Russia's Mission Control raises ISS orbit by 19.2 km

RiaNovosti: Russia's Mission Control raises ISS orbit by 19.2 km
Russia's Mission Control has adjusted the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) by raising it 19.2 kilometers (11.9 miles) to 364.6 km (226.5 miles), a spokesman for the Mission Control said.

Europe's ATV-2 Johannes Kepler, which docked with the ISS on February 24, fired its engines twice on Sunday night for a total of one hour and 16 minutes to move the station to the desired working orbit.

"The adjustment was carried out with the help of thrusters of Europe's ATV-2 Johannes Kepler space freighter," the spokesman said.

The ATV-2 is scheduled to undock from the orbital station on June 21 and burn up as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere, disposing of unneeded items from the space station.

The current ISS crew comprises Russian cosmonauts Sergei Volkov, Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev, NASA's astronauts Mike Fossum and Ronald Garan, and Japan's astronaut Satoshi Furukawa.

MOSCOW, June 13 (RIA Novosti)

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.

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.

Shuttle Discovery One Week Away From Move to Launchpad

Feb 23, 2010:
Space shuttle Discovery will be moved to its launch pad on March 2

Reported by the UPI today from Cape Canaveral, Space shuttle Discovery is being readied for its move to Launch Pad 39A at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. The move will take place on March 2. The flight won't take place until April 5, 2010 at the earliest, but of course they want to get it there well beforehand.

It will take the Discovery about six-hours to complete the 3.4-mile journey. The Discovery will be placed on a giant crawler-transporter and the movie will start at 12:01 a.m. EST. NASA TV will provide live coverage of the event beginning at 6:30 a.m.

This Tuesday will also be the day the Discovery's astronauts and ground crews participate in a launch dress rehearsal. This is called a Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test. The test provides each shuttle crew with an opportunity to participate in various simulated countdown activities, including equipment familiarization and emergency training.

Discovery's STS-131 crew will be commanded by Alan Poindexter. James Dutton Jr. serves as the shuttle's pilot. The other crew members are astronauts Rick Mastracchio, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson, Clayton Anderson and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Naoko Yamazaki.

The shuttle will deliver science racks to be used in space station laboratories. Launch is set for 6:27 a.m. EDT April 5.

Source
Discovery to move to its launch pad

ISS News: 2/16/10 - Shutters opened on Lookout

Astronauts Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick performed their third and final spacewalk on Tuesday night, removing the stiff insulating blankets that had covered the shutters over the seven-window domed lookout that had been put into place the day before.

Then, Patrick unlocked the shutters.

Mission Control ordered the shutters opened while the spacewalkers were still outside, so the two men could take measures if something jammed. Behnken and Patrick remained 10 feet away from the windows after the shutters were raised.

The $27 million observation deck is part of the new space station room, Tranquility. Space shuttle Endeavour delivered the European compartments last week.

The Italian-built dome — 5 feet tall and nearly 10 feet in diameter — is designed to offer 360-degree views of Earth and outer space, as well as the space station itself.

It's not just for the crew's viewing pleasure; a robotic work station will be installed early Thursday, providing direct views for astronauts when they operate the station's big mechanical arm.

Six trapezoid-shaped windows encircle the dome. In the middle is a round window 31 inches across.

During normal operations, the space station crew will be able to keep the round window unshuttered most of the time, as well as a couple others. But the windows which face along the direction in ehich the outpost is orbiting will be closed, except during robotic operations, to protect against a micrometeorite strike.

The six shuttle astronauts began their ninth day in space listening to a recording of Jimmy Buffett's "Window on the World." Mission Control played the song to set the night's mood.

The two spacewalkers had to finish plumbing work on Tranquility before moving on to the dome. They opened up the valves on an ammonia coolant line that they hooked up during Saturday night's spacewalk.

Tuesday night's spacewalk represented the last of the Endeavour crew's space station construction work. The shuttle will depart Friday.

Back at the launch site, meanwhile, NASA has delayed the next space shuttle flight. Discovery had been scheduled to set off in mid-March, but a string of unusually cold weather stalled preparations. Liftoff is now scheduled for April 5.

Only four more shuttle flights remain, before the shuttle program is closed down.



Astronauts take shutter-raising spacewalk

ISS News Feb 15, 2010 : Tranquility Receives Domed Lookout

The headline at Yahoo News reads: Space station's new lookout in final resting spot

Astronauts have finally installed a fancy observation deck at its new spot on the International Space Station.

An Italian-designed lookout, which has seven windows, including the largest ever sent into space, is now in place at the International Space Station. Because of "jammed bolts" and "wayward wiring", it took hours longer than expected to have the lookout in place.

The $27 million domed lookout is the ceiling to a new room at the station called Tranquility. It is, essentially, "a big bay window".

Here's the link for those who want to see the original article:
Space station's new lookout in final resting spot [Note, external links can break over time.]