Wednesday, March 17 on the International Space Station

Expedition 22 Commander Jeff Williams (right) shakes hands with Expedition 22 Flight Engineer/Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov while Flight Engineers Maxim Suraev (obscured behind Kotov), Soichi Noguchi and T.J. Creamer look on during the change of command ceremony Wednesday aboard the International Space Station. Credit: NASA TV

A change of command ceremony took place today on the International Space Station. Two crewmembers from Expedition 22 will leave Thursday morning for home.

In a brief ceremony at 8:45 a.m. EDT, Expedition 22 Commander Jeff Williams thanked the international ground teams and his fellow crewmates, Flight Engineers Maxim Suraev, Oleg Kotov, Soichi Noguchi, and T.J. Creamer, before handing over command of the station to Kotov, who will lead Expedition 23 when Williams and Suraev depart.

Afterward, the crew wrapped up the day’s activities and headed off to bed for a 10-hour sleep period beginning at 10 a.m. to rest up for a busy night of departure work.

Williams and Suraev will climb aboard their Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft at 11:40 p.m. Undocking is expected to take place around 4 a.m. Thursday, leading to a 7:23 a.m. landing in the steppes of Kazakhstan.

With frigid weather and gusty winds predicted, Russian and NASA personnel are staying overnight in nearby Arkalyk to assure a swift recovery of the crew. Weather permitting, four additional helicopters will depart from Kustanai Thursday and refuel in Arkalyk en route to the landing site to assist with the recovery.

October 14, 2000: The Z1 Truss

Z1 truss
The first truss piece, the Z1 truss, launched aboard STS-92 in October 2000 was used as a temporary mounting position for the P6 truss (sent up later) and solar array until its relocation to the end of the P5 truss during STS-120.

Though not a part of the main truss, the Z1 truss was the first permanent lattice-work structure for the ISS, very much like a girder, setting the stage for the future addition of the station's major trusses or backbones.

It contains the control moment gyroscope (CMG) assemblies, electrical wiring, communications equipment, and two plasma contactors designed to neutralize the static electrical charge of the space station.

It is unpressurized (with the exception of a small vestibule, but features two Common Berthing Mechanism docking ports for easy connecting and data communications. One port (nadir) is used to connect the Z1 truss to the zenith port of Unity. The other port (forward) was used to temporarily berth PMA-2 during the placing of the Destiny lab onto the Unity node during STS-98.

In October 2007, the P6 was moved to its permanent position next to P5, and the Z1 truss is now used solely to house the CMGs, communications equipment and the plasma contactors.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at the International Space Station

Sir Bani Yas Island is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 22 crew member aboard the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

The Expedition 22 crew conducted scientific research today, Tuesday while preparing for the departure of two of its members.

Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer worked on the Long Term Microgravity: A Model for Investigating Mechanisms of Heart Disease with New Portable Equipment (Card) experiment that studies blood pressure decreases when the human body is exposed to microgravity. In order to increase the blood pressure to the level it was on Earth, salt is added to the crew members' diet. To monitor this, blood pressure readings are performed at different intervals during the mission.

Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi performed routine maintenance on the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) which he later used to exercise. The ARED uses vacuum cylinders to mimic weightlifting exercises in the microgravity environment of space.

Meanwhile, Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev continued preparations for their departure Thursday. After undocking from the station aboard the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft, they will take a three-and-a-half-hour ride that will culminate in a parachute-assisted landing in Kazakhstan early that morning.

Noguchi, Creamer and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov will continue their stay on the station, becoming the new Expedition 23 crew. Kotov will become the new station commander. A change of command ceremony is scheduled for 8:45 a.m. EDT Wednesday.

On April 4, Expedition 23 will expand to a six-member crew. Arriving in the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft will be new station crew members Alexander Skvortsov, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko.

Robotics officers on the ground moved the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator (Dextre) into place on the exterior of the Destiny laboratory for work during the third spacewalk of the STS-131 mission. Dextre is a two-armed robot mounted outside the station designed to handle delicate assembly tasks.

Space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to arrive at the station on April 7. STS-131 will deliver new science racks inside the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module and will feature three spacewalks.

Monday, March 15, 2010 at the International Space Station

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Expedition 22 crew began a new week today, Monday, the final week in space for two of their number.

Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev are scheduled to leave the station Thursday, aboard the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft. They will undock from the orbiting complex, and after a three-and-a-half-hour ride, will have a parachute-assisted landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan early that morning.

Williams and Suraev began their final week in orbit by testing the Soyuz spacecraft’s motion control system and recharging the satellite telephone they will carry with them in the (unlikely) event that they land off course in the barren landing region and need to contact search and recovery forces. They also spent three hours going over procedures for their homeward flight with specialists on the ground.

As members of the Expedition 21 and 22 crews, Williams and Suraev will have spent 169 days in space. Including his time on the Expedition 13 and STS-101 crews, this will give Williams a total of 362 days in space, placing him fourth on the all-time U.S. list of space travelers behind Peggy Whitson with 377 days, Mike Foale with 374 and Mike Fincke with 366. Williams will be 26th on the all-time endurance list for all space travelers.

Expedition 22 Flight Engineers Soichi Noguchi, T.J. Creamer and Oleg Kotov will continue their stay on the station, becoming the new Expedition 23 crew. Kotov will become the new station commander.

On April 4
Expedition 23 will expand to a six-member crew. Arriving in the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft will be new station crew members Alexander Skvortsov, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko.

On April space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to arrive for a thirteen day mission to supply the station with new science racks and ammonia tanks. STS-131 will feature three spacewalks and the delivery of the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module.

In preparation for the joint spacewalks to be performed during STS-131, Creamer and Noguchi packed up equipment for Discovery to return to Earth and Noguchi performed maintenance on the cooling loops in the U.S. spacesuits housed in the station’s Quest airlock.

Controllers on the ground operated Canadarm2, the station’s robotic arm, to remove the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator, known as Dextre, from the Mobile Base System (MBS) on the complex’s truss structure. Tuesday they will move it to the outside of the Destiny laboratory in order to make the MBS available for use during STS-131.

What Happened in Space News March 3

Pioneer 10 - USA Jupiter Flyby - 259 kg - was launched on March 3, 1972.

Pioneer 10 flew by Jupiter on December 1, 1973, passing 132,250 kilometers from the planet's cloud tops. It returned over 500 images of Jupiter and its moons, and collected information on Jupiter's magnetic field, trapped charged particles, and solar wind interactions.

Pioneer 10 crossed the orbit boundary of Pluto on June 13, 1983.

It has now left the solar system.