Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

How To Train for a Mission to the ISS: The Soyuz

Expedition 34/35: Canadian Space Agency Flight Engineer Chris Hadfield, Soyuz Commander Roman Romanenko and Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn of NASA. The crew launches on Dec. 19, 2012 at 12:12 UTC (7:12 a.m. EST). For the second half of the mission, Hadfield will become the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield has been sharing with us how much there is to learn and the training necessary for living on the International Space Station for five months. But astronauts and cosmonauts also have to learn how to fly on the Russian Soyuz, too, as right now, there’s no other ride to the space station.

“Soyuz is a wonderful spaceship,” Hadfield told Universe Today. “It has been refined and honed and perfected for decades, as if they took an early sculpture of something and have continuously whittled away at it to make it more and more purpose-built and improved.”

A view of Hadfield inside the Soyuz simulator. Credit: NASA

The most modern version, the TMA-M, is as good as they’ve ever made it, Hadfield said, with great modifications and improvements in avionics, sensors, computing power.

“So, it is a very capable, well-designed vehicle; a tough vehicle,” he said. “That is heartening and reassuring. It has the full ability to do almost everything on its own, but also full ability for us to take over and do almost everything manually if we need to.”

“There is an unbelievable thrill in getting into your own spaceship. This is the same hatch we’ll use on the launch pad,” Hadfield said via Twitter.

It is so robust that with just a stopwatch, the crews can bring it safely back to Earth and land within a 10-km circle of where they want to touch down.

All the training is in Russian. “Russian digital motion control theory is complex,” Hadfield said. “It took a full year of intensive one-on-one study to become ready to start flying the Soyuz.” This video shows Hadfield working in the simulator:

Hadfield said that not only does he have great respect for the Soyuz, but for the training provided by the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos.

“They simulate it well, and they load us up to our limit of what they teach us,” he said, “getting into the very esoteric and complex things that can happen.”

For example, in full-up simulations where the crew are in the pressure suits, the trainers will do things like fill the cockpit with smoke as if there was a fire on board, so the “dashboard” can’t be seen, and the crew needs to know how to keep flying.

“Centrifuges make you dizzy while they accelerate & decelerate, & REALLY mess you up when you move your head. Otherwise OK,” Hadfield Tweeted.

In this video, Hadfield explains the Soyuz centrifuge, the largest human-rated centrifuge in the world, that puts the astronauts and cosmonauts in the same environment – G-force-wise – that they will be in during the harrowing descent when they return home, plummeting through Earth’s atmosphere and experience 4-8 times the force of Earth’s gravity.

“You need to be able to understand how that feels on your body and whether you are going to be able to work in that environment,” Hadfield said.

“Hatch to Another World – what it looks like to climb into a Soyuz spaceship. We then crawl down into our seats,” Hadfield said, via Twitter.

The Soyuz rocket is just as robust and one of the most reliable rockets ever. “The Soyuz launches all-weather, -40 degrees to +40 degrees,” Hadfield said. “It is rugged, built on experience, it is not delicate. I trust it with my life.”

“It takes these 32 engines to get these 3 humans safely above the air. And that’s just the start,” Hadfield said via Twitter.

“My Soyuz Checklists – from L to R: Launch/Entry, Malfunctions, Orbital Flight. Colour-coded for easy spaceflight,” said Hadfield via Twitter.

Hadfield talks about the Russian technology for the rocket and spaceship he will be flying in:

Hadfield’s son and daughter-in-law gave him a Soyuz-like pre-flight Christmas present:

“My first Soyuz simulator! Summer 1964, nearly 5 years old. Never too early to start training,” Hadfield shared on Twitter.

Previous articles in this series:
How to Train for Long Duration Space Flight with Chris Hadfield
How to Train for a Mission to the ISS: Medical Mayhem
How to Train for a Mission to the ISS: Eating in Space

Posted on by Ken Kremer

‘NASA Johnson Style’ Parodies ‘Gangnam Style’ Music Video

Check this out and get in the groove to enjoy some really cool fun from NASA

NASA interns and NASA astronauts have joined forces to create a very humorous and entertaining music video parody of the “Gangnam Style” mega hit by international pop sensation PSY – It’s called “NASA Johnson Style” and its New!

