Kotov, Creamer, Noguchi prepare for landing
06/01/2010 05:20 PM Filed in: International Space Station | Space News
Outgoing space station commander Oleg Kotov, NASA flight engineer Timothy Creamer and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi floated into their Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft Tuesday afternoon, closed the hatch and readied the ship for for undocking and landing in Kazakhstan to close out a 163-day stay in space.
With Kotov acting as Soyuz commander, undocking from the aft port of the International Space Station's Zvezda command module was scheduled for 8:04 p.m. EDT. If all goes well, a four-minute 21-second rocket firing, starting at 10:34:40 p.m., will slow the spacecraft by about 258 mph, setting up a landing near Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, at 11:24 p.m. (5:24 a.m. June 2 local time).
Russian recovery forces were deployed near the targeted landing site, along with NASA and Japanese flight surgeons and support personnel, to assist the returning crew members.
Here is an updated timeline of major re-entry events (in EDT and mission elapsed time; best viewed with fixed-width font):
Kotov, Creamer and Noguchi were launched to the International Space Station on Dec. 20, 2009, becoming the core members of the 23rd expedition to the lab complex. During a change-of-commander ceremony Monday, Kotov turned over the station to Expedition 24 commander Alexander Skvortsov, Mikhail Kornienko and NASA flight engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson.
Kotov, speaking in English, offered his thanks "to everyone who support us in our work, who provide us with our success, who trained us."
"It's time. It's time to give up commanding of the station," he said. "It was really a success mission for us, and I really appreciate all my crew members who help me. ... I would like to wish all the best (to the) crew that stay here for their mission. It's time. Alexander, I give up command of this station."
"I am proud to accept command of International Space Station from you," Skvortsov said in English. "I was glad to work with crew members on space station in this time and I hope that we will continue with good tradition ... and I think everything will be OK. We'll see in future good work. Tomorrow, our space veterans will depart to Earth, very successful, and they will have good landing."
Creamer told reporters last month that he was looking forward to seeing his family again and enjoying the benefits of gravity.
"We've been up here five-ish months and right now, you kind of go, "I'm finally getting the hang of this,'" he said. "It's sad to be departing that operational world that I so enjoy and love, as well as just the camaraderie we share with our crewmates.
"What I'm looking forward to, of course, is getting back together with family and friends," he said. "Specifically, though, I'd really like to drink something not through a straw and have the food stay on the plate for a change."
Noguchi, Japan's second long-duration space station astronaut, took advantage of the lab's Ku-band internet access to post a stream of pictures on the web during his stay in space, showing targets of interest around the world. Asked about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Noguchi said "it's kind of sad to see the beautiful sea kind of tinted."
"These days, the stain kind of spreads around to the south," he said. "We're just hoping for a quick recovery."
As for his frequent Twitter use, Noguchi passed along "kudos to the engineers who made it possible. And also my personal thanks to me crewmate, T.J. Creamer, who worked very hard to make it happen. I was just a user, he's actually the background engineer to make it possible."
"My message to you guys is look, the Earth is beautiful and I just want to share the pictures," he said. "I'm not the best photographer, there are a lot of people who take a better picture, but I like to just share how a regular person comes up to the space station and sees this beautiful view and just want to share the view. So I'm very happy to have a chance to share the photographs with you guys."
Skvortsov, Kornienko and Caldwell Dyson will have the space station to themselves until June 17 when Fyodor Yurchikhin, Douglas Wheelock and Shannon Walker arrive aboard the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft, which is scheduled for launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 5:28 p.m. EDT on June 15.
With Kotov acting as Soyuz commander, undocking from the aft port of the International Space Station's Zvezda command module was scheduled for 8:04 p.m. EDT. If all goes well, a four-minute 21-second rocket firing, starting at 10:34:40 p.m., will slow the spacecraft by about 258 mph, setting up a landing near Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, at 11:24 p.m. (5:24 a.m. June 2 local time).
Outgoing Expedition 23 commander Oleg Kotov, right, shakes hands
with Expedition 24 commander Alexander Skvortsov in a
change-of-command ceremony Monday. (Photo: NASA TV)
Russian recovery forces were deployed near the targeted landing site, along with NASA and Japanese flight surgeons and support personnel, to assist the returning crew members.
