ISS - Expedition 28 Mission patch.
June 8, 2011
Three new Expedition 28 flight engineers -- NASA astronaut Mike Fossum, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa -- launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft at 4:12 p.m. EDT (2:12 a.m. Wednesday, Baikonur time) to begin a two-day journey to the International Space Station.
Image above: The Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credit: NASA TV.
The Soyuz spacecraft, under the command of Volkov, will dock to the Rassvet module on the Earth-facing side of the station at 5:22 p.m. Thursday. After hatch opening, the trio will be welcomed aboard by their Expedition 28 crewmates, Commander Andrey Borisenko and Flight Engineers Alexander Samokutyaev and Ron Garan, who have been living and working on the station since April 6. Fossum, Volkov and Furukawa will become the Expedition 29 crew when Borisenko, Samokutyaev and Garan return home in the Soyuz TMA-21 in September.
As the Soyuz TMA-02M crew prepared for launch Tuesday, Garan, Borisenko and Samokutyaev focused on station maintenance and scientific research.
Image above: Soyuz Commander Sergei Volkov (lower left) and Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa write notations in their manuals as the Soyuz TMA-02M climbs to orbit. Credit: NASA TV.
The Mission Control team in Houston worked with Garan to recover the remaining onboard computers after a corrupted file in the software load disrupted Monday’s equipment and network refresh.
Garan also changed out some samples in the Fluids Integrated Rack and later performed some routine maintenance inside the Quest airlock on the spacesuits located there.
Borisenko started his workday with the Typology experiment, which studies a crew member's psychophysical state and ability to perform and communicate under stress. Donning a cap fitted with electrodes, Borisenko performed a session with the experiment to measure operator activities.
Later, Borisenko and Samokutyaev performed a video downlink test using the station’s Ku-band system in advance of Thursday’s Soyuz docking.
Expedition 28 Launch
Borisenko also worked with the Relaksatsiya experiment, which is an investigation of chemiluminescent chemical reactions and atmospheric optical phenomena occurring during high-speed interaction between jet engine exhausts and the Earth's upper atmosphere.
The station’s residents also had several opportunities to observe and photograph the planet as they orbit the world every 90 minutes. A top priority among the sites suggested by researchers for photography Tuesday was Puyehue Volcano in Chile, which erupted Saturday after 51 years of inactivity.
Read more about Expedition 28: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition28/index.html
Fossum will blog about his experiences while aboard the space station. His first blog entry will be posted later today at: http://blogs.nasa.gov
For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
For more information about Expedition 29 and the space station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station
To follow Twitter updates from Expedition 28-29 crew member Garan, visit: http://twitter.com/Astro_Ron
Images, Video, Text, Credits: Roscosmos PAO / NASA / NASA TV.
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