Expedition 14

ISS Expedition 14 mission is the designation for the 14 long-term crew of the International Space Station. The crew lived and worked on 20 September 2006 to April 21, 2007 aboard the ISS.

• 2.1 Problems with Progress
• 2.2 rider disembarks
• 2.3 Four external works in a row
• 2.4 Research and interior design
• 2.5 Preparation for the new arrivals
• 2.6 Williams runs the Boston Marathon
• 2.7 The Return
• 2.8 Possibly significant result

Team

• Michael López- Alegría (4th space flight), Commander (NASA / USA)
• Mikhail Tyurin Vladislavovich ( second space flight), flight engineer ( Roscosmos / Russia)
• To December 2006: Thomas Reiter ( 2nd space flight), flight engineer (ESA / Germany )
• From December 2006: Sunita Williams (1st space flight ), aircraft engineer (NASA / USA)

Backup crew

• Peggy Whitson, Commander (NASA / USA)
• Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko, Flight Engineer ( Roscosmos / Russia)
• Léopold Eyharts, Flight Engineer (ESA / France) for riders
• Clayton Anderson, flight engineer (NASA / USA) for Williams

Mission History

The two astronauts Michael Lopez - Alegria and Mikhail Tyurin launched on 18 September 2006 together with the U.S. space tourist Anousheh Ansari aboard Soyuz TMA -9 and two days later docked to the ISS. Ansari was shortly succeeded by the third crew member, since only four weeks before the start it was announced that the originally planned Japanese Daisuke Enomoto flight for medical reasons ( kidney stones ) was not allowed to compete.

On September 29, Pavel Vinogradov, Jeffrey Williams returned (both Expedition 13) and Anousheh Ansari aboard Soyuz TMA- 8 back to earth. Thomas Reiter, who had arrived in July 2006 to the space station, remained as a member of Expedition 14 on board for half a year and was then replaced by Sunita Williams. He returned with the shuttle flight STS -116 in December 2006 back to Earth.

Problems with Progress

On October 10, Soyuz commander and flight engineers Tyurin López- Alegría and riders boarded the Soyuz TMA- ninth They closed the hatches and coupled at 18:14 UTC on the rear docking port of the Zvezda module to make room for the Progress freighter, which should arrive two weeks later. Mikhail Tyurin steered the ship to the front Sarja adapter and made there after 20 minutes at 18:34 UTC securely.

On October 26, at 14:29 UTC, the unmanned supply ship Progress M -58 docked with the ISS on. It was three days earlier started and brought 2183 kg fresh food, oxygen (50 kg) and fuel (870 kg) and DVD movies, music CDs, books and magazines to the space station. But even 1263 kg equipment technology, such as spare parts for the failed September 18 oxygen generator "electron" were delivered.

Complications with the approach system of the transporter initially prevented a full mechanical connection: The course antenna could not be folded completely and there was a small gap between Progress and the station. The control center decided to decouple the freighter and start a new try. Progress away 40 inches from the ISS at 18:06 UTC and made definitively on the adapter. To ensure that the connection was really hermetically sealed, the review took longer than usual. The hatches could therefore not be opened until the next day.

The spaceman Mikhail Tyurin and Lopez - Alegria Mike took on November 23 from 00:17 UTC the first spacewalk (EVA ) of the mission from the Russian Pirs airlock. This was unusually athletic, because Cosmonaut Tyurin played for promotional purposes Golf: For the Canadian golf equipment company "Element 21" he beat at the beginning of the nearly six-hour EVA a small golf ball made ​​of plastic ( three grams with four centimeters in diameter ) on a special platform. ( The first golfer of space history was Alan Shepard, the two hit golf balls on the moon in February 1971). Then studied the two the Progress freighter, which had previously docked four weeks at the station. With some problems with a radio antenna. This had not folded back as planned. Tyurin tried the antenna to move by hand, but this failed. Finally, the astronauts were working on an antenna to allow the unmanned ATV cargo spacecraft of ESA coupling to the station. The withdrawal came after 5 hours and 38 minutes to the end.

