NASASpaceFlight.com Forum
International Space Flight (ESA, Russia, China and others) => Russian Launchers - Soyuz, Progress and Uncrewed => Topic started by: jacqmans on 08/19/2014 03:11 pm
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Coverage of the TMA-19M mission.
Lead Article - by Pete Harding.
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/12/soyuz-tma-19m-launch-landmark-uk-spaceflight/
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Tim Peake
Had a bath today - in gypsum! This will be the mould for my Soyuz seat liner, which ensures a snug fit on launch & re-entry!
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The Soyuz TMA-19M patch was designed by Luc van den Abeelen. Copyright Roscosmos/spacepatches.nl
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Official Roscosmos/spacepatches.nl prime and back-up patch for the Soyuz MA-19M flight.
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Expedition 46/47 - Crew News Conference
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9615
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I'm having a hard time figuring out the seat arrangements for TMA-19M; is Peake in the left-hand seat with Kopra in the right-hand seat or is it the other way?
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Kopra is the left-seater.
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Thanks
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Expedition 46/47 - Crew Training Resource Reel
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9616
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An unofficial crew portrait published at Flickr site of Tim Peake.
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Press Release
N°40-2015
Paris, 2 November 2015
Call for Media: Opportunity to talk to astronaut Tim Peake before he sets off for space
On 6 November, ESA's first British astronaut, Tim Peake, will be paying his last visit to the UK before his launch to the International Space Station. He will take part in a news conference at the Science Museum London to discuss his upcoming mission.
Together with Jo Johnson, UK Minister of State for Universities and Science, Thomas Reiter, ESA's Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations, and David Parker, CEO of the UK Space Agency, Tim will talk with journalists about his training, and the
science and education objectives of his mission. While in space, Tim will perform more than 30 experiments for ESA and its Member States and take part in numerous others from ESA's international partners.
Tim's mission is ESA's eighth long-duration mission to the Space Station. It will start aboard a Soyuz spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 15 December. Together with NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and Russian cosmonaut Yuri
Malenchenko, Tim will embark on a six-month stay in space.
The mission is named Principia, after Isaac Newton's ground-breaking Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which describes the principal laws of motion and gravity.
ESA and the UK Space Agency are together developing many exciting educational activities aimed at sparking the interest of young children in science and space, including Rocket Science, AstroPi, Zero Robotics, Mission-X Train like an Astronaut, and
amateur radio contact in space.
Programme (all times in GMT)
Friday, 6 November 2015
Science Museum
Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2DD
08:45-09:30 Registration
09:40-10:10 Speakers:
- David Parker, CEO, UK Space Agency
- Jo Johnson, UK Minister for Universities and Science
- Thomas Reiter, ESA Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations/ESA Astronaut
- Tim Peake, ESA Astronaut
10:10-10:35 Q&A
10:45-12:10 Interview opportunities for broadcast media
Accreditation
To register for the media conference, please email:
Julia Short, UK Space Agency
[email protected]
Tel: +44 (0)1793 418 069
Mob: +44 (0)7770 276 721-
Lorraine Conroy, European Space Agency
[email protected]
Tel: +31 715 653 408
Mob: +31 631 694 580
Education programme
The UK Space Agency is investing more than £1.5 million in education and outreach projects that harness the inspirational power of Tim's mission. The wide array of projects, in partnership with ESA, will allow him to share his mission with the children
of the UK, bringing the excitement of space to classrooms and venues across the country and encouraging interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematical subjects.
From space experiments to family shows, a wide variety of exciting projects and activities can be found on the UK Space Agency's Principia website www.principia.org.uk as well as on the ESA Kids site at http://www.esa.int/kids
Launch day
Tim will be launched in a Soyuz spacecraft from Baikonur, Kazakhstan at 11:02 GMT on 15 December 2015. Soyuz separation is expected at 11:13 GMT, Space Station docking at 16:58 GMT and hatch opening at 18:33 GMT.
In the UK, the UK Space Agency is coordinating four major launch events in each of the nation's capitals and smaller events across the country, with ESA participation. More details will be provided at the press conference.
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Am I correct in thinking docking will be at Rassvet?
Keith
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From Tim's Twitter account. Just call him 007.
https://mobile.twitter.com/astro_timpeake/status/662330581775228928
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http://www.gctc.ru/main.php?id=3227
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Prime crew portrait
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November 17, 2015
MEDIA ADVISORY M15-163
NASA Astronaut Tim Kopra Available for Interviews Before Space Station Mission
NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, who is making final preparations for a December launch to the International Space Station, is available for live satellite interviews from 7-8 a.m. EST Tuesday, Nov. 24.
Kopra will participate in the interviews live from the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. The interviews will be preceded at 6:30 a.m. by a video highlighting his mission training.
To participate, reporters should contact Karen Svetaka at 281-483-8684 no later than 3 p.m. Monday, Nov. 23. Media participating in the live shots must tune to NTV-3. Satellite tuning information is available at:
http://go.nasa.gov/1pOWUhR
Kopra, who was born in Austin, Texas, will launch to the station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft at 6:03 a.m. EST on Dec. 15 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, along with crewmates cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Tim Peake of ESA (European Space Agency).
Kopra’s first mission to space was as a flight engineer on Expedition 20 in 2009. During that two-month mission, he completed one spacewalk that lasted five hours, 32 minutes. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York. He holds a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, a second master’s degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and a third and fourth in business administration from Columbia University in New York and London Business School in the United Kingdom.
At the space station, Kopra, Malenchenko and Peake will join Expedition 46 NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Roscosmos cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov. Kelly and Kornienko are approaching the ninth month of their one-year mission on board the space station. Together, the six crew members will continue the several hundred experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science currently underway and scheduled to take place aboard humanity’s only orbiting laboratory.
Kopra is scheduled to return to Earth with crew members Malenchenko and Peake in June.
For more information on NASA TV coverage, see:
http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv
Kopra’s biography is available at:
http://go.usa.gov/c2WVY
Follow Kopra on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/astro_tim
Follow Expedition 46 and 47 crew members on Instagram:
http://instagram.com/iss
For information about the International Space Station, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/station
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Preparation of Soyuz TMA-19M for vacuum testing : http://www.tsenki.com/354/ (with pictures)
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Prime and back-up crews for TMA-19M
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Expedition 46-47 - Crew Qualification Training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9670
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Expedition 46-47 - Crew News Conference at Star City
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9673
Expedition 46-47 - Crew’s Visit to the Gagarin Museum in Star City
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9674
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RSC Energia held a session of the Council of Chief Designers for the Russian Segment of the ISS
November 25, 2015
On Tuesday, November 24, RSC Energia held a session of the Council of Chief Designers for the Russian Segment (RS) of the International Space Station (ISS)
The Council of Chief Designers has reviewed the launch readiness of the manned transportation spacecraft Soyuz TMA-19M and launch vehicle Soyuz-FG; the readiness of the ISS, launch and range facilities, equipment and personnel of LOCT and MCC; search and rescue vehicles; crew medical support; the crews preparedness for the upcoming work.
The president of the Corporation Vladimir Solntsev made a few opening remarks. He summarized the results of the ISS RS logistical support for the period since the last session, and emphasized the tight schedule for December.
General Designer of RSC Energia for manned space systems Sergei Romanov reported on the implementation of the program of the ISS space transportation support, on the readiness of the manned transportation spacecraft Soyuz TMA-17M for landing, on the progress of preparations for the launch of the manned transportation spacecraft Soyuz TMA-19M.
The first deputy designer of RSC Energia Vladimir Soloviev reported on the results of the ISS flight, the mission program for the upcoming period, status of ISS, Lead Operations Control Team and flight support assets readiness for carrying out the program of the next expedition. He pointed out that the condition of the onboard systems and resources available on the Russian Segment of the ISS, the ground control assets and mission control personnel are ready for the launch of Soyuz TMA-19M on December 15, 2015 and the start of expedition ISS-46.
A report on the status of the ISS US segment and its readiness for the next phase of the mission was presented by Kevin Mellet, the head of the NASA technical support office in Moscow.
Reports on the readiness of all the systems of the spacecraft and the station were made by chief designers, responsible representatives of RSC Energia and organizations involved in the ISS program.
Reviewed was the readiness of launch vehicle Soyuz-FG for the launch of spacecraft Soyuz TMA-19M; the readiness of the launch complex and ground infrastructure for the upcoming work with spacecraft Soyuz TMA-19M. A conclusion was reached that MCC-M assets and personnel were ready for the launch of spacecraft Soyuz TMA-19M; a report was made on the readiness of the search and rescue assets. A representative of the Institute for Bio-Medical Problems (IBMP) of the Russian Academy of Sciences reported on the health status of the crews of ISS-44/45, ISS-45/46, ISS46/47. The head of the Cosmonaut Training Center Yuri Lonchakov confirmed the readiness of the ISS-44/45 crew for return to Earth, and the crew of ISS-46/47 for carrying out the program of upcoming activities on the ISS.
The lead institute TsNIIMash issued a decision on the technical readiness of the Soyuz-FG/Soyuz TMA-19M system for work under the ISS mission plan.
