Flight crew assignments

[Space Pete]

That'll be Jeremy Hansen and David Saint-Jacques.

[Hog]

That'll be Jeremy Hansen and David Saint-Jacques.

The only two Active Astros our CSA has at the moment.

Wow another $350 million on top of out past $1.4 billion ISS contribution.  Not bad when our CSA budget is $300-$500 million per annum.

[Jeff Lerner]

I've been thinking about the CSA announcement ....I'm happy for Hansen and St-Jacques of course...that they will FINALLY get to fly, but we're talking 4 and 9 more years before they both actually get to fly...they were originally selected in 2009...it's been a long wait to date and still a long ways to go...

[Hog]

I've been thinking about the CSA announcement ....I'm happy for Hansen and St-Jacques of course...that they will FINALLY get to fly, but we're talking 4 and 9 more years before they both actually get to fly...they were originally selected in 2009...it's been a long wait to date and still a long ways to go...

The earliest they could have flown was in 2011 after the graduated from astronaut candidate to Astronaut after their 2 years of training at JSC.

Canadian Astronauts and their wait-times until orbit.
Bondar had to wait 8 years to fly on STS-42 in 1992
Garneau flew immediately on STS-41G in 1984
Maclean waited 8 years STS-42(EDIT: MacLean flew on STS-52 launched on October 22nd 1992, not STS-42 which launched March 24, 1992)
Money never flew retiring in 1992
Thirsk waited 12 years for STS-78 in 1996
Tryggvason waited 13 years for STS-85 in 1997
Williams waited 5 years for STS-90 in 1998
Payette waited 6 years for STS 96 in 1999
Hadfield waited 2 years for STS-74 in 1995.
McKay resigned as an Astro  in 1995 before flying.

So yes, some Canadians Astronauts do have to wait a while before flying on orbit.

 

[Chris Bergin]

Astronaut Nicole Stott Retires From NASA -

Deserves her own thread. Legend.

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=37759.0

[TALsite]

Out of these three the one who deserves the flight most is undoubtedly Aimbetov. He began training for a visiting flight to the ISS at Star City in 2003, but in  2009 Kazakhstan cancelled the mission due to financial problems. However, plans for such a flight were later resurrected and on 12 October 2012 he was given the official status of "Cosmonaut of the Republic of Kazakhstan". In May last year Talgat Musabayev, the head of the Kazakh space agency, said Aimbetov was the leading candidate for a Kazakh mission to the ISS in 2017.

If Aimbetov gets assigned to Soyuz TMA-18M, that would be an ironic twist of fate for Mukhtar Aimakhanov, another Kazakh-born cosmonaut who trained alongside Aimbetov from 2003 to 2009. After the cancellation of the Kazakh mission, he applied for Russian citizenship in order to be able to enter the Russian cosmonaut team. He received Russian citizenship in 2012 and was officially included in the Russian cosmonaut team on 14 August 2014. Therefore Aimakhanov must be better prepared to fly this mission than Aimbetov, but in his new capacity as Russian cosmonaut the Russians would have to give Aimakhonov a free ride. If they assign Aimbetov, they can charge Kazakhstan the usual price for a Soyuz seat. It remains to be seen though if Kazakhstan can come up with the money at such short notice.

It seems that Aimbetov has been chosen to fly the Soyuz TMA-18M mission, as posted by Anik on NK Forum

http://novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/forum/forum10/topic12565/?PAGEN_1=17

[bolun]

ESA Human Spaceflight statistics

The top ten longest individual ESA space missions and the top ten cumulative times in space for ESA astronauts over one or more missions. The longest flight by any one astronaut was 437 days, by the Russian doctor Valeri Polyakov on board Mir, 1994-95. The record for longest cumulative time in space is held by Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, 803 days over six flights (the US astronaut with the longest time in space is Peggy Whitson, with 376 days over two spaceflights. Michael Lopez-Alegria holds the record for longest US spaceflight, of 215 days). The longest solo flight was by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Bykovsky, who spent 4 days and 23 hours alone in space from 14–19 June 1963.

