Expedition 11 crew is set to leave the International Space Station and return to Earth, landing in Kazakhstan, aboard a Soyuz capsule on Monday. Commander Sergei Krikalev and flight engineer John Phillips, along with space tourist Greg Olsen, will leave Expedition 12 commander Bill McArthur and flight engineer Valery Tokarev aboard the station.
Undocking will begin at 21:45 GMT. Once the craft is 20 meters from the station, the Soyuz engines will fire for eight seconds at 21:48 GMT and execute a `separation burn`.
Two-and-a-half hours later, the separation between the two will be 19 kilometres, and the Soyuz engines will ignite for the four-minute, 19-second deorbit burn. The onboard computers will initiate an engine firing at 00:18:39 GMT that will slow the speed to 115.2 meters/sec. Soyuz's three distinct modules will separate at 0043:17 GMT, just before reaching the top of the atmosphere. The decent module will hit the re-entry atmosphere at 0046:13 GMT. At 0054:40 GMT, the capsule's parachutes will be deployed at an altitude of about 10 kilometres. Touchdown is expected at 01:10 GMT on the steppes of north-central Kazakhstan, about 37 minutes before sunrise at the landing site.
Today, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev set a record for the most days spent in space; he has spent 748 days over a 20-year career.
He beat the previous record of 747 days 14 hours 14 minutes and 11 seconds held by fellow Russian Sergei Avdeyev. Krikalev is aboard the International Space Station (ISS), and will remain there until October.
Krikalev's space missions were on the MIR space station (which was destroyed in 2001), the ISS, and aboard shuttles and Russian Soyuz spaceships. The 46-year-old made his first long-duration mission to MIR in 1988.
The Russian spacecraft Soyuz and its operating cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev docked with the International Space Station's Zarya unit at 3:08 p.m., Moscow time, on Tuesday. The rendezvous marks the successful completion of the mission to relocate the Soyuz from Pirs to Zarya.
The residents of the International Space Station will take a short ride in their Soyuz spacecraft on Tuesday, July 19. NASA TV will carry the trip live, starting at 10:00 GMT.
Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev and Flight Engineer John Phillips will leave the Station at 10:35 GMT, Tuesday. They will undock the Soyuz capsule from the Pirs Docking Compartment and fly a few feet to re-dock on the Zarya Module at approximately 11:11 GMT.
The re-docking will allow the crew to use the Pirs for a spacewalk in August. Krikalev and Phillips are in the third month of a planned six-month mission. On Aug. 16, Krikalev will surpass the record for most cumulative time spent in space by any person, having accumulated more than 749 days on six space flights.
The International Space Station crew spent much of the week unpacking and using supplies from the newly docked Progress cargo craft. The crew members also began preparing the Station for a visit by the Space Shuttle on its Return to Flight mission that is targeted to launch in a window that opens in less than three weeks.
Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev completed integrating the systems of a new Progress supply ship into those of the Russian section of Space Station. Krikalev and Flight Engineer John Phillips also unpacked portions of the more than two tons of supplies on the cargo craft. The craft docked to the Station Saturday evening.
Along with food, fuel, clothing and new hardware, the Progress contained about 80 days worth of oxygen in tanks and solid fuel oxygen generators, plus supplies for further repair efforts on the Elektron oxygen generation system. The Elektron, one of multiple sources of oxygen available on the Station, derives oxygen from water. The system has been inoperable for a few months.
This week, Krikalev installed a new supply of electrolyte in the Elektron's liquids unit and a new set of aerosol filters. During initial test activation, the unit started up but immediately shut down. After a second activation it operated for less than half an hour before shutting down once again. Russian specialists at Mission Control Moscow are evaluating further troubleshooting. With the Progress oxygen supply and other supplies aboard the Station, enough oxygen is available to supply the crew for at least the remainder of this year without an operating Elektron unit. A new Elektron liquids unit also is planned to be shipped to the Station later this year. The Station's Pressurized Mating Adapter 3 was opened for the first time in four years this week to be used as storage space. The operation is part of the effort to prepare for cargo transfer operations during the Space Shuttle's return to the complex. The Return to Flight Space Shuttle mission, STS-114, remains on track for launch in a window that extends from July 13-31. The Flight Readiness Review for STS-114 is set for June 29-30 at the Kennedy Space Center, and will conclude with the establishment of a target launch date.
One priority for the mission on Discovery is the delivery of supplies and removal of material that has accumulated on the Station since the grounding of the Shuttle fleet more than two years ago. The majority of that material will be moved on and off of the Station in a pressurized cargo module that will be docked to the nadir side of the Unity connecting module. This week, the Station crew verified the proper operation of the berthing mechanism at that docking port, which had not been operated in two and a half years. Phillips also began installation of a camera in the window of that docking port that is used to align the cargo module when the Shuttle is docked. Phillips halted the camera installation, however, when a circuit breaker tripped. Flight controllers have postponed his completion of the task pending further evaluation.
Expedition 11 is busy preparing for the arrival of a new Russian cargo spacecraft. The new Progress cargo ship will arrive at the International Space Station on June 18, bringing extra oxygen supplies and filters for a faulty Russian oxygen generator. Currently, the crew is burning oxygen generator candles inside the Station. Plenty of oxygen is available onboard the Station, since supplies are replenished with each visiting supply ship.
Commander Sergei Krikalev has lived and worked in space longer than any human except one – Cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev. Krikalev will break Avdeyev’s record in August with his combined six missions, including one on the Mir Space Station and two on the ISS.
Meanwhile, Flight Engineer and NASA ISS Science Officer John Phillips has been participating in an experiment that measures muscle tone in the legs and feet. Researchers are studying bone and muscle loss in microgravity and how to counteract it on future long-duration space missions.