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Mission Overview
On April 7, two Russian cosmonauts Making his second flight into space, Fyodor
aboard the Soyuz TMA-10 will launch to the Yurchikhin (Fee-OH'-dur YOUR’-cheek-in),
International Space Station, joining an 48, will command the Expedition 15 mis-
American astronaut for one of the most sion. He is an engineer for RSC-Energia
complex expeditions since permanent hu- who flew on the STS-112 mission that de-
man occupancy of the complex began al- livered the starboard one (S1) truss to the
most seven years ago. outpost.
1
Cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, representing Russia's Federal
Space Agency, has been assigned as Expedition 15
flight engineer and Soyuz commander.
Joining Yurchikhin is fellow Russian cos- tle Endeavour's mission STS-118. That
monaut Oleg Kotov (AH’-leg KO’-tuff), 41, flight will carry Expedition 15 crew member
who will serve as flight engineer and Soyuz and NASA astronaut Clayton Anderson, 48,
commander for launch, landing and on-orbit to the complex. He will return home aboard
operations. This is Kotov’s first flight. He is Atlantis on mission STS-120.
a cosmonaut-researcher and medical doc-
tor for the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training The Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft will launch
Center in Star City, Russia. Their stay from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakh-
aboard the station is expected to last ap- stan for a two-day flight to link up to the
proximately six months. Zvezda Service Module on the station.
Joining them on the Soyuz is U.S. busi-
Yurchikhin and Kotov will join NASA astro- nessman Charles Simonyi, 58, a former ex-
naut and Navy Cmdr. Sunita (Suni) Wil- ecutive with Microsoft Corp., who will spend
liams, 41, who flew to the station on shuttle 10 days on the station under a contract
Discovery’s STS-116 mission in December signed with the Russian Federal Space
2006. She will return to Earth aboard shut- Agency (Roscosmos).
2
Charles Simonyi will fly as a space flight participant
on the Expedition 15 mission.
Simonyi will return to Earth on the Soyuz receive proficiency training on the Cana-
TMA-9 capsule with Expedition 14 Com- darm2 robotic arm from the resident crew
mander Mike Lopez-Alegria (Ah-luh-GREE’- and engage in safety briefings as well as
uh), 48, and Flight Engineer and Soyuz payload and scientific equipment training.
Commander Mikhail Tyurin (Tee-YOUR’-in),
47, landing in central Kazakhstan. Lopez- The change of command ceremony marks
Alegria and Tyurin have been aboard the the formal control of the station by Yur-
station since September 2006. chikhin and Kotov just days before the Ex-
pedition 14 crew members and Simonyi de-
Once on board, Yurchikhin and Kotov will part the station. Tyurin, at the controls of
conduct more than a week of handover ac- Soyuz, Lopez-Alegria and Simonyi will land
tivities with Lopez-Alegria, Tyurin and Wil- in the steppes of Kazakhstan to conclude
liams, familiarizing themselves with station their mission. Simonyi’s mission will span
systems and procedures. They also will 12 days.
3
After landing, the trio will be flown from Ka- nology demonstrations. Many experiments
zakhstan to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Train- are designed to gather information about
ing Center in Star City, for approximately the effects of long-duration spaceflight on
two weeks of initial physical rehabilitation. the human body, which will help with plan-
Due to the brevity of his fight, Simonyi will ning future exploration missions to the
spend significantly less time acclimating moon and Mars. The science team at the
himself to Earth’s gravity than Tyurin and Payload Operations Integration Center at
Lopez-Alegria. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, Ala., will operate some experi-
The crew will work with experiments across ments without crew input and other experi-
a wide variety of fields, including human life ments are designed to function autono-
sciences, physical sciences and Earth ob- mously.
servation, as well as education and tech-
4
The station crew is expected to greet the segment to the station and replace a failed
arrival of two Russian Progress resupply control moment gyroscope. Additionally,
cargo ships filled with food, fuel, water and the shuttle will fly Anderson to the complex,
supplies that will augment the delivery of replacing Williams. Further, the mission will
supplies on visiting shuttles. The ISS Pro- highlight the first flight of Educator Astro-
gress 25 cargo is targeted to reach the sta- naut and Mission Specialist Barbara Mor-
tion in May, and ISS Progress 26 is slated gan, who will be part of Endeavour’s crew
for August. If all goes as planned, the Ex- and will handle crucial robotics work
pedition 15 crew also will greet two visiting throughout the flight.
shuttles.
Other mission tasks include using the
During the STS-117 mission, Atlantis will Canadarm2 robotic arm in August to move
deliver the starboard three and four (S3/S4) one of the station’s docking ports, the Pres-
truss and a new set of solar arrays to the surized Mating Adapter-3 (PMA-3), from the
station. The mission was scheduled for port side of the Unity module to the nadir
Expedition 14, but was postponed due to side, clearing the port side for the tempo-
hail damage to Atlantis’ external fuel tank rary installation of Harmony (Node 2) during
on Feb 26. the STS-120 mission targeted for later this
year.
The next shuttle mission, Endeavour’s STS-
118, will bring the starboard five (S5) truss
5
U.S. and Russian specialists are reviewing vicer, which was attached to the P6 truss to
the tasks expected to be included in as replenish ammonia for cooling lines for the
many as three spacewalks planned for Ex- early thermal control system for the station.
pedition 15. Yurchikhin and Kotov will do That temporary system has been shut down
the first two spacewalks out of the Pirs air- in favor of the station’s permanent cooling
lock on the station's Russian segment. system, and the ammonia reservoir is no
They will wear Russian Orlan suits and in- longer required.
stall micrometeoroid debris shields on the
Zvezda module that were delivered to the Anderson and Yurchikhin also will discon-
complex in December on the STS-116 shut- nect electrical connections between PMA-3
tle mission. Yurchikhin, Kotov and Ander- and Unity in advance of its relocation and
son will conduct their first spacewalks dur- install equipment for additional video hard-
ing Expedition 15. ware that will accompany future station as-
sembly missions.
The third spacewalk will feature Anderson
and Yurchikhin in U.S. suits exiting from the Also on the crew’s agenda is work with
Quest airlock. They will jettison an ammo- Canadarm2 that will support the space-
nia reservoir tank, the Early Ammonia Ser- walks and observe the station’s exterior.
6
Expedition 15 Crew
Since graduating from the Sergei neer for the Shuttle-Mir and NASA-Mir Pro-
Ordzhonikidze Moscow Aviation Institute in grams. In August 1997, he began training
1983, Yurchikhin, 48, has worked at the as a cosmonaut and in October 2002, flew
Russian Space Corporation-Energia. He aboard STS-112 as a mission specialist,
began working as a flight controller in the logging a total of 10 days, 19 hours, and 58
Russian Mission Control Center in Korolev, minutes in space.
Russia, eventually becoming a lead engi-
7
Oleg Kotov, M.D., Lt. Col., Russian Air Force, Expedition 15
flight engineer and Soyuz commander
After serving as a backup crew member to pleting his initial training, has served as a
the Mir-26 mission, and backup flight engi- cosmonaut-researcher and test-cosmonaut
neer and Soyuz commander on Expedition of the Cosmonaut Office and also worked
6 and 13, Dr. Kotov is the flight engineer as a CAPCOM (Capsule or Spacecraft
and the Soyuz commander for Expedition Communicator) for Expedition 3 and 4 in
15. A 1988 graduate of the Kirov Military Mission Control Center in Moscow, as well
Medical Academy, he was selected as a as the Moscow Support Group in Houston.
cosmonaut candidate in 1996. Since com-
8
Sunita Williams, Cmdr., USN, Expedition 15 flight engineer
Williams, who arrived on the space station spacewalks were conducted with Expedi-
in December 2006 on shuttle Discovery tion 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria.
during the STS-116 mission, will remain as Williams was selected by NASA in June
a flight engineer for part of Expedition 15. 1998. She worked in Moscow with Russian
Although this is her first spaceflight mission, space officials on Russian segment sys-
Williams holds the spacewalk duration tems development for the station and with
world record for females with a total extra- the first Expedition crew to the station. Wil-
vehicular activity time of 29 hour, 17 min- liams is scheduled to wrap up her long-
utes over four spacewalks. Her first space- duration spaceflight midway through Expe-
walk was with veteran spacewalker Bob dition 15 and return to Earth via the space
Curbeam during STS-116. The other three shuttle Endeavour on the STS-118 mission.
9
Clayton Anderson, flight engineer
Replacing Williams as the Expedition 15 flight gressed to chief of the Flight Design
engineer, Anderson will join the crew during the Branch. He was selected to join NASA’s
STS-118 shuttle mission. Anderson is a gradu- astronaut corps in 1998. He most recently
ate of Hastings College in Nebraska and was back-up flight engineer for Expeditions
Iowa State University. He joined NASA in 12, 13 and 14 to the station. He is sched-
1983 in the Mission Planning and Analysis uled to return to Earth on shuttle mission
Division, before moving on to the Mission STS-120.
Operations Directorate where he pro-
10
Daniel Tani
A veteran of a prior space shuttle flight, ing the EVA Branch and as a Crew Support
Tani will also serve as Flight Engineer for a Astronaut for Expedition-4. Tani flew on
brief time during Expedition 15. Tani is STS-108 in 2001, and has logged more 11
slated to arrive to the station on STS-120, days in space, including a space walk to
and stay onboard with Expedition 16. He is wrap thermal blankets around ISS Solar Ar-
scheduled to return to Earth on Discovery ray Gimbals. He also trained and qualified
on STS-122. A Massachusetts Institute of as the backup flight engineer for Expedi-
Technology graduate, Tani joined NASA in tion 11.
1996. He served in numerous roles, includ-
11
Charles Simonyi, spaceflight participant
Born in Budapest, Hungary but a natural- hail Tyurin. Simonyi came to the United
ized American citizen, Charles Simonyi will States in 1968 and is a graduate of the Uni-
serve as the fifth spaceflight participant to versity of California at Berkeley and Stan-
visit the International Space Station and the ford University. He has an extensive career
third U.S. spaceflight participant. He will in software development including work at
travel to the orbital outpost with Yurchikhin Xerox Corp. and Microsoft, Inc. and
and Kotov and spend 11 days aboard be- founded Intentional Software Corp., a soft-
fore returning with Expedition 14 crew ware engineering firm. Simonyi gained his
members, Michael Lopez-Alegria and Mik- American citizenship in 1982.
12
Expedition 15 Spacewalks
During three planned spacewalks, Expedi- The servicer, a reservoir for the initial cool-
tion 15 crew members will install 17 debris ing system used on the complex, is on the
panels designed to shield the station's station’s P6 integrated truss segment. The
Zvezda service module from micrometeor- EAS held reserve ammonia for the station’s
ites and remove and jettison the space sta- early external thermal control system. It is
tion’s Early Ammonia Servicer, or EAS. about the size of a large refrigerator weigh-
ing 1,400 pounds.
13
The early external thermal control system The spacewalkers will use the Strela to
was a temporary cooling system for the grasp the “Christmas tree” adapter and then
space station and its equipment. That sys- move it to the Zvezda service module to
tem is no longer used because the station’s again temporarily stow the bundles.
permanent external thermal control system
was activated during the STS-116 mission Next, the two spacewalkers will move the
in December 2006 and during Expedi- Strela back to the Pirs docking compart-
tion 14. ment and begin to install the debris panels
on the handrails of the module’s cone
Two of the Expedition 15 spacewalks are shaped section. This section is located be-
designated as Russian spacewalks be- tween the small and large diameters of
cause the astronauts will exit from the Pirs Zvezda.
airlock and use Russian Orlan spacesuits.
The third spacewalk will be a U.S. space- Each panel is hollow and about 1 meter tall,
walk conducted from the station’s Quest 0.5 meters wide, and 10 centimeters thick.
airlock using U.S. spacesuits.
The spacewalkers will install one set of
The spacewalks will be the first for all three panels during the first EVA and leave two
crew members. sets for the second spacewalk. Installation
of the shields will complete the additional
The Russian Spacewalks protection required on that section. Six
similar shields were installed on an earlier
The first spacewalk -- also known as an ex- Expedition. The debris panels will protect
travehicular activity or EVA -- is slated for the service module against micrometeroid
June 1 and is designated Russian EVA 18. impacts.