A team of interns from NASA’s Johnson Space Center (pictured below) in Houston created original lyrics, convinced several initially incredulous astronauts to dance along and shot the video at several NASA centers. Then they integrated the whole kit and kaboodle with the “Gangnam Style” instrumental track. Scotty would be proud of the intricate engineering demanded to pull this off – but where are the tribbles !

Image caption: Mike Massimino (center) poses with the intern video team after filming at JSC. Photo credit: Nicole Cloutier

The video features a fun loving crew of NASA astronauts including Mike Massimino, who deftly repaired the Hubble Space Telescope twice among other things, Clayton Anderson and Tracy Caldwell Dyson who lived and worked for many months aboard the International Space Station, and Mike Coats, a Shuttle commander and the retiring Director of the Johnson Space Center.

The video also features actual footage from the International Space Station , Apollo Moonwalks, Curiosity on Mars, Dawn at Vesta, Houston Mission control, the SLS and Orion Crew vehicle as well as real research labs and scientists here on Earth. So it’s fun and meant to be educational as well.

“Gangnam Style” by the Korean singing star PSY is the most popular YouTube music ever and is enjoyed by millions more every day since it was released last summer. It has spawned numerous other parodies.

And in case you missed last summer’s mega hit parody straight from the Red Planet – click on this: “We’re NASA and We Know It (Mars Curiosity)” – Note: this is NOT a NASA production

Now, turn up the volume and enjoy some light hearted cheer in this Holiday season.

Ken Kremer

Posted on by Jason Major

Russia’s Soyuz Spacecraft: 46 Years and Still Soaring High


In just a couple of days a Soyuz rocket will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield, and Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Roman Romanenko within the TMA-07M capsule on a two-day trip to the ISS. While many improvements have been made to the Soyuz rockets and spacecraft since the first launch in 1966, the bottom line is that the Soyuz have become the world’s most used launch vehicles due to their consistent performance and relatively low cost.

Here, CSA astronaut Chris Hadfield talks about the Soyuz, briefly describing the strengths of the Russian technology that will once again take him and fellow Expedition 34/35 crew members to the ISS, where in March of next year he will become the first Canadian to take command of the Station.

“This is a safe and reliable and proven way to leave the Earth, and each successive Soyuz is different; each one has small changes. The role of the astronaut is to learn those small changes… and learn to apply them.”

– Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield

The T version of the Soyuz craft began flying manned missions in 1980 and in 1986 the TM versions were transporting crews to Mir. The TMA upgrade addressed previous astronaut/cosmonaut height restrictions and permits the Soyuz to be used as a lifeboat for ISS crews, if necessary.

Find out more about the long history of the Soyuz spacecraft here, and read more about today’s Soyuz rollout here.

Video: CSA. Inset image: NASA/Carla Cioffi

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

How To Train for a Mission to the ISS: Eating in Space

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield (right)and NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn participate in a food tasting session in the Habitability and Environmental Factors Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Photo credit: NASA

Food is important for everyone, for reasons beyond dietary and health issues, as sometimes just the right meal can make (or break) your day. That’s just one of the reasons why the space agencies involved with the International Space Station put a lot of work into creating a variety of foods for the astronauts and cosmonauts that are on long duration missions in space. And variety is key.

“On Earth, we take for granted that if nothing in your fridge appeals to you, you just go out,” Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield told Universe Today. “But on a long-duration mission in space, you can’t just order a pizza or go out for a burger or Baskin Robbins.”

“Space Vegetables, before and after. Tastes better than it looks,” Hadfield Tweeted.

The primary food on the ISS is supplied by NASA and the Russian Space Agency. Each of the other space agencies provide supplemental food, or special items, too.

“Space food is fine, pretty tasty, and of good variety,” Hadfield said. “It’s limited to food that has a long shelf life, with no refrigeration and no microwave, so it’s a lot like camping food or Army rations. The majority of it is dehydrated, so we add cold or hot water to it, like Ramen noodles or instant soup or powdered drinks. But we have a mixture of Russian and American foods, plus specialty items from Canada, Europe and Japan, so we eat really well.”

“Astronaut Diet – on 4-day prescribed meals of low sodium to test how my body reacts. This is lunch,” said Hadfield.

Crews eat three meals a day, with two snacks.

Hadfield explained the way it normally works is that NASA and Roscosmos each have a menu of hundreds of potential food items.

