Unique 'Portrait' Of Shuttle And International Space Station Released

ISS027-E-036706 (23 May 2011) --- This image of the International Space Station and the docked space shuttle Endeavour, flying at an altitude of approximately 220 miles, was taken by Expedition 27 crew member Paolo Nespoli from the Soyuz TMA-20 following its undocking on May 23, 2011 (USA time). The pictures taken by Nespoli are the first taken of a shuttle docked to the International Space Station from the perspective of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft Onboard the Soyuz were Russian cosmonaut and Expedition 27 commander Dmitry Kondratyev; Nespoli, a European Space Agency astronaut; and NASA astronaut Cady Coleman. Coleman and Nespoli were both flight engineers. The three landed in Kazakhstan later that day, completing 159 days in space.

Read More >>

Portrait of Shuttle and Station

Newly released portraits show the International Space Station together with the space shuttle, the vehicle that helped build the complex during the last decade. The pictures are the first taken of a shuttle docked to the station from the perspective of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

On May 23, the Soyuz was carrying Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev, NASA astronaut Cady Coleman and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli back to Earth. Once their vehicle was about 600 feet from the station, Mission Control Moscow, outside the Russian capital, commanded the orbiting laboratory to rotate 130 degrees. This move allowed Nespoli to capture digital photographs and high definition video of shuttle Endeavour docked to the station.

Credit: NASA

Read More >>

Unique 'Portrait' Of Shuttle And International Space Station Released

Joshua Buck

Headquarters, Washington     

 

Kelly Humphries

Johnson Space Center, Houston

WASHINGTON -- Newly-released portraits show the International Space Station together with the space shuttle, the vehicle that helped build the complex during the last decade. The pictures are the first taken of a shuttle docked to the station from the perspective of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

On May 23, the Soyuz was carrying Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev, NASA astronaut Cady Coleman and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli back to Earth. Once their vehicle was about 600 feet from the station, Mission Control Moscow, outside the Russian capital, commanded the orbiting laboratory to rotate 130 degrees. This move allowed Nespoli to capture digital photographs and high definition video of shuttle Endeavour docked to the station.

The Soyuz landed in Kazakhstan and was taken to Moscow for routine post-landing analysis. NASA and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, then processed the imagery as part of the standard disposition of spacecraft cargo.

Additional images and high definition video are being processed and will be posted on NASA's website. To view the still images, visit http://go.nasa.gov/stationportrait.

For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

For information about the International Space Station, visit http://www.nasa.gov/station.

- end -

Read More >>

NASA Astronaut Cady Coleman Available For Interviews On Eve Of Shuttle Landing

Joshua Buck

Headquarters, Washington     

 

Kylie Clem

Johnson Space Center, Houston

 

HOUSTON -- NASA astronaut Cady Coleman, back on Earth after working last week in orbit with the space shuttle Endeavour and International Space Station crews, will be available for live satellite interviews from 6 - 8 a.m. CDT on Tuesday, May 31. This is one day before Endeavour's final landing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, scheduled for 1:35 a.m. June 1.

On May 23, Coleman completed 159 days in space as a member of the Expedition 26 and 27 crews. This was the first time a station crew returned to Earth while a shuttle was docked to the complex.

Coleman's interviews will air live on NASA Television. To arrange an interview, news media representatives must contact the Johnson Space Center newsroom at 281-483-5111 or send an e-mail to stephanie.l.luna@nasa.gov no later than 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 29. The e-mail must include contact information and technical points of contact to allow a NASA producer to finalize the interview arrangements during the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Coleman and her crewmates, Expedition 27 Commander Dmitry Kondratyev and Flight Engineer Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency, landed at 9:27 p.m. May 23 in Kazakhstan. During their mission, they worked on more than 150 microgravity experiments in human research, biology and biotechnology, physical and materials sciences, technology development and Earth and space sciences.

Coleman is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received a doctorate from the University of Massachusetts. Before her flight on Expedition 27, Coleman flew on two shuttle missions, STS-73 in 1995 and STS-93 in 1999.

The interviews will air on NASA TV's Live Interview Media Outlet channel. The channel is a digital satellite C-band downlink by uplink provider Americom. It is on satellite AMC 3, transponder 9C, located at 87 degrees west, downlink frequency 3865.5 MHz based on a standard C-band, horizontal downlink polarity. FEC is 3/4, data rate is 6.0 Mbps, symbol rate is 4.3404 Msps, transmission DVB-S, 4:2:0.