Summarizing the results of the session, the Council of Chief Designers approved the RSC Energia proposals on the return of the crew of Expedition ISS-44/45 on December 11, 2015, on the plan of outstanding activities plan to prepare Soyuz TMA-19M for launch on December 15, 2015 and on the delivery to the ISS of the Expedition ISS-46/47 crew; on providing authorization to the ISS RS to proceed with the program of the next phase of the ISS operations. The ISS-46/47 crew includes the spacecraft commander, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, flight engineers Timothy Kopra (NASA) and Timothy Peake (NASA).
The President of RSC Energia Vladimir Solntsev thanked the attendees for their work and wished everybody success in the upcoming landing and launch of spacecraft.
Taking part in the proceedings were representatives of Roscosmos, space agencies from abroad, companies in the rocket and space industry and some other organizations participating in the ISS program.
http://www.energia.ru/en/iss/iss46/photo_11-25.html
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http://www.energia.ru/ru/iss/iss46/photo_11-30.html
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Expedition 46-47 - Crew Departure from Star City, Russia for Baikonur
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9677
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3ypBgB2R3E
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Tim Peake @astro_timpeake
It's not every day you get to see your own spacecraft for the 1st time. Everything checked out perfectly! #Principia
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http://www.energia.ru/ru/iss/iss46/photo_12-01.html
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Video of Fitch Check #1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnH2xq9wCRc
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http://www.energia.ru/ru/iss/iss46/photo_12-03.html
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December 07, 2015
MEDIA ADVISORY M15-170
NASA Television Coverage Set for Next Space Station Crew Launch
The next three crew members bound for the International Space Station are set to launch on Tuesday, Dec. 15. NASA Television will provide full coverage of the launch beginning at 5 a.m. EST.
Astronauts Tim Kopra of NASA and Tim Peake of ESA (European Space Agency), and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:03 a.m. (5:03 p.m. Baikonur time) for a six-month stay on the orbital complex.
The three will travel in a Soyuz spacecraft, rendezvous with the space station and dock to the Rassvet module at 12:24 p.m. NASA TV coverage of docking will begin at 11:45 a.m.
The hatches between the Soyuz and space station will be opened at about 2:25 p.m., and the newly arrived crew members will be greeted by Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly of NASA and Flight Engineers Sergey Volkov and Mikhail Kornienko of Roscosmos. NASA TV coverage of the hatch opening will begin at 2 p.m.
Kelly and Kornienko will return in March 2016 with Volkov after spending a year on the station collecting valuable biomedical data that will improve our understanding of the effects of long duration space travel and aid in NASA’s journey to Mars.
Together, the Expedition 46 crew members will continue the several hundred experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science currently underway and scheduled to take place aboard humanity’s only orbiting laboratory.
For the full schedule of prelaunch, launch and docking coverage, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv
Follow the space station crew members on Instagram and Twitter at:
http://instagram.com/iss
and
http://www.twitter.com/Space_Station
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Designers inspection of SC Soyuz TMA-19M and payload shroud roll were performed
December 8, 2015
At Baikonur launch site the preparations continue for the launch of Soyuz TMA-19M transport manned vehicle under the International Space Station program.
Designers inspection of the Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft was completed.
Payload shroud roll on to the Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft was performed.
http://www.energia.ru/en/iss/iss46/photo_12-08.html
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Tim Peake:
There's something very special about planting your own tree - especially in such esteemed company!
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I see the BBC have coverage live of the launch & Tim Peake's arrival at ISS under the Stargazing banner in the UK.
Here are the BBC media centre links.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2015/50/blast-off
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2015/50/stargazing-live-brit-in-space
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Tim Peake's 6 months stay on the ISS from Dec 15 has unprecedented support from the UK Government ( a marked change from a traditional 35 year old allergy to any form of UK human spaceflight . Times are changing!
THe UK Government has been quietly warming to the value of Human Spaceflight as a stimulus to pupils and students to take up the STEM subjects- without which it is almost universally agreed that the UK economy and society- like many others- has no worthwhile future .
The plan is that many schools will push/engage with STEM subjects knowing that many will not go into Space but will better contribute to meaningful jobs, cutting edge industry and commerce development in the UK.
If there are to be major international moves to the Moon, , asteroids or Mars, the UK accepts that opportunities exist, and that the HSF programme gives it a seat at the table.
So Space fro Growth of the UK economy is the watchword.
To this end the work of Major Peake as a role model and teacher of the nation's young will be continued after the flight, and possibly lead to a second UK mission in 2-3 years
This and the new partnership between BAe Systems and Reaction Engines Ltd, is likely to lead on to a realisation of Skylon , with a full-up engine test due at or near 2019.
The Peake mission lead logically on to Skylon, which is accepted by the UK and ESA as being practicable.
To follow the mission, visit principia.org.uk the Portal to all things re this mission.
Tim Peake is a keen physicist and very knowledgable on Quantum Physics , as well as much else. He has hed this mission named "Principia" in honour of Sir Isaac Newton
He has also flown and tested 30 different military aircraft as well as helicopters. h he has 3,000 hours of flying history follow early air cadetship in sailplanes.
It is hard to keep his feet on the ground, and, even then , he has done a lot of mountaineering and caving, and SCUBA
He will be a considerable asset to human spaceflight worldwide, as well as to the UK!
THis poster attended a one day colloquium at the Royal Aerospace Society on Human SpaceFlight and HMG policy as an Affiliate Member- 2 years after he attended the visit of Mr Elon Muck to the same venue
In the words of Jeff Bezos, "Graduatim Ferociter!"
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http://www.gctc.ru/main.php?id=3263
https://youtu.be/LBEXT4Jm9IA
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A check inspection of the SC Soyuz TMA-19M was performed
December 10, 2015
At Baikonur launch site the preparations continue for the launch of Soyuz TMA-19M transport manned vehicle under the International Space Station program.
In the assembly/test building prime (Russian cosmonaut Yury Malenchenko, NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra and ESA astronaut Timothy Peake) and backup ( Anatoly Ivanishin (Roscosmos), Takuya Onishi (JAXA) and Kathleen Rubens (NASA)) crews of the Soyuz TMA-19M transportation manned spacecraft made a check inspection of the spacecraft in the launch configuration.
http://www.energia.ru/en/iss/iss46/photo_12-10.html
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Tim Peake: Spaceflight an 'inspirational' moment for UK
Astronaut Tim Peake's mission to the space station will be an "inspirational" moment for the whole of the UK, says Britain's first spacefarer.
Helen Sharman, who travelled to the Mir space station in 1991, told BBC News that everyone could share in the achievement.
"When it comes to sending a human, and when it comes to sending a human from our country… we feel it's tangible and it's ours," she said.
Mr Peake will lift off on a Russian rocket from Kazakhstan on 15 December.
Ms Sharman has high hopes for the mission and expects the profile of science in the UK to receive a major boost during the seven-month stay on the orbiting outpost.
"Everybody finds some aspect of human spaceflight interesting," she told me.
"This is going to be hugely inspirational. I have people coming up to me and saying they decided to study science because I came to their school and told them what it was like in space.
"They're now physics teachers, chemistry teachers, maths teachers, biology teachers and they're passing on the message to other people."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35056284
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Expedition 46-47 - Crew Activities from Nov. 30 - Dec. 10 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9695
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Orbital module of the LV Soyuz-FG with SC Soyuz TMA-19M was transported for the general integration with LV
December 11, 2015
At Baikonur launch site the preparations continue for the launch of Soyuz TMA-19M transport manned vehicle under the International Space Station program.
Orbital module of the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle, containing the Soyuz TMA-19M manned spacecraft was transported from the spacecraft processing facility for the general integration with LV.
http://www.energia.ru/en/iss/iss46/photo_12-11.html
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Toda the launch vehicle Soyuz-FG integrated with the manned transportation spacecraft Soyuz TMA-19M was rolled out of the processing facility and was erected on the launch pad of Area 1 ("Gagarin's launch pad") of the Baikonur cosmodrome.
http://www.energia.ru/ru/iss/iss46/photo_12-13.html
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Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft roll out. High-Res photos.
Copyright: ESA (http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/content/search?SearchText=baikonour+AND+Principia+AND+corvaja&img=1&SearchButton=Go)–Stephane Corvaja, 2015
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http://www.gctc.ru/main.php?id=3280
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9z1oXdbuhg
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Expedition 46-47 - Soyuz TMA-19M Rocket Mating, Rollout to the Launch Pad
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9701
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When is the thread for live coverage going to start?
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Probably on launch day.
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http://www.federalspace.ru/21886/
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State Commission meeting to approve the Soyuz launch
State Commission meeting, to approve the Soyuz launch to the International Space Station, on 15 December 2015, at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
Credit: ESA–S. Corvaja, 2015
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Rollout video.
https://youtu.be/BrtdoHK1F60
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Let's get this moved for live coverage!