“So, some days when it is lunch time, our dieticians and food preparation kitchen have us over for a food tasting, and we try a mouthful of about thirty different things for lunch one day,” Hadfield said. “We rank them from 1 to 9, with 9 being ‘I could eat this for every meal for the rest of my life,’ and 0 being ‘this makes me gag.’ We do that in Houston for all the NASA food and in Russia for all the Russian food, and limited tastings for all the food that comes from the other partners.”

Space-grilled chicken. Via Chris Hadfield.

From there, the astronauts put together a list of the food they would like to have in orbit, in addition to the ‘generic’ or staple foods that are always on board. “The food that all the astronauts on average have rated the highest, they try to keep in stock on the ISS,” Hadfield said. “We also have bonus containers that are personal, where you have food that you ranked as ‘9,’ or you can bring in supplemental food from your country – in my case, Canada– so I can enjoy it and also share it with the other crew on special occasions or holidays that you’ll be on orbit for.”

Hadfield launches this week, on Dec. 19, and so will be on orbit for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

During Hadfield’s Expedition 34/35, the Canadian specialty food includes candied wild smoked salmon, smoked salmon pate, cranberry buffalo stix, cereal, dried apple chunks, fruit bars, green tea cookies with orange zest, maple syrup cookies, organic chocolate, honey drops, chocolate bars and maple syrup.

SeaChange Candied Wild Smoked Salmon that will heading to the ISS.

Some of this food was chosen as part of a contest held by the Canadian Space Agency, Canadian Snacks for Space.

The first shipment of the Canadian treats were delivered to the ISS on board the SpaceX Dragon capsule that brought supplies to the space station in October. The second shipment should be sent on an automated resupply spacecraft in February 2012.

Hadfield said the addition of Japanese and Italian modules on the ISS has also resulted in tasty international food being part of the regular ISS rations.

“Italian space food – scallopine, lasagne and freeze-dried pea and carrot blocks. Their tiramisu is delicious!” said Hadfield via Twitter.

Hadfield said the dieticians are interested in the balance of salt content, protein and carbohydrates as they want to keep the astronauts healthy, and to have them maintain their weight. But they also need to have food that is appealing. A well-known problem is that astronaut’s taste buds seems to go flat while in space, so spicy food is appreciated even though it might not be a favorite on the ground.

“The food is important, but sometimes things can happen,” said Hadfield, “like one of the resupply ships get delayed and your favorite food isn’t there, and you have to eat the leftovers of the previous crews, or eat a future crew’s food. So it never goes perfectly. So, part of being an astronaut is not being too picky!

Hadfield said they are provided a wide variety of lots of different food, and you can see Hadfield’s potential menu here.
But, like on Earth, mealtime is vital for other reasons, too.

“The food is important, but we also use dinner as a good time to get together and talk, relax, and be human,” Hadfield said.

“Crew at Breakfast – with our new Expedition shirts shining. Roman (left) is going to be a hoot to fly with,” Hadfield Tweeted.

As for what Hadfield’s last Earthly meal will be before he launches on Wednesday morning, it won’t be anything big or fancy.

“Imagine what it is going to be like to be in a small, cramped spaceship for two days,” he said. “My last meal will be beef broth.”

Note what Hadfield has in front of him in the image above, which he shared this morning via Twitter and Facebook.

Previous articles in this series:
How to Train for Long Duration Space Flight with Chris Hadfield
How to Train for a Mission to the ISS: Medical Mayhem

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

NASA’s Version of Mr. Fusion

Researcher Stephen Anthony works with the new reactor prototype that could turn trash into gas. Image credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

It probably won’t be able to fuel Doc Brown’s flux capacitor on his DeLorean time machine, but NASA researchers are hoping a new device that will be tested on the International Space Station can turn trash into power. The Trash to Gas Reactor is a miniature version of large waste incineration facilities on Earth that generate electricity or fuel. This could help with the accumulating trash on the ISS and be used on future missions beyond Earth orbit, as well as help the trash problem in areas of the world where there are neither large power plants nor garbage processing facilities.

“Not only will the effort on this help space missions but also on Earth because we have enough problems dealing with our own trash,” said Anne Caraccio, a chemical engineer working on the project.

The prototype of the Trash to Gas Reactor is a meter-long (3 foot-long) device that looks strikingly similar to the “Mr. Fusion” reactor in the second “Back to the Future” movie. Just like Doc Brown and Marty, astronauts can throw in things like food wrappers, used clothing, food scraps, tape, packaging and other garbage accumulated by the crew and the reactor will turn it into potential power, such as methane gas, or even oxygen or water.