Rider disembarks

On 11 December 2006, the ISS crew received a visit from the U.S. space shuttle Discovery as it docked at 22:12 UTC on the space station. The shuttle mission STS -116 brought the P5 truss structure to ISS and conducted a changing of the guard: Thomas Reiter, who worked in orbit for half a year, was replaced by the astronaut Sunita Williams. The shuttle crew took four exits, the P5 adapter mounted, reconfigured the power line network of the space station and a nipping solar wings were retracted. After eight days, the Discovery docked on December 19 at 22:10 UTC back from the space station and took Thomas Reiter, who had conducted research on board the ISS since July, returned to earth.

On January 20, 2007 at 2:59 UTC the docked two days earlier launched unmanned supply ship Progress M- 59, which had received its name in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Soviet space pioneer Sergei Korolyov, to the ISS. On board were 2.3 tons of cargo, including 780 kg of fuel, 50 kg of oxygen, various spare parts, food and water. The laden with garbage Progress M -57 transporter was three days before decoupled from the station and burned up shortly after re-entering the earth's atmosphere.

Four outdoor work in a row

ISS Commander Michael Lopez - Alegria and Sunita Williams left his colleague on January 31 for 7 hours and 55 minutes, the space station over the U.S. Quest airlock. The withdrawal began at 15:14 UTC, and was the second of its mission. In the first three hours, the two U.S. astronauts separated the Destiny module from the provisional EEATCS and connected it with the permanent EATCS cooling circuit (External Active Thermal Control System), which had been six weeks previously activated by the STS -116 crew. Williams and López- Alegría clipping off EEATCS four lines that were connected to the radiator of the P6 module and connected it to the cooling circuit A. Then one of the twelve meter long radiator was around 19:22 UTC folded up and shut down a reserve cooling line. Thereby observed Sunita Williams, as some small ice flakes ammonia circulating in the lines of which were floating. Although the crystals did not come into contact with the space suits, the flight line ordered the emergency plan. It stipulated that the astronauts should carry out a decontamination phase in the airlock at the end of the exit.

Less than 87 hours after the end of the first led Sunita Williams and Michael López- Alegría on February 4, the next spacewalk by. They finished the work begun four days earlier on the cooling system of the space station. The withdrawal began at 13:38 UTC out of the Quest airlock. Again joined during separation of the six -year-old leads some coolant (ammonia), not endangered the astronauts, however. After the cooling circuit B is activated, both the inspected Grille element P6 with large solar cell panels. This was laid on 29 October 2007 by the Hauptmanipulatorarms the station to its final position on the extreme starboard side of the ISS. These previously had to be retracted the solar boom. When folding the first there had been unexpected problems in December 2006. Why did López- Alegría and Williams on behalf of NASA engineers photos from the state of the solar arrays, which was drafted during the next shuttle visit in August 2007. Finally, the two astronauts installed outside the Destiny laboratory electric cables. This SSPTS lines ( Station -to- Shuttle Power Transfer System) were installed on the docking port PMA -2 and may provide future U.S. space shuttles with energy from the space station that can operate on the ISS so longer. After seven hours and eleven minutes was at 20:49 UTC, the use to a successful end. Board engineer Williams put it on a new space record: With 22 hours and 37 minutes she spent more than any other woman in the free space. For the ISS commander López- Alegría, it was the eighth spacewalk, who finished with it by Anatoly Solovyov and Jerry Ross in third place in the EVA - times World Ranking.

Half an hour earlier than planned, began on 8 February at 13:26 UTC the third exit. After López- Alegría and Williams had left the U.S. Quest airlock, they removed two covers. These had protected parts of the electronic nature of the P3 lattice from cooling down and were no longer needed. López- Alegría threw away the thermal blankets from the space station, where they burned up in the atmosphere. Then they mounted a UCCAS platform ( Unpressurized Cargo Carrier Attach System), which serves as a storage area for equipment. Before the successful work completed application, noted that two U.S. astronauts ago the last SSPTS connections, began their installation during the last EVA. ( The new energy transfer was first used during STS -118. ) The 80th Space Station exit was at 20:06 UTC after 6 hours and 40 minutes to the end. With three EVAs in nine days it was the first time that so many ISS spacewalks were performed in such a short time. In addition overtook Michael López- Alegría his American colleague Jerry Ross, who previously had the second most EVA experience and Sunita Williams raised its record for the longest EVA time a woman at 29 hours and 17 minutes.