Video b-roll from Coleman’s mission will air May 30 from 5:30 to 6 a.m. CDT. For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

For Coleman's complete biography, visit http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/coleman.html.

For more information about the International Space Station, visit http://www.nasa.gov/station.

For more information about the shuttle mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle.

- end -

Read More >>

Return to Earth

The Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 27 Commander Dmitry Kondratyev and Flight Engineers Paolo Nespoli and Cady Coleman in a remote area southeast of the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, on Tuesday, May 24, 2011. NASA Astronaut Coleman, Russian Cosmonaut Kondratyev and Italian Astronaut Nespoli are returning from more than five months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 26 and 27 crews.

Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Read More >>

Expedition 27 Crew And Capsule Land Safely In Kazakhstan

Stephanie Schierholz

Headquarters, Washington

 

Kelly Humphries

Johnson Space Center, Houston

WASHINGTON -- Expedition 27 Commander Dmitry Kondratyev and Flight Engineers Cady Coleman and Paolo Nespoli safely landed their Soyuz spacecraft on the Kazakhstan steppe Monday, wrapping up a five-month stay aboard the International Space Station.

The trio landed at 10:27 p.m. (8:27 a.m. on May 24 local time) at a site southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan. Kondratyev, the Soyuz commander, was at the controls of the spacecraft as it undocked at 5:35 p.m. EDT from the station's Rassvet module. Once the Soyuz was 600 feet away, Nespoli took the first still images and video of a space shuttle docked to the station. The orbiting laboratory had to rotate 130 degrees to provide an ideal view for the historic imagery.

Russian recovery teams were on hand to help the crew exit the Soyuz and adjust to gravity. Kondratyev will return to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, outside of Moscow, while NASA's Coleman and Nespoli of the European Space Agency will fly directly to Houston.

They launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Dec. 15, 2010. As members of the Expedition 26 and 27 crews, they spent 159 days in space, 157 of them aboard the station. They worked on more than 150 microgravity experiments in human research; biology and biotechnology; physical and materials sciences; technology development; and Earth and space sciences.

During the trio's mission, the station welcomed a quick succession of international space vehicles including the Japanese Kounotori2, or "white stork," H-II Transfer Vehicle 2; two Russian Progress cargo ships; the European Johannes Kepler Automated Transfer Vehicle-2; and space shuttles Discovery and Endeavour on their final flights. The shuttles delivered more than 15 tons of supplies necessary for working and living aboard the station, as well as the new cosmic ray detector, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer.

A veteran of three space flights, Coleman has logged 179 days in space. Nespoli has chalked up 174 days in space on his two flights. Kondratyev completed his first space mission.

Expedition 28 Commander Andrey Borisenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency and Flight Engineers Ron Garan of NASA and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Samokutyaev remain aboard the station.

Three new Expedition 28 crew members, Soyuz Commander Sergei Volkov, NASA Flight Engineer Mike Fossum and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa, will launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in their Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft at 3:15 p.m. on June 7 (2:15 a.m. Baikonur time June 8) and dock to the complex two days later.

For more information about the space station, visit http://www.nasa.gov/station.

For a schedule of upcoming flights to the station, visit http://www.nasa.gov/stationflights.

To view Coleman's and Garan's mission updates on their Twitter pages, visit http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Cady and http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Ron.

- end -

Read More >>

Soyuz TMA-20 Undocks

After spending 157 days aboard the International Space Station, Dmitry Kondratyev, NASA Flight Engineer Cady Coleman and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Paolo Nespoli undocked from the station's Rassvet module at 5:35 p.m. EDT to begin their voyage home.

Russian cosmonaut Kondratyev, the Soyuz commander, is at the controls of the spacecraft. He is backing the Soyuz TMA-20 away from the station and will halt it about 600 feet away. From there, Nespoli will take still photographs and video of the complex with space shuttle Endeavour attached. The station will slowly rotate 130 degrees to provide Nespoli with the best lighting and views during his photo opportunity. NASA will post the pictures and video on its website at www.nasa.gov. They are not expected to be available until mid-day Tuesday at the earliest.

Once Nespoli has completed taking pictures, Soyuz will perform a separation burn at 6:15 p.m. to increase the distance from the station before executing a deorbit burn at 9:36 p.m. The crew is scheduled to land at 10:26 p.m. southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.