The team developing the reactor is hoping to have their prototype ready to fly on the ISS by 2018 – which unfortunately doesn’t fit into the “Back to the Future” timeline: Emmett Brown travels to 2015 where he gets his Mr. Fusion and changes the future. But perhaps its Earth-bound counterpart could be ready in two years, in time for the Doc’s arrival from 1985.

“Back to the Future’s” Mr. Fusion. Via Theme Park Review.

OK, back to reality now, even though this does have a science fiction element to it…

A team led by Paul Hintze at the Kennedy Space Center has built an 80-pound small reactor to test theories about incinerating a variety of trash ranging from used clothes to uneaten food. The reactor holds more than three quarts of material and burns at about 1,000 degrees F, about twice the maximum temperature of an average household oven. It’s expected to take astronauts four hours to burn a day’s worth of trash from a crew of four.

The team estimates that during the course of a year in space – one half the length of time a mission to Mars is expected to take – trash processing for a crew of four would create about 2,200 pounds of methane fuel, enough to power a launch from the lunar surface, Hintze said.

“The longer the mission, the more applicable this technology is,” Hintze said. “If you’re just doing a two-week mission, you wouldn’t want to take along something like this because you wouldn’t get anything out of it.”

Converting garbage into fuel also would keep astronauts from turning their cramped space capsule into an orbiting landfill.

Paul Hintze is the researcher leading the trash-to-gas project at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Image credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

The experimental version of the reactor is made of steel, but the team expects to employ a different alloy for future versions, something that might be lighter but just as strong in order to withstand the high temperatures needed to break down the materials and destroy potential microbes.

One of the issues the team is working on is making sure that no smell or potential hazardous gases are created as a by-product in the closed environment of the space station or a spacecraft on its way to deep space.

“On Earth, a little bit of an odor is not a problem, but in space a bad smell is a deal breaker,” Hintze said.

Right now trash in the ISS is stuffed into the Progress resupply ship, which burns up in the atmosphere during re-entry. This new reactor could turn the trash into something valuable in space.

Source: NASA

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

How To Train for a Mission to the ISS: Medical Mayhem

Astronaut Chris Hadfield with biomedical equipment attached to his forehead. Credit: Chris Hadfield.

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is scheduled to launch on Decemer 19 with crewmates Tom Marshburn and Roman Romanenko on a Soyuz rocket, heading for a long-duration 5-month mission on board the International Space Station. We’re taking a look back at his 2-plus years of training for this mission, which Hadfield shared via Twitter and Facebook, letting the public get an inside look at what it takes to prepare for a long-duration spaceflight.

The movie “The Right Stuff” depicted the grueling array of medical tests the early astronauts had to undergo in order to determine if they had… well, the right stuff to go into space. Now, more than 50 years later, with scientists and the medical community knowing quite a bit more about how the human body reacts to micro-gravity, the pre-flight medical procedures aren’t quite as intrusive. But astronaut Chris Hadfield says it is still part of being an astronaut.

“They do a nice job of telling how hard it is going to be, how invasive,” he said in an interview with Universe Today, “but none of that matters when it’s time to go to bed at night, when you’ve got six different probes stuck in you or a loud machine next to you, and you know you you’re not going to get a good night’s sleep.”

“Whether you are flying a spaceship or a T-38, it is good to be prepared,” Hadfield said, along with posting this image via Twitter.

Another part of medical training is having a forced special diet where “you have to document everything you eat, evaluating what happens at the other end,” Hadfield explained, “and they try to be as good and non-invasive as they can, but by its very nature it is invasive, and that’s the way it is.”

Hadfield said he knew about this going into the job. “It is absolutely part of the business so it is OK,” he said.

Hadfield participating in the VC Reflex test, an experiment for orthostatic hypotension, or dizzyness from low blood pressure, one of the most common physical complications of spaceflight. “Space Science: applying electricity behind the ears affects balance and thus blood pressure regulation,” Hadfield said.

Not only are there pre-flight medical tests and procedures, but all space station crew members undergo continual medical tests and evaluations during their time in orbit, becoming test subjects for various experiments as well as keeping tabs on their health while in space.

“We do regular urine, saliva collection and blood draws. We have to be able to take blood from each other or yourself. If you’ve never taken blood from yourself…” Hadfield said, letting the sentence trail off. Fun? Not so much.