Here is an updated timeline of major re-entry events (in EDT and mission elapsed time; best viewed with fixed-width font):
EDT...........DDD...HH...MM...SS...EVENT
6/1
04:54:00 PM...162...23...02...00...Soyuz hatch closure
06:35:00 PM...163...00...43...00...US-to-Russian attitude control handover
07:28:00 PM...163...01...36...00...Sunrise at landing Site
07:50:12 PM...163...01...58...12...Sunrise
07:59:42 PM...163...02...07...42...Daily Orbit 14 Russian ground station AOS
08:00:00 PM...163...02...08...00...ISS to free drift
08:01:00 PM...163...02...09...00...Undocking Command
08:04:00 PM...163...02...12...00...UNDOCKING
08:07:00 PM...163...02...15...00...Soyuz sep burn #1 (15 sec, 1.5 mph)
08:09:00 PM...163...02...17...00...ISS maneuver to duty attitude
08:17:04 PM...163...02...25...04...Daily Orbit 14 Russian ground station LOS
08:46:17 PM...163...02...54...17...Sunset
10:15:00 PM...163...04...23...00...ISS maneuver to relaxation attitude
10:34:40 PM...163...04...42...40...DEORBIT BURN START (dT: 4:21; dV: 257.7 mph)
10:39:01 PM...163...04...47...01...Deorbit burn complete
10:41:00 PM...163...04...49...00...ISS maneuver to duty attitude
10:58:36 PM...163...05...06...36...Soyuz module separation (86.9 sm)
11:01:43 PM...163...05...09...43...Atmospheric entry (62.1 sm)
11:03:17 PM...163...05...11...17...Entry guidance start (50.2 sm)
11:07:43 PM...163...05...15...43...Maximum Gs (22.5 sm)
11:09:45 PM...163...05...17...45...Parachute deploy command (6.7 sm)
11:24:04 PM...163...05...32...04...LANDING (47°21' N, 69°35' E)
11:30:00 PM...163...05...38...00...Russian-to-US attitude control handover
11:11:00 AM...163...17...19...00...Sunset at Landing Site
Kotov, Creamer and Noguchi were launched to the International Space Station on Dec. 20, 2009, becoming the core members of the 23rd expedition to the lab complex. During a change-of-commander ceremony Monday, Kotov turned over the station to Expedition 24 commander Alexander Skvortsov, Mikhail Kornienko and NASA flight engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson.
Kotov, speaking in English, offered his thanks "to everyone who support us in our work, who provide us with our success, who trained us."
"It's time. It's time to give up commanding of the station," he said. "It was really a success mission for us, and I really appreciate all my crew members who help me. ... I would like to wish all the best (to the) crew that stay here for their mission. It's time. Alexander, I give up command of this station."
"I am proud to accept command of International Space Station from you," Skvortsov said in English. "I was glad to work with crew members on space station in this time and I hope that we will continue with good tradition ... and I think everything will be OK. We'll see in future good work. Tomorrow, our space veterans will depart to Earth, very successful, and they will have good landing."
Creamer told reporters last month that he was looking forward to seeing his family again and enjoying the benefits of gravity.
"We've been up here five-ish months and right now, you kind of go, "I'm finally getting the hang of this,'" he said. "It's sad to be departing that operational world that I so enjoy and love, as well as just the camaraderie we share with our crewmates.
"What I'm looking forward to, of course, is getting back together with family and friends," he said. "Specifically, though, I'd really like to drink something not through a straw and have the food stay on the plate for a change."
Noguchi, Japan's second long-duration space station astronaut, took advantage of the lab's Ku-band internet access to post a stream of pictures on the web during his stay in space, showing targets of interest around the world. Asked about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Noguchi said "it's kind of sad to see the beautiful sea kind of tinted."
"These days, the stain kind of spreads around to the south," he said. "We're just hoping for a quick recovery."
As for his frequent Twitter use, Noguchi passed along "kudos to the engineers who made it possible. And also my personal thanks to me crewmate, T.J. Creamer, who worked very hard to make it happen. I was just a user, he's actually the background engineer to make it possible."
"My message to you guys is look, the Earth is beautiful and I just want to share the pictures," he said. "I'm not the best photographer, there are a lot of people who take a better picture, but I like to just share how a regular person comes up to the space station and sees this beautiful view and just want to share the view. So I'm very happy to have a chance to share the photographs with you guys."
Skvortsov, Kornienko and Caldwell Dyson will have the space station to themselves until June 17 when Fyodor Yurchikhin, Douglas Wheelock and Shannon Walker arrive aboard the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft, which is scheduled for launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 5:28 p.m. EDT on June 15.