Soyuz TMA-14 atop Soyuz FG on March 26, 2009

[SiberianTiger]

Sorry, guys, I happened to be away. The launch went fine and MECO happened at 14:58:06 MSK. There are no TLE's as yet.

---------- Post added at 16:37 ---------- Previous post was at 16:33 ----------

The PAO on Russian launches is hilarious - at liftoff, you sometimes hear a "beep-beep-beep-beep" of the guy's wrist watch. I guess Russia don't waste money on big countdown clocks...:lol:

Oh by the way... There's no much space in the Soyuz control room to put big countdown clocks in. :lol:

---------- Post added at 16:40 ---------- Previous post was at 16:37 ----------

With the crew capacity increased to 6, there will be many more flights.
I suppose the production of the Soyuz spacecraft would increase and it would be very busy for them in Baikonur.

The production of Soyuz'es and especially Progress'es has already boomed on the plant near Moscow - certainly enough, that should have been done well beforehand. One Soyuz production cycle is about 2 years.

 

[kklim]

Then the plant will be pretty crowded with the soyuz and progress spacecrafts.
BTW, the control room reminds me of a submarine with the periscope. Is that room the launch bunker, the one at the launch site?

 

[SiberianTiger]

Then the plant will be pretty crowded with the soyuz and progress spacecrafts.

As of December 12, 2008, totally 23 space ships had been in production at Energia plant in Korolev, Moscow region. If you ask me, this is pretty amazing, as in the real life this plant doesn't look enormous.

BTW, the control room reminds me of a submarine with the periscope. Is that room the launch bunker, the one at the launch site?

Yes, this is where the "button is pressed", the launch control room for this type of the launch vehicle.

---------- Post added at 23:10 ---------- Previous post was at 18:21 ----------

Name    SOYUZ TMA 14
NORAD #    34669
COSPAR designator    2009-015-A  
Epoch (UTC)    2009-03-26 17:57:45
Orbit # at Epoch    4
Inclination    51.640
RA of A. Node    9.881
Eccentricity    0.0034484
Argument of Perigee    131.725
Revs per day    16.09175900
Period    1h 29m 29s (89.48 min)
Semi-major axis    6 627 km
Perigee x Apogee    226 x 272 km
BStar (drag term)    0.002459200 1/ER
Mean anomaly    326.049

Name    SOYUZ TMA 14 ROCKET
NORAD #    34670
COSPAR designator    2009-015-B  
Epoch (UTC)    2009-03-26 17:32:28
Orbit # at Epoch    3
Inclination    51.631
RA of A. Node    9.920
Eccentricity    0.0025100
Argument of Perigee    89.207
Revs per day    16.23860214
Period    1h 28m 40s (88.67 min)
Semi-major axis    6 587 km
Perigee x Apogee    193 x 226 km
BStar (drag term)    0.000476370 1/ER
Mean anomaly    271.222

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Has any video of this been released yet?

Thanks

----------
EDIT:

NASA has released a video

 

[SiberianTiger]

Has any video of this been released yet?

Thanks

----------
EDIT:

NASA has released a video

Expect it any minute to come from Roscosmos.

---------- Post added at 13:05 ---------- Previous post was at 12:51 ----------

Here it is, the launch video:
http://tvroscosmos.ru/picture_library/video/Start/start42.wmv

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Thanks - I have downloaded

Now i'm just waiting for hi-res pics

 

[SiberianTiger]

Now i'm just waiting for hi-res pics

Not sure they are what you'd call hi-res, but anyway...

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Thanks.

There are some super hi-res ones below, but as always, they are in portrait format, so they are no good as wallpapers.

http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-19/ndxpage18.html

Those ones you posted are good enough though. Thanks

----------

The hatches between the TMA-14 & the ISS are now open. The first part of the 6 person crew has begun:lol:

 

[SiberianTiger]

Soyuz TMA-14 has docked to the International Space Station at 16:05 MSK March 27, 2009 (13:05 UTC).

Download the docking video by the link (140 Mb):
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.o...-tma-14-docking-to-iss-full-coverage-&catid=1

The crew has encountered a problem on approach at 100 m distance remaining to the station when the flight computer switched over to approach abort and began disengaging. At the 200 m mark Commander Gennady Padalka switched off the automat and performed a smooth manual docking.

A preliminary report is that the problem was inside the flight computer's software unable to process correctly a spurious RCS engine's control parameters reading.

 

[MajorTom]

Those verniers are connected to the same turbo-pumps as the main combustion chamber, right? If so, how do they control steering - do they gimbal or is the thrust controlled some other way?

See the Project R-7 add-on to see these verniers gimballing during flight:
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2844"]Project R-7[/ame]

 

[tblaxland]

See the Project R-7 add-on to see these verniers gimballing during flight:
http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2844

Awesome, thankyou.

 

[atuhalpa]

Siberian Tiger, I have been tracking the ISS and TMA-14 and I of course noticed that TMA-14 isn't docked to the ISS anymore but it is still in orbit. What are they doing? Where are the cosmonauts? In the ISS or in the TMA-14?

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

TMA-14 is docked to the ISS now. It docked on Saturday...

 

[atuhalpa]

I guess the realtime sattelite tracking website is in error then. I have noted more times than not that when I use the 2 line element set for ISS and transfer it to Orbiter through the program I downloaded from the hangar it is wrong......Orbinaut, do you know of a reliable and accurate website that post's 2 line element sets for the ISS?

 

[SiberianTiger]

Siberian Tiger, I have been tracking the ISS and TMA-14 and I of course noticed that TMA-14 isn't docked to the ISS anymore but it is still in orbit. What are they doing? Where are the cosmonauts? In the ISS or in the TMA-14?

