ISS expedition 42

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Mission emblem
ISS Expedition 42 Patch.svg
Mission dates
Mission: ISS expedition 42
Crew: 6th
Rescue ships: Soyuz TMA-14M , Soyuz TMA-15M
Space station: International space station
Start: November 10, 2014, 12:31 AM UTC
Started by: Decoupling from Soyuz TMA-13M
The End: March 11, 2015, 10:44 PM UTC
Ended by: Decoupling from Soyuz TMA-14M
Duration: 121d 22h 13min
Number of EVAs : 3
Total length of the EVAs: 19h 2min
Team photo
v. l. To the right: Jelena Serowa, Barry Wilmore, Alexander Samokutjajew, Anton Schkaplerow, Terry Virts and Samantha Cristoforetti
v. l. To the right: Jelena Serowa, Barry Wilmore, Alexander Samokutjajew, Anton Schkaplerow, Terry Virts and Samantha Cristoforetti
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ISS-Expedition 42 is the mission name for the 42nd long-term crew of the International Space Station (ISS). The mission began with the decoupling of the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft from the ISS on November 10, 2014. It ended with the decoupling of the Soyuz TMA-14M on March 11, 2015.

team

Additionally from November 24th 2014:

Substitute team

Since Expedition 20, no official replacement team has been announced due to the permanent training for the six-person crew. Unofficially, the backup crews of the two Soyuz feeder spaceships TMA-14M and TMA-15M (see there) are used as backup crews for Expedition 42. As a rule, these crews are deployed two missions later.

Mission description

The expedition began with the departure of the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft on November 10, 2014. At the end of November it was completed by the crew of the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft.

Core elements of the work on board the station are scientific research in the fields of astronomy , atmospheric research , biology , earth exploration , medicine , physics and technology . Most of the experiments run largely automatically. Investigations in the medical-biological area as well as in the exploration of the earth require a greater amount of care. Much working time is also spent on maintenance and repair work, as well as on physical activity to maintain health and the installation of new equipment.

From November 17 to 19, the MagVektor / MFX experiment of the German Aerospace Center was used for the first time. The compression and stretching of the earth's magnetic field before and after a conductor is examined under different temperature conditions. This allows charged particles to be diverted to other paths in front of the conductor, similar to how charged particles are directed to the poles of our planet by the earth's magnetic field. The ISS is seen as the ideal test field, as it flies through the earth's magnetic field at almost 8 km / s in different directions.

The first 3D printing in space

In mid-November 2014, a so-called 3D printer ( manufacturer ) previously delivered with a Dragon freighter was installed in a glove box. On November 24th, he printed the first sample, a NASA lettering, in weightlessness . With this first model of a 3D printer, objects with dimensions up to 12 × 6 × 6 cm can be made from plastic. In the future, it will be used to manufacture special tools and tools that are required to solve unexpected defects.

On November 28, the SpinSat small satellite was transported from inside the station to the outside via the lock in the Japanese ISS complex Kibō and launched on the Japanese robotic arm using a special mechanism (SSIKLOPS = Space Station Integrated Kinetic Launcher for Orbital Payload Systems). It is used to test new types of miniature engines with solid fuel . The position control is carried out via a single torque wheel.

Freight traffic

On January 10, 2015, the freighter Dragon CRS-5 took off for the ISS and was docked at Harmony Nadir on January 12 using the station manipulator . Casting and ditching took place on February 10 and 11, respectively. ATV -5 remained at the stern of the station until February 14, 2015 and burned up in the earth's atmosphere the following day. Progress M-26M took off and docked on February 17th at the vacated stern. Progress M-25M, which was launched at the end of October 2014, is to remain at the station until April 26, 2015.

Orbit maneuvers

On November 12th, the orbit was raised using the engines of the ATV-5 docked at the stern, with which one also wanted to counter a possible collision with a piece of space junk.

On January 28, 2015, the orbit of the ISS was lowered by about 1 kilometer. The maneuver primarily served the purpose of setting the phase angle for the rapid approach of Russian spaceships taking off afterwards. To do this, the space station must fly over the Baikonur launch site a few minutes before the spacecraft takes off. In addition, the orbit can be set lower during low solar activity, since the atmosphere then does not slow down as much but higher payloads are possible for transport spaceships. It was originally planned to brake by 2.3 m / s. However, the sinking caused by the braking effect of the high atmosphere only required a speed change of 0.68 m / s at the end of January.

On February 26th and March 3rd, two further orbital corrections were made using the engines of the Progress-M 26M spacecraft.

Evacuation of the US segment

Barry Wilmore and Terry Virts "enter" the US segment with protective masks.

On January 14, 2015, the crew was evacuated to the Russian segment of the ISS and the US segment was sealed. The cause was a reported pressure increase in the water circuit of cooling system "B" and later an increase in the cabin pressure. Since this could indicate an ammonia leak in the worst-case scenario , the crew was instructed to lock themselves in in the Russian part, and all non-vital facilities in the US segment were shut down.

Analysis indicated a false positive , likely caused by a faulty sensor or a faulty computer relay. There was no direct evidence that ammonia entered the cabin atmosphere. The hatches were opened again at 20:05 UTC . Equipped with protective masks , Terry Virts and Samantha Cristoforetti collected samples of the atmosphere in the American segment and found no ammonia contamination.