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2015/06/ESA_Human_Spaceflight_statistics

Credit: ESA

[jacqmans]

From Russia, it is being reported that the main crew for ISS 50/51 will be American Peggy Whitson. Russian Oleg Novitsky and ESA Tom Sands. Is this officially the crew?

old news

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=740.msg1328165#msg1328165

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Out of these three the one who deserves the flight most is undoubtedly Aimbetov. He began training for a visiting flight to the ISS at Star City in 2003, but in  2009 Kazakhstan cancelled the mission due to financial problems. However, plans for such a flight were later resurrected and on 12 October 2012 he was given the official status of "Cosmonaut of the Republic of Kazakhstan". In May last year Talgat Musabayev, the head of the Kazakh space agency, said Aimbetov was the leading candidate for a Kazakh mission to the ISS in 2017.

If Aimbetov gets assigned to Soyuz TMA-18M, that would be an ironic twist of fate for Mukhtar Aimakhanov, another Kazakh-born cosmonaut who trained alongside Aimbetov from 2003 to 2009. After the cancellation of the Kazakh mission, he applied for Russian citizenship in order to be able to enter the Russian cosmonaut team. He received Russian citizenship in 2012 and was officially included in the Russian cosmonaut team on 14 August 2014. Therefore Aimakhanov must be better prepared to fly this mission than Aimbetov, but in his new capacity as Russian cosmonaut the Russians would have to give Aimakhonov a free ride. If they assign Aimbetov, they can charge Kazakhstan the usual price for a Soyuz seat. It remains to be seen though if Kazakhstan can come up with the money at such short notice.

It seems that Aimbetov has been chosen to fly the Soyuz TMA-18M mission, as posted by Anik on NK Forum

http://novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/forum/forum10/topic12565/?PAGEN_1=17

I wonder if this has been firmed up yet? Nothing official so far....

[ras391]

Can anyone verify the report from Novosti-Kosmonavtiki that Cosmonaut Evgeny Tarelkin was dismissed from the Cosmonaut Corp.? He was scheduled to fly to the ISS in 2017.

[dcfowler1]

NK info is gospel. He's gone.

[jacqmans]

RSC Energia cosmonauts joined the Public Chamber of Korolev Science Town
June 18, 2015

RSC Energia cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Elena Serova and enterprise's specialist Vladimir Romanenkov were elected to the Public Chamber's (PC) new membership of the Korolev City.

137 candidates took part in the final stage of the elections. 45 people among them entered into the Korolev Public Chamber's membership.

According to the established regulations one third of the Public Chamber's membership of the Science Town was approved by the Moscow Region governor Andrey Vorobiev, as much as was approved by the Deputies' Council of Korolev City. The names of 15 more candidates which entered the Science Town's PC, were called on June, 11th at the open plenary meeting of the Public Chamber of the Moscow Region.

According to the data of the social communications' administration of the Moscow Region, the Public Chamber of Korolev city also included the Olympic champion of long jumping sports Tatiana Abbyasova, young scientists' council and youth parliament representatives, workers of scientific institutions and industrial enterprises, "Our Moscow area" contest winners, journalists, veterans.

[ZachS09]

According to collectspace.com's newest article, Aidyn Aimbetov is confirmed to fly with Volkov and Mogensen this September.

[jacqmans]

ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli started training within the ISS-52/53

June 26, 2015

The Cosmonaut Training Center Yuri Gagarin took place presentation of the program of training ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli .  From June 25 on the basis of the CPC held astronaut training with Roskosmos cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronaut Jack Fisher in the main crew of the ISS-52/53, the start of which is scheduled for May 2017.  Preflight preparation is complete and comprehensive examination session exam training.

Paolo Nespoli performed two space flights to the ISS.  The first flight of astronaut went 23 October 2007 as part of the expedition crew STS-120 as a mission specialist on the space shuttle "Discovery" to the ISS.  Astronaut assistant played a key role during the extravehicular activity, including the installation of the module «Node 2".  During his flight P. Nespoli conducted a series of scientific experiments in biology and human physiology.  Planting took place November 7, 2007.

