Capcom 245

your window to space

CapCom Volume 24 Number 5 May/June 2014

Self-Portrait by Freshly Cleaned Opportunity Mars Rover in March 2014 This self-portrait of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows effects of wind events that had cleaned much of the accumulated dust off the rover’s solar panels. It combines multiple frames taken by Opportunity’s panoramic camera (Pancam) through three different color filters from 22 March to 24 March 2014, the 3,611th through 3,613th Martian days, or sols, of Opportunity’s work on Mars.

Image: NASA http://www.nasa.gov/mars

CapCom is published by Midlands Spaceflight Society www.midspace.org.uk Editor: Mike Bryce | President: David J Shayler | Secretary: Dave Evetts Honorary Member: Helen Sharman OBE

Midlands Spaceflight Society: CapCom: Volume 24 no 5 May/June 2014

space news roundup NASA Seeks to Evolve Space Station for New Commercial Opportunities As part of NASA’s continuing effort to open low-Earth orbit to commercial space opportunities, the agency is seeking feedback on ways it can help create greater access to and use of the International Space Station for research and commercial activities.

NASA Selects Partners for U.S. Commercial Lander Capabilities

NASA has announced the selection of three Through a Request for Information (RFI), NASA is soliciting ideas from companies interested U.S. companies to negotiate no-funds in using the space station and the low-Earth orbit environment in innovative ways that will develop a strong commercial market and assist the agency in achieving its exploration goals. exchanged partnership agreements with the agency to advance lander capabilities that will enable delivery of payloads to the The expanding U.S. commercial space industry has been able to create self-sustaining surface of the moon, as well as new science economic opportunities in low-Earth orbit, enabled by NASA’s commitment to reducing and exploration missions of interest to NASA and removing barriers to a commercially-driven U.S. market. This has allowed the agency to and scientific and academic communities. sharpen its focus on deep space exploration.

NASA announced in January that it intends to extend the country’s commitment to the International Space Station to at least 2024. This extension provides opportunities, some already under implementation, to broaden private market access to the unique microgravity environment aboard the space station.

The selected companies are: Astrobotic Technology, Inc., Pittsburgh; -- Masten Space Systems, Inc., Mojave, California; -- Moon Express, Inc., Moffett Field, California.

“Now is an exciting time for space research and developing exploration capabilities,” said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “After 10 years of continuous habitation in low-Earth orbit, we know microgravity provides data unattainable on Earth. We are already seeing benefits in pharmaceuticals, medical robotics and materials sciences. This RFI will help identify how to open this one-of-a-kind orbital laboratory to the private sector in better and more practical ways -- ultimately, helping to pave the way for private microgravity research facilities of the future.”

NASA made the selections following a January solicitation for proposals. The agency now will negotiate no-funds exchanged Space Act Agreements with the companies as part of the agency’s Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown (Lunar CATALYST) initiative.

NASA’s contributions for an estimated three-year period may include technical expertise, access to agency test facilities, equipment loans and/or software for lander development and testing.

The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and makes research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The space station has had crew members continuously on board since November 2000. In that time, more than 200 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft have visited it. The space station remains the springboard to NASA’s next great leap in human spaceflight exploration, including missions to an asteroid and Mars.

NASA http://www.nasa.gov/station

Commercial lunar transportation capabilities could support science and exploration objectives such as sample returns, geophysical network deployment, resource prospecting, and technology advancements.

NASA Selects Commercial Crew Program Manager

The Advanced Exploration Systems Division of NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate manages Lunar CATALYST. Advanced Exploration Systems pioneers new approaches for NASA has selected Kathy Lueders as program manager for the agency’s Commercial Crew rapidly developing prototype systems, Program (CCP). Lueders, who has served as acting program manager since October 2013, will demonstrating key capabilities and help keep the nation’s space program on course to launch astronauts from American soil by validating operational concepts for future 2017 aboard spacecraft built by American companies. human missions beyond Earth orbit.

Lueders, who will be assigned to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, previously served as the International Space Station Program’s transportation integration manager, where she managed commercial cargo resupply services to the space station. Lueders also was responsible for NASA oversight of international partner spacecraft visiting the space station, including the European Space Agency’s Automated Transfer Vehicle, the Japanese Space Agency’s H-II Transfer Vehicle, and the Russian Federal Space Agency’s Soyuz and Progress spacecraft.

Lueders began her NASA career at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico in 1992, where she managed the Shuttle Orbital Maneuvering System and Reaction Control Systems Depot. She served in numerous positions in the space station program, including the deputy manager for station logistics and maintenance, the vehicle systems integration manager, and the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services integration manager.

NASA http://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

page 2

As NASA works with U.S. industry to develop the next generation of U.S. spaceflight services, the agency also is developing the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS), a crew capsule and heavy-lift rocket to provide an entirely new capability for human exploration. Designed for launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, SLS and Orion will expand human presence beyond low-Earth orbit and enable new missions of exploration across the solar system, including to a near-Earth asteroid and Mars.