“Astronaut physical for Space Station today – 18 tubes and a squeeze ball”

Thankfully, the astronauts don’t always have to poke themselves. “We have volunteers come in all the time and let me stick them with a needle so I can get good at drawing blood,” Hadfield said, “and we do a lot of ultrasounds – carotid artery and cardiac ultrasounds. We need to identify any changes that take place in the heart after extended zero-g. This is all very important for going beyond Earth orbit; we need to understand those changes.”

A day of medical training with dummies. “Somehow the sock makes it worse,” Hadfield said via Twitter.

Not only do the crew have to do medical tests on themselves, but they have to be prepared for any medical emergency, since there usually isn’t a dedicated medical doctor on the space station. However, Hadfield considers himself lucky: crewmate Marshburn is a medical doctor.

“There are various ways to get ill on board – some natural, like appendicitis, stroke, — or you could be in an accident.” Hadfield said, “Someone could bang their head coming around a corner, get pinched between equipment, get the bends coming in from a spacewalk, or be exposed to poisonous gas. Various things can happen.”

“We have full-911 capability on board,” Hadfield continued. “We can react, we can strap someone down, get them on oxygen, inject them with things to get their heart going again, or use defibrillators. We need to know how to intubate people and give them forced breathing. We need to know how to react.”

Medical training includes practicing emergency medical procedures such as stitches.

They have small pharmacy on board, and need to know a lot of procedures. “Of course we always have medical help on-call from the ground, but you could easily have to deal with a burn or something in an eye, so I’ve trained working in an emergency room at a hospital in Houston,” Hadfield said, doing things from making a quick diagnosis to inserting catheters or IVs, or sewing stitches on wounds “ so I can get comfortable doing those things to the human body.”

Astronauts on the ISS practicing CPR: “How do you give CPR without gravity to hold you down? Like this!,” Tweeted Hadfield.

This video shows some of the emergency medical training the crew receives:

Next: Astronaut Food

Additional articles in this series:
How to Train for Long Duration Space Flight with Chris Hadfield
How to Train for a Mission to the ISS: Medical Mayhem
How to Train for a Mission to the ISS: Eating in Space
How to Train for a Mission to the ISS: The Soyuz

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

How to Train for Long-Duration Spaceflight, with Chris Hadfield

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield prior to his world-famous Expedition 34/35 mission in 2013. Credit: NASA

Astronaut Chris Hadfield getting dressed for work – “with a little help from my friends,” he said.

On December 19, 2012, a trio of Expedition 34 crewmembers are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and head towards their home in space for six months, the International Space Station. Among the crew is Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who for over two years has been training for this flight. During that time, Hadfield has been sharing his training experiences through Twitter and Facebook, letting the public get an inside look at what it takes to prepare for a long-duration spaceflight. Some of this training – much of it, in fact – is not pretty or glamorous or easy. But it will get you to one of the most unique destinations that humans have ever gone.

With Hadfield’s help, we’re going to share some of his training experiences and insights from the past two years as we wait for his launch in ten days. Hadfield is now in quarantine in Kazakhstan, making final preparations for his flight with crewmates Tom Marshburn and Roman Romanenko.

“Enemas and Barf Bags – the less glamorous side of spaceflight 🙂 From today’s medical briefings in quarantine,” Tweeted Hadfield on December 9, 2012.

“When you first become an astronaut,” Hadfield said earlier this year from his office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, “your training is like a big pyramid. Initially, it is like the bottom of the pyramid and is very broad-brush, where you cover a lot of topics but don’t get into super-detail. Then you start getting more and more detail on specific things like systems, specialties, and robotics, and then start getting deeper and deeper into each of them.”

“But then, when you get assigned to a flight, you review all those things and then start focusing on things that a pertinent to your increment, and when you get closer to the flight you start putting everything together and do simulations where you have to know the things that you really need to know,” Hadfield explained, adding that this is similar to studying at any university, and then going out into the real world….except that the stakes are much higher in space, and your life can depend on your training.

At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 34 Flight Engineer Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency conducts a “fit check” dress rehearsal inside the Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft Dec. 7, 2012. Credit: NASA

“The training starts with a lot of theory and classroom and powerpoint and exams through simulations and practical things,” Hadfield said. For example, the morning we talked with him, he had spent an hour learning how to repair the water processing and urine purification systems on the ISS, then went on to inventory management of food, learning how to keep track and store the food. The next day, he was have a “day in the life” simulation where he and Marshburn would spend a day as if they were on the ISS, practicing everything from their daily planning conference and getting their the daily uplink messages, to sampling the indoor atmosphere, fixing broken equipment, and doing inventory.