The second spacewalk is scheduled for
June 7 and will be Russian EVA 19. Both During the second Russian spacewalk,
spacewalks will be conducted by Expedition Yurchikhin and Kotov will again leave the
15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Pirs docking compartment, move to where
Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov. the debris panel bundles are stowed and
complete installation of the panels on the
During the first spacewalk, Yurchikhin and service module. After the panels are in-
Kotov will leave the station, extend the stalled, the crew will photograph the panels.
manually operated Strela, a 45-foot Rus- These photographs will give the ground
sian crane attached to the Pirs airlock, to crew a close-up view of the panel installa-
Pressurized Mating Adapter 3 (PMA-3) lo- tion.
cated on the Unity Node and then move to
the adapter. Once in place, the spacewalk- If time permits, the crew will also install a
ers will use the Strela to retrieve the three computer network cable on the Russian
bundles of debris panels stowed on the segment modules which, once attached on
pressurized mating adapter during STS- the U.S. segment, will enable commands to
116. The panel bundles are mounted on a be sent from the U.S. modules to the Rus-
holder called a “Christmas tree." Each bun- sian portion of the outpost.
dle includes six or seven shields.
14
Cosmonaut Oleg V. Kotov (left), Expedition 15 flight engineer, participates in an EMU
spacesuit fit check in the Space Station Airlock Test Article (SSATA) in the Crew
Systems Laboratory at Johnson Space Center. Yurchikhin assisted Kotov.
15
The first task for Anderson and Yurchikhin As the servicer moves away from the sta-
will be to jettison a stanchion, a support tion, it will begin to sink because trace
post, for an exterior video camera. It needs amounts of atmosphere that exist at the
to be cleared for future additions to the sta- station’s altitude create drag, or resistance
tion. to motion. Because the servicer’s relative
drag is similar to the space station’s relative
However, the most important task during drag, flight controllers plan to fire thrusters
EVA 9 is the removal and jettison of the to boost the station the day after the
Early Ammonia Servicer. Originally, a shut- spacewalk to insure the servicer is cleared
tle was expected to return the servicer to from station’s orbit.
Earth. But, because it is nearing its struc-
tural life expectancy, engineers were con- The spacewalkers will have spent more
cerned an ammonia leak could occur in the than 100 hours training for the two jettisons,
shuttle’s payload bay during return and including time in NASA’s underwater Neu-
place the shuttle crew at risk. tral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) and Virtual
Reality (VR) Laboratory, and work in robot-
Once the cables have been removed from ics simulators and on an air bearing floor
the servicer, Anderson will jettison it by that works much like an air-hockey table.
simply pushing it away. Valves on the ser-
vicer were secured by Expedition 14 Other scheduled tasks for the spacewalkers
spacewalkers Mike Lopez-Alegria and Suni are being finalized.
Williams in February during Expedition 14.
16
Russian Soyuz TMA
The Soyuz TMA spacecraft is designed to for docking. There is also a window in the
serve as the International Space Station's module.
crew return vehicle, acting as a lifeboat in
the unlikely event an emergency would re- The opposite end of the orbital module
quire the crew to leave the station. A new connects to the descent module via a pres-
Soyuz capsule is normally delivered to the surized hatch. Before returning to Earth,
station by a Soyuz crew every six months, the orbital module separates from the de-
replacing an older Soyuz capsule at the scent module—after the deorbit maneu-
ISS. ver—and burns up upon re-entry into the
atmosphere.
The Soyuz spacecraft is launched to the
space station from the Baikonur Cos- Descent Module
modrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz
rocket. It consists of an orbital module, a The descent module is where the cosmo-
descent module and an instrumenta- nauts and astronauts sit for launch, re-entry
tion/propulsion module. and landing. All the necessary controls and
displays of the Soyuz are here. The mod-
Orbital Module ule also contains life support supplies and
batteries used during descent, as well as
This portion of the Soyuz spacecraft is used the primary and backup parachutes and
by the crew while on orbit during free-flight. landing rockets. It also contains custom-
It has a volume of 6.5 cubic meters fitted seat liners for each crewmember, in-
(230 cubic feet), with a docking mechanism, dividually molded to fit each person's
hatch and rendezvous antennas located at body—this ensures a tight, comfortable fit
the front end. The docking mechanism is when the module lands on the Earth. When
used to dock with the space station and the crewmembers are brought to the station
hatch allows entry into the station. The aboard the space shuttle, their seat liners
rendezvous antennas are used by the are brought with them and transferred to
automated docking system—a radar-based the existing Soyuz spacecraft as part of
system—to maneuver towards the station crew handover activities.
17
The module has a periscope, which allows Soyuz launch rocket are located in this
the crew to view the docking target on the compartment.
station or the Earth below. The eight hy-
drogen peroxide thrusters located on the The propulsion compartment contains the
module are used to control the spacecraft's system that is used to perform any maneu-
orientation, or attitude, during the descent vers while in orbit, including rendezvous
until parachute deployment. It also has a and docking with the space station and the
guidance, navigation and control system to deorbit burns necessary to return to Earth.
maneuver the vehicle during the descent The propellants are nitrogen tetroxide and
phase of the mission. unsymmetric-dimethylhydrazine. The main
propulsion system and the smaller reaction
This module weighs 2,900 kilograms control system, used for attitude changes
(6,393 pounds), with a habitable volume of while in space, share the same propellant
4 cubic meters (141 cubic feet). Approxi- tanks.
mately 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of pay-
load can be returned to Earth in this module The two Soyuz solar arrays are attached to
and up to 150 kilograms (331 pounds) if either side of the rear section of the instru-
only two crewmembers are present. The mentation/propulsion module and are linked
Descent Module is the only portion of the to rechargeable batteries. Like the orbital
Soyuz that survives the return to Earth. module, the intermediate section of the in-
strumentation/propulsion module separates
Instrumentation/Propulsion Module from the descent module after the final
deorbit maneuver and burns up in atmos-
This module contains three compartments: phere upon re-entry.
intermediate, instrumentation and propul-
sion. TMA Improvements and Testing
The intermediate compartment is where the The Soyuz TMA spacecraft is a replace-
module connects to the descent module. It ment for the Soyuz TM, which was used
also contains oxygen storage tanks and the from 1986 to 2002 to take astronauts and
attitude control thrusters, as well as elec- cosmonauts to Mir and then to the Interna-
tronics, communications and control tional Space Station.
equipment. The primary guidance, naviga-
tion, control and computer systems of the The TMA increases safety, especially in
Soyuz are in the instrumentation compart- descent and landing. It has smaller and
ment, which is a sealed container filled with more efficient computers and improved dis-
circulating nitrogen gas to cool the avionics plays. In addition, the Soyuz TMA accom-
equipment. The propulsion compartment modates individuals as large as 1.9 meters
contains the primary thermal control system (6 feet, 3 inches tall) and 95 kilograms (209
and the Soyuz radiator, with a cooling area pounds), compared to 1.8 meters (6 feet)
of 8 square meters (86 square feet). The and 85 kilograms (187 pounds) in the ear-
propulsion system, batteries, solar arrays, lier TM. Minimum crewmember size for the
radiator and structural connection to the TMA is 1.5 meters (4 feet, 11 inches) and
50 kilograms (110 pounds), compared to
18
1.6 meters (5 feet, 4 inches) and 56 kilo- with the TMA's additional mass), were
grams (123 pounds) for the TM. tested on flights of Progress unpiloted sup-
ply spacecraft, while the new cooling sys-
Two new engines reduce landing speed tem was tested on two Soyuz TM flights.
and forces felt by crewmembers by 15 to
30 percent and a new entry control system Descent module structural modifications,
and three-axis accelerometer increase seats and seat shock absorbers were
landing accuracy. Instrumentation im- tested in hangar drop tests. Landing sys-
provements include a color "glass cockpit," tem modifications, including associated
which is easier to use and gives the crew software upgrades, were tested in a series
more information, with hand controllers that of airdrop tests. Additionally, extensive
can be secured under an instrument panel. tests of systems and components were
All the new components in the Soyuz TMA conducted on the ground.
can spend up to one year in space.
Soyuz Launcher
New components and the entire TMA were
rigorously tested on the ground, in han- Throughout history, more than
gar-drop tests, in airdrop tests and in space 1,500 launches have been made with
before the spacecraft was declared Soyuz launchers to orbit satellites for tele-
flight-ready. For example, the accelerome- communications, Earth observation,
ter and associated software, as well as weather, and scientific missions, as well as
modified boosters (incorporated to cope for human flights.
19
A Soyuz launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.
20
The basic Soyuz vehicle is considered a has four vernier thrusters, necessary for
three-stage launcher in Russian terms and three-axis flight control after the first stage
is composed of: boosters have separated.
• A lower portion consisting of four boost- An equipment bay located atop the second
ers (first stage) and a central core (sec- stage operates during the entire flight of the
ond stage). first and second stages.
The first stage’s four boosters are assem- A single-turbopump RD 0110 engine from
bled around the second stage central core. KB KhA powers the Soyuz third stage.
The boosters are identical and cylindrical-
conic in shape with the oxygen tank in the The third stage engine is fired for about
cone-shaped portion and the kerosene tank 240 seconds. Cutoff occurs at a calculated
in the cylindrical portion. velocity. After cutoff and separation, the
third stage performs an avoidance maneu-
An NPO Energomash RD 107 engine with ver by opening an outgassing valve in the
four main chambers and two gimbaled liquid oxygen tank.
vernier thrusters is used in each booster.
The vernier thrusters provide three-axis Launcher Telemetry Tracking & Flight
flight control. Safety Systems
Ignition of the first stage boosters and the Soyuz launcher tracking and telemetry is
second stage central core occur simultane- provided through systems in the second
ously on the ground. When the boosters and third stages. These two stages have
have completed their powered flight during their own radar transponders for ground
ascent, they are separated and the core tracking. Individual telemetry transmitters
second stage continues to function. are in each stage. Launcher health status
is downlinked to ground stations along the
First stage separation occurs when the flight path. Telemetry and tracking data are
pre-defined velocity is reached, which is transmitted to the mission control center,
about 118 seconds after liftoff. where the incoming data flow is recorded.
Partial real-time data processing and plot-
Second Stage ting is performed for flight following and ini-
tial performance assessment. All flight data
An NPO Energomash RD 108 engine pow- is analyzed and documented within a few
ers the Soyuz second stage. This engine hours after launch.
21
Baikonur Cosmodrome Launch hearsal is performed that includes activa-
Operations tion of all electrical and mechanical equip-
ment.
Soyuz missions use the Baikonur Cos-
modrome’s proven infrastructure, and On launch day, the vehicle is loaded with
launches are performed by trained person- propellant and the final countdown se-
nel with extensive operational experience. quence is started at three hours before the
liftoff time.
Baikonur Cosmodrome is in the Republic of
Kazakhstan in Central Asia between 45 de- Rendezvous to Docking
grees and 46 degrees north latitude and 63
degrees east longitude. Two launch pads A Soyuz spacecraft generally takes two
are dedicated to Soyuz missions. days to reach the space station. The ren-
dezvous and docking are both automated,
Final Launch Preparations though once the spacecraft is within 150
meters (492 feet) of the station, the Russian
The assembled launch vehicle is moved to Mission Control Center just outside Moscow
the launch pad on a railcar. Transfer to the monitors the approach and docking. The
launch zone occurs two days before launch. Soyuz crew has the capability to manually
The vehicle is erected and a launch re- intervene or execute these operations.
22
Soyuz Booster Rocket Characteristics
23
Prelaunch Countdown Timeline
24
T- 2:30 Booster propellant tank pressurization starts
Onboard measurement system activated by RUN 2 command
Prelaunch pressurization of all tanks with nitrogen begins
T- 2:15 Oxidizer and fuel drain and safety valves of launch vehicle are
closed
Ground filling of oxidizer and nitrogen to the launch vehicle is ter-
minated
T- 1:00 Vehicle on internal power
Automatic sequencer on
First umbilical tower separates from booster
T- :40 Ground power supply umbilical to third stage is disconnected
T- :20 Launch command given at the launch position
Central and side pod engines are turned on
T- :15 Second umbilical tower separates from booster
T- :10 Engine turbopumps at flight speed
T- :05 First stage engines at maximum thrust
T- :00 Fueling tower separates
Lift off
Ascent/Insertion Timeline
25
Orbital Insertion to Docking Timeline
26
FLIGHT DAY 1 OVERVIEW (CONTINUED)
Orbit 4 Crew report on burn performance upon AOS
(continued) - HM and DM pressure checks read down
- Post burn Form 23 (AOS/LOS pad), Form 14 and "Globe" cor-
rections voiced up
- A/G, R/T and Recorded TLM and Display TV downlink
- Radar and radio transponder tracking
Manual maneuver to +Y to Sun and initiate a 2 deg/sec yaw
rotation. MCS is deactivated after rate is established.
