The Soyuz TMA-03M landing site is located 217 km to the southeast of the Kazakh city of Dzhezkazgan.
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Monthly Archives: June 2012
Return to Earth: the landing site
Watch live: Soyuz TMA-03M return to Earth
Watch the hatch closure, departure and landing of the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft live via NASA TV.
Schedule:
03:15 CEST / 01:15 UT -- Expedition 31 farewells and hatch closure coverage (hatch closure at 03:40/01:40 UT)
06:30 CEST / 04:30 UT -- Expedition 31/Soyuz TMA-03M undocking coverage (undocking at 06:47 CEST / 04:47 UT)
09:00 CEST / 07:00 UT -- Expedition 31/Soyuz TMA-03M deorbit burn and landing coverage (deorbit burn at 09:19 CEST / 07:19 UT, landing at 10:15 CEST / 08:15 UT)
Watch on NASA TV: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/media_flash.html
ISS command handed to Padalka
Expedition 31 Commander Oleg Kononenko ceremonially handed command of the International Space Station to Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka. The two cosmonauts along with their four station crewmates were inside the Zvezda service module for the crew handover.
Sequence of events: hatch closure to landing
The sequence of events below are as expected on 1 July for the return of the Soyuz TMA-03M with ESA astronaut André Kuipers, NASA's Don Pettit and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko. Departure starts with the undocking command at 06:50 CEST (04:50 UT) and ends with landing in Kazakhstan at 10:15 CEST (08:15 UT).
03:32 CEST (01:32 UT) - Hatch closure
06:44 CEST (04:44 UT) - Undocking command to open hooks and latches
06:47 CEST (04:47 UT) - Hooks opened / physical Separation of Soyuz TMA-03M from the Rassvet/MRM1 module at 0.12 m/s
Physical separation from Rassvet on this occasion (not Pirs) (Credit: NASA)
06:56 CEST (04:56 UT) - Separation burn from ISS (15 second burn of the Soyuz engines, 0.55 m/s; Soyuz distance from the ISS is ~15-20 metres)
09:19 CEST (07:19 UT) - Deorbit Burn (4 min 15 sec in duration, 115.2 m/sec; Soyuz distance from the ISS is ~12 km)
Deorbit burn (Credit: NASA)
09:48 CEST (07:48 UT) - Separation of modules (~23 mins after deorbit Burn; 140 km altitude; undocking command + ~2 hours, 57 mins.)
Separation of modules (Credit: NASA)
09:51 CEST (07:51 UT) - Entry interface (101.8 km altitude)
Reentry in Earth's atmosphere (Credit: NASA)
10:00 CEST (08:00 UT) - Command to open chutes (10.7 km altitude)
Two Pilot Parachutes are first deployed, the second of which extracts the Drogue
Chute. The Drogue Chute is then released, measuring 24 square meters, slowing the Soyuz down from a descent rate of 230 m/s to 80 m/s.
The main parachute is then released, covering an area of 1000 square metres; it slows the Soyuz to a descent rate of 7.2 m/s; its harnesses first allows the Soyuz to descend at an angle of 30 degrees to expel heat, then shifts the Soyuz to a straight vertical descent.
Main parachute deployed (Credit: NASA)
Appx. 2 seconds before landing - Soft Landing Engine Firing (6 engines fire to slow the Soyuz descent rate to 1.5 m/s just 0.8 meter above the ground)
Soft Landing Engine Firing (Credit: ESA)
10:15:02 CEST (08:15:02 UT/14:15:02 Kazakhstan time) - Landing (Descent take about 3 hours 24 mins) 217 km SE of Dzhezkazgan; 7 hours 1 minute before sunset at the landing site in Kazakhstan.
Landing, deploy antenna (Credit: NASA)
Crew departure to Houston. Landing +5.5 hours; duration of flight: 16.5 hours
Paolo Nespoli: ‘The trip back is fairly interesting’
Listen to ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli describe his experience of returning to Earth with the Soyuz spacecraft. "To transfer yourself from space back to the ground you have to go through this gruesome, pretty gruelling event," he explains.
The way back to Earth
André in Sokol suit (credit: ESA/NASA)
After entering the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft and closing the hatches at 03:40 CEST, the Soyuz is set to undock from the Station at 06:53 CEST on Sunday morning. A couple of hours later at 09:19 CEST, a 4 minute 25 second deorbit burn will start the Soyuz on it's journey towards Earth's atmosphere.
Soyuz TMA-03M (Credit: ESA/NASA)
The descent module rotates, placing the strongest parts of the heatshield towards the reentry direction, so that it can absorb most of the heat caused by friction. Reentry occurs at an altitude of 101.8 kilometres. The speed is reduced dramatically and the crew is pushed back into their seats by a force of 4–5 g. This is equivalent to four to five times their own body weight.
Oleg, Don and André in their Russian Sokol suits (Credit: NASA)
After landing, the crew will deploy a communication antenna, so that the rescue teams can pinpoint their precise location. The landing site is located 217 km SE of the Kazakh city of Dzhezkazgan. Once rescued André and Don will be taken directly back to Houston from Baikonur, for rehabilitation and post-flight body data collection. Oleg will return to Star City in Moscow.
Unlike the 2 days between launch and docking with the ISS, reentry and landing on the Steppes of Kazakhstan is a relatively quick procedure, taking no longer than three and a half hours from undocking to touchdown.
New blog post from André: ‘Cut off underwater and near the South Pole’
Talking to the Neemo crew (Credit: ESA/NASA)
André writes: "The six of us on the Space Station live quite isolated from the world. But we are not the only people in such a situation. Before my mission started I asked if I could be in contact with two other missions. One on the bottom of the sea and one on the South Pole. I had very special conversations with people that are in similar situations or even more isolated."
Read more in André's blog: 'Cut off underwater and near the South Pole'
Within Temptation dedicate ‘Faster’ to André
Within Temptation is the internationally known symphonic rock band, founded in the Netherlands in 1996 by vocalist Sharon den Adel and guitarist Robert Westerholt. The band members are interested in all things science-fiction and space-related, and have been following the PromISSe mission of ESA astronaut André Kuipers.
When they heard that three of their songs ("Faster", "Mother Earth" and "The Promise") had been included in André's playlist to be played in space, the band were very excited to support his mission. They helped us to produce this video, recording a special message and dedicating their song "Faster" to André, wishing him a high-speed but safe return later this week.
Within Temptation are Sharon den Adel, Robert Westerholt, Stefan Helleblad, Jeroen van Veen, Ruud Jolie, Martijn Spierenburg and Mike Coolen.
New blog post from André: ‘Checking water valves and another false alarm’
André works with one of the experiment racks in the Kibo laboratory (Credit: ESA/NASA)
André writes: "Two more days to go before my stay in space will end. I managed to complete three important tasks before I have to leave. I inspected cooling fluid valves for the Columbus laboratory, fixed an American scientific experiment rack and worked on the Japanese Ryutai rack. We do many maintenance tasks in the ISS. Maintenance must be done in a timely fashion to assure that the Space Station is used optimally for our scientific experiments."
Read more in André's blog: 'Checking water valves and another false alarm'
André: “Every time you look at the planet it is awesome”
In this video Space Station astronauts André Kuipers, Don Pettit and Joe Acaba talk to US media in a final media interview before the end of the PromISSe mission to the ISS. André and Don are scheduled to land in their Soyuz spacecraft together with Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko on 1 July after 6 1/2 months in orbit. Acaba remains on board the ISS until mid-September.