Pete Harding is writing the launch article :)
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https://youtu.be/W_w7AIlJvZ0
https://youtu.be/yvlETIxQ75U
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https://youtu.be/e7_cutpsSbg
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https://youtu.be/vB657QKot-I
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https://youtu.be/kwG-jsvNGKM
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https://youtu.be/8yo7awhKliA
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Expedition 46 Soyuz Blessing
An Orthodox Priest blesses members of the media at the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad on Monday, Dec. 14, 2015 in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz is scheduled for Dec. 15 and will send Expedition 46 Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Flight Engineer Tim Kopra of NASA, and Flight Engineer Tim Peake of ESA (European Space Agency) to the International Space Station for a six-month stay. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
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Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft ready for launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome Launch pad, on 14 December 2015, in Kazakhstan.
Credit: ESA–Stephane Corvaja, 2015
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Tim Peake @astro_timpeake
This is the door I'll sign tomorrow before leaving to suit up - recognise any signatures #Principia
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Expedition 46-47 - Pre-Launch Crew News Conference
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9704
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Pete Harding's amazing feature article!
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/12/soyuz-tma-19m-launch-landmark-uk-spaceflight/
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Review of Russian Search and Rescue support for Manned Launches
Search-and-rescue support manned launch
Published on Dec 14, 2015
How is the preparation of search and rescue support to the launch of a manned expedition to the International Space Station, offering services to see in the film a single system of Aerospace Search and Rescue.
https://youtu.be/ktNt3btBBUk
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NASA TV coverage begins at 5am Eastern (10am UTC).
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Links to ESA coverage and broadcast.
http://timpeake.esa.int/
http://livestream.com/ESA/principia
Link to Tsenki coverage starting at 0900 UTC.
http://www.tsenki.com/306/
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For those wanting to view the Tsenki stream using VLC:
http://tsenki.cdnvideo.ru/tsenki/tsenkitv2.sdp/playlist.m3u8
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New view.
Edit: Image 2 caption: flags show the wind.
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Venting from ... somewhere, plus a view of the flame duct.
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Bus with the crew.
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Walking to Soyuz.
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Posing for the cameras.
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Elevator going up.
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Crew should be entering the capsule now.
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Backup crew.
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Another view of Soyuz.
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View of the Fairing.
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Nice shot of the third stage engines.
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Workers at the base of the vehicle.
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T-2 hours 15 minutes.
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Plenty of LOX venting.
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Working on the third stage.
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Previous footage of the crew.
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T-2 hours
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Carrying away a duct.
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Now getting a HD feed for some reason.
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View from inside Soyuz. Back to SD.
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T-1 hour 45 minutes.
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T-1 hour 30 minutes
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Using a stick to change switches.
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There's Tim!
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T-1 hour 15 minutes.
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NASA TV starting up:
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NASA coverage starting soon.
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NASA coverage has started.
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ISS FCR.
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T-60 minutes.
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FD and CAPCOM.
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MCC-M
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Awww Endeavour! :) (Per Kopra).
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The thing hanging in the Soyuz cockpit is to commemorate Yuri Gagarin.
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Flight Engineer.
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Talking about Tim.
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T-55 minutes.
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T-50 minutes.
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U2's Beautiful Day was playing, per the countdown soundtrack.
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Tim signing the door.
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T-45 minutes.
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Doesn't that door get full up with signatures, so does it get changed every so often?
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Telephone by Lady Gaga now..... ;D
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T-40 minutes.
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Lowering the access gantries.
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T-35 minutes.
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Coming up on T-30 mins.
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Now 'Word Up' by Cameo ;D
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T-30 minutes.
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Rob Navias is over there (likely stayed after the recent landing).
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T-25 minutes.
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Queen playing now!
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No stoppin Freddie! Good luck! A bit of scary lyrics there!
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T-20 minutes.
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BBC-1 is live, with Chris Hadfield. BBC-2 is live - with school kids. Sky News is live (terrible presenters, absolutely terrible!! But they have Sarah Cruddas as the expert and she's excellent - and saving their coverage).
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"Truly respect the Soyuz vehicle."
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T-15 minutes.
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Europe's "The Final Countdown" is now on the radio.
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T-10 minutes.
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T-10 minutes.
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Visors closed on board.
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T-9 minutes.
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T-8 minutes.
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At T-2 minutes and 25 seconds, the first umbilical tower will retract followed by the second one at T-20 seconds.
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T-7 minutes.
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T-6 minutes.
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T-5 minutes.
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Launch key inserted.
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At T-40 seconds, the Soyuz rocket will transfer to internal power followed by ignition sequence start at T-17 seconds. At T-10 seconds, the boosters and core stage will be at partial thrust; they will run up to full thrust at T-3 seconds followed by launch commit and liftoff at T0.
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T-4 minutes. Launch key has been inserted.
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launch key has been inserted
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Now on internal control.
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Tim Peake is tracking as the 2nd most popular hash tag on Twitter worldwide, and no. 1 in English! ;)
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Suit oxygen initiated.
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T-3 minutes.
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Booster tank in press.
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T-2 minutes.
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T-60 seconds. God Speed crew.
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T-1 minute.
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Liftoff of the next residents of the International Space Station. The Soyuz has cleared the tower.
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LAUNCH!!!
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Liftoff!
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Everything is nominal, combustion chamber pressures are nominal. Pitch profile placing the vehicle on the proper trajectory.
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Nominal launch.
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1000 mph.
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T+1 minute
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MaxQ.
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the feed & launch
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The Korolev Cross indicates a good booster sep.
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Staging.
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We have fairing jettison. No recontact.
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First stage separation.
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Fairing jettison.
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T+3 minutes.
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Tim grinning all the way uphill :)
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view inside
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T+4 minutes.
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We have core stage shutdown, upper stage ignition, and the second staging event has occurred.
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Great contrast between the horizon of Earth and the acceleration pulling the toy "down" relative to the rocket. Physics!
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Staging. 2-3
Thumbs up.
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T+5 minutes. Third stage ignition.
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Wow. Live view from the ISS:
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ISS watching
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T+6 minutes.
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T+7 minutes.
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T+8 minutes.
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MECO!
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We have upper stage shutdown and spacecraft separation. Good luck, Malenchenko, Peake, and Kopra on your long-duration stay at the international outpost.
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Third stage cutoff and separation. Could clearly see the jolt.
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little jump there..
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Confirmation of separation. I think I heard that the solar arrays and antennas have deployed also.
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Both arrays deployed :)
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All antennae and solar panels have been deployed with no problem.
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Confirmation that the solar arrays and antennas have deployed.
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we have britts in space
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Control panel view.
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Congratulations to Roscosmos, NASA, ESA and the UKSA for the successful launch!
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All noted as nominal.
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Congratulations to everyone involved!
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Next events.
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list
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Congrats to Pockocmoc, NASA, ESA, and all others for the wonderful launch.
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End of NASA coverage.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6q3l_1oY-0
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Congrats to all. Great launch. Tim Peake looked like a kid in a sweet(candy) shop.
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NASA showing launch replays.
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replay
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Congratulations to all involved.
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Well, there we go - at long last, the UK has it's own astronaut in space. I once thought I'd never see the day.
I can't describe how happy I am to finally have my country represented in the awesome international endeavour that is the ISS.
Also, it was great to see loads of schoolkids excited about the launch on BBC1. I really hope this creates a surge of interest in the UK for the ISS.
Congrats Tim, that's how it's done. Now, surely it's time for a cup of tea! :D
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Congrats to all. Really good to see the massive coverage in the UK press.
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Congratulations to Russia for making it all possible. Great vehicle, great spacecraft.
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Well, there we go - at long last, the UK has it's own astronaut in space. I once thought I'd never see the day.
I can't describe how happy I am to finally have my country represented in the awesome international endeavour that is the ISS.
Also, it was great to see loads of schoolkids excited about the launch on BBC1. I really hope this creates a surge of interest in the UK for the ISS.
Congrats Tim, that's how it's done. Now, surely it's time for a cup of tea! :D
I thought Helen Sharman was the first UK astronaut despite her paying money to fly on a Soyuz.
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First one through the UK government and ESA.
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First one through the UK government and ESA.
I see.
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Tim's former Army Apache helicopter squadron watch the launch!
https://twitter.com/BritishArmy/status/676723098859778049
Glad to see the British Army getting on board with Tim's flight - because from what I understand, they offered him no support with his application, to the point where his senor officers weren't even aware he had applied until he was selected!
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Congratulations on a successful launch. And thanks to the fantastic coverage from NASASaceFlight, again. Love it! 8)
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Congrats to all involved. And again thanks to NSF for the excellent coverage.
A little aside: A cargo flight from DHL was waiting outside the hazard zone. Here to see on Flight24:
http://www.flightradar24.com/PAC963/84537c8
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Hey Chris, you'll like this one - RAF Fylingdales, the UK's space surveillance and tracking base, located in YORKSHIRE, have been engaging with the public about Tim Peake's launch!
https://twitter.com/RAFFylingdales/status/676727263371640832
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Launch Replays:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQtsQv-2YRQ
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Expedition 46-47 - Soyuz TMA-19M Launch
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9706
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Good luck to Tim and congrats on the launch! I love this photo:
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Soyuz TMA-19M launch with ESA astronaut Tim Peake, NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and commander Yuri Malenchenko, on 15 December 2015, from Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.
The launch marks the start of Tim Peake’s six-month Principia mission on the International Space Station running over 30 scientific experiments for ESA.