The second space mission Paolo Nespoli took place from 15 December 2010 to 24 May 2011.  Astronaut went in flight as a flight engineer of the WPK "Soyuz TMA" and ISS-26/27;  his colleagues on the crew were Russian cosmonaut, spaceship commander, ISS-26, ISS-27 commander Dmitry Kondratyev and NASA astronaut, flight engineer and ISS-CS 26/27 Catherine Coleman .  As part of its European mission «MagISStra» Paolo Nespoli conducted numerous scientific experiments on the subject of engineering and applied sciences.

http://www.gctc.ru/main.php?id=3059

[Chris Bergin]

An astro from York is now head of the astro office!! (Oh, York, Maine Soooo many places named after my 2,000 year old home town! )

    July 08, 2015
RELEASE J15-015
NASA Astronaut Chris Cassidy New Chief of Astronaut Office

NASA’s Director of Flight Operations Brian Kelly has appointed U.S. Navy Capt. Christopher Cassidy as the chief of the Astronaut Office. Cassidy replaces Air Force Col. Robert Behnken, who has held the position since August 2012.

"Bob has provided outstanding leadership of our astronaut corps during the last three years,” Kelly said. “His selfless dedication and sound guidance has been top-notch as NASA ramped up research aboard the International Space Station and began laying the groundwork for human exploration missions beyond Earth orbit.”

In his new role, Cassidy will be responsible for managing Astronaut Office resources, operations and safety programs. He also will help develop astronaut flight crew operation concepts and crew assignments for future spaceflight missions.

“The Navy has a long history working with NASA and supporting astronauts – during the earliest U.S. space flights, Frogmen helped return astronauts from a splashdown at sea,” Kelly said. “Now, we are proud to have a Frogman leading the Astronaut Office. Chris has served this nation admirably in the most challenging of circumstances and he will be a great leader for the astronaut corps.”

Cassidy was born in Salem, Massachusetts, and considers York, Maine, his hometown. He earned a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1993, and a Master of Science in ocean engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000. Cassidy was a member of the U.S. Navy SEAL team for 10 years before he was selected as an astronaut in 2004.

Cassidy flew on board Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-127 in July 2009 and as a long-duration Expedition 35/36 crew member from March 28, 2013, through Sept. 11, 2013. For the space station mission, he launched and returned aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. During his NASA career, Cassidy has spent 182 days in space and conducted six spacewalks.

For Cassidy's complete biography, visit:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/cassidy-cj.pdf

[Chris Bergin]

I had to write this amazing person an article. What an absolute legend!

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/07/navy-seal-new-chief-astronaut-office/

Will give him a standalone thread on the Endeavour section, per his STS-127 mission.

[Harold KSC]

    

NASA Selects Astronauts for First U.S. Commercial Space Flights

 

July has always been a big month for America’s space program.  Next week, on July 14, New Horizons will make the closest approach ever to Pluto, and the United States will become the first nation to visit this dwarf planet in the outer reaches of our solar system.  It was on July 20, 1969 that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made their giant leap for humankind.  It was on July 30, 1971 that the lunar rover was driven on the surface of the Moon for the very first time. It was on July 4, 1997 that Pathfinder arrived on Mars.  Furthermore, it was on July 14, 1965 – 50 years ago next week – that Mariner 4 flew by and sent us the very close-up first pictures of Mars.

 

Today, a half century after we received those first pictures of the Red Planet, we’re able to make a significant announcement that will further our nation’s Journey to Mars.

