Launch News Soyuz TMA-04M, Soyuz-FG, May 15, 2012 (launch, docking and landing updates)

[Urwumpe]

The Shuttle actually throttles down a lot already in flight, especially the boosters drop to about 40% of the take-off thrust until cut-off. It still touches about 3 g before booster separation.

 

[FADEC]

The Shuttle actually throttles down a lot already in flight, especially the boosters drop to about 40% of the take-off thrust until cut-off. It still touches about 3 g before booster separation.

Not more than Souyz though

 

[Ripley]

...I think Ripley meant the third stage separation at 09:30 in the video.

Yes, I meant that.

I don't know how you would feel if acceleration suddenly drops from 4.25g to 1 g...

And to Urwumpe, I didn't mean to blame them for being scared. I would scream for sure!!

 

[Urwumpe]

Not more than Souyz though

I meant the vibrations, not the acceleration. But I didn't word it well, it only makes sense in the context.

 

[FADEC]

I meant the vibrations, not the acceleration. But I didn't word it well, it only makes sense in the context.

Ah, okay. Your post didn't include "(vibrations)" previously. So it sounded like Soyuz would give the crew less g than the Shuttle did.

 

[Urwumpe]

Ah, okay. Your post didn't include "(vibrations)" previously. So it sounded like Soyuz would give the crew less g than the Shuttle did.

Yeah, I swapped sloppily the order of sentences before posting, so that the reference to the quoted post got lost. Wasn't my best post by far.

 

[MattBaker]

Successful docking of Soyuz to the Poisk module of the ISS!

Contact and Capture occurred at 4:36 UTC.

 

[sorindafabico]

That awkward moment when it seems you dock with the ISS better than the autopilot of Soyuz.

 

[Ripley]

Docking video:

 

[N_Molson]

Well done, another successful trip to the ISS ! :thumbup:

On a sidenote, are there any videos or pictures of the activities during the autonomous flight of the Soyuz ?

 

[Suzy]

Well done, another successful trip to the ISS ! :thumbup:

On a sidenote, are there any videos or pictures of the activities during the autonomous flight of the Soyuz ?

Two ESA photos from a few years ago, of Expedition 11 in the Soyuz Orbital Module: SEMEATW797E, SEM3BTW797E

 

[sorindafabico]

How tight!

 

[NovaSilisko]

Looks very cozy

 

[SiberianTiger]

How tight!

And this is at a shot with a wide angle lens!

 

[N_Molson]

How tight!

Notice that on the first pic, the crew gather in the BO, and on the second pic, in the SA. I guess its usually more like one cosmonaut in the SA and two in the BO.

 

[Tycho]

Notice that on the first pic, the crew gather in the BO, and on the second pic, in the SA. I guess its usually more like one cosmonaut in the SA and two in the BO.

It is rather tight, but I would imagine the commander tends to hang out in the SA to monitor flight status, communicate with the ground, etc. It'd be pretty neat though. I think the anticipation of arriving aboard the ISS and floating around fairly freely would hold me over for a couple days in the autonomous Soyuz trip.

 

[N_Molson]

It is rather tight, but I would imagine the commander tends to hang out in the SA to monitor flight status, communicate with the ground, etc. It'd be pretty neat though. I think the anticipation of arriving aboard the ISS and floating around fairly freely would hold me over for a couple days in the autonomous Soyuz trip.

I'd be curious to see their shifts schedule (who monitors the flight and when, who sleeps (sleeping bags are in the BO), and what does the third crewmember...). From what I read, cosmonauts schedules are very dense and tight, and it is not uncommon that they don't manage to do everything they have to in the day.

 

[Tycho]

I'd be curious to see their shifts schedule (who monitors the flight and when, who sleeps (sleeping bags are in the BO), and what does the third crewmember...). From what I read, cosmonauts schedules are very dense and tight, and it is not uncommon that they don't manage to do everything they have to in the day.

I'd imagine, given how packed cosmonauts' schedules seem to be during the autonomous flight while preparing for ISS rendezvous, they tend to play it by ear in terms of scheduling. It's hard to create a concrete plan, especially involving something as unpredictable as spaceflight. And a lot of the time, it's a list of things to do and other things to get ahead of schedule, since there's no telling how timing will be effected by unanticipated glitches and other issues.

 

[orb]

NASA News Release:
MEDIA ADVISORY : M12-179
Soyuz Landing Coverage Planned for NASA Television

Sept. 11, 2012

WASHINGTON -- NASA Television will provide live coverage of events surrounding three International Space Station crew members who are scheduled to end four months on the orbiting laboratory with a landing in Kazakhstan on Sunday, Sept. 16.

Expedition 32 Flight Engineer Joe Acaba of NASA and Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Sergei Revin of the Russian Federal Space Agency will undock their Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft from the space station at 7:11 p.m. EDT, heading for a landing at 10:53 p.m. (8:53 a.m. Kazakhstan time Sept. 17) north of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan. Their return will wrap up 125 days in space since their launch from Kazakhstan on May 15, including 123 days on the station.

At the time of undocking, Expedition 33 formally will begin aboard the station under the command of NASA's Sunita Williams. She and her crewmates, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will tend to the station as a three-person crew for a month until the arrival of three new crew members in mid-October, including NASA astronaut Kevin Ford.

NASA Television coverage on Sept. 16 and 17 of the Expedition 32 landing and post-landing activities will include:

Sept. 16:

• 3:30 p.m. -- Farewells and hatch closure (hatch closure at 3:55 p.m.).
• 6:45 p.m. -- Undocking and departure (undocking at 7:09 p.m.).
• 9:30 p.m. -- Deorbit burn and landing (deorbit burn at 9:56 p.m.; landing at 10:53 p.m.).

Sept. 17:

• 10:30 a.m. -- Video File of landing and post-landing activities

{...}

 

[orb]

NASASpaceflight: Soyuz TMA-04M set to return to Earth following four-month mission to ISS, by Orbinaut Pete

SPACE.com: 3 Space Station Astronauts to Return to Earth Tonight