ISS expedition 9

Mission emblem

Mission dates

Mission:

ISS expedition 9

Crew:

2

Rescue ships:

Soyuz TMA-4

Space station:

ISS

Start:

April 21, 2004, 05:01 UTC

Started by:

Coupling of Soyuz TMA-4

The End:

October 23, 2004, 21:08 UTC

Ended by:

Decoupling from Soyuz TMA-4

Duration:

185d 16h 7min

Number of EVAs :

4th

Total length of the EVAs:

15h 43m

Team photo

(from left) Edward Fincke and Gennadi Padalka

navigation

Previous
mission:
ISS expedition 8

Next
mission:
ISS expedition 10

ISS Expedition 9 is the mission name for the ninth long-term crew of the International Space Station (ISS) . The crew lived and worked on board the ISS from April 21 to October 23, 2004.

team

Gennadi Ivanovich Padalka (2nd space flight), ISS commander April 26 to October 22, 2004 ( Roskosmos / Russia )
Edward Michael Fincke (1st spaceflight), flight engineer ( NASA / USA )

Substitute team

the later crew of the ISS expedition 10 :

Leroy Chiao , Commander (NASA / USA)
Salischan Schakirowitsch Scharipow , board engineer (Roskosmos / Russia)

Mission description

On April 19, 2004, Padalka and Fincke flew to the ISS together with the Dutch ESA astronaut André Kuipers in the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-4 . After five days of working together, Gennadi Padalka and Michael Fincke officially took over the station from ISS commander Michael Foale and ISS flight engineer Alexander Kaleri .

The ISS Expedition 8 left the station together with Kuipers on April 29 and returned to Earth in Soyuz TMA-3 . Kuipers' 11-day mission aboard the ISS took place under an agreement between the European and Russian space agencies.

Afterwards, extensive scientific research was on the work program of the 9th permanent crew of the International Space Station. However, due to the crew reduced to 2 men, maintenance and repair assignments increasingly became the focus and, in addition to sporting activity, took up a large part of the time available. During the handover of command on April 22nd, the astronauts were informed that the Control Moment Gyroscope 2 had switched off the day before due to a failed remote power control module (RPCM). At this point in time, only two of the original 4 position control gyroscopes were still working with units 3 and 4. CGM 1 had already been refusing to operate since June 8, 2002 and was to be replaced on a shuttle mission immediately after flights resumed in 2005. However, two position control units are sufficient to precisely control the orientation of the station in space. The Russian segment also has its own attitude control using small engines. Mission control on earth began, however, with the planning of an external mission to replace the control module.

During the service time of Expedition 9, a large number of mostly automatic experiments were supervised and maintained. This included changing sample containers, cleaning work, charging or exchanging batteries, transferring measurement data from local data carriers to the station network or to earth, function tests and one or the other repair. The scientific program included experiments in medicine, earth observation, biology, materials science and space technology. Studies on natural and man-made phenomena on earth and in the earth's atmosphere (experiments: Crew Earth Observation, ESTER, Biotomeja, Uragan, Molnija SM), on structures on the earth's surface by remote control of a station camera by groups of pupils on the Earth (EarthKAM), for cooperation between the station and ground crew (crew interactions), for radiation and acceleration measurements within the station (Radiation Monitoring, Prognos, BraDos, MAMS, SAMS) as well as various outboard material tests (Kromka, MPAC, SEED, MISSE , Meteoroid).

The test of a system for the use of a global time signal (Global Time System), the recording of the station's movement parameters, the test of forecast systems (Tensor, Vector T, Izgib) and the search for heavy solar and galactic nuclei (Platan) also ran without supervision. . Some of the samples attached to Swesda's outer skin were changed at irregular intervals and the results stored or returned to earth for closer examination.

A few more experiments should be mentioned here. In Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Micro-Gravity (ADUM-G), an ultrasound system was used to visualize internal organs and detect changes. The Capillary Flow Experiment investigated the movements of liquids in capillary vessels in weightlessness. The aim of the research could be pump systems that get by without any moving mechanics and would therefore not only be simpler, lighter and cheaper, but probably also more fail-safe.