 

I am pleased to announce that four American space pioneers have been selected to be the first astronauts to train to fly to space on commercial crew carriers, all part of our ambitious plan to return space launches to U.S. soil, create good-paying American jobs and advance our goal of sending humans farther into the solar system than ever before.  These distinguished, veteran astronauts are blazing a new trail, a trail that will one day land them in the history books and Americans on the surface of Mars.  (Click on each astronaut’s name to learn more about him or her!):

 

·        Robert Behnken

·        Sunita Williams

·        Eric Boe

·        Douglas Hurley

 

For as long as I’ve been Administrator, President Obama has made it very clear that returning the launches of American astronauts to American soil is a top priority – and he has persistently supported this initiative in his budget requests to Congress.  Had we received everything he asked for, we’d be preparing to send these astronauts to space on commercial carriers as soon as this year.  As it stands, we’re currently working toward launching in 2017, and today’s announcement allows our astronauts to begin training for these flights starting now.

 

We are on a Journey to Mars, and in order to meet our goals for sending American astronauts to the Red Planet in the 2030s we need to be able to focus both on deep space and the groundbreaking work being done on the International Space Station (ISS).

 

Our commercial crew initiative makes these parallel endeavors possible.  By working with American companies to get our astronauts to the ISS, NASA is able to focus on game-changing technologies, the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that are geared toward getting astronauts to deep space.

 

Furthermore, there are real economic benefits to bolstering America’s emerging commercial space market.  We have over 350 American companies working across 36 states on our commercial crew initiative.  Every dollar we invest on commercial crew is a dollar we invest in ourselves, rather than in the Russian economy.

 

Our plans to return launches to American soil also make fiscal sense. It currently costs $76 million per astronaut to fly on a Russian spacecraft.  On an American-owned spacecraft, the average cost will be $58 million per astronaut.  What’s more, each mission will carry four crewmembers instead of three, along with 100 kg of materials to support the important science and research we conduct on the ISS.

 

For these reasons, our commercial crew program is a worthy successor to the incredible 30-year run of the Space Shuttle Program.  The decision that President Bush made in 2004 to retire the Space Shuttle was not an easy decision, but it was the right decision.  As you’ll recall, it was the recommendation of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, and endorsed by many people in the space community – including yours truly.

 

I cannot think of a better way to continue our celebration of independence this July than to mark this milestone as we look to reassert our space travel independence and end our sole reliance on Russia to get American astronauts to the International Space Station.

 

***

 

I also want to take this opportunity to offer a special word of congratulations to astronaut candidates from the Class of 2013, who are transitioning into flight-ready status.  These eight outstanding Americans – four of them women, four of them men -- were selected from a pool of more than 6,300 applicants – our second largest pool of applicants, ever.

 

The enthusiasm for NASA’s astronaut program reminds us that journeying to space continues to be the dream of Americans everywhere.  So my message to members of our incredible NASA Family, is that you must never lose sight of the fact that by your work every day, you inspire today’s students to become tomorrow’s leaders, scientists, engineers and astronauts.

 

You can click on each astronaut’s name to learn more about our newest astronauts:

 

·        Josh Cassada

·        Victor Glover

·        Tyler "Nick" Hague

·        Christina Hammock

·        Nicole Mann

·        Anne McClain

·        Jessica Meir

·        Andrew Morgan

[Chris Bergin]

So that's what's happened to Col. Behnken. Added it to the article!

[John44]

NASA Selects Astronauts for First U.S. Commercial Space Flights
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9497

Launching For America Video Feed
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9498

Live Interviews with Astronauts Training for First U.S. Commercial Crew Space Flights
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9499

[FNG]

It's NEVER too early to speculate....

Several astronauts have been involved in commercial crew development for quite some time, so I would be looking for pilots like Antonelli and Bresnik, and possibly Boe (his tour as deputy chief astro should be ending) and Hurley (has been commercial crew deputy for the flight ops directorate for some time).  [If NASA is really designating the CST-100 flights as "BoeOFT-1" and "BoeOFT-2" it might be tempting.....]

As for MS types, Walheim, Fincke, Stott, Suni Williams, Feustel -- maybe Behnken, if three years is the limit to his chief astro tour.   Some of them, of course, will be not just SpX or Boe crew members, but ISS expedition folks.

Michael Cassutt

Boe, Hurley,Williams and Behnken. Good call from Michael!