“We’re going from theoretical to practical,” Hadfield said.

“I’m studying for my final 7 exams to qualify for spaceflight,” said Hadfield on November 5, 2012.”

On top of the general training is the specific training for the science and various payloads that will be part of their expedition. That training is often very specific.

“With some we have to get quite hands on, like doing a cardio ultrasound where we the technician, and others where we just have to monitor the power systems,” Hadfield said. “It all blends together and as you get closer to the top of the pyramid, it gets very focused on what you need to know.”

“The Final Sim – the biggie, 8 hours in the Soyuz where they throw everything at us. We’re ready!” said Hadfield on November 27, 2012.

Hadfield is a veteran of two previous space flights on the space shuttle but this will be his first long-duration flight on the ISS.

“Both times I thought, wow, I wish I could stay,” Hadfield said. “To leave earth for awhile, change your zip code for awhile and really leave Earth; I was jealous of that experience. Now after a lot of lucky coincidences and a lot of hard work I get to be one of those who stays for an extended period off the planet. I’m really looking forward to it.”

“4 Flags over Kazakhstan – I was proud to raise the Maple Leaf, now flying above our Quarantine here in Baikonur,” Tweeted Hadfield on December 10, 2012.

And there’s a bit of Canadian pride that goes along with this. Hadfield was the first Canadian to operate the robotic Canadarm in space in 1995 and on his second flight in 2001 Hadfield made the first Canadian spacewalk as he attached Canadarm2 to the International Space Station.

And now, in another first for a Canadian, Hadfield will take command of the ISS for the second half of his mission, lead a crew of two Americans and three Russians during the final three months.

“Russian crew poster. Happy to be cast as Tommy Lee Jones,” said Hadfield on November 29, 2012.

“Astronaut Glamour Shot – white underwear, black socks, Snoopy helmet & leather slippers. The ensemble screams ‘cool'” Tweeted Hadfield on October 31, 2012.

Video: Chris Hadfield Suits-up and Signs-off on his final Soyuz Qualification exam

Video: School is never out for an astronaut – Chris Hadfield in Star City, Russia. Translation: “We are walking to work—to school—at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City, Russia.”

Additional articles in this series:
How to Train for Long Duration Space Flight with Chris Hadfield
How to Train for a Mission to the ISS: Medical Mayhem
How to Train for a Mission to the ISS: Eating in Space
How to Train for a Mission to the ISS: The Soyuz

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

International Space Station Making New Solar Observations

The International Space Station. Credit: NASA

This weekend the International Space Station will turn itself to face the Sun, enabling ESA’s SOLAR instrument to capture an entire rotation of the solar surface. This is the first time the Station has changed attitude for scientific reasons alone.

This instrument has been on the ISS since 2008, and for the first time will record a full rotation of the Sun. It began this effort on November 19, 2012, and on December 1, the Station will spend two hours turning about 7 degrees so that observations can continue. It will hold this angle for ten days before returning to its original attitude.

“We want to record a complete rotation of the Sun and that takes around 25 days,” said Nadia This, operations engineer at the Belgian User Support and Operations Centre that controls SOLAR.

SOLAR needs to be in direct view of the Sun to take measurements but the Space Station’s normal orbit obscures the view for two weeks every month.

All the international partners had to agree on changing the ISS’s orientation.

However, moving a 450-ton orbital outpost the size of a city block isn’t a simple undertaking. Aside from calculating the correct orbit to keep SOLAR in view of the Sun, other factors need to be taken into account such as ensuring the solar panels that power the Station also face the Sun. Additionally, communication antennas need to be reoriented to stay in contact with Earth and other scientific experiments must be adjusted.

The SOLAR instrument located on the exterior of the Columbus module on the ISS. Credit: ESA

The SOLAR instrument was originally designed to last about 18 months, but has been going strong for 5 years. It is installed on the outside of the ESA’s Columbus module.

The SOLAR payload consists of three instruments to the solar spectral irradiance throughout virtually the whole electromagnetic spectrum.