The departure of Kondratyev, Coleman and Nespoli marks the end of Expedition 27. Remaining aboard the station are Expedition 28 Russian Cosmonaut and Commander Andrey Borisenko, NASA Flight Engineer Ron Garan and Cosmonaut Alexander Samokutyaev. Two weeks after the Expedition 27 crew lands, Soyuz Commander Sergei Volkov, NASA Flight Engineer Mike Fossum and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on June 7. They will dock with the station and join its crew on June 9.

NASA Television will air live coverage of the Soyuz TMA-20 deorbit burn and landing beginning at 9:15 p.m.

Read More >>

Hatches Between Shuttle and Station Open

Hatches between space shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station were opened about an hour ahead of schedule at 7:38 a.m. EDT. The crew of 12 will be together until May 23, when space station crew members Dmitry Kondratyev, Cady Coleman and Paolo Nespoli undock and return home to Earth. Before departing, Kondratyev will hand over command of the station to Andrey Borisenko. After the shuttle crew’s departure, Borisenko will remain on the station with Alexander Samokutyaev and Ron Garan as a trio until the remainder of the Expedition 28 crew arrives June 9.

Today’s Mission Status Briefing is set for 9 a.m. and will air live on NASA TV and http://www.nasa.gov/ntv. The Mission Management Team briefing will air at 4 p.m.

Read More >>

Endeavour Docks with International Space Station

At 6:14 a.m. EDT, Commander Mark Kelly backed space shuttle Endeavour into pressurized mating adapter 2 on the International Space Station’s Harmony node. The two spacecraft were flying about 220 miles up above and east of Chile at the time they docked.

The shuttle and station crews will open hatches and hold the traditional welcome ceremony at about 8:36 a.m. Endeavour’s crew will be working with Expedition 27 Commander Dmitry Kondratyev and Russian Flight Engineers Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev, Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency, and NASA's Cady Coleman and Ron Garan.

The first robotic activity will be about 45 minutes after hatches are open, when the spare parts carrier, Express Logistics Carrier 3, will be transferred from the shuttle's robotic arm to the station’s robotic arm then installed on the port side of the station's truss structure. Among items on it are a spare ammonia tank, a high-pressure oxygen tank, two S-band antennas and 10 circuit breakers.

Mission Specialists Mike Fincke and Drew Feustel will transfer the spacesuits and spacewalk equipment over to the station’s Quest airlock and begin setting up for the first spacewalk, scheduled for Friday.

Today’s Mission Status Briefing is set for 9 a.m. and will air live on NASA TV and www.nasa.gov/ntv.

Read More >>

NASA Television To Cover Next Soyuz Departure, Arrival

Joshua Buck

Headquarters, Washington                                        

 

Kelly Humphries

Johnson Space Center, Houston

HOUSTON -- NASA Television will cover the return of three International Space Station crew members and the launch of three new station residents in the coming weeks.

For the first time, a Soyuz undocking is expected to take place while a space shuttle is docked. Endeavour is set to launch May 16 on the STS-134 mission to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and continue station outfitting. All Soyuz activities during STS-134 will be incorporated into mission coverage.

Expedition 27 Commander Dmitry Kondratyev, NASA Flight Engineer Cady Coleman and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Paolo Nespoli are scheduled to land in their Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft in southern Kazakhstan at 9:26 p.m. CDT May 23 (8:26 a.m. local time May 24).

Two weeks after the Expedition 27 crew lands, Soyuz Commander Sergei Volkov, NASA Flight Engineer Mike Fossum and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Flight Engineer Satoshi Furakawa will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Their Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft is scheduled to lift off at 3:15 p.m. June 7 (2:15 a.m. local time June 8).

They will join Expedition 28 Commander Andrey Borisenko, NASA astronaut Ron Garan and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Samokutyaev, who have been aboard the station since April.

NASA Television’s scheduled coverage includes (all times Central):

Monday, May 16

2 p.m. – Video File of the Soyuz TMA-02M crew news conference at Star City, Russia, and visit to Red Square in Moscow

Monday, May 23

2:30 p.m. – Soyuz TMA-20 crew farewells and hatch closure (3 p.m.) coverage

5:45 p.m. – Undocking (6:06 p.m.) coverage

8:15 p.m. – Deorbit burn (8:35 p.m.) and landing (9:26 p.m.) coverage

Tuesday, May 24

5 a.m. – Video File of landing and post-landing activities

11 a.m. – Video File of the landing and post-landing activities, including post-landing interview and return to Chkalovsky Airfield, Star City, Russia

Wednesday, May 25

11 a.m. – Video File of the Soyuz TMA-02M crew departure for Baikonur ceremony at Star City, Russia