External boresight TV camera ops check (while LOS)
Meal
Orbit 5 Last pass on Russian tracking range for Flight Day 1
Report on TV camera test and crew health
Sokol suit clean up
- A/G, R/T and Recorded TLM and Display TV downlink
- Radar and radio transponder tracking
Orbit 6-12 Crew Sleep, off of Russian tracking range
- Emergency VHF2 comm available through NASA VHF Network
FLIGHT DAY 2 OVERVIEW
Orbit 13 Post sleep activity, report on HM/DM Pressures
Form 14 revisions voiced up
- A/G, R/T and Recorded TLM and Display TV downlink
- Radar and radio transponder tracking
Orbit 14 Configuration of RHC-2/THC-2 work station in the HM
- A/G, R/T and Recorded TLM and Display TV downlink
- Radar and radio transponder tracking
Orbit 15 THC-2 (HM) manual control test
- A/G, R/T and Recorded TLM and Display TV downlink
- Radar and radio transponder tracking
Orbit 16 Lunch
- A/G, R/T and Recorded TLM and Display TV downlink
- Radar and radio transponder tracking
Orbit 17 (1) Terminate +Y solar rotation, reactivate MCS and establish
LVLH attitude reference (auto maneuver sequence)
RHC-2 (HM) Test
- Burn data uplink (TIG, attitude, delta V)
- A/G, R/T and Recorded TLM and Display TV downlink
- Radar and radio transponder tracking
Auto maneuver to burn attitude (TIG - 8 min) while LOS
Rendezvous burn while LOS
Manual maneuver to +Y to Sun and initiate a 2 deg/sec yaw
rotation. MCS is deactivated after rate is established.
27
FLIGHT DAY 2 OVERVIEW (CONTINUED)
Orbit 18 (2) Post burn and manual maneuver to +Y Sun report when AOS
- HM/DM pressures read down
- Post burn Form 23, Form 14 and Form 2 (Globe correction)
voiced up
- A/G, R/T and Recorded TLM and Display TV downlink
- Radar and radio transponder tracking
Orbit 19 (3) CO2 scrubber cartridge change out
Free time
- A/G, R/T and Recorded TLM and Display TV downlink
- Radar and radio transponder tracking
Orbit 20 (4) Free time
- A/G, R/T and Recorded TLM and Display TV downlink
- Radar and radio transponder tracking
Orbit 21 (5) Last pass on Russian tracking range for Flight Day 2
Free time
- A/G, R/T and Recorded TLM and Display TV downlink
- Radar and radio transponder tracking
Orbit 22 (6) - 27 Crew sleep, off of Russian tracking range
(11)
- Emergency VHF2 comm available through NASA VHF Network
FLIGHT DAY 3 OVERVIEW
Orbit 28 (12) Post sleep activity
- A/G, R/T and Recorded TLM and Display TV downlink
- Radar and radio transponder tracking
Orbit 29 (13) Free time, report on HM/DM pressures
- Read up of predicted post burn Form 23 and Form 14
- A/G, R/T and Recorded TLM and Display TV downlink
- Radar and radio transponder tracking
Orbit 30 (14) Free time, read up of Form 2 "Globe Correction," lunch
- Uplink of auto rendezvous command timeline
- A/G, R/T and Recorded TLM and Display TV downlink
- Radar and radio transponder tracking
FLIGHT DAY 3 AUTO RENDEZVOUS SEQUENCE
Orbit 31 (15) Don Sokol spacesuits, ingress DM, close DM/HM hatch
- Active and passive vehicle state vector uplinks
- A/G, R/T and Recorded TLM and Display TV downlink
- Radio transponder tracking
28
FLIGHT DAY 3 AUTO RENDEZVOUS SEQUENCE (CONTINUED)
Orbit 32 (16) Terminate +Y solar rotation, reactivate MCS and establish
LVLH attitude reference (auto maneuver sequence)
Begin auto rendezvous sequence
- Crew monitoring of LVLH reference build and auto rendezvous
timeline execution
- A/G, R/T and Recorded TLM and Display TV downlink
- Radio transponder tracking
FLIGHT DAY 3 FINAL APPROACH AND DOCKING
Orbit 33 (1) Auto Rendezvous sequence continues, flyaround and station
keeping
- Crew monitor
- Comm relays via SM through Altair established
- Form 23 and Form 14 updates
- Fly around and station keeping initiated near end of orbit
- A/G (gnd stations and Altair), R/T TLM (gnd stations), Display
TV downlink (gnd stations and Altair)
- Radio transponder tracking
Orbit 34 (2) Final Approach and docking
- Capture to "docking sequence complete" 20 minutes, typically
- Monitor docking interface pressure seal
- Transfer to HM, doff Sokol suits
- A/G (gnd stations and Altair), R/T TLM (gnd stations), Display
TV downlink (gnd stations and Altair)
- Radio transponder tracking
FLIGHT DAY 3 STATION INGRESS
Orbit 35 (3) Station/Soyuz pressure equalization
- Report all pressures
- Open transfer hatch, ingress station
- A/G, R/T and playback telemetry
- Radio transponder tracking
29
Typical Soyuz Ground Track
30
Key Times for Expedition 15/14 International Space Station Events
31
Expedition 14/Simonyi Undocking from the ISS
32
EXPEDITION 14/ISS SOYUZ 13 (TMA-9) LANDING
For the ninth time in history, an American The departing crew will climb into the
astronaut will return to Earth from orbit in a Soyuz, closing the hatch between Soyuz
Russian Soyuz capsule. Expedition 14 and the station’s Zarya module where the
Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria will be vehicle is linked. Lopez-Alegria, the on-
aboard the International Space Station board engineer, will sit in the Soyuz’ left
Soyuz 13 (TMA-9) capsule as he, Soyuz seat for entry and landing. Tyurin will sit in
Commander Mikhail Tyurin and U.S. the center commander’s seat with Simonyi
Spaceflight Participant Charles Simonyi occupying the right seat.
touch down on the steppes of Kazakhstan
to complete their mission. Lopez-Alegria After activating Soyuz systems and getting
and Tyurin will be concluding seven months approval from Russian flight controllers at
in orbit, while Simonyi will return after a 12- the Russian Mission Control Center outside
day commercial flight. Moscow, Tyurin will send commands to
open hooks and latches between the Soyuz
The grounding of the space shuttle fleet fol- and Zarya module.
lowing the Columbia accident on Feb.1,
2003, necessitated the landing of Expedi- Tyurin will fire the Soyuz thrusters to back
tion crews in Soyuz capsules. The Expedi- away from Zarya. Six minutes after un-
tion 6 through 13 crews rode the Soyuz docking, with the Soyuz about 20 meters
home starting in May 2003. Some Ameri- away from the station, he will conduct a
cans will continue to return from space in separation maneuver, firing the Soyuz jets
Soyuz capsules while others fly home on for approximately 15 seconds to begin de-
space shuttles, depending on the timing of parture from the vicinity of the station.
crew rotation activities. The Soyuz pro-
vides an assured crew return capability for Less than 2.5 hours later, about 19 kilome-
residents aboard the station. ters from the station, Soyuz computers will
initiate a deorbit burn braking maneuver.
Lopez-Alegria, Tyurin and Simonyi will be The 4.5-minute engine firing will slow the
equipped with a satellite phone and Global spacecraft and enable it to drop out of orbit
Positioning System locator hardware for in- to begin its reentry to Earth.
stant communications with Russian recov-
ery teams. Less than a half hour later, just above the
Earth’s atmosphere, computers will com-
Three hours before undocking, Lopez- mand the separation of the three modules
Alegria, Tyurin and Simonyi will bid farewell of the Soyuz vehicle. The crew will return
to Expedition 15 crew members Com- in the descent module. The forward orbital
mander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engi- module, containing the docking mechanism
neers Oleg Kotov and Suni Williams, who and rendezvous antennas, and the rear in-
arrived at the station in December 2006. strumentation and propulsion module,
Williams will return to Earth on shuttle En- housing the engines and avionics, will pyro-
deavour’s STS-118 mission, targeted for technically separate and burn up in the at-
launch in summer 2007. mosphere.
33
The descent module’s computers will orient Within minutes, at an altitude of a little more
the capsule with its ablative heat shield than five kilometers, the crew will monitor
pointing forward to repel heat buildup as the the jettison of the descent module’s heat
craft plunges into the atmosphere. For the shield. That will be followed by termination
first time in almost six months, Lopez- of the aerodynamic spin cycle and dumping
Alegria and Tyurin will feel the effects of of any residual propellant. Computers also
gravity during entry interface, three minutes will arm the module’s seat shock absorbers
after module separation when the craft is in preparation for landing.
approximately 400,000 feet above the
Earth. When the capsule's heat shield is jetti-
soned, the Soyuz altimeter is exposed to
Eight minutes later, when the Soyuz is at an the surface of the Earth. Using a reflector
altitude of approximately 10 kilometers and system, signals are bounced to the ground
traveling at 220 meters per second, the from the Soyuz and reflected back, provid-
ship's computers will begin a commanded ing the capsule’s computers updated infor-
sequence to deploy the capsule’s para- mation on altitude and rate of descent.
chutes. First, two “pilot” parachutes will be
deployed, extracting a larger drogue para- At an altitude of about 12 meters, cockpit
chute, which stretches out over an area of displays will tell Tyurin and his crewmates
24 square meters. Within 16 seconds, the to prepare for the Soft Landing Engine
Soyuz’s descent will slow to about 80 me- (SLE) firing. Just one meter above the sur-
ters per second. face and seconds before touchdown, the
six solid propellant engines of the SLE are
Deployment of the parachute will create a fired in a final braking maneuver. The
gentle spin as the Soyuz dangles under- Soyuz touches down at a velocity of about
neath the drogue chute, increasing the cap- 1.5 meters per second.
sule’s stability in the final minutes prior to
touchdown. A recovery team, including a U.S. flight sur-
geon and astronaut support personnel, will
At this point, the drogue chute is jettisoned, be flying near the landing area in a convoy
and the main parachute is deployed. Con- of Russian military helicopters. Once the
nected to the descent module by two har- capsule touches down, the helicopters will
nesses, the main parachute covers an area land nearby to begin removing the crew.
of about 1,000 meters. Initially, the descent
module will hang underneath the parachute Within minutes of landing, a portable medi-
at a 30-degree angle with respect to the ho- cal tent will be set up near the capsule so
rizon for aerodynamic stability. The bottom the crew can change out of its launch and
harness will be severed a few minutes be- entry suits. Russian technicians will open
fore landing, allowing the descent module the module’s hatch and begin to remove the
to hang vertically through touchdown. The crew one at a time. The three crew mem-
deployment of the main parachute slows bers will sit in special reclining chairs near
the descent module to a velocity of about the capsule for initial medical tests and an
seven meters per second. opportunity to begin readapting to Earth’s
gravity.
34
Two hours after landing, the crew, assisted Assisted by a team of flight surgeons, Lo-
to the helicopters, will fly back to a staging pez-Alegria and Tyurin will undergo several
site in Kazakhstan, where local officials will weeks of medical tests and physical reha-
welcome them. The crew will then board a bilitation before returning to the United
Russian military transport plane to be flown States for additional debriefings and follow-
back to the Chkalovsky Airfield, which is up exams. Simonyi’s acclimation to Earth’s
adjacent to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Train- gravity will take a much shorter period of
ing Center in Star City, Russia, where their time due to the brevity of his flight.
families will meet them. In all, it will take
approximately eight hours between landing
and the return to Star City.
35
Soyuz Entry Timeline
36
Separation Burn from ISS (8 second burn of the Soyuz engines, .56 meters/sec; Soyuz
distance from the ISS is ~20 meters)
Deorbit Burn (appx 4:20 in duration, 115.2 m/sec; Soyuz distance from the ISS is ~12
kilometers; Undocking Command appx + ~2 hours, 30 mins.)
37
Separation of Modules (~23 mins. after Deorbit Burn; Undocking Command + ~2 hours,
57 mins.)
Entry Interface (400,000 feet in altitude; 3 mins. after Module Separation; 31 mins. after
Deorbit Burn; Undocking Command + ~3 hours)
38
Command to Open Chutes (8 mins. after Entry Interface; 39 mins. after Deorbit Burn;
Undocking Command + ~3 hours, 8 mins.)