Copyrights line to be indicated is : ESA-Stephane Corvaja, 2015.
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The Soyuz TMA-19M rocket is launched with Expedition 46 Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Flight Engineer Tim Kopra of NASA, and Flight Engineer Tim Peake of ESA (European Space Agency), Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Malenchenko, Kopra, and Peake will spend the next six-months living and working aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
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ESA astronaut Tim Peake, NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and commander Yuri Malenchenko were launched into space 15 Decemeber 12:03 GMT from Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.
The launch marks the start of Tim Peake’s six-month Principia mission on the International Space Station running over 30 scientific experiments for ESA.
Credit: ESA-Stephane Corvaja
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Via @David_Cameron (our Prime Minister, for those who don't know ;)):
It was great to watch Tim Peake blast off on his mission to join the International Space Station.
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Pavel Vinogradov
Пуск Союза ТМА-19М( 11Ф732 №719). Взгляд изнутри пускового бункера( чуть-чуть) и снаружи со смотрой площадки. Спасибо Саше Лазуткину( Зам Ген конструктора НПП"Звезда") за фото.
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Apologies if these links don't work outside of the UK, but a couple of nice BBC videos.
Tim Peake's family watching the launch:
http://bbc.in/1Nn2914 (http://bbc.in/1Nn2914)
Tim's parents speaking after the launch:
http://bbc.in/1NuY9tb (http://bbc.in/1NuY9tb)
Great sentiment from his dad about the international cooperation that makes up the ISS.
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It was nice of Sir Elton John to tweet Tim before launch; the 'Rocket Man'.
Sadly, Tim will miss the movie Star Wars up there. ;)
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Sadly, Tim will miss the movie Star Wars up there. ;)
Actually, according to Tim, the movie has already been sent up to the ISS, and will be waiting for them when they arrive. :)
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Sadly, Tim will miss the movie Star Wars up there. ;)
Actually, according to Tim, the movie has already been sent up to the ISS, and will be waiting for them when they arrive. :)
Do you mean its physical been sent to them, or uploaded over the communications network to them?
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Do you mean its physical been sent to them, or uploaded over the communications network to them?
Uploaded I believe.
Once Tim arrives, the entire crew can hook up the new ISS digital projector to a laptop, and watch the movie on a large screen. :)
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Do you mean its physical been sent to them, or uploaded over the communications network to them?
Uploaded I believe.
Once Tim arrives, the entire crew can hook up the new ISS digital projector to a laptop, and watch the movie on a large screen. :)
All the latest technology then. Did the projector come up on the Cygnus that recently arrived at ISS?
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https://twitter.com/esaoperations/status/676790532832681985 (https://twitter.com/esaoperations/status/676790532832681985)
ESA Operations Verified account
@esaoperations
Commander #Yuri reports that crew are feeling well. They set up the docking camera. #Principia @astro_timpeake @astro_tim
https://twitter.com/esaoperations/status/676796312843591680 (https://twitter.com/esaoperations/status/676796312843591680)
ESA Operations @esaoperations 11m11 minutes ago
3rd impulse burn starts to bring #SoyuzTMA19M to 80 km from @Space_Station. @astro_timpeake @astro_tim and Yuri are closing in. #Principia
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Do you mean its physical been sent to them, or uploaded over the communications network to them?
Uploaded I believe.
Once Tim arrives, the entire crew can hook up the new ISS digital projector to a laptop, and watch the movie on a large screen. :)
That's cool!
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Docking coverage should be up shortly on NASA TV.
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Speak of the devil:
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https://twitter.com/esaoperations/status/676803590279839744 (https://twitter.com/esaoperations/status/676803590279839744)
ESA Operations @esaoperations 5m5 minutes ago
#SoyuzTMA19M with @astro_timpeake, @astro_tim and Yuri coming up to 8 km from Space Station. Docking at 17:24 GMT. #Principia
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Worth pulling out the cool video of a previous Soyuz approach (sped up):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-2ld2WVtow
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37 mins to docking.
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Scott Kelly @StationCDRKelly
#Soyuz blasts through the atmosphere on its way to @Space_Station! #SoyuzTMA19M #soyuzlaunch #YearInSpace
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https://twitter.com/esaoperations/status/676806768983453697 (https://twitter.com/esaoperations/status/676806768983453697)
ESA Operations @esaoperations 1m1 minute ago
4th impulse burn starting, 21-second main engine thruster fire to bring #SoyuzTMA19M to 2 km from Station @astro_timpeake @astro_tim
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700 meters.
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Flyaround next.
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570 meters. "Can see the docking port very well"
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Tally Ho!
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400 meters.
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Flyaround has begun.
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Heading into Station Keeping.
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Final approach.
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120 meters.
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90 meters.
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Great view.
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30 meters.
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20 meters.
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Freaky, but works:
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Soyuz thrusters working overtime.
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Passing over the UK!
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Aborted docking!!
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KURS failed. Need to try via TORU.
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Backed off over 100 meters. Now manual final approach.
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Backed off over 100 meters. Now manual final approach.
Good job there is such an incredibly experienced person onboard.:)
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You can see the difference in the live view. Fighting the Soyuz a bit!
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Is it only me or is Soyuz actually seriously out of alignment for docking? Getting a bit closer than comfortable for a minute..
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good view of Rassvet, but off centre?
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What was that red splash screen with "Video Alarm" ? It flashed for a moment.
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@avollhar
Not just you! I'm not sure they were in full control at that point
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They were doing a fly around and checking controls. Now starting the approach on manual.
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What was that red splash screen with "Video Alarm" ? It flashed for a moment.
Looks like everything went fubar as it passed over UK!!
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~5 minutes until the Soyuz moves out of direct range of ground stations
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Still looks out of align.
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screens a tad fuzzy
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at 100 meters out
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Here we go!
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40 meters.
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Lined up now.
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looks much more controlled this time
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<45 meters.
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Call to station keep again?
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more on axis this time
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we need an outside ISS view.. ;)
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/live-iss-stream
showing blue screen
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Call to station keep again?
At 3m range to check all ok I think they said
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Lost video, so it's all audio!
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Approaching on line!
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audio: crosshairs aligned, approaching the station, range 3m
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manual docking
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Docked it! ;D
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Clapping people.
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Big thumbs up to Yuri!
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Deary me the BBC news is behind. Finally noticed they've docked. Docking confirmed at 17:33 UTC whilst flying over India.
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Deary me the BBC news is behind. Finally noticed they've docked. Docking confirmed at 17:33 UTC.
SOOOO far behind! Was watching that too and they didn't have a clue until someone pointed out the Twitter posts! :)
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Big congrats on the crew there.. I was very nervous, especially the shot of the Soyuz close to the docking target but way off line..
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Those Cygnus panels did get a nice shaking with the (I suppose) thruster impingement. It was really visible in the external views just before the abort excitement took over.
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Big congrats on the crew there.. I was very nervous, especially the shot of the Soyuz close to the docking target but way off line..
Nervous here too. Nothing like a bit of excitement to add to the moment! (makes it more memorable)
But we can all now breathe a sigh of relief...
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we running communications through Lurch or TDRS?
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Deary me the BBC news is behind. Finally noticed they've docked. Docking confirmed at 17:33 UTC.
SOOOO far behind! Was watching that too and they didn't have a clue until someone pointed out the Twitter posts! :)
David Willets being interviewed on the BBC & putting up a sterling defence of the mission in the face of some inane questioning.
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When was the last time for a KURS abort ?.
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we running communications through Lurch or TDRS?
I was unaware Luch was even active for ISS, what did I miss?
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Is hatch-opening still set for 1:00pm EST?
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we running communications through Lurch or TDRS?
TDRS.
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Phew! I was just about ready to declare that Tim had arrived, then I saw the Soyuz start backing away! But then I saw the Soyuz start heading back toward the ISS at what looked like quite a rate of closure, and also off-center. My heart was in my mouth that there had been some kind of thruster malfunction.
But luckily Yuri got it under control, negating the need for Tim Peake to save the day in typical British fashion. ;D
Nobody really expected the Brits to arrive at the ISS without a bit of drama, did they? ;)
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If they don't stop asking people being interviewed on the BBC about justifying the cost of this mission...
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Scott Kelly @StationCDRKelly
#Soyuz blasts through the atmosphere on its way to @Space_Station! #SoyuzTMA19M #soyuzlaunch #YearInSpace
How do I get -ALL- the photos they took of this. I want to compare with Gerst's awesome photos of the Plesetsk Soyuz-GLONASS launch
http://www.jamesoberg.com/ISS_crew_spots_second_russian_rocket_rev_c.pdf
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What was that alarm earlier onboard Soyuz was it telling Yuri him the approach was offline?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGuLImcJcLI
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This is second manual docking of a spaceship made by Malenchenko ! First time was in 1994, with Progress M-24 on Mir.
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it was just a loss off video signal.
What was that alarm earlier onboard Soyuz was it telling Yuri him the approach was offline?
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OA-4 Cygnus photo-bombing for an array high five! ;D
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Apropos "alarm":
Did anyone else catch the snippet of discussion between Tim & Tim about the KURS failure on S2G a little while ago?