I'll tell you the terrible story. The TLE's are outdated. In reality, it all ended a while ago. See http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=7567 Spetsnaz, GRU and SVR infiltration groups are being sent to everywhere from North Carolina to Maryland in search of the craft's debris and possible survivors. Don't forget that the TMA-14 crew weren't told where they would end up so they must be scary and jumpy about everyone coming their way. And they had this thing on board:

That's just so you would be aware...

 

[tblaxland]

Orbinaut, do you know of a reliable and accurate website that post's 2 line element sets for the ISS?

Here:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/elements/

That's just so you would be aware...

:lol:

 

[SiberianTiger]

Planned Landing site: near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan

Undocking date: October 11, 2009

The undocking time is:
05 : 07 : 00 Moscow Local 11.10.2009
01 : 07 : 00 UTC Oct 11, 2009
9 : 07 : 00 p.m. EDT Oct 10, 2009

Undocking of Soyuz TMA-14 will occur at 62420th orbit of the ISS (15th daily). The orbit number with relevance to the space ship itself is 3128.

Undocking command is to be issued at 05 : 04 : 00
Separation isto happen at 05 : 07 : 00
The separation burn will be done at 05 : 10 : 00

The projected nominal landing time is:
10 : 30 : 58 Local Time 11.10.2009
08 : 30 : 58 Moscow 11.10.2009
04 : 30 : 58 UTC Oct 11, 2009
12 : 30 : 58 p.m. EDT Oct 10, 2009

Crew:

• Gennady Padalka CDR
  
• Michael Barratt FE
  
• Guy Laliberté FP
  

The landing events timetable

Event|Moscow Time|Altitude, km|Latitude|Longitude|Speed|g Load
Deorbit Burn|07.40.43|361,9|-37.51|318.39|7,389|0,00
Engine cut-off|07.45.03|354,0|-26.23|332.16|7,286|0,05
Module Separation|08.05.37|139,9|+35.33|024.14|7,548|0,00
Atmospheric Entry|08.08.26|102,6|+42.35|035.36|7,593|0,00
Guidance On|08.10.13|080,0|+46.17|044.13|7,597|0,09
Peak G|08.14.58|033,6|+50.43|065.49|2,092|3,91
Parachute Deployment|08.16.51|010,6|+50.59|066.56|0,213|1,22
Touchdown|08.30.58|000,0|+51.02|067.10|0,000|1,00
Par. Dep. after Bal. Entry|08.14.52|010,7|+50.35|061.25|0,204|1,26

The descent and landing chart (by TSUP M)

Nominal Landing Site
90 km off Arkalyk, by azimuth 012.2

Sunrise at the landing site: 05 : 48 (Moscow)
Sunset at the landing site: 15 : 47 (Moscow)

Weather forecast for Arkalyk, Kazakhstan for October 11, 2009

Hi: 11°
Lo: 1°
There is a 0% chance of precipitation. Mostly cloudy. Mild. Temperature of 11°C. Winds SW 17km. Humidity will be 61% with a dewpoint of 3° and feels-like temperature of 11°C.

Question
Some staff members from TSUP-M mentioned that the landing is possibly risky because "an engine problem" was detected within the TMA-14. Is there any more detailed information in NASA reports?

---------- Post added at 22:11 ---------- Previous post was at 20:36 ----------

Watching the landing report:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Breaking.html

October 10
21:30 UTC - ISS Expedition 20/Spaceflight Participant Farewells and Hatch Closure - JSC (Public and Media Channels)

October 11
00:45 UTC - ISS Expedition 20/Spaceflight Participant Undocking from ISS - JSC (Public and Media Channels)
03:15 UTC - ISS Expedition 20/Spaceflight Participant Deorbit Burn and Landing in Kazakhstan - JSC (Public and Media Channels)

---------- Post added at 22:30 ---------- Previous post was at 22:11 ----------

Ok, here's the Answer:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=15737.msg488471#msg488471

It's just a sensor problem, not hampering descent & landing.
Good luck, 14'th!

---------- Post added 11-10-09 at 10:59 ---------- Previous post was 10-10-09 at 22:30 ----------

11-10-2009 Soyuz Reentry Capsule Successfully Landed in Kazakhstan

Soyuz TMA-14 reentry capsule landed successfully this morning in Kazakhstan, not far away from Arkalyk.
Reentry and landing of Gennady Padalka, Michael Barratt and Guy Laliberte in the Soyuz capsule was nominal. All three crew members feel well.

Soyuz TMA-14 undocked from the ISS at 05:07 Moscow time, as it was planned.

In about three hours (8:31) the Soyuz reentry capsule landed nominally.

Roscosmos and MCC-M Press Offices

Welcome back, Altairs!

---------- Post added at 11:00 ---------- Previous post was at 10:59 ----------

The footage to download:
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5430

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Some great photos of the Soyuz TMA-14 landing:
www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/sets/72157622436618129

The capsule seems to have initially hit the ground right in the middle of some tractor tracks - it's a good job there was no tractor present in that location at the time of impact!

 

[Suzy]

Still wearing that red nose - did he have it surgically attached?! He really is annoying me!

 

[SiberianTiger]

Still wearing that red nose - did he have it surgically attached?! He really is annoying me!

Most probably, he was the last space tourist to peek his nose aboard the ISS. :lol: Roscosmos say (although, how much trust can one put in that?..) that the next Space Adventures' party will fly their own Soyuz captained by one Cosmonaut - and their destination will be just a few orbits long flight with no dockings.