39
Soft Landing Engine Firing (six engines fire to slow the Soyuz descent rate to
1.5 meters/second just .8 meter above the ground)
Landing (~50 mins. after Deorbit Burn; Undocking Command + ~3 hours, 24 mins.)
40
European Space Agency's
Automated Transfer Vehicle Debuts
The International Space Station depends mission will resemble that of a tug boat re-
on regular deliveries of food, water, air, ex- supplying and pushing a river barge—the
perimental equipment and spare parts for space station.
its crew. Beginning in the second half of
2007, the European Space Agency's Auto- Named "Jules Verne" after the visionary
mated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) will join the 19th-century science fiction writer, the
station's fleet of supply craft. maiden ATV will carry up to nine tons of
cargo from Europe's spaceport in Kourou,
Equipped with its own propulsion and navi- French Guiana, to the International Space
gation systems, the maiden ATV is a multi- Station. An on-board, high-precision optical
functional spaceship, combining the auto- navigation system will be used during the
matic capabilities of a robotic vehicle with last 250 meters to guide the ATV on a ren-
human spacecraft safety requirements. Its dezvous trajectory toward the space station
41
where it will automatically dock to the sta- for up to eight standard racks designed to
tion's Russian Zvezda Service Module. store equipment and transfer bags.
From launch until the final 250 meters, a
Global Positioning System-based system is The ATV also will carry several tanks con-
used to guide the ATV. taining drinking water, refueling propellant
for the station's propulsion system and air
It will remain there as a pressurized com- (air, oxygen and nitrogen) for the crew. The
ponent of the complex for up to six months forward end cone of the cargo section con-
until a controlled re-entry into the Earth's tains the Russian-made docking equipment
atmosphere, where it will burn up and, in and the rendezvous sensors.
the process, dispose (for Jules Verne) 6
340 kg of items no longer needed on the The ATV uses four main engines and 28
space station. thrusters for orbit and attitude control. After
docking, it can perform space station atti-
Externally, the ATV is covered with an insu- tude control and debris avoidance maneu-
lating foil layer on top of meteorite protec- vers. It also can desaturate the space sta-
tion panels. Its X-shaped solar arrays re- tion gyroscopic attitude system and boost
semble metallic blue wings. the complex's orbit to overcome the effects
of residual atmospheric drag.
Although people will not be launched in an
ATV, crew members on the station will be The ATV has about three times the payload
able to access cargo and systems during capability of its Russian counterpart, the
the time it is docked. There is room inside Progress cargo craft.
42
Mission Profile
The Jules Verne ATV mission will begin After separation from Ariane, the ATV's
when the craft is launched into orbit by an navigation systems are activated and en-
Ariane 5 from the European launch site in gines are fired to boost it into the transfer
Kourou, French Guiana, on the northern orbit. These activities will be monitored by
coast of South America. ESA's ATV Control Center in Toulouse,
France.
43
The cargo craft will come in sight of the In- Docking will be automatic. If there are any
ternational Space Station after more than last-minute problems, either the ATV's
two weeks in orbit during which time on- computers or the space station crew can
board systems, rendezvous and collision trigger a pre-programmed sequence of anti-
avoidance systems are tested. Its com- collision maneuvers, which would be inde-
puters will control final approach maneu- pendent of the main navigation system.
vers over the final two orbits, closing with The avoidance maneuvers can be done on
the space station at a relative speed of a a main computer or on an independent sys-
few centimeters per second while both ve- tem. The ESA ATV Control Center also
hicles fly at 17,500 mph. can initiate the avoidance maneuvers.
The ATV remains docked with the ISS for up to six months
44
With the ATV securely docked, space sta- concert with NASA flight controllers in
tion crew members can enter the cargo Houston and Russian flight controllers in
section and remove its payloads. The Korolev, outside Moscow, the team will use
ATV's fuel and water supply tanks will be European and U.S. relay satellites to con-
connected to the space station's plumbing trol ATV phasing, automatic approach and
system and crew members will manually docking, attached phase operations and
release air, oxygen or nitrogen directly into safe re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.
the space station. The French space agency CNES has re-
sponsibility for management of the Tou-
ATVs will remain at the space station for louse center and will coordinate and sup-
about six months to allow crew members to port all ATV operations on behalf of the
fill them with unwanted material. European Space Agency.
Once its re-supply mission is complete, the Star trackers, able to recognize different
ATV hatch will be closed by the crew and constellations in the sky to calculate its own
later separated automatically. Its engines orientation in space, and GPS, able to
will de-orbit the spacecraft on a steep flight measure angles between orbiting satellites
path to perform a controlled re-entry under to give positional information, are the mod-
deliberately high forces of atmospheric ern-day equivalents of centuries-old naviga-
drag, causing it to break up and burn high tion equipment, such as a sextant.
above the Pacific Ocean.
The ATV uses these instruments to draw
ATV Control and Rendezvous closer to the space station over a period of
days before switching to a different system
The maiden ATV flight, tentatively sched- for the high-precision docking, using a
uled for the second half of 2007, will mark videometer's eye-like sensors combined
the first rendezvous and docking ever of a with separate parallel measurements sys-
European spacecraft in orbit. It also will be tems.
the first European re-supply mission to the
space station. The videometer will analyze images of its
emitted laser beam reflected by passive
The maiden voyage will take up to 17 days retro-reflectors on the space station next to
to allow engineers to perform a series of the Russian docking port where the ATV
tests. It must be demonstrated that the will be attached to calculate distance from
cargo ship is capable of halting its rendez- the docking target and rate of closure.
vous maneuver at any time by stopping and
flying away from the space station. During the last 250 meters of the final ap-
proach, the videometer will automatically
During the highly critical phases of an ATV recognize the retro-reflector's target pat-
flight—from launch to docking and from de- terns and then calculate the distance and
parture to re-entry—a 60-person team at direction to the docking port.
the new ESA ATV Control Center in Tou-
louse, France, will work in three adjacent To add a safety margin, a secondary sen-
control rooms monitoring closely the auto- sor, called a telegoniometer, will emit laser
matic approach procedures. Working in pulses at a different wavelength to the
45
retro-reflectors. The travel time of the The first ATV flight will take 17 days from
pulses gives the distance and direction as launch to docking. The second flight,
given by the orientation of two built-in mir- planned a year or so later, will take only
rors. three to five days.
46
Ariane 5 Launch Vehicle
An Ariane 5 rocket clears the launch tower as it climbs out under the
power of its Vulcain main engine and its two solid rocket motors.
Ariane 5 is a European expendable launch Ariane 5 succeeded Ariane 4, but does not
system designed to deliver satellites into derive from it directly. The ESA originally
geostationary transfer orbit and to send designed Ariane 5 to launch the crewed
payloads to low-Earth orbit. It is manufac- mini shuttle Hermes, and thus intended it to
tured under authority of the European be human rated from the beginning. After
Space Agency (ESA) with EADS Astrium the ESA cancelled Hermes, the rocket be-
Space Transportation as the prime contrac- came a purely commercial launcher.
tor, leading a consortium of subcontractors.
Two satellites can be mounted using a
The rocket is operated and marketed by Sylda carrier. Three main satellites are
Arianespace as part of the Ariane program. possible depending on size. Up to eight
EADS Astrium Space Transportation builds secondary payloads, usually small experi-
the rockets in Europe and Ariancespace ment packages or minisatellites, can be
launches them from a spaceport at Kourou carried with an ASAP (Ariane Structure for
in French Guiana. Auxiliary Payloads) platform.
47
Components
48
Ariane 5’s cryogenic H158 main stage (MMH) and nitrogen tetroxide, where the
(H173 for Ariane 5 ECA) is called the EPC Ariane 5 ECA uses the ESC (Étage
(Étage Principal Cryotechnique/Cryogenic Supérieur Cryotechnique/Cryogenic Upper
First Stage). It consists of a large tank 30.5 Stage), which is fueled by liquid hydrogen
meters high with two compartments, one for and liquid oxygen. The payload and all up-
130 tons of liquid oxygen and one for 25 per stages are covered at launch by the
tons of liquid hydrogen, and a Vulcain en- fairing, which splits off once sufficient alti-
gine at the base with thrust of 115 tons- tude has been reached.
force (1.13 meganewtons). This part of the
first stage weighs about 15 tons when Statistics on Ariane 5 ES version to
empty. launch ATV
49
50
International Space Station:
Expedition 15 Science Overview
Expedition 15—the 15th science research Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin will
mission on the International Space Sta- command the 14S mission, named for the
tion—is scheduled to begin in April 2007, 14th Soyuz to visit the station. Russian
when the 15th crew launches to the space cosmonaut Oleg Kotov will serve as flight
station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. engineer. The crew will join NASA astro-
naut Sunita Williams, who has been living
and working at the station since her arrival
51
in December 2006 aboard the space shuttle flight engineer after traveling to the station
Discovery during the STS-116 mission. on shuttle mission STS-118, targeted for
The three-person station crew will work with launch in summer 2007. NASA astronaut
teams on the ground to operate experi- Daniel Tani will join Expedition 15 as flight
ments, collect data and maintain the space engineer after launching to the station on
station. mission STS-120.
52
Expedition 14 crew members Michael Lo- mosphere on the station. The experiment
pez-Alegria and Mikhail Tyurin are sched- will test the accuracy and reliability of this
uled to return home in April 2007 on an- technology as a potential next-generation
other Soyuz spacecraft—13S—now docked atmosphere trace-gas monitoring system
at the station. for the station.
During Expedition 15, two Russian Pro- Elastic Memory Composite Hinge
gress cargo flights are scheduled to dock (EMCH) will study the performance of a
with the space station, the first in May and new type of composite hinge to determine
the second in September. The resupply its suitability for use in space. The experi-
ships will transport scientific equipment and ment uses elastic memory hinges to move
supplies to the station. an attached mass at one end. Materials
tested in this experiment are stronger and
The Expedition 15 crew is scheduled for lighter than current materials used in space
approximately 119 hours of U.S. payload hinges and could be used in the design of
activities. The team of controllers and sci- future spacecraft.
entists on the ground also will conduct
space station science remotely. They will Investigating the Structure of Paramag-
continue to plan, monitor and operate ex- netic Aggregates from Colloidal Emul-
periments from control centers throughout sions - 2 (InSPACE - 2) will obtain data on
the United States. magnetorheological fluids—fluids that
change properties in response to magnetic
A team of controllers for Expedition 15 will fields—that can be used to improve or de-
staff the Payload Operations Center at velop new brake systems and robotics.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, Ala. The center is the science Lab-on-a-Chip Application Development
command post for the space station, which - Portable Test System (LOCAD-PTS) is a
links researchers around the world with handheld device for rapid detection of bio-
their experiments and the station crew. logical and chemical substances on board
Controllers in the Payload Operations Cen- the space station. Astronauts will swab sur-
ter work in three shifts around the clock, faces within the cabin, add swab material to
seven days a week. the LOCAD-PTS, and obtain results on a
display screen within 15 minutes. The
Experiments Related to Spacecraft study's purpose is to provide an effective
Systems early warning system to enable crew mem-
bers to take necessary remedial measures
Many experiments are designed to help de- to protect the health and safety of those on
velop technologies, designs and materials the station.
for future spacecraft and exploration mis-
sions. These include: Materials on the International Space Sta-
tion Experiment - 3 and 4 (MISSE - 3 and
Analyzing Interferometer for Ambient Air 4) are the third and fourth in a series of five
(ANITA) will monitor 32 potentially gaseous suitcase-sized test beds attached to the
contaminants, including formaldehyde, outside of the space station. The station
ammonia and carbon monoxide, in the at-
53
crew deployed the beds during a spacewalk sults are important for satellite servicing,
in August 2006. They are exposing hun- vehicle assembly and formation flying
dreds of potential space construction mate- spacecraft configurations.
rials and different types of solar cells to the
harsh environment of space. Mounted to Human Life Science Investigations
the space station for approximately a year,
the equipment then will be returned to Earth Physical measurements of Expedition 15
for study. Investigators will use the result- crew members will be used to study
ing data to design stronger, more durable changes in the body caused by exposure to
spacecraft. MISSE 1, 2 and 5 already have the microgravity environment. Continuing
been returned to Earth for analysis. and new experiments include:
54
long-duration missions. This experiment is by the blood-pressure decrease that many
a cooperative effort with the Italian Space astronauts experience upon returning to the
Agency, ASI. Earth's gravity.
