Expedition 8 commander Michael Foale had previously served on the Russian space station Mir and, in an interview before the mission launch, expressed his confidence that his experience and training would help make the mission a success. Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri had served on Mir’s last crew and commented that, while he regretted that his … [Read more…]
Yuri Malenchenko and Edward Lu launched in Soyuz TMA-2 on April 25, 2003, and docked on the Zarya’s nadir docking port on April 28th. During the approach, Budarin adjusted the International Space Station’s attitude to take pictures of the approaching Soyuz. NASA was considering a similar procedure for future Shuttle dockings to provide pictures for … [Read more…]
January 16, 2003 looked like a beautiful day for the launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia. The crew was a diverse group of people who had been preparing for years for this day. Everything looked good to go and NASA gave itself a premature pat on the back for another on-time launch. Some more cautious … [Read more…]
The Expedition 6 crew stowed equipment brought up by STS-113, and then settled into the routine of experiments and maintenance. Experiments included the Zeolite Crystal Growth (ZCG) experiment, which would produce zeolite crystals similar to, but larger than, the ones found in geodes. This experiment had previously appeared on space shuttle missions but researchers hoped … [Read more…]
Endeavour rendezvoused with the International Space Station on November 25, 2002. As they inched in for docking with Destiny, Peggy Whitson teased, “You guys fly that like you stole it.” Endeavour was delivering the Expedition 6 crew of Station Commander Ken Bowersox and Flight Engineers Donald Pettit and Nikolai Budarin, along with the Port-1 (P-1) … [Read more…]
STS-112 had originally been scheduled to launch on August 22 but, with the discovery of the cracks in the cyrogenic propellant duct liners, the fleet was grounded and launch was pushed back until October 7. Atlantis docked two days later and Whitson couldn’t resist needling Mission Commander Jeffrey Ashby: “Did you bring that salsa I … [Read more…]
As Expedition 5 settled in, the crew took more pictures of wildfires in Arizona and Colorado and activated new experiments that included a study of liver cell development in microgravity. Maintenance tasks included replacing a hard drive for the Zeolite Crystal Growth experiment in EXPRESS Rack 2. They also filled another Progress with rubbish and … [Read more…]
The Endeavour launched on June 5, 2002, and docked on June 7, delivering Station Commander Valeri Korzun and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev of Russia, and Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson of America. The older individuals among the people arriving on the Endeavour took some kidding from the Expedition 4 crew, who dubbed them “our fathers of … [Read more…]
STS-110’s primary cargo included a new segment of the Integrated Truss Structure (ITS) labeled Starboard-0 (S-0). The S-0 ITS became the “centerpiece” of the Integrated Truss Structure and was attached to Destiny. The P-6 segment of the ITS would then be relocated from its position on the Z-1 Truss. Other cargo included the Canadian-built Mobile … [Read more…]
With the Endeavour’s departure, the Expedition 4 crew began to settle in. Yuri Onufrienko had previously served on Mir and Daniel Bursch commented that his experience was a good help while they settled in for the long haul. They got cargo stowed from the Endeavour and Progress-M1 7, activated experiments and kept an eye on … [Read more…]