As part of the physical experiment Miscible Fluids in Microgravity, the behavior of miscible liquids in weightlessness was studied. Without disturbing gravity, other effects can be measured that would otherwise be masked by gravity. The complex of radiation measurement, on the other hand, included fluorescence orbital radiation risk assessment using yeast. Fluorescent yeast cultures were used experimentally as indicators for accumulated radiation exposure.

On August 17, Padalka and Fincke installed systems to control the engines from the service module Zvezda in the cargo spacecraft Progress-M 50. Due to the long engine ignitions of the freighter coupled to the stern of the station, the runway height was raised several kilometers by several kilometers in the following days. In addition, work continued on repairing the US spacesuits.

On September 8, the system for generating oxygen through electron electrolysis in the Zvezda module switched itself off. Initial reactivation attempts did not lead to the desired success, so that more extensive repair work was necessary. After that, Elektron initially worked again, but with a higher maintenance effort.

External works

Initially, an exit with American spacesuits from the Quest lock module was planned. Since both astronauts were supposed to get out, the support of the internally controlled Canadian manipulator arm of the station was not available. For the EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) to replace the RPCM, which was initially scheduled for June 10 and later on June 16, Padalka and Fincke tested the American spacesuits (Extra-vehicular Mobility Unit, EMU) on May 19 and noticed difficulties with their cooling systems . Attempts to repair on May 21 and 22 were unsuccessful. As a result, it was decided on May 24th to exit with Russian Orlan spacesuits from the Pirs exit and coupling module. In addition, the EVA was moved to June 24th for better preparation and integration into the daily routine.

The first attempt on June 24th was canceled after a few minutes. Due to an incorrect switch position (incorrect operation), the pressure in the primary oxygen tank of the spacesuit of Edward Fincke, who had become a father a few days before, fell more sharply than expected. As a result, Fincke's exit with a duration of 14 minutes became the shortest US spacecraft mission. On June 30th, the second exit was successful, the exchange of the control unit was successful. The astronauts were looked after by the Russian control center during exit and re-entry as well as when swiveling over to the US segment with the help of a telescopic, extendable crane arm of the Strela type, while the actual repair was carried out by the one in the USA. In addition, devices for measuring engine exhaust gases were installed in the Russian segment. The mission ended on July 1st after 5 hours and 40 minutes, the CMG 2 was running again the following day.

Another exit took place on August 3 (4:30 a.m.) for the exchange of various material and measurement experiments mounted outboard as well as for the installation of four new laser reflectors on the Zvezda rear coupling unit, which were installed during the planned approach of the ESA freighter Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) were needed. Six older reflectors were removed. After this work, attitude control engines were used while the station was being disembarked to correct the station's position. The gyroscopes usually used for this purpose in the grid module Z1 were already saturated to maximum speed and were made ready for use again at a later point in time.

The fourth EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) followed on September 3rd. Maintenance work was carried out on the Sarja module and installed on Zvezda antennas for a special ESA approach system. This also served the planned rendezvous of the European ATV. Finally, they carried out maintenance work on the Pirs docking and exit module and ended the mission at 22:04 UTC after 5 hours and 21 minutes. Overall, this resulted in an operating time outside the station of 15 hours and 43 minutes.

Completion of the mission

For the return to Earth, Padalka and Fincke tested the systems of the return spaceship Soyuz-TMA 4 for communication with the White Sands Test Facility (WSTF), the Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) and the Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) to the American network to qualify from ground stations to exchange messages and data with Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

Due to suspected problems with the explosive bolts to separate the service module and orbital part from the landing capsule of the Soyuz spacecraft after the braking maneuver and difficulties with the engines of the successor spacecraft, its start was postponed by three days.

The space travelers finally returned to Earth on October 24, 2004 at 0:35 a.m. UTC after almost 188 days in space.