55
tical and nutritional countermeasures suit- Education and Earth Observation
able for future long-duration missions to the
moon and Mars. Many experiments from earlier expeditions
remain on board the space station and will
Test of Reaction and Adaptation Capa- continue to benefit from the long-term re-
bilities (TRAC) will test the theory of brain search platform provided by the orbiting
adaptation during spaceflight by testing laboratory. These experiments include:
hand-eye coordination before, during and
after the mission. This experiment is a col- Crew Earth Observations (CEO) takes
laborative effort between NASA and the advantage of the crew in space to observe
Canadian Space Agency, CSA. and photograph natural and human-made
changes on Earth. The photographs record
Other Biological Experiments the Earth’s surface changes over time,
along with more fleeting events such as
Studies of the responses of microbes in the storms, floods, fires and volcanic eruptions.
space environment will help evaluate risks Together, they provide researchers on
to human health. Plant growth experiments Earth with vital, continuous images to better
give insight into the effects of the space en- understand the planet.
vironment on living organisms. These ex-
periments include: Crew Earth Observations - International
Polar Year (CEO-IPY) is an international
Molecular and Plant Physiological collaboration of scientists for the observa-
Analyses of the Microgravity Effects on tion and exploration of Earth’s Polar Re-
Multigeneration Studies of Arabidopsis gions from 2007 to 2009. Space station
thaliana (Multigen) will grow arabidopsis crew members will photograph polar phe-
thaliana—a small flowering plant related to nomena, including auroras and meso-
cabbage and mustard—in orbit for three spheric clouds, in response to a daily mes-
generations. The results of this investiga- sage from the scientists on the ground.
tion will support future plans to grow plants
on the long-duration transit to Mars. This is Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Ap-
a cooperative investigation with the Euro- paratus Science Insert - 02 (CSI-02) is an
pean Space Agency, ESA. educational payload designed to interest
middle school students in science, technol-
A Comprehensive Characterization of ogy, engineering and math by participating
Microorganisms and Allergens in in near real-time research conducted on
Spacecraft (SWAB) will use advanced mo- board the station. Students will observe
lecular techniques to comprehensively three experiments through data and im-
evaluate microbes on board the space sta- agery downlinked and distributed directly
tion, including pathogens—organisms that into the classroom via the Internet. The first
may cause disease. It also will track is a seed germination experiment through
changes in the microbial community as which students will learn how gravity affects
spacecraft visit the station and new station plant development. Small seeds will be de-
modules are added. This study will allow veloped on orbit in a garden habitat. The
an assessment of the risk of microbes to second experiment will examine crystal
the crew and the spacecraft.
56
growth formation using specific types of Space Shuttle Experiments
proteins and enzymes, and the third ex-
periment will examine crystal formation us- Many other experiments are scheduled to
ing silicates—compounds containing sili- be performed during upcoming space shut-
con, oxygen and one or more metals. For tle missions that are part of Expedition 15.
the two crystal growth experiments, stu- These experiments include:
dents will grow crystals in their classrooms
and analyze growth of those compared to Commercial Biomedical Test Module - 2
the crystals grown in space. (CBTM-2) will use a proven mouse model
to examine the effectiveness of an investi-
Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle gational therapeutic drug designed to limit
School Students (EarthKAM), an educa- muscle loss in microgravity. Combined with
tion experiment, allows middle school stu- exercise, this drug could form the basis for
dents to program a digital camera on board a treatment that will maintain a high level of
the station to photograph a variety of geo- physical fitness in future flight crews.
graphical targets for study in the classroom.
Photos are made available on the Web for Cell Culture Module – Immune Response
viewing and study by participating schools of Human Monocytes in Microgravity
around the world. Educators use the im- (CCM – Immune Response) is Department
ages for projects involving Earth Science, of Defense Space Test Program research
geography, physics and technology. directed at understanding the effects of mi-
crogravity on living systems, concentrating
Education Payload Operations (EPO) in- on compromised immune systems. This
cludes curriculum-based educational activi- investigation will examine the human im-
ties that will demonstrate basic principles of mune response in microgravity and study
science, mathematics, technology, engi- effects of recently discovered natural anti-
neering and geography. These activities bacterials that may improve immune re-
are videotaped then used in classroom lec- sponse during spaceflight.
tures. EPO is designed to support the
NASA mission to inspire the next genera- Cell Culture Module – Effect of Micro-
tion of explorers. gravity on Wound Repair: In Vitro Model
of New Blood Vessel Development (CCM
Education Payload Operations - Kit C – Wound Repair) is Department of De-
(EPO - Kit C) is an on-orbit plant growth fense Space Test Program research di-
investigation using basil seeds. The still rected at understanding the effects of mi-
and video imagery captured will be used as crogravity on living systems, concentrating
part of a national engineering design chal- on wound healing. This investigation is di-
lenge for students in kindergarten through rected at the use of adipose-derived adult
12th grade. On the ground, students will stem cells for use in injury repair. It will ex-
grow basil seeds—control and flown amine how the microgravity alters new
seeds—in growth chambers to conduct blood vessel development, which is a key
their own science experiments on plant component of wound and tissue repair.
growth.
57
Education Payload Operations - Educa- Bioavailablity and Performance Effects
tor (EPO - Educator) will use video and of Promethazine during Spaceflight
still photography to capture data of experi- (PMZ) will examine the performance-
ment activities in space. Students also will impacting side-effects of promethazine and
be designing and completing ground-based its bioavailability—the degree to which a
investigations developed by the NASA drug can be absorbed and used by the
Education Office, focusing on kindergarten parts of the body on which it is intended to
through 12th grade students. The activities have an effect. Promethazine is a medica-
will support educator astronauts in their tion taken by astronauts to prevent motion
missions. An educator astronaut is a full- sickness.
time astronaut who has experience teach-
ing in elementary, middle school, or high Ram Burn Observations (RAMBO) is an
school classrooms. experiment in which the Department of De-
fense uses a satellite to observe space
Incidence of Latent Virus Shielding dur- shuttle orbital maneuvering system engine
ing Spaceflight (Latent Virus) will deter- burns. The study's purpose is to improve
mine the frequencies of reactivation of la- plume models, which predict the direction of
tent viruses—inactive viruses in the body the plume, or rising column of exhaust, as
that can be reactivated, such as cold the shuttle maneuvers on orbit. Under-
sores—and clinical diseases after exposure standing this flow direction could be signifi-
to the physical, physiological, and psycho- cant to the safe arrival and departure of
logical stressors associated with space- spacecraft on current and future exploration
flight. Understanding latent virus reactiva- missions.
tion may be critical to crew health during
extended space missions when crew mem- Maui Analysis of Upper Atmospheric In-
bers live and work in a closed environment. jections (MAUI) will observe the space
shuttle engine exhaust plumes from the
Perceptual Motor Deficits in Space Maui Space Surveillance Site in Hawaii.
(PMDIS) will investigate why shuttle astro- The observations will occur when the shut-
nauts experience difficulty with hand-eye tle fires its engines at night or twilight. A
coordination while in space. This experi- telescope and all-sky imagers will take im-
ment will measure the decline of astronauts’ ages and data while the shuttle flies over
hand-eye coordination during shuttle mis- the Maui site. The images will be analyzed
sions. These measurements will be used to to understand better the interaction be-
distinguish between three possible explana- tween the spacecraft plume and the upper
tions: the brain not adapting to the near atmosphere.
weightlessness of space; the difficulty of
performing fine movements when floating in Sleep-Wake Actigraphy and Light Expo-
space; and stress due to factors such as sure during Spaceflight - Short (Sleep-
space sickness and sleep deprivation. This Short) will examine the effects of space-
experiment is a cooperative effort with the flight on the sleep-wake cycles of the astro-
Canadian Space Agency (CSA). nauts during space shuttle missions. Ad-
vancing state-of-the-art technology for
monitoring, diagnosing and assessing
58
treatment of sleep patterns is vital to treat- The Microgravity Science Glovebox
ing insomnia on Earth and in space. (MSG) provides a safe environment for re-
search with liquids, combustion and haz-
Destiny Laboratory Facilities ardous materials on board the International
Space Station. Without the glovebox, many
Several research facilities are in place on types of hands-on investigations would be
the station to support Expedition 15 science impossible or severely limited on the sta-
investigations: tion.
The Human Research Facility-1 is de- The Destiny lab also is outfitted with five
signed to house and support life sciences EXPRESS Racks. EXPRESS, or Expedite
experiments. It includes equipment for lung the Processing of Experiments to the Space
function tests, ultrasound to image the heart Station, racks are standard payload racks
and many other types of computers and designed to provide experiments with utili-
medical equipment. ties such as power, data, cooling, fluids and
gasses. The racks support payloads in dis-
Human Research Facility-2 provides an ciplines including biology, chemistry, phys-
on-orbit laboratory that enables human life ics, ecology and medicines. The racks stay
science researchers to study and evaluate in orbit, while experiments are changed as
the physiological, behavioral and chemical needed. EXPRESS Racks 2 and 3 are
changes in astronauts induced by space- equipped with the Active Rack Isolation
flight. System (ARIS) for countering minute vibra-
tions from crew movement or operating
European Modular Cultivation System
equipment that could disturb delicate ex-
(EMCS) is a large incubator that provides
periments.
control over the atmosphere, lighting and
humidity of growth chambers used to study On the Internet
plant growth. The facility was developed by
the European Space Agency, ESA. For fact sheets, imagery and more on Ex-
pedition 15 experiments and payload op-
Minus Eighty-degree Laboratory Freezer erations, visit:
for ISS (MELFI) provides refrigerated stor-
age and fast-freezing of biological and life http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/
science samples. It can hold up to 300 station/science/index.html
liters of samples ranging in temperature
from -80 C, -26 C, or 4 C throughout a mis-
sion.
59
60
The Payload Operations Center
The Payload Operations Center (POC) at as diverse as medicine, human life sci-
Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, ences, biotechnology, agriculture, manufac-
Ala., is NASA’s primary science command turing and Earth observation. Managing
post for the International Space Station. these science assets -- as well as the time
Space station scientific research plays a and space required to accommodate ex-
vital role in implementing the Vision for periments and programs from a host of pri-
Space Exploration, NASA's roadmap for vate, commercial, industry and government
returning to the moon and exploring our so- agencies nationwide -- makes the job of
lar system. coordinating space station research critical.
The International Space Station will ac- The Payload Operations Center continues
commodate dozens of experiments in fields the role Marshall has played in manage-
61
ment and operation of NASA’s on-orbit sci- State-of-the-art computers and communica-
ence research. In the 1970s, Marshall tions equipment deliver around-the-clock
managed the science program for Skylab, reports from science outposts around the
the first American space station. United States to systems controllers and
Spacelab—the international science labora- science experts. Other computers stream
tory that the space shuttle carried to orbit in information to and from the space station
the 1980s and 1990s for more than a dozen itself, linking the orbiting research facility
missions—was the prototype for Marshall’s with the science command post on Earth.
space station science operations.
Once launch schedules are finalized, the
Today, the POC team is responsible for POC oversees delivery of experiments to
managing all U.S. science research ex- the space station. Experiments are in cycle
periments aboard the station. The center constantly as the shuttle or launch vehicles,
also is home for coordination of the mis- provided by our international partners, de-
sion-planning work, all U.S. science pay- liver new payloads and the shuttle returns
load deliveries and retrieval, and payload completed experiments and samples to
training and payload safety programs for Earth.
the station crew and all ground personnel.
The POC is the science command post for the space station, which links researchers around
the world with their experiments and the station crew.
62
The POC works with support centers The payload operations director approves
around the country to develop an integrated all science plans in coordination with Mis-
U.S. payload mission plan. Each support sion Control at Johnson, the station crew
center is responsible for integrating specific and the payload support centers. The pay-
disciplines with commercial payload opera- load communications manager, the voice of
tions: the POC, coordinates and manages real-
time voice responses between the station
• Marshall Space Flight Center, managing crew conducting payload operations and
microgravity (materials sciences, micro- the researchers whose science the crew is
gravity research experiments, space conducting. The operations controller over-
partnership development program re- sees station science operations resources
search) such as tools and supplies and assures
support systems and procedures are ready
• Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, to support planned activities. The photo and
managing microgravity (fluids and com- television operations manager and data
bustion research) management coordinator are responsible
for station video systems and high-rate data
• Johnson Space Center in Houston, links to the POC.
managing human life sciences (physio-
logical and behavioral studies, crew The timeline coordination officer maintains
health and performance) the daily calendar of station work assign-
ments based on the plan generated at
The POC combines inputs from these cen- Johnson Space Center, as well as daily
ters into a U.S. payload operations master status reports from the station crew. The
plan, which is delivered to Johnson's Space payload rack officer monitors rack integrity,
Station Control Center to be integrated into power and temperature control, and the
a weekly work schedule. All necessary re- proper working conditions of station ex-
sources are then allocated, available time periments.
and rack space are determined and key
personnel are assigned to oversee the sci- Additional support controllers routinely co-
ence experiments and operations in orbit. ordinate anomaly resolution and procedure
changes and maintain configuration man-
Housed in a two-story complex at Marshall, agement of on-board stowed payload
three shifts of systems controllers staff the hardware.