The next exit (EVA ) - the fourth in just three weeks - was held on 22 February. At 10:27 UTC time Michael López- Alegría left and Mikhail Tyurin in Russian spacesuits the Pirs airlock to remove an unruly antenna on the Progress spacecraft. The antenna was on 26 October last year during the docking of Progress transporter at the aft port of the Zvezda service module can not be retracted properly, because it has become trapped in the structure of the station. This problem had to be solved to undock the freighter problems. At the beginning of EVA Tyurin had to contend with a misted visor, because a responsible for the thermoregulatory his Orlan spacesuit evaporator worked incorrectly.

In addition to the elimination of the Progress antenna problem López- Alegría and Tyurin completed many other tasks. They photographed a Russian satellite navigation antenna and switched from a Russian experiment. Before connections and retention mechanisms were inspected on a Strela hand-powered crane at the Pirs airlock, the astronauts photographed nor an antenna for the European ATV and checked a German robotics experiment.

After six hours and 18 minutes, the two astronauts went up at 16:45 UTC on again through the Pirs airlock in the ISS. It was the 81st spacewalk to build the space station and the 53rd exit from the ISS itself of which were made 20 exits on Pirs. This was already the fifth spacewalk for this ISS crew. Michael López- Alegría presented with his tenth overall spacewalk on a new U.S. record. Only the Russian Anatoly Solovyov has to have more exits (16).

Research and interior design

After their extensive work outside the ISS, the three -man crew took her scientific research program again. Two days after the last EVA ( Soldering in Reduced Gravity Experiment) were tested new soldering under the name of concern. Solder used so far may result in zero gravity resulting gases to the formation of bubbles, voids or pores, which can weaken the metal compound. Therefore, items of equipment are often replaced on the space station, rather than repair it.

Board engineer Sunita Williams coached on February 28 by means of a computer simulation of their skills in dealing with the robotic arm of the space station. Then she devoted herself with her colleagues Tyurin and Lopez - Alegria the TRAC experiment ( Test of Reaction and Adaptation Capabilities ). This is intended Prof. Dr. Otmar Bock, head of the Institute of Physiology and Anatomy at the German Sport University Cologne, work out together with Canadian and U.S. scientists, as humans become accustomed to weightlessness. Sometimes astronauts had reported that their motor skills decreased with the length of their stay space. The researchers attribute this to the fact that the brain is restructured for a life in microgravity. There stressful more resources that would be drawn from other areas. The team worked regularly with the TRAC- laptop to document the course - not only during the mission, but also before and after the flight.

In early March Destiny were completed last renovation work to take in the fall of 2007, the new OGS oxygen plant into operation in the U.S. module. The Oxygen Generation System is integrated into the water circuit of the station and splits water into oxygen and hydrogen. OGS, which has been associated with the shuttle mission STS -121 in July 2006 to the ISS, is an important part of the life support system and essential if the permanent crew strength is increased to six.

At the same time prepared Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin the Russian section of the ISS for the arrival of the new wide-body freighter supply ATV. Until the maiden flight of the automatic built by Europe freight feeder some tests need to be carried out on board who have mainly to do with the satellite navigation system, as ATV completely independently controls the station and the Moors at the Zvezda module. The first launch of the freighter is currently scheduled for spring 2008.

On the port side of the Unity Node, the crew brought on 14 March at a new inner window. It is equipped with a camera system that future automatic docking procedure as well as dealing with the ISS robotic arm is easier. An identical window was installed on the opposite side of Unity four years ago.

In mid-March was begun to upgrade the internal OpsLAN computer network ( Operations Local Area Network). The new Ethernet data network ten times faster and connects all ISS computer via routers to each other. Computers that are not wired to be reached by radio. This also improves the work with the systems on the Russian section of the ISS, because its cable network has only limited bandwidth. Originally, the network expansion should only be carried out by the next team. Because of the offset launch of STS -117, this work has been brought forward.

Preparation for the new arrivals

On 27 March 2007 at 18:11 UTC docked unmanned Progress supply freighter from M -58 after five months of joint flight of the space station. Previously, the crew had the transport capsule loaded with garbage and sealed. With a brake ignition Progress was controlled in the denser layers of the atmosphere, where it burned up a few hours later over the Pacific.

To make room for the incoming team a week later detachment, rose three astronauts on March 29 in their Soyuz spacecraft and docked on the station. Mikhail Tyurin steered the ship from docking port of the Zarya module to the Zvezda adapter. After 24 minutes the spacecraft had the short distance - both " parking " are only 25 meters apart - come and docked at 22:54 UTC again to the ISS.