NASA http://www.nasa.gov/lunarcatalyst

Midlands Spaceflight Society: CapCom: Volume 24 no 5 May/June 2014

Venus Express Gets Ready to Take the Plunge After eight years in orbit, ESA’s Venus Express has completed routine science observations and is preparing for a daring plunge into the planet’s hostile atmosphere.

Venus Express was launched on a Soyuz–Fregat from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 9 November 2005, and arrived at Venus on 11 April 2006.

It has been orbiting Venus in an elliptical 24hour loop that takes it from a distant 66 000 km over the south pole – affording incredible global views – to an altitude of around 250 km above the surface at the north pole, close to the top of the planet’s atmosphere.

With a suite of seven instruments, the spacecraft has provided a comprehensive study of the ionosphere, atmosphere and surface of Venus.

Now, the fuel supplies necessary to maintain the elliptical orbit are running low and will soon be exhausted. Thus, routine science operations concluded this week, and the spacecraft is being prepared for one final mission: to make a controlled plunge deeper into the atmosphere than ever before attempted.

Aerobraking can be used as a way of getting into orbit around planets without having to carry quite so much fuel, thus reducing the launch mass.

This ‘experimental aerobraking’ phase is planned for 18 June – 11 July, during which time some limited science measurements with the spacecraft’s magnetic field, solar wind and atom analysing instruments will be possible. Also, temperature and pressure sensors will record the conditions that the spacecraft is experiencing.

“The campaign also provides the opportunity to develop and practise the critical operations techniques required for aerobraking, an experience that will be precious for the preparation of future planetary missions that may require it operationally,” says Paolo Ferri, head of mission operations.

NASA Completes LADEE Mission with Planned Impact on Moon’s Surface Ground controllers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, have confirmed that NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft impacted the surface of the moon, as planned, on Thursday, 17 April (PDT).

LADEE lacked fuel to maintain a long-term lunar orbit or continue science operations and was intentionally sent into the lunar surface. The spacecraft’s orbit naturally decayed following the mission’s final low-altitude science phase.

During impact, engineers believe the LADEE spacecraft, the size of a vending machine, broke apart, with most of the spacecraft’s material heating up several hundred degrees – or even vaporising – at the surface. Any material that remained is likely buried in shallow craters.

In early April, the spacecraft was commanded to carry out manoeuvres that would lower its closest approach to the lunar surface. The new orbit brought LADEE to altitudes below one mile (two kilometres) above the lunar surface. This is lower than most commercial airliners fly above Earth, enabling scientists to gather unprecedented science measurements.

On 11 April LADEE performed a final manoeuvre to ensure a trajectory that caused the spacecraft to impact the far side of the moon, which is not in view of Earth or near any previous lunar mission landings. LADEE also survived the total lunar eclipse on April 14 to 15. This demonstrated the spacecraft’s ability to endure low temperatures and a drain on batteries as it, and the moon, passed through Earth’s deep shadow.

In the coming months, mission controllers will determine the exact time and location of LADEE’s impact and work with the agency’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) team to possibly capture an image of the impact site. Launched in June 2009, LRO provides data and detailed images of the lunar surface.

Launched in September 2013 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, LADEE began orbiting the moon Oct. 6 and gathering science data Nov. 10. The spacecraft entered its science orbit around the moon’s equator on Nov. 20, and in March 2014, LADEE extended its mission operations following a highly successful 100-day primary science phase.

LADEE also hosted NASA’s first dedicated system for two-way communication using laser instead of radio waves. The Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) made history using a pulsed laser beam to transmit data over the 239,000 miles from the moon to the Earth at a record-breaking download rate of 622 megabits-per-second (Mbps). In addition, an error-free data upload rate of 20 Mbps was transmitted from the primary ground station in New Mexico to the Laser Communications Space Terminal aboard LADEE. LADEE gathered detailed information about the structure and composition of the thin lunar atmosphere. In addition, scientists hope to use the data to address a long-standing question: Was lunar dust, electrically charged by sunlight, responsible for the pre-sunrise glow seen above the lunar horizon during several Apollo missions?

A thorough understanding of the characteristics of our nearest celestial neighbour will help researchers understand other bodies in the solar system, such as large asteroids, Mercury and the moons of outer planets.

NASA also included the public in the final chapter of the LADEE story. A “Take the Plunge” contest provided an opportunity for the public to guess the date and time of the spacecraft’s impact via the internet. Thousands submitted predictions. NASA will provide winners a digital congratulatory certificate.

ESA http://www.ea.int

NASA http://www.nasa.gov/ladee

Wubbo Ockels (1946 - 2014)

Former ESA astronaut Wubbo Ockels passed away on 18 May in a hospital in the Netherlands. Wubbo was the second ESA astronaut and the first Dutch citizen to go into space, in 1985. During his Spacelab-D1 mission he orbited Earth 110 times over 168 hours.

Ockels was selected by ESA as one of three science astronauts to train for the Spacelab missions, together with Ulf Merbold and Claude Nicollier. During the first Spacelab mission, he served as ground-communicator and liaison-scientist for the crew on STS-9.

More information on this story in the next issue.

