 26 Key Times for Expedition 15/14 International Space Station Events............................ 31 EXPEDITION 14/ISS SOYUZ 13 (TMA-9) LANDING................................................... 33 Soyuz Entry Timeline ................................................................................................... 36 European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle Debuts ................................ 41 International Space Station: Expedition 15 Science Overview.................................... 51 The Payload Operations Center ..................................................................................... 61 ISS 15 Russian Research Objectives............................................................................. 65 U.S. Experiments ............................................................................................................. 73 The Digital NASA Television........................................................................................... 117 Expedition 15 PAO Contacts .......................................................................................... 119 i ii Mission Overview Expedition 15: Expanding for Science On April 7, two Russian cosmonauts Making his second flight into space, Fyodor aboard the Soyuz TMA-10 will launch to the Yurchikhin (Fee-OH'-dur YOUR’-cheek-in), International Space Station, joining an 48, will command the Expedition 15 mis- American astronaut for one of the most sion. He is an engineer for RSC-Energia complex expeditions since permanent hu- who flew on the STS-112 mission that de- man occupancy of the complex began al- livered the starboard one (S1) truss to the most seven years ago. outpost. Cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin of Russia's Federal Space Agency, Expedition 15 commander. 1 Cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, representing Russia's Federal Space Agency, has been assigned as Expedition 15 flight engineer and Soyuz commander. Joining Yurchikhin is fellow Russian cos- tle Endeavour's mission STS-118. That monaut Oleg Kotov (AH’-leg KO’-tuff), 41, flight will carry Expedition 15 crew member who will serve as flight engineer and Soyuz and NASA astronaut Clayton Anderson, 48, commander for launch, landing and on-orbit to the complex. He will return home aboard operations. This is Kotov’s first flight. He is Atlantis on mission STS-120. a cosmonaut-researcher and medical doc- tor for the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training The Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft will launch Center in Star City, Russia. Their stay from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakh- aboard the station is expected to last ap- stan for a two-day flight to link up to the proximately six months. Zvezda Service Module on the station. Joining them on the Soyuz is U.S. busi- Yurchikhin and Kotov will join NASA astro- nessman Charles Simonyi, 58, a former ex- naut and Navy Cmdr. Sunita (Suni) Wil- ecutive with Microsoft Corp., who will spend liams, 41, who flew to the station on shuttle 10 days on the station under a contract Discovery’s STS-116 mission in December signed with the Russian Federal Space 2006. She will return to Earth aboard shut- Agency (Roscosmos). 2 Charles Simonyi will fly as a space flight participant on the Expedition 15 mission. Simonyi will return to Earth on the Soyuz receive proficiency training on the Cana- TMA-9 capsule with Expedition 14 Com- darm2 robotic arm from the resident crew mander Mike Lopez-Alegria (Ah-luh-GREE’- and engage in safety briefings as well as uh), 48, and Flight Engineer and Soyuz payload and scientific equipment training. Commander Mikhail Tyurin (Tee-YOUR’-in), 47, landing in central Kazakhstan. Lopez- The change of command ceremony marks Alegria and Tyurin have been aboard the the formal control of the station by Yur- station since September 2006. chikhin and Kotov just days before the Ex- pedition 14 crew members and Simonyi de- Once on board, Yurchikhin and Kotov will part the station. Tyurin, at the controls of conduct more than a week of handover ac- Soyuz, Lopez-Alegria and Simonyi will land tivities with Lopez-Alegria, Tyurin and Wil- in the steppes of Kazakhstan to conclude liams, familiarizing themselves with station their mission. Simonyi’s mission will span systems and procedures. They also will 12 days. 3 After landing, the trio will be flown from Ka- nology demonstrations. Many experiments zakhstan to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Train- are designed to gather information about ing Center in Star City, for approximately the effects of long-duration spaceflight on two weeks of initial physical rehabilitation. the human body, which will help with plan- Due to the brevity of his fight, Simonyi will ning future exploration missions to the spend significantly less time acclimating moon and Mars. The science team at the himself to Earth’s gravity than Tyurin and Payload Operations Integration Center at Lopez-Alegria. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will operate some experi- The crew will work with experiments across ments without crew input and other experi- a wide variety of fields, including human life ments are designed to function autono- sciences, physical sciences and Earth ob- mously. servation, as well as education and tech- Backdropped by a sprinkling of small clouds over a blue Earth, an unpiloted Progress supply vehicle approaches the International Space Station. 4 The station crew is expected to greet the segment to the station and replace a failed arrival of two Russian Progress resupply control moment gyroscope. Additionally, cargo ships filled with food, fuel, water and the shuttle will fly Anderson to the complex, supplies that will augment the delivery of replacing Williams. Further, the mission will supplies on visiting shuttles. The ISS Pro- highlight the first flight of Educator Astro- gress 25 cargo is targeted to reach the sta- naut and Mission Specialist Barbara Mor- tion in May, and ISS Progress 26 is slated gan, who will be part of Endeavour’s crew for August. If all goes as planned, the Ex- and will handle crucial robotics work pedition 15 crew also will greet two visiting throughout the flight. shuttles. Other mission tasks include using the During the STS-117 mission, Atlantis will Canadarm2 robotic arm in August to move deliver the starboard three and four (S3/S4) one of the station’s docking ports, the Pres- truss and a new set of solar arrays to the surized Mating Adapter-3 (PMA-3), from the station. The mission was scheduled for port side of the Unity module to the nadir Expedition 14, but was postponed due to side, clearing the port side for the tempo- hail damage to Atlantis’ external fuel tank rary installation of Harmony (Node 2) during on Feb 26. the STS-120 mission targeted for later this year. The next shuttle mission, Endeavour’s STS- 118, will bring the starboard five (S5) truss Astronaut Clayton C. Anderson (left), Expedition 15 flight engineer; cosmonauts Fyodor N. Yurchikhin and Oleg V. Kotov, commander and flight engineer, respectively, representing Russia's Federal Space Agency, participate in a training session in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) near Johnson Space Center. 5 U.S. and Russian specialists are reviewing vicer, which was attached to the P6 truss to the tasks expected to be included in as replenish ammonia for cooling lines for the many as three spacewalks planned for Ex- early thermal control system for the station. pedition 15. Yurchikhin and Kotov will do That temporary system has been shut down the first two spacewalks out of the Pirs air- in favor of the station’s permanent cooling lock on the station's Russian segment. system, and the ammonia reservoir is no They will wear Russian Orlan suits and in- longer required. stall micrometeoroid debris shields on the Zvezda module that were delivered to the Anderson and Yurchikhin also will discon- complex in December on the STS-116 shut- nect electrical connections between PMA-3 tle mission. Yurchikhin, Kotov and Ander- and Unity in advance of its relocation and son will conduct their first spacewalks dur- install equipment for additional video hard- ing Expedition 15. ware that will accompany future station as- sembly missions. The third spacewalk will feature Anderson and Yurchikhin in U.S. suits exiting from the Also on the crew’s agenda is work with Quest airlock. They will jettison an ammo- Canadarm2 that will support the space- nia reservoir tank, the Early Ammonia Ser- walks and observe the station’s exterior. 6 Expedition 15 Crew Fyodor Yurchikhin, Ph.D., Expedition 15 commander Since graduating from the Sergei neer for the Shuttle-Mir and