After almost 50 hours of flight Soyuz TMA -10 reached on 9 April 2007 with the next crew the space station and put at 19:10 UTC on the Zarya adapter. The detachment, consisting of the ISS Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov, his, brought the U.S. space tourist Charles Simonyi.

Williams is running the Boston Marathon

As the first man in space Sunita Williams took part in a marathon. Held by rubber bands, she ran on April 16 on the treadmill in the space station with the 111th Boston Marathon. After weeks of practice laps it started at 14:00 UTC the same time as the 23,900 other assets, including 7,600 women on earth. Williams, who grew up in Massachusetts and an avid marathon runner is adopted, not only symbolically in part, but had qualified through their good performance in the marathon in Houston last year. With the subscriber number 14000, it launched over the Pacific and had after 4 hours and 23 minutes and two and a half orbits, monitored by two computers, completed the full distance of 42.195 kilometers on Russia. Thus, it was 57 minutes slower than at the Houston Marathon and also defeated her sister Pandya, which in stormy weather in Boston - a few minutes earlier reached the goal - gusty wind, rain, temperatures around 10 ° C.

The Return

With a small ceremony Mike Lopez - Alegria and Mikhail Tyurin gave on April 17 at 20:40 UTC the command of the ISS to its two successors. These had been instructed in the past week in the work processes. Sunita Williams was the two new board as an experienced engineer to the side, because she remained as a reinforcement of Expedition 14 on the station.

On the same day the return of López- Alegría and Tyurin was postponed by one day. Spring backwater the landing site had softened in the Kazakh steppe, what the work of rescue squads would more difficult. The Russian space agency decided, therefore, that Soyuz TMA -9 was supposed to land until 24 hours later in a more southerly region.

Safe and sound returned Tyurin and Lopez - Alegria as scheduled on April 21, after seven months with their Soyuz TMA -9 landing capsule back. How to start your mission you had a space tourists on board - this time it was the ex -Microsoft programmers Simonyi, who began the journey home in orbit after two weeks. Two and a half hours after the placement of the space station was the four-minute braking ignition of the Soyuz spacecraft. The re-entry was as well as the landing problem. Two hours before sunset the landing capsule at 12:31 UTC was about 135 kilometers northeast of Dscheskasgan down in the Kazakh steppe. Immediately afterwards met the search and rescue teams, consisting of twelve helicopters, two airplanes and six off-road vehicles, at the landing and brought the three astronauts just 15 minutes after touchdown from the landing capsule.

For Commander Michael Lopez - Alegria these 215 days represented a new national long-duration flight record he surpassed the 2002 set up by his compatriots Carl Walz and Daniel Bursch during the fourth ISS Expedition record by nine days. In addition, he was charged with more than 67 hours and ten exits the U.S. astronaut with the most outboard experience and occupies on the EVA table on the number and total duration of the second place. Only Anatoly Solovyov spent with 16 exits and over 78 more hours outside a spacecraft.

Possibly significant result

Since a long time it is known that the human immune system is not working properly in zero gravity. It was addressed, at least partially, in the course of scientific investigations apparently based on a conducted in 2006 on board the International Space Station as part of the ISS Expedition 14 experiment.

On his second long stay in space Thomas Reiter performed under ESA contract by an experiment were the one held in which certain cells of the human immune system in microgravity, were exposed to a gravity compensation in a centrifuge to another. After the experimental period, the cells were frozen and examined in detail on the earth. The result: the cells, which had developed without gravity, an important signaling pathway of the immune response was interrupted. The transcription factor NF- kappa B was not able to have an activating effect together with a so- Rel protein. This only happens in the interaction of the two factors as dimers. Alone act NF- kappa B1 and B2 on the other hand locking.

The new findings could use in the future in two ways. On the one hand, one could control the immune response to infection by appropriate use of inhibitors, so that these life-threatening is not as the infection itself for the second, and this is probably the most interesting way you could slow exuberant autoimmune responses, possibly even prevent. Among the best known autoimmune diseases include arthritis, rheumatic fever, diabetes mellitus type 1, multiple sclerosis, gastritis, narcolepsy or ankylosing spondylitis. Here, the immune system inappropriately attacks the body's own healthy cells. There to slow or even stop here, could mean an incredible progress in human medicine and long-term savings worldwide massive resources.