POC around the clock. During space station
operations, center personnel routinely For updates to this fact sheet, visit the Mar-
manage three to four times the number of shall News Center at:
experiments as were conducted aboard
Spacelab. http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/news
63
64
ISS 15 Russian Research Objectives
Category Experiment Experiment Hardware Descrip- Research Objective Unique Payload
Code Name tion Constraints
Commercial KHT-20 GCF-JAXA GCF-02 kit Protein crystallization
Commercial КНТ-32 JAXA 3DPC 3DPCU equipment Obtaining 3-dimensional photon
crystals by means of colloid nano-
particles self-organization and or-
dering in electrolytic solution with
the further fixation in elastic gel
mould
Commercial GTS GTS-2 Electronics unit-2; Global time system test develop-
Antenna assembly with ment
attachment mechanism
Commercial ALC ALTCRISS AST Spectrometer Taking measurements of radiation
field onboard the ISS
Commercial CAR-2 Cardiocog-2 “Cardio science” kit Acquisition of new scientific data to
Nominal hardware: deepen knowledge about mecha-
nisms of cardiorespiratory system
Laptop
adaptation to spaceflight conditions
Commercial IMM Immuno Kit for blood sampling Study of human neuroendocrine and
“ М-priemniki" (“M- immunologic changes in and after a
Collectors”) kit ”Saliva- spaceflight aboard the ISS
Immuno” kit
“Zaschita MBI” (“Pro-
tection BMI”) kit КВ-03
returning container
Crew procedure ques-
tionnaire
Nominal hardware:
"Kriogem-03" freezer
"Plazma-03" centrifuge
Commercial NOA-2 NOA-2 “Platon” analyzer Monitoring of nitrogen oxide exhaled
“Platon” power supply by a cosmonaut to detect the pul-
unit monary function alterations in a
long-term spaceflight
Commercial SAM-LDM Sample-LDM SAMPLE Collection Kit Taking samples from different sur-
KUBIK TOPAZ con- faces on board the Russian seg-
tainer ment of the station
Technology ТХН-7 SVS (СВС) "СВС" researching Self-propagating high-temperature
&Material Sci- camera fusion in space
ence "Telescience" hardware
from "ПК-3"
Nominal hardware:
“Klest” (“Crossbill”) TV-
system
Picture monitor (ВКУ)
65
Category Experiment Experiment Hardware Descrip- Research Objective Unique Payload
Code Name tion Constraints
Geophysical ГФИ-1 Relaksatsiya “Fialka-MB-Kosmos” - Study of chemiluminescent chemical Using OCA
Spectrozonal ultraviolet reactions and atmospheric light
system phenomena that occur during high-
High sensitive images velocity interaction between the
recorder exhaust products from spacecraft
propulsion systems and the Earth
atmosphere at orbital altitudes and
during the entry of space vehicles
into the Earth's upper atmosphere
Geophysical ГФИ-8 Uragan Nominal hardware: Experimental verification of the Using OCA
Kodak 760 camera; ground and space-based system for
Nikon D1Х predicting natural and man-made
LIV video system disasters, mitigating the damage
caused, and facilitating recovery
Biomedical МБИ-5 Kardio-ODNT Nominal Hardware: Comprehensive study of the cardiac
"Gamma-1M" equip- activity and blood circulation primary
ment; parameter dynamics
"Chibis" countermea-
sures vacuum suit
Biomedical МБИ-8 Profilaktika TEEM-100M gas ana- Study of the action mechanism and Time required for the
lyzer; efficacy of various countermeasures experiment should be
Accusport device; aimed at preventing locomotor sys- counted toward physical
Nominal Hardware: tem disorders in weightlessness exercise time
"Reflotron-4" kit;
TVIS treadmill;
ВБ-3 cycle ergometer;
Set of bungee cords;
Computer;
"Tsentr" equipment
power supply
Biomedical МБИ-15 Pilot Right Control Handle Researching for individual features
Left Control Handle of state psychophysiological regula-
tion and crew members' profes-
Synchronizer Unit (БС)
sional activities during long space-
ULTRABUOY-2000 flights.
Unit
Nominal hardware:
Laptop RSE-Med
Biomedical МБИ-21 Pneumocard “Pneumocard” set Study of space flight factors impacts
“Pneumocard-КРМ” kit on vegetative regulation of blood
circulation, respiration and contrac-
“Pneumocard-Data” kit tile heart function during long space
flights
66
Category Experiment Experiment Hardware Descrip- Research Objective Unique Payload
Code Name tion Constraints
Biomedical БИО-2 Biorisk "Biorisk-KM" set Study of spaceflight impact on mi- EVA
"Biorisk-MSV" contain- croorganisms-substrates systems
ers state related to space technique
"Biorisk-MSN" kit ecological safety and planetary
quarantine problem
Biomedical БИО-5 Rasteniya "Lada" greenhouse Study of the spaceflight effect on the
Module of substratum growth and development of higher
research plants
Nominal Hardware:
Water container;
Sony DVCam;
Computer
Biomedical БИО-8 Plazmida Thermal container Investigation of microgravity effect
Biocont-T, including: on the rate of transfer and mobiliza-
Hybridizers Recomb-K tion of bacteria plasmids
Kit with tubes
"Kriogem-03M" freezer
"Kubik-Amber"
Biomedical БИО-11 Statoconia "Ulitka" (Snail) incubat- Statoconia growing potency re-
ing container search in organ of equilibrium of
"ART" (Autonomous mollusca gasteropods under micro-
Recorder of Tempera- gravity conditions
ture) kit
Biomedical БИО-12 Regeneratciya "Planariya" incubating Study of microgravity influence on During Expedition 15 and
(Regeneration) container regeneration processes for biologi- 16 crews rotation
cal objects by electrophysiological
and morphological indices
Biomedical РБО-1 Prognoz Nominal Hardware for Development of a method for real- Unattended
the radiation monitoring time prediction of dose loads on the
system: crews of manned spacecraft
P-16 dosimeter;
ДБ-8 dosimeters
“Pille-ISS” dosimeter
“Lyulin-ISS” complex
Biomedical РБО-3 Matryeshka-R Passive detectors unit Study of radiation environment dy-
"Phantom" set namics along the International
"MOSFET-dosimeter” Space Station Russian segment
scientific equipment flight path and in ISS compartments
and dose accumulation in antroph-
“Bubble-dosimeter” amorphous phantom, located inside
hardware and outside the ISS
Study of Earth ДЗЗ-2 Diatomea "Diatomea" kit Study of the stability of the geo-
natural resources Nominal hardware: graphic position and form of the
and ecological Nikon F5 camera; boundaries of the World Ocean
monitoring biologically active water areas ob-
DSR-PD1P video cam- served by space station crews
era;
Dictaphone;
Laptop No. 3;
Biotechnology БТХ-1 Glykoproteid "Luch-2" biocrystallizer Obtaining and study of E1-E2 sur-
face glycoprotein of α-virus
67
Category Experiment Experiment Hardware Descrip- Research Objective Unique Payload
Code Name tion Constraints
Biotechnology БТХ-2 Mimetik-K "Kriogem-03M" freezer Anti-idiotypic antibodies as adju-
vant-active glycoproteid mimetic
Biotechnology БТХ-3 KAF Crystallization of Caf1M protein and
its complex with C-end peptide as a
basis for formation of new genera-
tion of antimicrobial medicines and
vaccine ingredients effective against
yersiniosis
Biotechnology БТХ-4 Vaktsina-K Structural analysis of proteins-
(Vaccine) candidates for vaccine effective
against AIDS
Biotechnology БТХ-20 Interleukin-K Obtaining of high-quality 1α, 1β
interleukins crystals and interleukin
receptor antagonist – 1
Biotechnology БТХ-8 Biotrack "Bioekologiya " kit Study of space radiation heavy
charged particles fluxes influence on
genetic properties of bioactive sub-
stances cells-producers
Biotechnology БТХ-10 Kon’yugatsiya "Rekomb-K" hardware Working through the process of During Expedition 14 and
(Conjugation) "Kriogem-03M" freezer genetic material transmission using 15 crews rotation
bacteria conjugation method
68
Category Experiment Experiment Hardware Descrip- Research Objective Unique Payload
Code Name tion Constraints
Technical Studies ТЕХ-14 Vektor-T Nominal Hardware: Study of a high-precision system for
(SDTO ISS RS СУДН sensors; ISS motion prediction
12002-R) ISS RS orbit radio
tracking [PKO] system;
Satellite navigation; Unattended
equipment [ACH] sys-
tem
GPS/GLONASS satel-
lite systems
Technical Studies ТЕХ-15 Izgib Nominal Hardware: Study of the relationship between
(SDTO ISS RS onboard the onboard systems operating
13002-R) measurement system modes and ISS flight conditions
(СБИ) accelerometers;
ISS RS motion control
and navigation system
GIVUS (ГИВУС СУДН)
Nominal temperature-
sensing device for
measures inside “Pro-
gress” vehicle modules
“Dakon” hardware
Technical Studies ТЕХ-20 Plazmennyi "PC-3 Plus" Study of the plasma-dust crystals
Kristall (Plasma experimental unit and fluids under microgravity
Crystal) "PC-3 Plus" telescience
Nominal hardware
“Klest” (“Crossbill”) TV-
system
БСПН – Payload
Server Block
Technical Studies ТЕХ-22 Identifikatsiya Nominal Hardware: Identification of disturbance sources Unattended
(SDTO ISS RS СБИ acceler- when the microgravity conditions on
13001-R) ometers the ISS are disrupted
Technical Studies ТЕХ-44 Sreda Nominal Hardware: Studying ISS characteristics as Unattended
(Environment) Movement Control researching environment
System sensors;
orientation sensors;
magnetometers;
Russian and foreign
accelerometers
Technical Studies ТЕХ-45 Infotekh Telemetric monoblock Working-off method of high-speed Unattended
(TBD) with transmit-receive data transfer from ISS Service Mod-
antenna from "Rokviss" ule board to Earth
scientific equipment
Complex Analy- КПТ-3 Econ "Econ" kit Experimental researching of ISS RS
sis. Nominal Hardware: resources estimating for ecological
Effectiveness Nikon D1 digital cam- investigation of areas
Estimation era,
Laptop №3
Complex Analy- КПТ-6 Plazma-MKS “Fialka-MB-Kosmos” - Study of plasma environment on
sis. (Plasma-ISS) Spectrozonal ultraviolet ISS external surface by optical ra-
Effectiveness system diation characteristics
Estimation
69
Category Experiment Experiment Hardware Descrip- Research Objective Unique Payload
Code Name tion Constraints
Complex Analy- КПТ-14 Ten’ -Mayak Complex of amateur Working-out of the method for radio
sis. packet radio communi- probing of board-ground space for
(Shadow – Bea- cation set with 145/430
Effectiveness supporting preparation of “Ten’”
con) MHz frequency range:
Estimation (“Shadow”) plasma experiment on
- receiver-transmitter; ISS RS
- 4 antenna-feeder
devices;
- 2 power supply units;
- controlling computer
Study of cosmic ИКЛ-2В BTN-Neutron Detection Block Study of fast and thermal neutrons
rays Electronic Equipment fluxes
Block
Mechanical interface
Pre/Post Flight Motor control Electromiograph, con- Study of hypo-gravitational ataxia Pre-flight data collection
trol unit, tensometric syndrome is on L-60 and L-30 days;
pedal, miotometer Post-flight: on 1, 3, 7, 11
«Miotonus», «GAZE» days
equipment Total time for all 4 tests is
2.5 hours
Pre/Post Flight MION Impact of microgravity on muscular Pre-flight biopsy (60 min)
characteristics on L-60, and L-30 days;
Post-flight: 3-5 days
Pre/Post Flight Izokinez Isocinetic ergometer Microgravity impact on voluntary Pre-flight: L-30;
«LIDO», elec- muscular contraction; human motor Post-flight: 3-5, 7-9, 14-
tromiograph, reflotron- system re-adaptation to gravitation 16, and 70 days.
