Sunday, March 29, 2015


A Successful Launch to the International Space Station

A dedication web-log posting

Scott Kelly, a NASA astronaut, is the first American to make a one-year trip to space. He arrived at the International Space Station Friday with two Russians, Mikhail Kornienko, who will also remain in space for a year, and Gennady Padalka, who will stay for only six months but is on track to break the record for the most cumulative time a human has spent in space — nearly two and a half years. 

 

Capsule Arrives at Space Station in Less Than Six Hours

A Soyuz capsule carrying three astronauts docked at the International Space Station at 9:36 p.m. Eastern time, less than six hours after it left the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Just a few years ago, that was a trip that took two days, or 34 orbits, before the Soyuz capsule could catch up with the space station.
It is now quicker to go from Earth to the space station than it is to fly from New York to London. Maybe less cramped than the economy seats, too. 
 March 27 at 2:51pm ·
NASA TV - Washington, United States - Watch Online


 

NASA loves mission patches. Since the Gemini 5 mission, 50 years ago, each mission has designed an embroidered patch, often crammed with symbols.








The design for the one-year mission to the International Space Station is no exception. The large number 1 and the orbital path around the sun both represent one year. The tilted orbital path represents the station’s inclined orbit. The number 1 is filled with the American and Russian flags, above the last names of Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko.
The numbers at bottom, 43–46, are the four I.S.S. expeditions that the mission will span, and the 13 black stars represent the 13 different astronauts and cosmonauts who will be working on those expeditions.




The launch also completes the six-person crew of I.S.S. Expedition 43, which is already in progress. The patch for that mission includes the name of cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, the third man launching today.
Here is the European Space Agency’s description of the symbolism:
“The International Space Station is portrayed in orbit around Earth, representing the multinational partnership that has constructed, developed, and continues to operate the I.S.S. for the benefit of all humankind. The sunrise marks the beginning of a new day, reflecting the fact that we are at the dawn of our history as a spacefaring species. The moon and planets represent future exploration of our solar system, for which the I.S.S. is a stepping stone. Finally, the five stars honor the crews who have lost their lives during the pursuit of human spaceflight.”





Today’s Soyuz flight, designated TMA-16M, also has a patch. The design has a marathon theme, showing three men running on a circular patch shaped like a watch. Two thirds of the border bears the colors of the Russian flag, and the remaining third shows the colors of the American flag. The design is finished with an image of a docking Soyuz, a yellow star for each crew member, and the logo of Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency.



Soyuz launch



  

""""""""""""""""Success! The launch was on time and flawless, propelling the astronauts to orbit. They are scheduled to meet up with the ISS at 01:36 UTC tonight.
Today, at 19:42 UTC (3:42 p.m. Eastern U.S. time), astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will ride a Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station. This isn’t an ordinary mission: They will stay aboard ISS for a year, twice as long as the usual NASA expedition length. The purpose is to study long–term effects of microgravity on the human body, to learn more for a possible trip to Mars.*
Expedition 43, as this one is numbered,† has a number of different research directions, including seeing how the lengthy flight affects behavior, physical function, eyesight, metabolism, and more—things we know are affected by prolonged low-gravity conditions.
The reasoning behind this makes sense; a long flight to, say, Mars will seriously hamper astronauts’ ability to move around once they land.

 ’ll note this isn’t the longest time people will have spent in space; two Russians spent more time on the old Mir space station, and two others spent a year on Mir as well. But this will still be pretty interesting from a biophysical point of view. A lot of work has been done in this field, of course, but having two people up that long at the same with consistent tests should prove helpful.
Not only that, but Kelly has a twin brother who will stay on Earth to provide a control group of sorts. His brother, Mark, is also an astronaut (the only siblings who have both been in space) who is married to ex-congresswoman Gabby Giffords. Quite a family.


I wonder what the outcome of this mission will be. It may show us that long-term space flight is too debilitating; if that’s the case, then we may need to take seriously the idea of rotating structures to mimic gravity. Those are more expensive and have to be big to avoid the spin making astronauts dizzy. I’d love to see some of those built to test out how well humans can perform on them. I’m sure either way it will help inform longer space missions.
Personal opinion time: This mission is also being billed as a precursor to flights using the Space Launch System with the Orion capsule, a future I think is a dead-end for NASA. SLS is far, far too expensive and NASA doesn’t have the budget to make it sustainable. There are serious concerns that building it will cost so much that there won’t be money left for actually using it.
I agree with space activist and writer John Strickland on this; Scientific American put up an editorial about this one-year mission, and Strickland left a comment there. In it, he wrote that for the same money SpaceX could deliver a lot more. The Falcon Heavy rocket demo launch should happen later this year; I’d like to see that go successfully first before speculating any further. But it does seem like the right move for NASA. I have very serious doubts about SLS.
Anyway, I expect the Soyuz launch of the Expedition will be covered on NASA TV and its Ustream channel. I’ll be watching live, and tweeting about it too.
* Also riding on the rocket will be seasoned cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, who will not be staying for the entire duration of this extended mission.
† NASA has a peculiar numbering convention for ISS missions. A new Expedition starts when three of the six crew members on board leave (officially when the door to the return capsule closes), so Expedition 43 started in early March, and there are now three people on ISS. Kelly, Kornienko, and Padalka will join 43 already in progress. The three on there now will leave in May, and that's when Expedition 44 starts. Kelly and Kornienko will stay through Expedition 46, overlapping with the crews from the other Expeditions."""""""""""""""""""""'''   Phil   Plait
....CLAM-ARMS~~~~~dropping!!!
 ...now discussing man's desire to touch-down on Mars!!

---30 months---start-to-finish~~~~for a MARS EXPLORATION!!








 

Lou Marconi CGI~~~at separation


  • Leana Elam Ok Lou - go space busters!

  • Leana Elam I am not as enthused as you are -so hope they have a safe mission!

  • Lou Marconi ....I should be---sitting at the end of this CANDLE~~~~not Kelly

  • Leana Elam I guess whatever floats your boat or spacecraft there Lou!

    • Lou Marconi ...T-MINUS 22 minutes





  
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   


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HICKOK                                                                 
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