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Soyuz Docks With ISS
Korolev, Russia (SPX) Oct 18, 2007 The Russian Soyuz TMA-11 manned transport space vehicle is docked to the International Space Station. Following two-day free flight in near-earth orbit, the Soyuz TMA-11 approached the ISS. Berthing was performed in an automatic mode. At 18:50 Moscow Time the space vehicle docking assembly came into contact with the docking part of Functional Cargo Block Zarya. At that time the ISS was within the Russian ground site coverage. The final flight operations during the space vehicle rendezvous and docking to the station were performed under control of the State Commission and Technical Management in charge of flight tests of manned space complexes at Moscow Mission Control Center. The State Commission Chairman is A.N. Perminov, the Head of Federal Space Agency. V.A. Lopota, RSC Energia President, General Designer, leads the Technical Management in charge of manned space complexes flight tests. Upon completion of Soyuz TMA-11 compartments leak test, docking assembly leak check and pressure equalization between the station and space vehicle, the transfer hatches were open. The space vehicle crew passed to the Russian Segment of the Station. The joint international crew is currently working onboard the station. It consists of the three Russian cosmonauts, two American astronauts and the space flight participant Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor (Malaysia). The Russian part of the joint crew is represented by test-cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin from RSC Energia after S.P. Korolev (ISS-15 crew commander, Soyuz TMA-10 flight engineer), two tests cosmonauts from RGNII CTC after Yu.A. Gagarin - Oleg Kotov (ISS-15 crew flight engineer, Soyuz TMA-10 commander) and Yuri Malenchenko (Soyuz TMA-11 commander, ISS-16 crew first flight engineer). The American part of the joint crew includes NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson (ISS-16 crew commander, Soyuz TMA-11 flight engineer) and Clayton Anderson (ISS-15/16 crew flight engineer). The ISS, Soyuz TMA-10 and Soyuz-TMA-11 onboard systems are operating as designed. Upon completion of the docking mode, a press conference for Russian and foreign journalists from the respective information agencies and TV companies took place. The journalists asked the questions about further activities under the ISS Program, specific features of the Soyuz TMA-11 orbital injection and docking, which were answered by the following officials: V.A. Davydov, Deputy Head of Roscosmos; W. Gerstenmaier, NASA Associate Administrator; V.A. Lopota, RSC Energia President, General Designer; A.B. Krasnov, Head of Piloted Programs Department of Roscosmos; Jamaludin Jarjis, Malaysian Minister of Science, Technologies and Innovations; Ch. Feichtinger, ESA Moscow Office representative; V.A. Solovyov, First Deputy General Designer of RSC Energia. During the first TV session between MCC-M and Station, V.A. Davydov, B. Gerstenmaier, V.A. Lopota, A.B. Krasnov, Jamaludin Jarjis and the farther of Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor congratulated the crews on the successful docking, wished them implementing the Mission Program targets. Related Links Station at NASA Station and More at Roscosmos S.P. Korolev RSC Energia Watch NASA TV via Space.TV Space Station News at Space-Travel.Com
SpaceX Completes NASA CDR For New Dragon
El Segundo CA (SPX) Oct 18, 2007SpaceX has successfully completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) for its first Falcon 9 / Dragon mission as part of the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration program. During a three day period, SpaceX hosted a group of over forty top level NASA representatives and key SpaceX customers for a review of the design of the Falcon 9 rocket, Dragon spacecraft and associated ground systems for the first COTS demonstration mission. |
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