4, cardiac reader, 1.5 hours for one session
scarifier
Pre/Post Flight Tendometria Universal electrostimu- Microgravity impact on induced Pre-flight: L-30;
lator (ЭСУ-1); bio- muscular contraction; long-duration Post-flight: 3, 11, 21, 70
potential amplifier spaceflight impact on muscular and days;
(УБП-1-02); tensomet- peripheral nervous apparatus
1.5 hours for one session
ric amplifier; oscillo-
scope with memory;
oscillograph
Pre/Post Flight Ravnovesie "Ravnovesie" ("”Equi- Sensory and motor mechanisms in Pre-flight: L-60, L-30
librium") equipment vertical pose control after long- days;
duration exposure to microgravity. Post-flight: 3, 7, 11 days,
and if necessary on 42 or
70 days;
Sessions: pre-flight data
collection 2x45 min, post-
flight: 3x45 min
Pre/Post Flight Sensory adapta- IBM PC, Pentium 11 Countermeasures and correction of Pre-flight: L-30, L-10;
tion with 32-bit s/w for Win- adaptation to space syndrome and Post-flight: 1, 4, and 8
dows API Microsoft. of motion sickness. days, then up to 14 days
if necessary;
45 min for one session.
Pre/Post Flight Lokomotsii Bi-lateral video filming, Kinematic and dynamic locomotion Pre-flight: L-20-30 days;
tensometry, miography, characteristics prior to and after Post-flight: 1, 5, and 20
pose metric equipment. spaceflight. days;
45 min for one session.
70
Category Experiment Experiment Hardware Descrip- Research Objective Unique Payload
Code Name tion Constraints
Pre/Post Flight Peregruzki Medical monitoring G-forces on Soyuz and recommen- In-flight: 60 min; instruc-
nominal equipment: dations for countermeasures devel- tions and questionnaire
Alfa-06, Mir 3A7 used opment familiarization: 15 min;
during descent phase. Post-flight: cosmonauts
checkup – 5 min; debrief
and questionnaire – 30
min for each cosmonauts.
Pre/Post Flight Polymorphism No hardware is used Genotype parameters related to Pre-flight: blood samples,
in-flight human individual tolerance to questionnaire, anthro-
spaceflight conditions. pometrical and anthropo-
scopic measurements –
on early stages if possi-
ble; blood samples could
be taken during preflight
medical checkups on L-
60, L-30 days.
30 min for one session.
71
72
U.S Experiments
Principal Investigator: Livio Narici, Ph.D., University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy
73
Analyzing Interferometer for Ambient Air
(ANITA)
Principal Investigator: Gijsbert Tan, European Space Research and Technology Center,
Noordwijk, Netherlands
74
Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3
(BCAT-3)
For Expedition 15, the Binary Colloidal Alloy BCAT-3, operated during Expeditions 8, 9,
Test-3 (BCAT-3) is in reserve operations, 10, 12 and 13, is scheduled to run during
awaiting crew time to homogenize and pho- Expeditions 14, 15 and 16.
tograph the final samples. There are two
types of samples. The first is an experi- A follow-on experiment, the Binary Colloidal
ment of the long-duration phase separation Alloy Test-4 (BCAT-4), is a small payload to
of two mild solvents. The second category be launched in winter 2007. BCAT-4 will
is an experiment studying how colloidal net- study 10 colloidal samples to determine
works form when the effect of gravity phase separation rates and properties of a
(sedimentation) is eliminated. model critical fluid system to add needed
points to the phase diagram. The BCAT-4
Scientists will use this information to im- hardware includes a newly fabricated Slow
prove models for a wide range of everyday Growth Sample Module, Magnet, and Mag-
products including cosmetics, paints and net Keeper (identical in design to BCAT-3
fabric softener. For long-duration space- hardware) and will use the Maintenance
flight to the moon or Mars, NASA needs to Work Area (MWA) DCS760 Camera and
understand the “shelf life” of polymers, sol- EarthKAM software for manual and auto-
vents and colloids. mated time-lapse photography during six
sessions of homogenizing and photograph-
ing the 10 samples.
75
Increment 10 astronaut Leroy Increment 18 astronaut Greg
Chiao photographing BCAT Chamitoff being trained on
photographing the BCAT-4
76
Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Control On Return from ISS
(CCISS)
77
loss of blood pressure and the warning
signs that might predict risk will reduce the
incidence of fainting and falls in the elderly.
Web Site
http://exploration.nasa.gov/programs/
station/CCISS.html
78
Crew Earth Observations
(CEO)
Principal Investigator and Payload Developer: Susan Runco, NASA Johnson Space
Center, Houston
Co-Principal Investigator: Kim Willis, ESCG, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston
Overview History/Background
By allowing photographs to be taken from This experiment has flown on every crewed
space, the Crew Earth Observations (CEO) NASA space mission beginning with Gemini
experiment provides people on Earth with in 1961. Since that time, astronauts have
image data needed to understand our photographed the Earth, observing the
planet. The photographs—taken by crew world’s geography and documenting events
members using handheld cameras—record such as hurricanes and other natural phe-
observable Earth surface changes over a nomena. This database of astronaut-
period of time, as well as more fleeting acquired Earth imagery is a national treas-
events such as storms, floods, fires and ure for both the science community and
volcanic eruptions. general public. As a precursor to this space
station experiment, crews conducted Earth
Orbiting 220 miles or more above the Earth, observations on long-duration NASA-Mir
the International Space Station offers an missions and gained experience that is use-
ideal vantage point for crew members to ful on the International Space Station.
continue observational efforts that began in
the early 1960s when space crews first Throughout the years, space crews also
photographed the Earth. This experiment have documented human impacts on
on the space station began during Expedi- Earth—city growth, agricultural expansion
tion 1, STS-97 (ISS Assembly Flight 4A), and reservoir construction. The CEO ex-
and is planned to continue throughout the periment aboard the space station will build
life of the space station. on that knowledge.
79
Earth Photography database each year. More information about the station's partici-
Through their photography of the Earth, pation in the International Polar Year can
space station crew members will build on be found on “The Gateway to Astronaut
the time series of imagery started 35 years Photography of Earth” at:
ago—ensuring this record of Earth remains
unbroken. These images also have tre- http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/ipy
mendous educational value. Educators use
the image database to help future genera- IPY science investigators also can request
tions of children become “Earth-smart.” imagery from the station using a form found
on that Web site.
Web Site
http://exploration.nasa.gov/
programs/station/CEO.html
80
International Polar Year (IPY) from the International Space Station
What is the International Polar Year The Crew Earth Observations (CEO) Pay-
(IPY)? load will be the venue for supporting Inter-
national Polar Year activities aboard the
The IPY is an international effort to collect space station. Expedition crew members
relevant scientific data of the Earth's polar will photograph polar phenomena including
regions from March 2007 to March 2009. auroras and polar mesospheric clouds, sea
Scientists will analyze IPY data to answer ice, plankton blooms in the arctic and
fundamental questions about the Earth's southern oceans, and high latitude terres-
changing climate, the effects of space trial features in response to requests made
weather and Earth processes recorded from the scientists on the ground.
from the far reaches of upper atmosphere
to deep in polar ice cores. Today’s IPY The IPY kick-off occurred during Expedition
celebrates the 50th anniversary of the 1957- 14, but the crews of Expeditions 15 through
58 International Geophysical Year (IGY), 18 will be the prime participants in the ISS-
the remarkable international collaboration IPY activity.
that provided many new findings about the
Earth system. Results from the IGY More information about the station's partici-
sparked the next 50 years of interdiscipli- pation in IPY can be found on “The Gate-
nary studies in Earth science, geophysics, way to Astronaut Photography of Earth” at:
atmospheric science and oceanography.
Building from IGY’s successes, IPY’s fo- http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/ipy
cused research of the Earth’s polar regions
is intended to provide a better understand- IPY science investigators can request im-
ing of how these hard-to-reach places of agery from the station using a form found
the Earth affect the global system. on the Web site. All IPY-designated im-
agery acquired by station astronauts will be
ISS Involvement in IPY posted on the Web site in a special collec-
tion of imagery.
Don Pettit, space station crew member on
Expedition 6 in 2003, realized the vantage Benefits
point astronauts have for repeatedly ob-
serving polar features like the moving Imagery of polar phenomena from the In-
boundaries of sea ice, the glowing aurora ternational Space Station will support sev-
and the occurrence of Polar Mesospheric eral ground or sea-based IPY experiments.
Clouds. His proposal to the International Investigators are invited to request observa-
IPY committee was accepted (see tions from the station, and efforts will be
http://www.ipy.org/development/eoi/prop made to coordinate those observations with
osal-details.php?id=78), and NASA's field experiments or campaigns. At a mini-
Space Operations Mission Directorate en- mum, the IPY imagery collected from the
dorsed the participation of the station for station will provide contextual information
IPY observations. for regional studies and help researchers
81
visualize and communicate their work. We Web Site
anticipate more rigorous applications of the
imagery data for some IPY investigators. For more information on CEO-IPY, visit:
http://exploration.nasa.gov/programs/
station/CEO-IPY.html
82
Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA) Science Insert – 02
(CSI-02)
Expedition Assigned: 15
Overview Applications
83
Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students
Using the Internet, working through the The EarthKAM camera periodically is set-
EarthKAM Mission Operations Center lo- up in the International Space Station, typi-
cated at the University of California at San cally for a four-day data gathering session.
Diego (UCSD), middle school students can Beginning with the Expedition 2 crew, in
control a camera mounted at the science- May 2001, the payload is scheduled for op-
grade window in the station’s Destiny sci- erations that coincide with the traditional
ence module to capture high-resolution digi- school year. Once the station crew mounts
tal images of features around the globe. the camera at the window, the payload re-
Students use these images to enhance quires no further crew interaction for nomi-
their study of geography, geology, botany, nal operations.
history and earth science and to identify
changes occurring on the Earth’s surface, EarthKAM photographs are taken via re-
all from the unique vantage point of space. mote operation from the ground. When the
Using the station's high-speed digital com- middle school students target the images of
munications capabilities the images are terrestrial features they choose to acquire,
downlinked in near real-time and posted on they submit the image request to the Mis-
the EarthKAM Web site for the public and sion Operation Center at UCSD. Image re-
participating classrooms around the world quests are collected and compiled into a
to view. “Camera Control File” for each station orbit
that the payload is operational. This cam-
Experiment Operations era control file is then uplinked to a Station
Support Computer (laptop) aboard the
Funded by NASA, EarthKAM is operated by space station that controls when the digital
the University of California, San Diego, and camera captures the image. The Station
NASA field centers. It is an educational Support Computer activates the camera at
payload that allows middle school students the specified times and immediately trans-
to conduct research from the International fers these images to a file server, storing
84
them until they are downlinked to Earth. Benefits
With all systems performing nominally, a
picture can be requested, captured and EarthKAM brings education out of text-
posted to the EarthKAM Web site in as little books and into real life. By integrating
as four hours. Earth images with inquiry-based learning,
EarthKAM offers students and educators
EarthKAM is monitored from console posi- the opportunity to participate in a space
tions in the Tele-Science Support Center mission while developing teamwork, com-
(Mission Control) at Johnson Space Center munication and problem-solving skills.
in Houston. As with all payloads, the Earth-
KAM operations on board the space station No other NASA program gives students
are coordinated through the Payload Op- such direct control of an instrument flying
erations Integration Center (POIC) at on a spacecraft orbiting Earth. As a result,
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in students assume an unparalleled personal
Huntsville, Ala. EarthKAM is a long-term ownership in the study and analysis of their
payload that will operate on the space sta- Earth photographs.
tion for multiple increments.
Long after the photographs are taken, stu-
Flight History/Background dents and educators continue to reap the
benefits of EarthKAM. Educators can use
In 1994, Sally Ride, a physics professor the images alongside suggested curriculum
and former NASA astronaut, started what is plans for studies in physics, computers, ge-
now EarthKAM with the goal of integrating ography, math, earth science, botany, biol-
education with the space program. Earth- ogy, art, history, cultural studies and more.