As i remember it:
They said they got an error message they translated as "General Failure" when they were quite close. They immediately gave a command (named in russian) that (among other things I think) caused the Soyuz to back off quickly (so I assume it was some kind of "canned" abort command).
Then they got a warning from the ground that they were hot-miked and shut up.
Anyone got more or can correct what I remember?
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Question - after this mission, will Malenchenko be taking the world record for longest spaceflight career? If I'm seeing this right he's going to go past 900 career days in space by the time he comes back in September and as far as I know the current record is 879?
(apologies if this has been pointed out, I didn't see anything doing so)
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Meanwhile inside the station they are setting up video cameras and more for both post-docking conference and hatch opening.
And there is much un-translated russian additional talk that I assume is talk about standard post-docking procedures, that goes "on air" (i.e. S2G) since the soyuz seems to still be hot-miked.
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Expedition 46-47 - Soyuz TMA-19M Post-launch Interviews
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9708
Expedition 46-47 - Soyuz TMA-19M Docking
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9709
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can't wait to see the pics taken from the ISS of the docking.
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Question - after this mission, will Malenchenko be taking the world record for longest spaceflight career? If I'm seeing this right he's going to go past 900 career days in space by the time he comes back in September and as far as I know the current record is 879?
(apologies if this has been pointed out, I didn't see anything doing so)
If I'm correct, Malenchenko will be on 814 (641 + 173) days upon landing, so he'll be just ahead of Krikalev, but still behind Padalka.
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can't wait to see the pics taken from the ISS of the docking.
Well Volkov just tweeted one (https://twitter.com/Volkov_ISS/status/676832854207275008), but it was from 1km out... (But he had a good tele-lens evidently).
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If I'm correct, Malenchenko will be on 814 (641 + 173) days upon landing, so he'll be just ahead of Krikalev, but still behind Padalka.
Isn't the 173 day figure only that for Expedition 47, which starts in March? I read he's coming home in September, which means a landing ~8.5 months from now minimum, which makes 259 days, or an even 900. Can't find an actual day in September, though.
Also, what was this thing that went shooting out of the Soyuz after the abort? Bit of debris from a thruster?
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NASA TV coverage started.
Leak checks finished. Vestibule repress going on.
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If I'm correct, Malenchenko will be on 814 (641 + 173) days upon landing, so he'll be just ahead of Krikalev, but still behind Padalka.
Isn't the 173 day figure only that for Expedition 47, which starts in March?
Also, what was this thing that went shooting out of the Soyuz after the abort? Bit of debris from a thruster?
Pure speculation, but maybe a bit of semi frozen hydrazine that collected on the thruster nozzle during the maneuvers?
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I correct myself on a previous post. Hatches scheduled to open at 2:25pm EST.
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Rob interviewing Gerst.
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I read he's coming home in September, which means a landing ~8.5 months from now minimum, which makes 259 days, or an even 900. Can't find an actual day in September, though.
Soyuz TMA-19M landing is plannedon 5th June 2016. So the flight should last 142 days.
Soyuz TMA-M spaceship is not able to stay in orbit as long as 259 days.
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Out of their suits. In leak checks. About 10 minutes to hatch opening.
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No really new details from Gerst.
He just said Kurs detected a failure and aborted, making the Soyuz back off and opening up to manual control.
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There's the UK Minister who helped turned this around for the government to allow for a British astro.
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I read he's coming home in September, which means a landing ~8.5 months from now minimum, which makes 259 days, or an even 900. Can't find an actual day in September, though.
Soyuz TMA-19M landing is plannedon 5th June 2016. So the flight should last 142 days.
Soyuz TMA-M spaceship is not able to stay in orbit as long as 259 days.
Alright, thanks. I guess I read his landing date wrong. That makes 783 days, then, so a solid second place. Still impressive!
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Hope we get KU back for hatch opening.
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Friends and family:
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Pressure nominal called on the loop.
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KU is back!
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Go to open the hatch.
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Here we go!
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Kelly taking a moment to take a selfie with his comrade :D
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Heh!
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Taking their time with this hatch opening.
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Whoops. Camera took one for the team, caught a foot to the lens.
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So what are all these numbers they keep calling out? The NASA guy said something about "performance data", but what are they?
edit: Ah, it all makes sense now.
vvvvv
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Equalizing pressure.
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Hatch open!
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PS: Chris Hadfield on the BBC coverage really believes Moon, not asteroids, should be the step to Mars.
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PS: Chris Hadfield on the BBC coverage really believes Moon, not asteroids, should be the step to Mars.
Surely anyone with common sense knows that.:)
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Hatch open!
It has been open a while, but kept ajar.
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a patient wait
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"we're changing now, and then we will open the hatch"
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Ok, NOW they are going to open the hatch! ;D Lovely segment on the BBC showing kids seeing an ISS pass for the first time, waving. I always wave too (pointless, but one has to, right!)
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Great shot of the Soyuz docked to ISS now.
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No rush lads!
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TASS: radio-interference from nearby #Cygnus spacecraft caused rendezvous system failure at #SoyuzTMA19M arrival.
https://twitter.com/RussianSpaceWeb/status/676851338395918337
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Wonder if someone carries a Star Wars DVD :)
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More photos from Sergey Volkov:
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Wonder if someone carries a Star Wars DVD :)
Already up there apparently.
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"The station crew is waiting impatiently, so please go faster." Heh.
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ground is telling them to move faster :P
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TASS: radio-interference from nearby #Cygnus spacecraft caused rendezvous system failure at #SoyuzTMA19M arrival.
https://twitter.com/RussianSpaceWeb/status/676851338395918337
That was the response I expected from the Russians...
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No rush lads!
Has any expedition been met by ... no-one? As in, with the station crew "getting irritated" and leaving? (For a prank?)
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Ground "when are you going to open the hatch?" -- evidently they think Yuri is taking a long time too...
Yuri, after a while: "We're going to wait a little bit"
A little before that I caught Sergei yawning twice.
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Scott asked about Ku coverage which is currently scheduled to end at 17 minutes past the hour
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Here we go!
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Britts on the ISS ;)
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the event
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As a child of the Thatcher era, I didn't expect to see an astronaut with a British Flag on his arm. Finally!
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And we lost KU.
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Who are those people in the photos on the back wall?
Coverage back.
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Who are those people in the photos on the back wall?
Coverage back.
Korolev.
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Some really nice chats between the families and crew. Tim saw a moon rise on his first orbit.
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And that's the end of the event. Blimey, that was more emotional than I thought it would be!
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Who are those people in the photos on the back wall?
Coverage back.
Korolev.
And Gagarin.
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Great coverage from all! Many thanks!
And of course Pete's amazing feature article as the backbone:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/12/soyuz-tma-19m-launch-landmark-uk-spaceflight/
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Who are those people in the photos on the back wall?
Coverage back.
Korolev.
Thank you.
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And there we have it - the Brits have arrived on the ISS! ;D
What a great day.
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Nice one. Congratulations :)
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TASS: radio-interference from nearby #Cygnus spacecraft caused rendezvous system failure at #SoyuzTMA19M arrival.
https://twitter.com/RussianSpaceWeb/status/676851338395918337
That was the response I expected from the Russians...
Maybe something has been lost in translation? The phrasing suggests active radio interference (unlikely), but bigger Cygnus at Node 1 could be interfering with Kurs system.
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TASS: radio-interference from nearby #Cygnus spacecraft caused rendezvous system failure at #SoyuzTMA19M arrival.
https://twitter.com/RussianSpaceWeb/status/676851338395918337
Deke Slayton's using his own antenna to communicate with the ground? Hasn't it been configured to use ISS power and data already?
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Blimey! Even the Queen's getting in on it all!
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CWSu-FeWwAANyrV.jpg)
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Deke Slayton's using his own antenna to communicate with the ground? Hasn't it been configured to use ISS power and data already?
It might be reflection of the KURS system's radiowaves too. Can't remember the frequency ranges right now to see if it is actually possible.
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Blimey! Even the Queen's getting in on it all!
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CWSu-FeWwAANyrV.jpg)
That's wonderful. A great day for Britain! I loved the shot I saw of all the excited school kids at the science center, watching the launch this morning.
I wonder if any televised chats are scheduled between Her Majesty and Major Peake during his mission? That would be historic!
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RAF Fylingdales were tracking the rendezvous from Yorkshire! :)
@RAFFylingdales:
good work @RoyalAirForce Fylingdales #Soyuz and @Space_station before docking with @spacegovuk @astro_timpeake
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Congrats on a great ride uphill today and to NSF for the excellent coverage. I will humbly second "The Royals" to one of their own with a well done Tim! Best of luck on station and a shout out to all our British friends here on the "Home of Spaceflight". :)
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Vladimir Solovyov, former cosmonaut and flight director in TsUP, told media that rumors about Cygnus interferences are "completely stupid".
http://ria.ru/space/20151215/1342697380.html
According to him, Kurs-A system stopped at a distance of 16 meters. Analysis is still in progress.