Friday, June 3

11 a.m. – Video File of the crew activities in Baikonur

Sunday, June 5

11 a.m. – Video File of the rocket mating and rollout to the launch pad in Baikonur

Monday, June 6

2 p.m. – Video File of the final pre-launch crew news conference and Russian State Commission meeting in Baikonur

Tuesday, June 7

1:45 p.m. – Video File of the crew pre-launch activities in Baikonur

2:30 p.m. – Launch (3:15 p.m.) coverage

6 p.m. – Video File of pre-launch, launch and post-launch interviews

Thursday, June 9

3:30 p.m. – Docking (4:15 p.m.) coverage, including post-docking news conference from Mission Control in Korolev, Russia

6:45 p.m. – Hatch opening (7:15 p.m.) and welcoming ceremony coverage

9 p.m. – Video File of docking, hatch opening and welcoming ceremony

For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

- end -

Read More >>

NASA Astronaut Cady Coleman, Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson Perform First Space-Earth Flute Duet

Stephanie Schierholz

Headquarters, Washington                                        

 

James Hartsfield

Johnson Space Center, Houston

WASHINGTON -- Harmony reached new heights recently as NASA astronaut Cady Coleman, circling Earth aboard the International Space Station, and celebrity musician Ian Anderson, founder of the rock band Jethro Tull, collaborated for the first space-Earth duet.

Coleman, an amateur flutist, and Anderson played a portion of the song "Bourree," an arrangement of which Anderson and Jethro Tull performed during their 1969 U.S. tour as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped on the moon. Coleman played her part from 220 miles above Earth late last week. Anderson played his part while on tour in Perm, Russia, during the weekend. The two parts were then joined.

Video from the performance is on NASA's website at http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=79119001.

Coleman and Anderson's performance saluted 50 years of human spaceflight and the anniversary of the first launch of a human to space. Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin completed that milestone on April 12, 1961.

"Thanks Col. Catherine Coleman in the International Space Station," Anderson said following the performance. "We should remember that today's cosmonauts, scientists and astronauts are still every bit the rocket heroes they were 50 years ago."

Coleman is an avid fan of Anderson's and carried one of his flutes with her for a six-month stay aboard the station, along with her own instrument. She also carried a penny whistle and Irish flute from members of the musical group The Chieftans.

"It is really different to play up here," Coleman said earlier during her stay on the station. "I've been having the nicest time up in our cupola. I float around in there. A lot of the times I play with my eyes closed."

The video also is available on NASA Television. For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink info, visit http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

For more information about the flutes Coleman has aboard the station, visit http://go.nasa.gov/Cady_Coleman_Flute.

To view an image gallery from Gagarin's historic flight, visit http://www.nasa.gov/topics/history/features/gagarin/gagarin.html.

NASA's interactive feature commemorating the 30th anniversary of the space shuttle's first flight, visit http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/the_shuttle.

To learn more about the International Space Station, visit http://www.nasa.gov/station.

- end -

Read More >>

Space Station Crew Hosts News Conference To Celebrate 50th Anniversary Of Human Spaceflight And 30th Of Space Shuttle

Stephanie L. Schierholz

Headquarters, Washington                                   

 

James Hartsfield

Johnson Space Center, Houston

WASHINGTON -- The International Space Station partner agencies will commemorate the golden anniversary of human spaceflight and 30 years of space shuttle flights on Tuesday, April 12, with a news conference featuring the six crew members in orbit 220 miles above Earth.  The 30-minute news conference will begin at 11:45 a.m. EDT and will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website.

Accredited media representatives may participate from NASA Headquarters in Washington, the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Kennedy Space Center in Florida and international partner locations. To attend U.S. journalists must contact their respective NASA newsroom by 4 p.m. on Monday, April 11.

Expedition 27, the 27th crew to live and work aboard the station, consists of Commander Dmitry Kondratyev, his cosmonaut colleagues Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev, NASA astronauts Cady Coleman and Ron Garan, and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli.

The crew is conducting scientific research, performing station maintenance and preparing for the arrival of space shuttle Endeavour and its six astronauts, scheduled to launch at 3:47 p.m. on April 29 from Kennedy. During the STS-134 mission, the crew will install the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a new science instrument that will search for dark matter and the origins of our universe. The astronauts also will deliver supplies and spare parts and complete four spacewalks to service and outfit the orbiting outpost.

For more information about the station and its crew, visit http://www.nasa.gov/station.

For more information about the upcoming STS-134 mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle.

For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

- end -

Read More >>