LIVE: Soyuz TMA-18M EOM Events (Undock, Entry, Landing) - March 02, 2016

[jacqmans]

February 24, 2016
MEDIA ADVISORY M16-015

One-Year Crew Returns from Space Station March 1; Live Coverage on NASA TV

NASA Television will provide complete coverage Tuesday, March 1, as three crew members depart the International Space Station, including NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian space agency Roscosmos – the station’s first one-year crew.

NASA Television coverage will begin at 3:10 p.m. EST on Monday, Feb. 29, when Kelly hands over command of the station to fellow NASA astronaut Tim Kopra. Complete coverage is as follows:

Monday, Feb. 29
•3:10 p.m. -- Change of command ceremony (Scott Kelly hands over space station command to Tim Kopra)

Tuesday, March 1
•4:15 p.m. -- Farewell and hatch closure coverage; hatch closure scheduled at 4:40 p.m.
•7:45 p.m. -- Undocking coverage; undocking scheduled at 8:05 p.m.
•10:15 p.m. -- Deorbit burn and landing coverage; deorbit burn scheduled at 10:34 p.m., with landing at 11:27 p.m. (10:27 a.m. on March 2, Kazakhstan time)

Wednesday, March 2
•1:30 a.m. -- Video file of hatch closure, undocking and landing activities

Twice the duration of a typical mission, Kelly and Kornienko’s station-record 340 days in space afforded researchers a rare opportunity to study the medical, physiological, and psychological and performance challenges astronauts face during long-duration spaceflight.

The science driving the one-year mission, critical to informing the agency’s Journey to Mars, began a year before Kelly or Kornienko floated into the space station. Biological samples were collected and assessments were performed in order to establish baselines. Comparison samples were taken throughout their stay in space and will continue for a year or more after their return to Earth. Kelly’s identical twin brother, former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, participated in parallel twin studies on Earth to provide scientists more bases for comparisons.

ISS Expedition 47 officially begins, under Kopra’s command, when the Soyuz carrying Kelly, Kornienko and Volkov undocks from the space station. Kopra, Yuri Malenchenko of Roscosmos and Tim Peake of ESA (European Space Agency), will operate the station as a three-person crew until the arrival of three new crew members in two weeks. NASA astronaut Jeff Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka are scheduled to launch from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on March 18 EST.

For NASA TV streaming video and schedule, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

For more information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

[jacqmans]

Scott Kelly ‏@StationCDRKelly

Well, this brings back distant memories. Seems like a year ago. Today's Sokol suit fit check.

[jacqmans]

Sergey Volkov ‏@Volkov_ISS 

Выполнили проверку скафандров,готовы к возвращению домой/ Soyuz Sokol Spacesuit Check.The crew is ready to come home

[Phillip Clark]

Despite all of the hyped-up claims, this is not a "year in space" mission.   It's 342 days in space.

Close but no cigar.   

Only the Russians have done real "year in space" missions.   The first was by the Soyuz-TM 4 crew aboard Mir, launched in December 1987 and because 1988 was a leap year the flight lasted 366 days.

[fgonella]

Considering that only 23 days are missing to a full year, couldn't they go for a direct handover (next crew launch is in 2 weeks) and reach the round figure?

[asmi]

Considering that only 23 days are missing to a full year, couldn't they go for a direct handover (next crew launch is in 2 weeks) and reach the round figure?

And why do you think it's important to reach this "round figure"? What kind of benefits will it give?

[fgonella]

Bragging rights, and being true to the nickname. And it shouldn't have cost more, I believe.

[eric z]

  Great point! 5-month missions called 6, etc. How many new rockets are going to be wheeled out on the Nasa-TV educational channel for the kids to get "inspired" by, and then canned? etc,etc. Truth in advertising! Would have been slicker to have a 13-month mission, than a slightly shorter one, for PR reasons if nothing else. BTW, when is the next year-long expedition coming? Time may be starting to slip away for this magnificent facility to be the great focal point it is, with another big gap potentially coming.

[asmi]

Bragging rights, and being true to the nickname. And it shouldn't have cost more, I believe.

Well Russians did that (direct exchange) for PR purposes (pre-Olympics spacewalk), so I'm sure they would've done that now too if there would be such request. The transportation is not the only problem. Direct handover stresses life support systems beyond what they were designed to handle, costs more in terms of consumables and crew time.

Besides what's there to brag about anyways? Unless you want to stretch it beyond 438 days, the Russians during Mir times would still be way ahead of the game no matter how you spin it.

[Prober]

  Great point! 5-month missions called 6, etc. How many new rockets are going to be wheeled out on the Nasa-TV educational channel for the kids to get "inspired" by, and then canned? etc,etc. Truth in advertising! Would have been slicker to have a 13-month mission, than a slightly shorter one, for PR reasons if nothing else. BTW, when is the next year-long expedition coming? Time may be starting to slip away for this magnificent facility to be the great focal point it is, with another big gap potentially coming.

got to start someplace but time you can't make up so....maybe next goal should be 3 missions 15-18 (or whatever you wish to call it).  ISS needs upgrades and goals moved up if Mars is serious.


http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=39662.msg1496346#msg1496346

[asmi]

got to start someplace but time you can't make up so....maybe next goal should be 3 missions 15-18 (or whatever you wish to call it).  ISS needs upgrades and goals moved up if Mars is serious.

Agreed, and they need to start planning them out ASAP. If my memory serves me, current "one year" mission was announced about a year before it actually started, so this is quite long lead time (unless they already have follow ups in the pipeline - possibly conditional on results of current mission).

[hop]

Considering that only 23 days are missing to a full year, couldn't they go for a direct handover (next crew launch is in 2 weeks) and reach the round figure?

Why? It makes no difference to the actual objectives. Going from roughly 6 months to roughly one year is significant and important. Plus or minus a couple weeks is totally irrelevant except for record books and pedantry. Referring to a roughly year-long period as "a year" is totally normal in everyday usage. (e.g. if someone says "I spent a year in New York" in conversation, no one would expect it to mean exactly 365 days)

If you pay any attention to ISS ops at all, you should know that visiting vehicle schedule is a complicated balancing act with a lot moving parts and interacting constraints. Sure, it could probably have been adjusted, but there is no operational reason to do so.

[eric z]

  Hop,of course you are exactly right; all I'm saying is that we are moving into a TMZ/PR-type of society. You know some clown will whine that " it wasn't really a year..." But in any case,Good Luck and Happy Landings to a great crew!

[asmi]

  Hop,of course you are exactly right; all I'm saying is that we are moving into a TMZ/PR-type of society. You know some clown will whine that " it wasn't really a year..."

I'm sure this type of people will find something to whine about no matter what. I'd say it's best to just ignore them.

[SMS]

http://www.mcc.rsa.ru/sojuztma_18m/shema_spusk.htm

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Moved for live coverage (the undocking might just step into SES-9's launch window....) 

[Chris Bergin]

Scott Kelly's final speech. Names all the crewmembers he's served with.

[Chris Bergin]

Farewell chaps!

[Chris Bergin]

Mikhail Kornienko just wants to keep on the timeline

[Chris Bergin]

Safe return gents!