SiberianTiger
News Sifter
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2008
- Messages
- 5,398
- Reaction score
- 8
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Khimki
- Website
- tigerofsiberia.livejournal.com
Launch site:Baikonur
The launch time is:
16:34:52 Baikonur 27.05.2009
14:34:52 Moscow Local 27.05.2009
10:34:52 UTC May 27, 2009
6:34:52 a.m. EDT May 27, 2009
The expected docking time is:
16:36±3 min Moscow Local 29.05.2009
12:36±3 min UTC May 29, 2009
8:36 a.m. ±3 min EDT May 29, 2009
NASA Expedition 19&20 Mission Press Kit is available at: http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/320539main_Expedition_19_20_Press_Kit.pdf
On May 27, cosmonaut Roman Romanenko (Ro-mun-NEHN'-ko), a 37-year-old Russian Air Force lieutenant colonel, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk (THURSK), 55, and European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne (Duh-WIN'-nuh), 48, will launch from Baikonur aboard the Soyuz
TMA-15 spacecraft. They will dock with the Zarya module of the space station May 29, inaugurating the long-awaited presence of a six-person crew on the station. It also will mark the moment when all five partner agencies are represented by crew members on the orbiting laboratory and will begin what is called Expedition 20, still under the command of Padalka. Romanenko, the Soyuz TMA-15 commander, will serve as a station flight engineer in his first flight into space.
Thirsk is making his second flight into space, having flown aboard shuttle Columbia in 1996 on a Spacelab science mission. Thirsk will become the first Canadian to fly on a long-duration spaceflight. He is scheduled to return to Earth in the fall on shuttle Atlantis at the conclusion of the STS-129 mission. De Winne also is making his second flight into space.
Within days of the arrival of Expedition 20, Padalka and Barratt are scheduled to complete two spacewalks in Russian Orlan spacesuits to add hardware and reposition equipment on the Pirs Docking Compartment in preparation for the Mini Research Module-2, or MRM-2, a new Russian docking and research module, later in the year.
On the heels of the two spacewalks, shuttle Endeavour is targeted to launch on its STS-127 mission to the station. This flight will deliver
the Japanese Experiment Module-Exposed Facility and the Japanese Experiment Logistics Module-Exposed Section for the Kibo laboratory. The exposed section is a “front porch” on which experiments will be mounted for long-duration exposure to the environment in low Earth orbit. The shuttle also will deliver some spare parts for the station and install new batteries in the P6 Truss.
The mission also will deliver NASA astronaut Tim Kopra (KOH'-pruh), a 46-year-old Army colonel, to the complex to replace Wakata, who will return to Earth aboard Endeavour. Kopra is making his first flight into space and will remain on board the station until August when he is scheduled to come home on Discovery’s STS-128 mission that will deliver his replacement, Nicole Stott (STAHTT), 46. She will spend a little more than three months in orbit and is slated to return to Earth with Romanenko and De Winne on the Soyuz TMA-15 in late November.
Once the Progress 33 undocks from Pirs in July, Padalka, Barratt and Kopra will don their launch and landing suits and board the Soyuz TMA-14 for a brief trip to relocate their return craft from Zvezda to Pirs. Romanenko, Thirsk and De Winne will monitor the operation from inside the station. This will clear the way for the docking of the Progress 34 cargo vehicle to Zvezda at the end of the month. A total of five Russian Progresses will make space station resupply missions this year.
August will bring the docking of shuttle Discovery on the STS-128 mission. This flight will carry a Multipurpose Logistics Module, or MPLM, which will contain supplies and equipment necessary to maintain the six-person crew aboard the station. The crew will remove a materials processing experiment and a European science experiment mounted outside the Columbus module and will remove and replace an empty ammonia tank assembly during the mission's three spacewalks.