External works

Terry Virts guiding the cables during the first EVA

For the ISS Expedition 42, three spacecraft missions by the astronauts Virts and Wilmore were planned. They served to prepare for the assembly of the two International Docking Adapters (IDAs) through cable routing. These will be used for docking future commercial manned spaceships in the USA and NASA's Orion spaceship . The first spacecraft took place on February 21, 2015, the second on February 25 and the third on March 1. The docking adapters will be delivered in the second half of 2015 on SpaceX Dragon freighters under the CRS program .

During the second spacecraft mission , a small amount of water accumulated in the helmet of the Extravehicular Mobility Unit with serial number "3005" from Terry Virts . A similar space suit accident happened on July 16, 2013 during the 3rd disembarkation of the ISS expedition 36 in a considerably larger amount with the astronaut Luca Parmitano . On February 27, after an analysis of the incident, clearance was given for the third spacecraft to be carried out as planned.

Deployment of satellites

For a few months now, more and more small satellites, so-called nano satellites or cubesats , have been exposed to a special launch device through a lock in the Japanese ISS module Kibo after launch with a cargo spaceship and a functional test by the spacemen in the station. This happened several times during the ISS expedition 42. After Spinsat at the end of November, numbers 27 and 28 were received on February 28, 2015, numbers 9, 10, 21 and 22 on March 2, and numbers 5 and 6 on March 3 on March 5, numbers 11 and 12 of the Flock-1B satellite series in ISS-like orbits. These small earth photography satellites were commissioned by the US company PlanetLabs. On March 3, the first two copies of the 4th series Flock-1D were also ejected.

In between, on March 4th, four more small satellites were launched. TechEdSat 4 is used to test a passive descent system using a stretched film. Rapid entry into the earth's atmosphere should be achieved through the increased air resistance. With GEARRS 1, data transmission via the Globalstar satellite telephone network is being tested, MicroMAS explores the earth using microwave radiometers and the Greek LambdaSat is to determine how stable graphene is under space conditions.

See also

Web links

Commons : ISS Expedition 42  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Планируемые полёты. astronaut.ru, December 6, 2012, accessed December 21, 2012 (Russian).
  2. ↑ ТПК "Союз ТМА-13М" в автономном полете. Roscosmos, November 10, 2014, accessed November 30, 2014 (Russian).
  3. ↑ Состоялся запуск пилотируемого корабля «Союз ТМА-15М». Roscosmos, November 24, 2014, accessed November 30, 2014 (Russian).
  4. ↑ MagVector / MFX: A piece of "Spaceship Enterprise" on board the ISS. DLR, December 4, 2014, accessed on December 9, 2014 .
  5. ↑ Open for Business: 3-D Printer Creates First Object in Space on International Space Station. NASA, November 25, 2014, accessed November 30, 2014 .
  6. ^ Weekly Recap From the Expedition Lead Scientist. NASA, December 3, 2014, accessed December 4, 2014 .
  7. ^ Dragon Arrives, Successfully Captured at Station. NASA, January 12, 2015, accessed January 13, 2015 .
  8. ↑ Critical NASA Science Returns to Earth aboard SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft. NASA, February 10, 2015, accessed March 14, 2015 .
  9. ↑ Last ATV reentry leaves legacy for future space exploration. ESA, February 15, 2015, accessed March 14, 2015 .
  10. ↑ Транспортный грузовой корабль «Прогресс М-26М» в составе МКС. Roscosmos, February 17, 2015, accessed March 14, 2015 (Russian).
  11. ↑ ATV-5 delivers second urgent debris avoidance. ESA, November 12, 2014, accessed December 1, 2014 .
  12. ↑ ATV-5 putting the brakes on ISS. ESA, January 28, 2015, accessed March 14, 2015 .
  13. ↑ More details on the deboost. ESA, February 2, 2015, accessed March 14, 2015 .
  14. ↑ Коррекция орбиты МКС. Roscosmos, March 3, 2015, accessed March 14, 2015 (Russian).
  15. ↑ dhuot: Space Station Update. NASA, January 14, 2015, accessed January 14, 2015 .
  16. ↑ dhuot: Space Station Update. NASA, January 14, 2015, accessed January 14, 2015 .
  17. ↑ Mark: Astronauts Back in Station's US Segment. NASA, January 14, 2015, accessed January 16, 2015 .
  18. ^ Wilmore and Virts Begin Their Second Spacewalk. NASA , February 25, 2015, accessed February 25, 2015 .
  19. ^ A b c Station Managers “Go” For Sunday Spacewalk. NASA , February 27, 2015, accessed February 28, 2015 .
  20. ↑ NASA spacewalks prep space station for future commercial crew missions, but spacesuit issues remain a concern. The Weather Network , February 25, 2014, accessed February 25, 2015 .
  21. ↑ After 2nd spacewalk, astronaut reports water in helmet. Washington Post , February 25, 2015, accessed February 25, 2015 .
  22. ↑ NASA Deploys Satellite Designed to Re-enter Atmosphere Using Revamped Drag Device. NASA, March 4, 2015, accessed March 14, 2015 .