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Expedition 46-47 - Soyuz TMA-19M Hatch Opening and Other Activities
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9710
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGuLImcJcLI
It's also available here with less static and NASA PAO commentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k89VGUmbvS8
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Vladimir Solovyov, former cosmonaut and flight director in TsUP, told media that rumors about Cygnus interferences are "completely stupid".
http://ria.ru/space/20151215/1342697380.html
According to him, Kurs-A system stopped at a distance of 16 meters. Analysis is still in progress.
Yes, rumors about Cygnus radio interference are "completely stupid" as he said. At best it is just yet another example of Russian journalists or managers presenting a rumor or theory as established fact, or a preliminary proposal as a if it were an approved and financed plan. Hope it was just ignorance or sloppiness and not a mean-spirited blame-game move...
Even the theory is highly implausible as explained below.
Deke Slayton's using his own antenna to communicate with the ground? Hasn't it been configured to use ISS power and data already?
It might be reflection of the KURS system's radiowaves too. Can't remember the frequency ranges right now to see if it is actually possible.
That is in fact the least implausible theory of cygnus interference I can think of. A false echo confusing Kurs is not unthinkable, like unplanned-for japanese retro-reflectors confused the first dragon rendezvous until compensated for. But would there not have been a similar problem with the PMM then? Also I think I remember seeing somewhere that KURS use an active transponder on the ISS side and do not rely on passive reflections. If that is true, it is highly unlikely that a passive reflection from Cygnus could have been strong enough to confuse KURS (unless the design is flawed).
Primarily, I think ISS planners are highly unlikely to have ignored any chance of radio interference and made procedures to turn off all potentially interfering transmitters, if any. (Like they do for the Amateur radios, IIRC)
Also Cygnus has hardline comm (probably redundant), and I think the PROX system probably have been turned off. I think it also has a way lower frequency and low power, so interference would not be possible anyway, unless the KURS radio receivers had some serious design weakness.
The cygnus S-band transceiver has a little more power and is likely less far away in frequency, but not enough that interference is in any way likely unless KURS is flawed. Also it is likely turned off, either permanently or temporarily for the docking, for the reasons above. Also there are other S-band antennas active all the time on ISS (for voice and telemetry), not much farther away, so any group of competent engineers would have thought this theoretical problem through a long time ago, and made the necessary evaluations to make sure it had no potential to become a real problem.
All in all, it looks like the theory is very close to completely busted.
edits: minor adjustments to text, added illustration picture
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That's wonderful. A great day for Britain! I loved the shot I saw of all the excited school kids at the science center, watching the launch this morning.
I wonder if any televised chats are scheduled between Her Majesty and Major Peake during his mission? That would be historic!
I wouldn't be surprised. But I think Prince William (a helicopter pilot in his own right) will probably get the royal assignment.
What I wonder is: Will Major Tim Peake be knighted (if Mick Jagger can be knighted...)? Or simply be awarded an OBE? Is it true that Helen Sharman was awarded an OBE back in the 90's?
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It would be very interesting to hear the conversations on the MCC-Houston loop as the Soyuz approached and was obviously not aligned properly...
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Congrats on another well-done docking to the ISS!
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Houston just reported an RPC trip that is associated with frequent trips due to CDRA so the crew was asked to do a "sniff check" to confirm no indications of anything bad...
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Hello, beautiful!
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It would be very interesting to hear the conversations on the MCC-Houston loop as the Soyuz approached and was obviously not aligned properly...
an illustration of what was obviously wrong, would be fantastic! I didn't see anything wrong on the external cameras, and the tv view from the Soyuz didn't have good enough view to make out the docking target. I did notice that there was a slight pitch or yaw angle, though. Is that what you mean by obviously wrong?
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From the evening DPC. White Sands is experiencing problems with TDRS East and a spare satellite over Brazil is being brought online to try and fill the gaps but coverage will be effected.
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From the evening DPC. White Sands is experiencing problems with TDRS East and a spare satellite over Brazil is being brought online to try and fill the gaps but coverage will be effected.
This is apparently TDRS-3.
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Soyuz by night.
All you can see is the weak light through the DM porthole/window.
(All navigation lights and such are deactivated after docking)
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KURS failed. Need to try via TORU.
A little correction - TORU (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TORU) is a system that allows remote control of Progress vehicles, it's installed on ISS and there is one on the ground. Since Soyuz has crew onboard, remote system is not needed and they simply used manual controls onboard. While technically Soyuz can also be controlled by TORU - for example if it's uncrewed, or crew is unable to take manual control for some reason, but as far as I know it was never actually used.
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http://ria.ru/space/20151215/1342697380.html
According to him, Kurs-A system stopped at a distance of 16 meters
Nicolas, I do not see where Solovyov says that Kurs stopped at 16 m. He says only that there was a failure at 16 m and they will check a work of Kurs and other systems. The type of failure is known for him for sure, but he does not want to specify it for now.
If you will see and hear docking webcast recordings you quickly understand that the failure was due to low thrust of DPO-B engine #20. And Malenchenko has told to TsUP about the type of failure during an approaching as well.
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http://ria.ru/space/20151215/1342697380.html
According to him, Kurs-A system stopped at a distance of 16 meters
Nicolas, I do not see where Solovyov says that Kurs stopped at 16 m. He says only that there was a failure at 16 m and they will check a work of Kurs and other systems. The type of failure is known for him for sure, but he does not want to specify it for now.
Yes, sorry. I should have written "Kurs failed" instead of "Kurs stopped".
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Nicolas, I have meant that I do not see where Solovyov says that the failure was in Kurs system. It was not Kurs failure. It was a failure of DPO-B #20 engine due to low thrust, as I have already said above.
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It would be very interesting to hear the conversations on the MCC-Houston loop as the Soyuz approached and was obviously not aligned properly...
an illustration of what was obviously wrong, would be fantastic! I didn't see anything wrong on the external cameras, and the tv view from the Soyuz didn't have good enough view to make out the docking target. I did notice that there was a slight pitch or yaw angle, though. Is that what you mean by obviously wrong?
Just after the abort move was finished and they were supposed to be holding at 100m to resume approach, Soyuz started drifting ISS-zenith/aftward, to the point it was looking at Rassvet at roughly 30º from its longitudinal axis. At the same time, the apparent size in the onboard camera's view made it clear the range was very close to the structure (from calls made afterwards to estimate the range based on the apparent size in the viewfinder, I'd say it was between 50 and 30m away from Rassvet, but as I say at an angle - so might have been even closer to Zarya).
The range rate was also visually faster and more ragged than the usual, even in manual mode.
Now, Malenchenko did state he was testing the controls, and maybe there was also some amount of post-abort drift that he had to correct for while performing those checks. For now it doesn't appear to be clear.
I have been rechecking the video below and here is a transcription of the events from initiation of manual approach:
[t=2m30s]
YM: We're going to send the Stabil[ization] command.
YM: Stabil. command has been sent.
MCC-M: Yuri Ivanovich, we're in the manual...[garbled by PAO]
YM: [...] RUD controller.
MCC-M: Now send the Г5 command.
YM: Г5 command has been sent.
[Crosshairs now centered around Node3-Node1 interface, Soyuz starts advancing]
MCC-M: And on your go, initiate final approach. The recommended dV should be 0.2
YM: Copy.
YM: Г5 command has just been sent.
MCC-M: What did you just say?
YM: Г5 command has been sent.
MCC-M: Copy, Г5.
[Soyuz now aligned with Rassvet's docking port]
YM: We see the Station's docking mechanism and the crosshairs [garbled by PAO]
[Starting to seem a bit fast and getting misaligned at t=4m13s]
MCC-M: Could you please monitor the floodlamp activation C17 command?
YM: The floodlamp has been activated.
[Soyuz starting to drift sideways, angle 3º]
YM: So, we do not need to repeat the Г5 command?
MCC-M: No. No, you do not need to send it once again.
YM: So we do NOT need to send it.
MCC-M: No.
YM: We copy.
[Soyuz accelerating sideways while trying to keep the docking mechanism centered, angle 9º]
MCC-M: And, just in case, punch in Г15.
YM: Г15.
YM: Г15.
MCC-M: Are you ready? Send it.
[Soyuz at 19º off-axis now]
MCC-M: (probably watching the screen) So... how's the vehicle behaving?
YM: Pretty well.
MCC-M: And now... perform the retrograde maneuver. [asking to abort manually? Soyuz at 27º off-axis]
YM: Copy. Retrograde maneuver in work.
MCC-M: How's the vehicle behaving?
[Soyuz now backing off, still getting more misaligned in the Z axis, after 27.3º the computer loses track]
YM: On KURS [sic. probably meaning "course"?]. Let me see...
YM: Ok, we're sending... we confirm that the DPO thrusters performed a firing.
[Here PAO says they're testing the controls... but I'm not sure it was like that based on the commentary]
YM: We confirm that we're at the necessary range rate.
MCC-M: We copy.
MCC-M: And the range is 50, and please stay in the stationkeeping mode.
It would be useful to know what are the Г5 and Г15 commands to understand the sequence of events here.
([youtube]k89VGUmbvS8[/youtube])
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December 15, 2015
RELEASE 15-238
American, Russian and Briton Join International Space Station Crew
Hatches between the International Space Station and an arriving Soyuz spacecraft opened at 2:58 p.m. EST Tuesday, signaling the arrival of three new crew members, including NASA astronaut Tim Kopra. They will join other residents on the station to continue important research that advances NASA's journey to Mars, while making discoveries that can benefit all of humanity.
Kopra, Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Tim Peake launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:03 a.m. (5:03 p.m. in Baikonur) and, after orbiting Earth four times, manually docked to the station at 12:33 p.m.
The arrival of Kopra, Malenchenko and Peake returns the station's crew complement to six. The three join Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly of NASA and Flight Engineers Sergey Volkov and Mikhail Kornienko of Roscosmos. During more than five months on humanity’s only microgravity laboratory, the Expedition 46 crew members will conduct more than 250 science investigation in fields including biology, Earth science, human research, physical sciences and technology development.
Kopra, Malenchenko and Peake will remain aboard the station until early June 2016. Kelly and Kornienko will return to Earth at the conclusion of their one-year mission on March 1, 2016, along with Volkov. The pair will have spent 340 consecutive days living and working in space to advance understanding of the medical, psychological and biomedical challenges astronauts face during long duration spaceflight, in addition to developing countermeasures to reverse those effects.
Ongoing station research also includes the Microbial Payload Tracking Series project, which uses microbial analysis techniques to establish a census of the microorganisms living on surfaces and in the atmosphere of the space station. Along with crew members and experimental payloads, the space station is home to a variety of microbes, which are a cleaning nuisance and potentially threatening to crew health and station equipment. Analyzing these microbes can help determine whether some are more virulent in space, and which genetic changes might be involved in this response. Results from the investigation can be used to evaluate cleaning strategies, and to mitigate microbe-related risks to crew health and spacecraft system performance.
The crew members are scheduled to receive several cargo spacecraft -- including multiple U.S. commercial resupply vehicles from SpaceX and Orbital ATK -- each delivering tons of food, fuel, supplies and research.
SpaceX will deliver on its eighth commercial resupply services mission an important technology project that could help drive future exploration. Developed under a public-private partnership, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is an expandable habitat technology demonstration for the International Space Station. Expandable habitats can greatly decrease the amount of transport volume for future space missions, weighing less and taking up less room on a rocket. These habitats have the potential to provide a comfortable area for astronauts to live and work, as well as a varying degree of protection from solar and cosmic radiation, space debris and other elements of the space environment. Highly reliable habitation systems will be essential to keep future crews healthy and productive in the deep-space environment during missions in lunar orbit where the systems will be validated for future missions to Mars that could last as long as 1,100 days.
For 15 years, humans have been living continuously aboard the station to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies, making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth that also will enable long-duration human and robotic exploration into deep space. A truly global endeavor, more than 200 people from 15 countries have visited the unique microgravity laboratory that has hosted more than 1,700 research investigations from researchers in more than 80 countries.
For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv
Follow the crew members and space station on social media at:
http://www.twitter.com/nasa_astronauts
http://www.twitter.com/Space_Station
https://instagram.com/iss/
http://www.facebook.com/ISS
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Press Release
N°51-2015
Paris, 15 December 2015
ESA astronaut Tim Peake begins six-month stay on Space Station
ESA astronaut Tim Peake, NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and Russian cosmonaut commander Yuri Malenchenko arrived at the International Space Station today, six hours after their launch at 11:03 GMT.
The Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft docked with the Space Station at 17:33 GMT. The astronauts opened the hatch at 19:58 GMT after checking the connection between the seven-tonne Soyuz and the 400 tonne Station was airtight.
They were welcomed aboard by Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Korniyenko and Sergei Volkov, and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly.
This marks the start of Tim’s six-month Principia mission and the culmination of six years of training since being selected for the European astronaut corps in 2009.
Principia will see Tim working on dozens of experiments for researchers on Earth as he orbits our planet at 28 800 km/h. Highlights of his scientific roster include growing crystals and blood vessels in space, simulating atomic structures and charting
areas in the brain as they adapt to stressful situations.
A large educational programme, in cooperation with the UK Space Agency, is set to inspire and involve children and students with computer coding, fitness regimes and lessons from space with Tim as the instructor.
Tim is the third ESA astronaut to stay on the orbiting research complex this year. Samantha Cristoforetti ended her record-breaking 199-day mission in June, while Andreas Mogensen completed a busy 10-day tour in September.
Yuri, Tim and Tim have a few days to settle in and get used to working in weightlessness before starting their 40-hour work weeks running experiments and maintaining the Station.
They are in good company: Scott Kelly and Mikhail Korniyenko have been living on the Station for more than 300 days since March as part of their marathon stay to probe how the human body adapts to longer missions.
Follow Tim and Principia via timpeake.esa.int
First media appearance
Media have the opportunity to speak to Tim live on 18 December from the European Astronaut Centre, the home base of all ESA astronauts. The event will be streamed at http://www.livestream.com/ESA; questions can be posed only by journalists attending
in person.
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an illustration of what was obviously wrong, would be fantastic! I didn't see anything wrong on the external cameras, and the tv view from the Soyuz didn't have good enough view to make out the docking target. I did notice that there was a slight pitch or yaw angle, though. Is that what you mean by obviously wrong?
Just after the abort move was finished and they were supposed to be holding at 100m to resume approach, Soyuz started drifting ISS-zenith/aftward, to the point it was looking at Rassvet at roughly 30º from its longitudinal axis. At the same time, the apparent size in the onboard camera's view made it clear the range was very close to the structure (from calls made afterwards to estimate the range based on the apparent size in the viewfinder, I'd say it was between 50 and 30m away from Rassvet, but as I say at an angle - so might have been even closer to Zarya).
The range rate was also visually faster and more ragged than the usual, even in manual mode.
OK, thanks. I thought Targeteer meant the obviously wrong was with KURS. I did see the wrong position/angles after the abort was finished, but thought it was just Malechenko testing the controls and aligning with the docking port afterwards.
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Proud ...
"It´s been a long road, getting from there to here.
It´s been a long time, but my time is finally near.
And I can feel the change in the wind right now. Nothing´s in my way.
And they´re not gonna hold me down no more, no they´re not gonna hold me down."
Feel like part of the space family again :D
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Nicolas, I have meant that I do not see where Solovyov says that the failure was in Kurs system. It was not Kurs failure. It was a failure of DPO-B #20 engine due to low thrust, as I have already said above.
That is a pressure feed engine no?
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http://ria.ru/space/20151215/1342697380.html
According to him, Kurs-A system stopped at a distance of 16 meters
Nicolas, I do not see where Solovyov says that Kurs stopped at 16 m. He says only that there was a failure at 16 m and they will check a work of Kurs and other systems. The type of failure is known for him for sure, but he does not want to specify it for now.
Yes, sorry. I should have written "Kurs failed" instead of "Kurs stopped".
Nicolas, I have meant that I do not see where Solovyov says that the failure was in Kurs system. It was not Kurs failure. It was a failure of DPO-B #20 engine due to low thrust, as I have already said above.
So, I should have written "a DPO-B engine failed at a distance of 16m", instead of "Kurs stopped at a distance of 16m". I was almost correct ! :D
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Nicolas, I have meant that I do not see where Solovyov says that the failure was in Kurs system. It was not Kurs failure. It was a failure of DPO-B #20 engine due to low thrust, as I have already said above.
That is a pressure feed engine no?
Yes, with helium.
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Nicolas, I have meant that I do not see where Solovyov says that the failure was in Kurs system. It was not Kurs failure. It was a failure of DPO-B #20 engine due to low thrust, as I have already said above.
That is a pressure feed engine no?
Yes, with helium.
Was this the first 11D428A-16 in flight failure? Since they have a common pressurization system I assume the issue was on the engine solenoid, perhaps?
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Was this the first 11D428A-16 in flight failure?
There was a similar situation during docking of Progress M-05M, in April 2010.
Here I have a picture of 11D428A-16 : http://www.kosmonavtika.com/vaisseaux/soyouz/tech/kdu/fig3-2-14a.jpg
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http://www.russianspaceweb.com/iss-soyuz-tma19m.html#culprit
Although there was no immediate official explanation for the aborted automated rendezvous between the Soyuz TMA-19M and the ISS, a commentator at the Novosti Kosmonavtiki magazine quickly narrowed down a culprit in the failure of the DPO-B No. 20 attitude-control thruster. This small engine is a part of the two independent engine clusters known as Circuit 1 and Circuit 2. Distributed around the ship's instrument module, PAO, both groups of small engines are used to fine-tune the spacecraft's orientation in space and to conduct low-thrust maneuvers. The particular engine provides a sideway thrust along -Y axis in the ship's coordinate system.
As the available video and audio footage reveals, at a distance of around 17 meters from the station, an alarm sounded in the Soyuz's cockpit, while the overlay display on the rendezvous camera showed "No SDK (combustion chamber pressure or valve signal) along -Y axis (K1B)." The K1B likely stands for Collector 1 (Circuit 1). That alarm was followed by another warning, which can be translated as "Total failure of the K1B circuit." In addition, the "A: DPOB 20" message, indicating a problem with the particular thruster and the numeric code for the failure type was also displayed.
Immediately thereafter, the Soyuz began backing away from the station still under the automated control. Malenchenko reported to mission control that the crew received the DPOB 20-type failure.