September will see the inaugural launch of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s H-II Transfer Vehicle, or HTV, cargo craft. The unpiloted spacecraft will launch from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan and will fly just close enough to the International Space Station for the station’s arm to reach out and capture it. The arm will then be used to dock the HTV with the Earth-facing port of the Harmony node, where it will deliver approximately six tons of supplies for the crew.
The HTV joins the Russian Progress and European Automated Transfer Vehicle as cargo vessels designed to keep the station supplied with critical hardware for day-to-day operations. After a month attached to the outpost, the Canadarm2 will unberth the HTV, enabling it to fire its engines to back away from the station and conduct a deorbit maneuver, allowing it to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Crew Commander's Callsign: Парус (Paroos, meaning Sail)
ROMAN YU. ROMANENKO (Commander)
Soyuz TMA-15 Commander, ISS Flight Engineer
ISS Flight Engineer,
GCTC Test Cosmonaut (Russia)
Leutenant-Colonel of the Russian Air Force,
no space flight experience
Roman Yurievich Romanenko was born August 9, 1971, in Shchyolkovo, near Moscow. After graduation from Star City high school in 1986, Romanenko entered the Leningrad Suvorov military school, from which he graduated in 1988. In 1988, he entered the Chernigov High Air Force School for pilots, from which he graduated in 1992 as a pilot-engineer. Following graduation from pilot school Romanenko served as a second commander in the Air Force. He flew L-39 and Tu-134 aircraft. Romanenko has logged over 800 hours of flight time. He is a Class 3 Air Force pilot.
Romanenko was selected as a cosmonaut candidate at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center Cosmonaut Office in December 1997. From January 1998 to November 1999 he undertook his basic training course. In November 1999 he was qualified as a Test Cosmonaut. His hobbies include underwater hunting, tourism, yachting, mountain ski and music.
FRANK DE WINNE (Flight Engineer)
Soyuz TMA-15 Flight Engineer,
ISS-20 Flight Engineer, ISS-21 Commander
ESA Astronaut
10 days 20 hours 52 minutes in space
Born in Ghent, Belgium, 25 April 1961. After completing his pilot training with the Belgian Air Force, in 1986, Frank De Winne was an operational pilot on Mirage V aircraft. From 30 October to 10 November 2002, De Winne participated in the Odissea mission, a support flight to the ISS. He served as flight engineer on the updated Soyuz TMA spacecraft during ascent, and on Soyuz TM during reentry. During his nine days on the ISS, De Winne, whose flight was sponsored by the Belgian Federal Office for Scientific, Technical and Cultural Affairs (OSTC), carried out a programme of 23 experiments in the fields of life and physical sciences and education, including experiments in an important new research facility designed and developed in Europe, the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG).
ROBERT (Bob) BRENT THIRSK
Soyuz TMA-15 Flight Engineer,
ISS-20 Flight Engineer
CSA Astronaut
16 days 21 hours 47 minutes 36 seconds in space
Born August 17, 1953, New Westminster, British Columbia. Dr. Thirsk was in the family medicine residency program at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Montreal when he was selected in December 1983 for the Canadian Astronaut Program. In June and July 1996, Dr. Thirsk flew as a payload specialist aboard space shuttle mission STS-78, the Life and Microgravity Spacelab (LMS) mission. During this 17-day flight aboard Columbia, he and his six crewmates performed 43 international experiments devoted to the study of life and materials sciences.
In 2004, Dr. Thirsk trained at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre near Moscow and became certified as a Flight Engineer for the Soyuz spacecraft. In 2008, Dr. Thirsk was assigned to the crew of Expedition 20/21. This Expedition represents a milestone for the Canadian Space Program since it will be the first time a Canadian takes part in a long duration mission. Robert Thirsk will have the privilege to expand the boundaries of space exploration by living and working on board the International Space Station for six months.
His hobbies include ice hockey, gliding and spending time with his family.
The back-up crew of the Soyuz TMA-15 consists of Dmitry Kondratyev (RSA), Chris A. Hadfield (CSA) and Andre Kuipers (ESA)
Last edited:
