Station Crew Prepares for Space Travelers

Meanwhile aboard the station, the Expedition 23 crew prepared for the arrival of its new crew members while getting ready for the coming of the STS-131 crew aboard space shuttle Discovery.

Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov, along with Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi, reviewed the STS-131 joint-mission timeline with control teams on Earth.

After launching April 5, Discovery and the STS-131 crew will arrive at the orbital laboratory April 7. Discovery is delivering new science racks and ammonia tanks. While there, two shuttle astronauts will perform three spacewalks to switch out ammonia tanks on the station.

After the Soyuz and shuttle arrive, there will be 13 people living in space for over a week. Two Japanese astronauts will be working in space together for the first time – Noguchi and Mission Specialist Naoko Yamazaki. There also will be four female astronauts living in space concurrently for the first time – Caldwell Dyson, Yamazaki and Mission Specialists Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger and Stephanie Wilson.

Troubleshooting, Maintenance for Crew Before Visitors Arrive

Expedition 23 Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer continues troubleshooting the Water Processing Assembly (WPA) in conjunction with specialists in Mission Control. Last week after he performed leak checks on the WPA, ground specialists decided to take a closer look at a catalytic reactor. They uplinked more troubleshooting procedures to the crew before continuing further work. On Tuesday, Creamer downlinked live close-up video of condensation collecting on the WPA to assist Mission Control.

Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi were in the Zvezda service module replacing equipment inside the treadmill vibration isolation system (TVIS). They also took detailed photographs of the TVIS and its various parts for analysis on Earth.

Next week two spacecraft carrying eight astronauts and two cosmonauts will dock to the International Space Station.

The Soyuz TMA-18 rolls out to its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome Wednesday morning for an April 2 launch. The Russian spacecraft will carry new Expedition 23 Flight Engineers Alexander Skvortsov, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko. The new crew members will dock to the station April 4.

On April 7, space shuttle Discovery and the STS-131 crew will arrive at the orbital laboratory. Discovery is delivering new science racks and ammonia tanks. While there, two shuttle astronauts will perform three spacewalks to switch out ammonia tanks on the International Space Station.

Station Crew Prepares for New Crew Members, Shuttle Arrival

Aboard the high-flying International Space Station, the Expedition 23 crew began a new week Monday with preparations for the imminent arrival of three additional crew members and the space shuttle Discovery, as well as the regular duties of orbital life.

The three-member Expedition 23 crew will expand to six on April 4 when Flight Engineers Alexander Skvortsov, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko dock to the International Space Station in the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft.

Discovery’s STS-131 mission begins with the shuttle’s scheduled launch on April 5 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery will deliver a multi-purpose logistics module, or MPLM, filled with science racks to be transferred to laboratories on the station. The shuttle is slated to dock with the station on April 7.

All three station crew members worked to move equipment and prepare the station for Discovery’s arrival and to make room for the supplies being delivered in the Italian-built MPLM named Leonardo, making its final round-trip before being refitted to become a Permanent Multipurpose Module on the station .

Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer reviewed video of the Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver that every space shuttle performs during its approach to the orbital outpost. During this maneuver, Kotov and Creamer will take photos of Discovery that will be sent to experts on the ground who will use them to assess the condition of the orbiter’s heat shield.

Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi charged batteries for the spacesuits that will be used during the STS-131 mission’s three spacewalks outside the station, and prepared the Destiny and Columbus laboratories for the arrival of new research facilities.

Creamer also performed maintenance on the station’s potable water dispenser.

Expedition 23 Preparing for New Crew Members, Shuttle Visitors

Sitting in front of the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft are (from left) Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko. The three flight engineers will join the other Expedition 23 crew members already on the station. Credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

The three-member Expedition 23 crew will expand to six on April 4 when Flight Engineers Alexander Skvortsov, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko dock to the International Space Station in the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft. On April 7, space shuttle Discovery with the seven-member STS-131 crew will visit the orbiting laboratory and deliver science racks and ammonia tanks.

Crew Conducts Emergency Training; Prepares for Arrivals

The Expedition 23 crew members aboard the International Space Station were busy Thursday with an emergency Soyuz descent training drill and preparations for the arrival of space shuttle Discovery and the STS-131 crew.

Commander Oleg Kotov, with Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi, conducted an emergency Soyuz descent training drill and discussed procedures with ground controllers on Earth. These periodic drills prepare the crew members for an escape in the docked Soyuz vehicles in the unlikely event of an emergency serious enough to require evacuation.

Noguchi gathered and packed items that will be transferred from the station to Discovery after it arrives next month.

Discovery and the STS-131 crew are targeted to launch to the station on April 5, bringing a multi-purpose logistics module filled with science racks for the station’s laboratories.

Creamer spent time doing maintenance on the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly, the component of the Air Revitalization System which scrubs carbon dioxide from the station’s environment. He worked to install jumpers to bypass an erratic temperature sensor which has been causing CDRA to shut down prematurely.

Kotov worked with the Russian experiment known as Relaxation, observing radiation patterns from Earth’s ionosphere. He also conducted routine maintenance and inspections in the Russian segment of the station.

Three new Expedition 23 flight engineers are scheduled to arrive at the station on April 4 aboard the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft. Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko and NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson are in Baikonur, Kazakhstan preparing for their launch on April 2.

Mars' Concepcion Crater

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity took this image in preparation for the first autonomous selection of an observation target by a spacecraft on Mars.

Opportunity used its navigation camera to take this image after a drive during the 2,172nd Martian day, or sol, of its mission on Mars (March 4, 2010). Using newly developed and uploaded software named Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science, or AEGIS, the rover analyzed the image to identify the feature that best matched criteria given for selecting a target. The top target that Opportunity selected with AEGIS is shown by the yellow marker. AEGIS was directed to look for rocks that were larger and darker in color. The rover then used the software to take more detailed observations of the selected target using its panoramic camera.

The more-than-50 rocks in this image are near a young crater called 'Concepcion' and might have been thrown outward by the impact that excavated the crater.

Crew Prepares for Arrivals

The engines of the docked ISS Progress 36 cargo craft ignited at 5:15 a.m. EDT Wednesday for a 7-minute, 5-second reboost of the International Space Station.

The reboost raised the station’s altitude by a little over one statute mile and began to place the complex at the proper altitude for spacecraft scheduled to dock to the station in April.

Three new Expedition 23 flight engineers are scheduled to arrive at the station on April 4 aboard the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft. Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko and NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson are in Baikonur, Kazakhstan preparing for their launch on April 2.

Space shuttle Discovery and the STS-131 crew are targeted to launch to the station on April 5, bringing a multi-purpose logistics module filled with science racks for the station’s laboratories.

Aboard the station Wednesday, the other members of the Expedition 23 crew prepared for the upcoming arrivals.

Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer conducted a practice session of rendezvous pitch maneuver photography. During Discovery’s approach next month, they will take detailed digital imagery of its heat shield that will be sent down to Earth and analyzed by experts at Johnson Space Center.

Creamer also recharged spacesuit batteries for the three spacewalks to take place during the STS-131 mission.

Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi prepared the Kibo laboratory to receive more science racks arriving with Discovery.

Crew Prepares for Soyuz and Shuttle Dockings

With a Soyuz spacecraft and a space shuttle on tap to arrive at the International Space Station in early April, the Expedition 23 crew continued to pack items for return to Earth, review timelines and tackle the usual workload of science and station maintenance Tuesday.

Flight Engineers Soichi Noguchi and T.J. Creamer began their day by conducting a periodic health status evaluation. The results from these routine physical examinations are downlinked to researchers who are charting any changes to crew health that could be due to the long-term exposure to weightlessness.

Later, Commander Oleg Kotov joined Noguchi and Creamer for a review of items to be transferred to and from the station when space shuttle Discovery arrives. They also conducted an audio conference with logistics specialists in Houston to discuss the choreography involved in the transfers. The STS-131 crew of Discovery is scheduled to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 5, bringing a multi-purpose logistics module filled with science racks for the station’s laboratories.

STS-125 Crew Visits the Stock Exchange

NASA astronauts Scott Altman and Mike Massimino of the STS-125 mission visit the New York Stock Exchange to support the release of Hubble 3D, the newest IMAX film, which documents the mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope and features never-before-seen 3D flights through Hubble imagery such as the Orion Nebula. In honor of the occasion, Altman and Massimino ring 'The Closing Bell' ending the day's trading at the Exchange on Thursday, March 18, 2010.

Discovery's Payload Arrives at the Launch Pad

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 06:14:49 PM GMT+0530

At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the canister carrying the payload for space shuttle Discovery's STS-131 mission to the International Space Station made its way to Launch Pad 39A in the predawn darkness this morning, arriving at 2:51 a.m. EDT. The canister will be installed in the pad's payload changeout room, and its contents, including the multi-purpose logistics module Leonardo, is set to be transferred to Discovery's cargo bay on March 24.

During the upcoming weekend, crews at the launch pad will perform additional tests on Discovery's right reaction control system helium regulators. Engineers will evaluate the data and discuss options Tuesday morning.

At NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, STS-131 astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Clayton Anderson will rehearse techniques for the mission's third spacewalk in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab's huge tank.