For a reason yet to be explained, the automated system apparently failed to switch to a backup circuit available just for such a contingency.
After switching to manual controls, it took the Soyuz commander two attempts to put the spacecraft into right orientation and complete the docking. During the first try, the spacecraft began a seemingly faster-than-normal approach to the station and then, suddenly, turned sideways just meters from the docking port and deviated from its approach.
Fortunately, Malenchenko quickly managed to stabilize the spacecraft, restore its alignment with docking port on the Rassvet module and complete the second manual docking attempt.
Shortly after docking, Malenchenko explained mission control that during his first manual approach attempt he could not see the docking port clear enough and only realized the problem at the last minute.
According to the Novosti Kosmonavtiki magazine, a similar problem with DPO thrusters also prevented an automated docking of the Progress M-05M cargo ship in 2010 and required the crew onboard the station to use the remote control to complete the process.
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You know, there was an anecdote (perhaps a myth?) out there from back in the Mir days, that the cosmonauts didn't get paid a whole lot of money -- but got "commissions" or "bonuses" for performing various procedures in flight, if they became necessary. One of these was for performing a manual docking in the event of a KURS failure.
The anecdote was that several Soyuz commanders would turn off the KURS once everything was well lined up, report a "KURS failure," manually complete the docking, and pocket their bonus for it once they got back home.
I just wanted to point out that the observed dynamics during this approach absolutely confirm that there was a thruster issue, and that, even if there was still such a bonus system in place (and I'm fairly certain there is not), this isn't a situation where Yuri pulled the fast-and-loose "Oh, we've got a KURS failure, chuckle" maneuver.
Am I right in thinking that the Soyuz can be controlled satisfactorily for separation and de-orbit maneuvering, even with this thruster issue? We're not going to see an unmanned Soyuz launch to send up a replacement for this one, are we?
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So, was there a thruster failure AND a KURS failure, being the latter unable to keep the control ?
(switching to the backup thruster)
In any case, good for Yuri that got a chance to fly in first person the vehicle (and earn the bonus :-) )
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For UK readers interest, part of the Soyuz rocket that launched Tim Peake to the ISS (rocket body labelled 2015-076B ) is expected to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and "burn up" sometime between Thursday 17th to Friday 18th December 2015.
The "best" prediction is that this will occur over North America at 23:30 GMT on Thursday but due to a 10 hour plus/minus uncertainty in these predictions re-entry might even occur over lower SW England , Celtic Sea and English Channel.
A-P
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https://twitter.com/astro_timpeake/status/677618477939716101
An unusual view of our #SoyuzTMA19M launch, taken by an airline pilot flying from Seoul to Frankfurt!
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That's a cool plume!
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http://russianspaceweb.com/iss-soyuz-tma19m.html#probe
According to veterans of the Russian space program who witnessed the failed manual docking attempt between the Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft and the ISS, a potential disaster was narrowly avoided which is reminiscent of the nearly catastrophic collision between the Mir space station and a Progress cargo ship in
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ISS really dodged a bullet here, this could so easily have been very nasty indeed.
I remember when I was watching the docking live that I instantly thought that the closure rate was way too high during the first manual approach, and that was before the alignment was lost. My big fear at the time was that TMA-19M was going to impact the Progress on DC-1.
It certainly makes me think about the wisdom of having a vehicle docking in between two protrusions from the ISS structure (DC-1/Progress on one side, and Cygnus on the other), because it really doesn't leave much room for error in terms of lateral deviations during docking.
Perhaps in future it would be a good idea during MRM-1 dockings to close the hatches between the ISS and any vehicle on Node 1 Nadir, and also between the ISS and DC-1. That way if ever there was an impact with any of those modules/vehicles, while they would almost certainly be lost, there would be less chance of an explosive decompression of the entire ISS as a result. Not saying it eliminates the risk, just reduces it.
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At the peak of the crisis, the flight director for the Russian segment of the ISS Vladimir Soloviev, himself a veteran of two space missions and a towering figure in the Russian space establishment, called on the crew, essentially jumping over both, the head of the on-duty team, SRP, and the chief communications officer. Although Soloviev is well known for his hands-on management style, critics charged that his involvement could place an undue sense of urgency on Malenchenko, at a time when a calm and collected response was needed. As a result, Malenchenko failed to do something he had done hundreds of times in the simulator, critics charged. Fortunately, within minutes after the near collision, Malenchenko was able to stabilize the spacecraft and complete the second manual docking attempt successfully
I do not understand what Anatoliy Zak talks here about. In the docking video we can hear that Vladimir Solovyov has told to Yuriy Malenchenko only this: "Yuriy, let's switch to the manual approaching". That is all. There are no words anymore from Solovyov during two manual docking attempts. There is no pressure from Solovyov at all, only GCTC instructor and TsUP communicator talked with Malenchenko.
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It certainly makes me think about the wisdom of having a vehicle docking in between two protrusions from the ISS structure (DC-1/Progress on one side, and Cygnus on the other), because it really doesn't leave much room for error in terms of lateral deviations during docking.
It certainly does look tight. However if the alignment if off so much by the time you reach that point in the docking that you are in danger of impacting either, then the crew have probably left it too late to back out and not hit part of the station itself. That close in the alignment has to be so perfect that there will be plenty of room either side of the Soyuz - not sure but the thrusters have probably been inhibited at the point due to the proximity to the station.The crew should be in a position to abort the docking due to a misalignment long before they get anywhere near either vehicle (as they did in this case).
Keith
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So, bottom line, was there almost a high-speed-out-of-control collision between the Soyuz and ISS or not? Russian Space Web is sure pushing it like there was.
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So, bottom line, was there almost a high-speed-out-of-control collision between the Soyuz and ISS or not?
Nothing was out of control.
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So, bottom line, was there almost a high-speed-out-of-control collision between the Soyuz and ISS or not?
Nothing was out of control.
Thank you. I didn't think so.
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At any moment, Soyuz commander was able to retreat his spaceship using DPO thrusters.
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<...links to Soyuz docking videos..>
I came across this tweet (https://twitter.com/mikeseibert/status/676813421032038400) earlier, and went and watched the docking video to confirm... and you can indeed see the arrays fluttering!
Is this because of RCS plume impingement? Or were the arrays being rotated at that time (with the flutter being caused due to that motion)?
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ISS really dodged a bullet here, this could so easily have been very nasty indeed.
I remember when I was watching the docking live that I instantly thought that the closure rate was way too high during the first manual approach, and that was before the alignment was lost. My big fear at the time was that TMA-19M was going to impact the Progress on DC-1.
It certainly makes me think about the wisdom of having a vehicle docking in between two protrusions from the ISS structure (DC-1/Progress on one side, and Cygnus on the other), because it really doesn't leave much room for error in terms of lateral deviations during docking.
Perhaps in future it would be a good idea during MRM-1 dockings to close the hatches between the ISS and any vehicle on Node 1 Nadir, and also between the ISS and DC-1. That way if ever there was an impact with any of those modules/vehicles, while they would almost certainly be lost, there would be less chance of an explosive decompression of the entire ISS as a result. Not saying it eliminates the risk, just reduces it.
Rather than "dodging a bullet" I feel it illustrates the inherent risk associated with any and all docking/berthing activities and how protocol was followed to allow a re-approach and a safe/successful docking. If there was an actual collision, then I would agree with "bullet dodging", of course, depending on the outcome of said collision.
All docking and berthing operations have the potential to "easily be very nasty".
If there was the choice, I think a collision with another docked vehicle would be chosen over collision with ISS structure itself.
Uncontrolled decompression is always a risk. "Explosive Decompression" is obviously a worse case scenario resulting from collision, but the chances of explosive decompression from docking/berthing gone wrong would be small. Collision in the context of space vehicles, always results in damage- the extent of that damage can vary, from a scratch to much worse. Mir took a few hits over the years and only the June 25, 1997 collision resulted in any sort of decompression.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
But enough of all this collision talk, there was no bullets dodged, there wasn't even a near miss. An approach to docking was made, then rejected, tried again and successful. Sorry media folks, and doomsday types, nothing to see here.
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For UK readers interest, part of the Soyuz rocket that launched Tim Peake to the ISS (rocket body labelled 2015-076B ) is expected to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and "burn up" sometime between Thursday 17th to Friday 18th December 2015.
The "best" prediction is that this will occur over North America at 23:30 GMT on Thursday but due to a 10 hour plus/minus uncertainty in these predictions re-entry might even occur over lower SW England , Celtic Sea and English Channel.
A-P
Ted Molczan reports on Seesat-l: Re-entry of Soyuz TMA-19M rocket body seen from Newfoundland and Labrador (http://www.satobs.org/seesat/Dec-2015/0111.html)
The re-entry of 2015-076B / 41125 was widely observed from Newfoundland and Labrador, on 2015 Dec 17, near 20:30 UTC (17:00 local time). It was the rocket body of the recent launch of Soyuz TMA-19M. It was the model 11S510, which has an empty mass of 2410 kg.
He posts further data here: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/Dec-2015/0112.html (http://www.satobs.org/seesat/Dec-2015/0112.html)