KAM has flown on five shuttle flights. Its
first flight was aboard space shuttle Atlantis Web Site
in 1996, and three participating schools
took a total of 325 photographs. Since More information on EarthKAM and the In-
1996, EarthKAM students have taken more ternational Space Station can be found at:
than 29,305 publicly accessible images of
the Earth. http://exploration.nasa.gov/programs/
station/EarthKAM.html
EarthKAM invites schools from all around
the world to take advantage of this educa- www.earthkam.ucsd.edu
tional opportunity. Previous participants
www.spaceflight.nasa.gov
include schools from the United States, Ja-
pan, Germany, France, Chile, Canada and
Mexico.
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ELaboratore Immagini Televisive - Space 2
(ELITE-S2)
Principal Investigator: Francesco Lacquaniti, M.D., Università of Roma Tor Vergata, Italy
This experiment will evaluate differences in For more information on ELITE-S2, visit:
the way the brain controls conscious and
unconscious motions such as breathing, http://exploration.nasa.gov/programs/
station/ELITE-S2.html
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Elastic Memory Composite Hinge
(EMCH)
Principal Investigator: Lt. Corey Duncan, Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air
Force Base, N.M.
87
Educational Payload Operations
(EPO)
88
Web Sites
http://exploration.nasa.gov/programs/
station/EPO.html
http://exploration.nasa.gov/programs/
station/EPO-Educator.html
http://exploration.nasa.gov/programs/
station/EPO-Kit-C.html
89
Epstein-Barr
Space Flight Induced Reactivation of Latent Epstein-Barr Virus
Principal Investigator and Payload Developer: Raymond Stowe, Ph.D., Microgen Labs,
La Marque, Texas.
Decreased immune system response has For more information on the Epstein-Barr
been observed in spaceflight. This experi- experiment, visit:
ment determines how spaceflight reacti-
vates EBV from latency, which results in http://exploration.nasa.gov/programs/
increased viral replication. This investiga- station/Epstein-Barr.html
90
Integrated Immune:
Validation of Procedures for MonitoringCrew Member Immune Function
91
Journals:
Behavioral Issues Associated with Isolation and Confinement:
Review and Analysis of ISS Crew Journals
Principal Investigator: Jack W. Stuster, Ph.D., Anacapa Sciences, Inc., Santa Barbara,
Calif.
92
Latent Virus:
Incidence of Latent Virus Shedding during Spaceflight
93
Lab-on-a-Chip Application Development – Portable Tests System
(LOCAD-PTS)
94
the blood. The size of the test units make ensure that planetary surfaces are pro-
them key technologies for a variety of tests tected from the microbes humans carry.
that crew members may need to conduct on
a long-duration lunar or Mars mission. Web Site
The LOCAD technology also is being tested For more information about NASA’s
at analog sites for planetary surface opera- LOCAD project, visit:
tions. In future missions, a rapid scan for
the presence of microbes can be used to http://exploration.nasa.gov/programs/
station/LOCAD-PTS.html
95
Midodrine:
Test of Midodrine as a Countermeasure
Against Post-flight Orthostatic Hypotension
96
Materials on the International Space Station Experiment 3 and 4
(MISSE-3 and 4)
Principal Investigator: William H. Kinard, Ph.D., Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.
97
Johnson Space Center, Houston. This cosmic rays found in interplanetary space;
work, relevant to the environmental durabil- and the effects of micrometeoroid impacts
ity of the Crew Exploration Vehicle and on materials planned for use in the devel-
other exploration mission systems, is sup- opment of ultra-light membrane structures
ported through the Exploration Systems for solar sails, large inflatable mirrors and
Research and Technology Program and lenses.
other programs.
Applications
Examples of tests to be performed in
MISSE include: new generations of solar New affordable materials will enable the
cells with longer expected lifetimes to development of advanced reusable launch
power communications satellites; advanced systems and advanced spacecraft systems.
optical components planned for future Earth
observational satellites; new, longer-lasting Web Site
coatings that better control heat absorption
and emissions and thereby the temperature For more information on MISSE, visit:
of satellites; new concepts for lightweight
http://exploration.nasa.gov/programs/
shields to protect crews from energetic
station/MISSE-3-and-4.html
98
Myofibers - Cell Culture Module (M-CCM)
Increment Assigned: 15
Myofibers are the primary cells in skeletal Space Applications: Astronauts traveling
muscle mass. Studies have shown that as- to the moon or Mars will experience muscle
tronauts experience significant loss of mus- atrophy as a result of weightlessness. The
cle mass during space exploration due to results of this experiment will help deter-
the stresses of microgravity on the physiol- mine a potential treatment to minimize the
ogy of living systems. progression of muscle atrophy in micrograv-
ity.
Bio-Artificial Muscles (BAMs), collagen
scaffolds seeded with myofiber cells, de- Earth Applications: Investigation of the
rived from avian myoblasts (bird) and effects of muscle loss may help improve the
C2C12 cells (mouse) will be used in the M- treatments for similar conditions suffered by
CCM investigation to test the efficacy of in- patients on Earth, especially in the elderly
sulin growth factor - I (IGF-I) in vitro to pre- population.
vent muscle atrophy caused by long-
duration space exploration. The cells will Web Site
be split into two groups, control and ex-
perimental. The control group will not be For more information on M-CCM, visit:
treated, whereas the experimental group of
http://exploration.nasa.gov/programs/
BAMs will be treated either with perfused
station/list.html
rhIGF-1 or with cell-based delivery of IGF-1
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Nutrition:
Nutritional Status Assessment
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The Optimization of Root Zone Substrates (ORZS)
for Reduced Gravity Experiments Program
Principal Investigator: Gail Bingham, Ph.D., Utah State University, Space Dynamics
Laboratory, North Logan, Utah
ORZS for Reduced Gravity Experiments is Space Applications: The experiment will
managed at the Space Dynamics Labora- develop hardware and procedures to allow
tory (SDL) as part of SDL’s Space Plant optimum plant growth to occur in micrograv-
Technology program and was developed to ity (µg). This growth will support long-term
provide direct measurements and models spaceflight life-support scenarios, assuming
for plant rooting media that will be used in the use of regenerating green plants to pro-
future ALS plant growth experiments. The vide food supplies for crew members and to
goal of this program is to develop hardware recycle waste products.
101
Earth Applications: As less fertile land be- Web Site
comes available to grow food, alternative
agricultural systems that efficiently produce For more information on ORZS, visit:
greater quantities of high-quality crops will
be increasingly important. Data from the http://exploration.nasa.gov/programs/
operation of the ORZS will advance green- station/ORZS.html
house and controlled-environment agricul-
tural systems and will help farmers produce
better, healthier crops in a small space us-
ing the optimum amount of nutrients.
102
Periodic Fitness Evaluation with Oxygen Uptake Measurement
(PFE-OUM)
Principal Investigators: Sean K. Roden, M.D., Johnson Space Center, Houston, and Simon
Evetts, Ph.D., European Astronaut Centre, Cologne, Germany
103
Web Site
http://exploration.nasa.gov/programs/
station/PFE-OUM.html
104
Perceptual Motor Deficits in Space
(PMDIS)
Principal Investigator: Barry Fowler, Ph.D., York University, North York, Ontario, Canada
Overview Applications
This experiment will measure the decline in Space Applications: A mini-centrifuge with
hand-eye coordination of shuttle astronauts daily sessions has been suggested as a
while on orbit. These measurements will be means for countering the physiological ef-
used to make distinctions between three fects of long-term spaceflight, e.g., a Mars
possible explanations for the decline. mission. This raises the possibility of con-
tinual changes in eye-hand coordination as
Perceptual-Motor Deficits in Space the gravity signal changes on a daily basis.
(PMDIS) monitors the hand-eye coordina- Understanding the cause of coordination
tion of astronauts in microgravity. PMDIS loss, therefore, is critical to developing
will measure the shuttle astronaut's hand- countermeasures.
eye coordination before docking with the
International Space Station (transition from Earth Applications: Understanding how
1-g to zero-g). Measurements will be taken the brain adapts to physiological changes
while the astronaut's arm is securely sup- that the space station crew members un-
ported or floating free in three conditions: dergo will be applicable on Earth as well as
space. The results from this experiment will
• Tapping targets on a computer give insight to how the brain overcomes
screen with a stylus. stresses that are not normally part of the
day-to-day life. This new information can
• Moving a cursor between the targets be applied in many areas of research for
with a joystick. neurological diseases, providing improved
treatments.
• Performing these tasks while re-
sponding to tones with a button Web Site
press.
For more information on PMDIS, visit:
This experiment will test the theory that the
loss of eye-hand coordination during space- http://exploration.nasa.gov/programs/
flight is due to the disruption of certain neu- station/PMDIS.html
ral circuits in the human brain, arising from
a disruption in the vestibular system.
105
Bioavailability and Performance Effects
of Promethazine During Spaceflight
(PMZ)
106
Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS) and the
Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS)
107
eration data during reboost. The reboost of reboost the MAMS data is sent to the vehi-
the International Space Station is used to cle structures and dynamics group for
maintain the in the station’s orbit. After the analysis.
108
Streptococcus Pneumoniae Expression of Genes in Space
(SPEGIS)
Ames Research Center
109
Streptococcus Canister Vials
Lid
Vial
Jackets
Compression Pad
SPEGIS Canister
110
Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites
(SPHERES)
111
Surface, Water and Air Biocharacterization:
A Comprehensive Characterization of Microorganisms
and Allergens in Spacecraft Environment
(SWAB)
Principal Investigator: Duane L. Pierson, Ph.D., NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston
112
Sleep-Wake Actigraphy and Light ExposureDuring Spaceflight-Long
(Sleep-Long)
Sleep-Long will examine the effects of The information derived from this study will
spaceflight on the sleep-wake cycles of the help to better understand the effects of
crew during long-duration stays on the In- spaceflight on sleep-wake cycles. The
ternational Space Station. countermeasures that will be developed will
improve sleep cycles during missions that,
Previous research on space shuttle crew- in turn, will help maintain alertness and
members has shown that sleep-wake pat- lessen fatigue of the crew during long-
terns are disrupted on orbit. This experi- duration spaceflights.
ment will examine whether sleep-wake ac-
tivity patterns are disrupted during long du- Earth Applications
ration stays on the International Space Sta-
tion. A wrist-worn Actiwatch will record the A better understanding of insomnia is rele-
activity of the crewmembers when they vant to the millions of people on Earth who
sleep and the ambient light they experi- suffer nightly with sleep difficulties. The
ence. Results will be used to evaluate the advancement of state-of-the-art technology
crewmembers' subjective evaluation of the for monitoring, diagnosing and assessing
amount and quality of their sleep. This treatment effectiveness is vital to the con-
work will help in defining light requirements, tinued treatment of insomnia on Earth.
sleep-shifting protocols and workload plans
for future exploration missions and deter- Web Site
mine if further countermeasures to sleep
disruption will need to be tested. For more information on Sleep-Long, visit:
http://exploration.nasa.gov/programs/
station/list.html
113
Sleep-Wake Actigraphy and Light ExposureDuring Spaceflight-Short
(Sleep-Short)
114
Stability of Pharmacotherapeutic and Nutritional Compounds
(Stability)
Principal Investigators: Scott M. Smith, Ph.D., and Lakshmi Putcha, Ph.D., Johnson Space
Center, Houston
115
Test of Reaction and Adaptation Capabilities
(TRAC)
Principal Investigator: Otmar Bock, Ph.D., German Sport University, Cologne, Germany
Overview Applications
The Test of Reaction and Adaptation Ca- Space Applications: Understanding how
pabilities (TRAC) investigation will test the the brain adapts from zero-g to 1-g will lead
theory of brain adaptation during spaceflight to improvement in procedures that require
by testing hand-eye coordination before, precise motor skills.
during and after the mission.
Earth Applications: The finds of this inves-
TRAC will investigate the theory that the tigation may lead to improved medical
decrease in motor skills, for example, hand- treatments for patients who suffer from co-
eye coordination, is a result of the brain’s ordination deficits and neurological disor-
adaptation to being in space. By testing ders on Earth.
hand-eye coordination of the space station
crew, scientists hope to confirm that while Web Site
the brain is adapting to microgravity, it is
unable to provide the resources necessary For more information on TRAC, visit:
to perform normal motor skills.
http://exploration.nasa.gov/programs/
station/list.html
116
The Digital NASA Television
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118
Expedition 15 Public Affairs Officers (PAO) Contacts
119
Kylie Clem Mission Operations Directorate 281-483-5111
NASA Johnson Space Center
Houston, TX
kylie.s.clem@nasa.gov
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