The three complementary solar science instruments are:

SOVIM (SOlar Variable and Irradiance Monitor), which covers near-UV, visible and thermal regions of the spectrum.
SOLSPEC (SOLar SPECctral Irradiance measurements) covers the 180 nm – 3 000 nm range.
SOL-ACES (SOLar Auto-Calibrating Extreme UV/UV Spectrophotometers) measures the EUV/UV spectral regime.

Scientists say SOLAR’s observations are improving our understanding of the Sun and allowing scientists to create accurate computer models and predict its behavior.

Source: ESA

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Inspiring New ISS Timelapse: Further Up Yonder

As humble as it may be, the International Space Station is our long-awaited outpost in space; a foothold and gateway to the cosmos. This stirring and poignant new ISS timelapse reminds us of our accomplishments so far while urging us on to keep exploring. This video was compiled by film-making student Giacomo Sardelli, who says, “People on Earth must understand that they have to get rid of the concept of borders on our planet if they want to follow the astronauts to new worlds in outer space.”

In the first part of the video, while the astronauts and cosmonauts are speaking, a day passes on Earth, from dawn to sunset. Then a “gateway” of sorts appears to open with a burst of light. “The ISS then gains speed and goes faster and faster, the astronauts are leaving our planet which they see spinning faster and faster, merging earth, oceans and people together, ready to follow them, Further Up Yonder,” writes Sardelli.

Beautiful.

Further Up Yonder from Giacomo Sardelli on Vimeo.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

NASA, Roscosmos Choose First Crew for Year-Long ISS Mission

Back in October the partnering countries of the International Space Station announced an agreement to send two crew members to the International Space Station on a one-year mission designed to collect valuable scientific data needed to send humans to new destinations in the solar system. Today, NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) announced they have selected the first crew to be part of such a mission: NASA has selected Scott Kelly and Roscosmos has chosen Mikhail Kornienko.

Kelly and Kornienko begin their mission in the spring of 2015, launching on Russian Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in spring 2015 and will land in Kazakhstan in spring 2016. Kelly and Kornienko have trained together before, as Kelly was a backup crew member for the station’s Expedition 23/24 crews, where Kornienko served as a flight engineer.

“Congratulations to Scott and Mikhail on their selection for this important mission,” said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Their skills and previous experience aboard the space station align with the mission’s requirements. The one-year increment will expand the bounds of how we live and work in space and will increase our knowledge regarding the effects of microgravity on humans as we prepare for future missions beyond low-Earth orbit.”

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly

Kelly is the twin brother of former astronaut Mark Kelly, who is married to Gabrielle Giffords, the former US Congresswoman who was shot by an assailant in January of 2011.

The goal of their yearlong expedition is to understand better how the human body reacts and adapts to the harsh environment of space. Data from the 12-month expedition will help inform current assessments of crew performance and health and will determine better and validate countermeasures to reduce the risks associated with future exploration as NASA plans for missions around the moon, an asteroid and ultimately Mars.

“Selection of the candidate for the one year mission was thorough and difficult due to the number of suitable candidates from the Cosmonaut corps,” said head of Russian Federal Space Agency, Vladimir Popovkin. “We have chosen the most responsible, skilled and enthusiastic crew members to expand space exploration, and we have full confidence in them.”

Kelly, a captain in the U.S. Navy, is from Orange, N.J. He has degrees from the State University of New York Maritime College and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He served as a pilot on space shuttle mission STS-103 in 1999, commander on STS-118 in 2007, flight engineer on the International Space Station Expedition 25 in 2010 and commander of Expedition 26 in 2011. Kelly has logged more than 180 days in space.

Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko

Kornienko is from the Syzran, Kuibyshev region of Russia. He is a former paratrooper officer and graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute as a specialist in airborne systems. He has worked in the space industry since 1986 when he worked at Rocket and Space Corporation-Energia as a spacewalk handbook specialist. He was selected as an Energia test cosmonaut candidate in 1998 and trained as an International Space Station Expedition 8 backup crew member. Kornienko served as a flight engineer on the station’s Expedition 23/24 crews in 2010 and has logged more than 176 days in space.

During the 12 years of permanent human presence aboard the International Space Station, scientists and researchers have gained valuable, and often surprising, data on the effects of microgravity on bone density, muscle mass, strength, vision and other aspects of human physiology. This yearlong stay will allow for greater analysis of these effects and trends.

Kelly and Kornienko will begin a two-year training program in the United States, Russia and other partner nations starting early next year.