ESA http://www.esa.int

page 3

Midlands Spaceflight Society: CapCom: Volume 24 no 5 May/June 2014

ISS MISSION REPORT George Spiteri

Expedition Thirty-Nine is in its early days. Koichi Wakata has become the International Space Station’s (ISS) first Japanese Commander, the rest of the crew consist of Flight Engineers, Russians Mikhail Tyurin, Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev and Americans Rick Mastracchio and Steve Swanson. Skvortsov, Artemyev and Swanson recently arrived to replace Russians Oleg Kotov, Sergey Ryazanskiy and American Mike Hopkins who returned to Earth in mid-March.

More CubeSats were deployed from outside the Kibo Module on 15th, 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th February. The Cygnus unmanned commercial vehicle was also released by Canadarm2 at 1141 GMT on 18th February and sent to a destructive re-entry over the southern Pacific Ocean the following day.

Soyuz TMA-12M/38S was launched from Baikonur at 2117 GMT on 25th March (0317 26th March, local time), with veterans Skvortsov and Swanson and rookie Artemyev on board.

Soyuz was due to dock with the ISS after six hours but an engine problem meant that the crew resorted to the traditional two day rendezvous flight profile and docked to the Poisk Module at 2353 GMT on 27th March and returned the Station to six person operations.

Progress M-23M/54P undocked from the ISS at 1458 BST on 7th April and spent several days conducting experiments before its eventual demise over the Pacific Ocean.

Mikhail Tyurin celebrated his 54th birthday on 2nd March and the following week Wakata took over Command of the complex from Kotov during the traditional Change of Command ceremony, saying that he was “humbled to assume command”.

Kotov, Hopkins and Ryazanskiy undocked their Soyuz TMA-10M/36S from the Station’s Poisk Module at 0002 GMT on 11th March signalling the official start of Expedition Thirty-Nine. Soyuz landed in a snowy Kazakhstan over three hours later at 0324 GMT (0924 local time), completing a mission of 166 days 6 hours 27 minutes. In a post-landing interview Hopkins said that the most exciting part of the landing was “when the main parachute” opened and described his relief “when they open the hatch” and he smelt the cold air of Earth.

The next cargo vehicle, Progress M-24M/55P was launched from Baikonur two days later at 1626 BST (2126 local time), six hours and four orbits later docked to the Space Station’s vacated Pirs Module at 2214 BST, bringing nearly three tons of fuel and supplies for the crew As of 11th April, Wakata, Mastracchio and Tyurin have been in space for 156 days, whilst Skvortsov, Swanson and Artemyev have logged 18 days in orbit.

Gerge Spiteri

A LOOK BACK IN TIME: NOTABLE ANNIVERSARIES IN MAY AND JUNE MAY

assisted navigational, visual, and photographic evaluations. First and only Apollo launch from Launch Complex 39B. First use of the pad’s water deluge system to cool flame deflector.

65 Years Ago – 1949 11 May: President Harry Truman signed into law the act authorising the Atlantic Missile Range, Florida.

55 Years Ago - 1959 28 May: Two monkeys, “Able” and “Baker”, were successfully launched atop a Jupiter rocket to an altitude of 360 miles and 1700 miles downrange. They survived in good condition.

Launched from the Eastern Space Missile Center, Florida (Cape Canaveral, Florida).

50 Years Ago – 1964 15 May: The Atlantic Missile Range was renamed the Eastern Test Range, Florida.

28 May: SA-6 launched by Saturn 1 rocket, 11:07 p.m., EDT, Cape Canaveral, Florida. The first flight of an unmanned Apollo spacecraft boilerplate.

45 Years Ago – 1969 18 May: Apollo 10 launched by Saturn V, SA-505. 12:49 a.m., EDT, KSC on “the mission before THE mission”.

Astronauts Thomas P. Stafford; John W. Young, Jr.; and Eugene A. Cernan tested all aspects of the lunar landing mission, except the actual lunar landing. First crew to shave in space. First transmitted color photographs of the full Earth from a crew in space with a Westinghouse color TV camera. First demonstration rendezvous in lunar orbit. First burning of LM descent stage engine in lunar landing configuration. First LM steerable antenna at lunar distances.

First LM within 15,240 metres [8 nautical miles] of lunar surface. First in-flight test of the abort guidance system. First in-flight use of VHF ranging. First landing radar test in near-lunarenvironment. First crew

40 Years Ago – 1974 19 May: Luna 22 (lunar orbiter) launched on Proton K rocket from Baikonur at 08:57 UTC. 30 May: ATS-6 (Applications Technology Satellite-6) launched by Titan III C at 9:00 a.m., EDT, Cape Canaveral.

35 Years Ago – 1979 1 May: First time the complete Space Shuttle (Enterprise configuration was assembled in the VAB & transported to Launch Complex 39A. 25 Years Ago - 1989 4 May: STS-30 (Space Shuttle Atlantis) launched from KSC at 2:46 p.m., EDT. Crew: David M. Walker, Ronald J. Grabe, Norman E. Thagard, Mary L. Cleave, and Mark C. Lee. First U.S. planetary mission in 11 years and the first deep space probe on a Space Shuttle mission [Magellan]. It was deployed to Venus. First time a general purpose computer was switched on orbit. Returned to Edwards AFB, California, 8 May. Mission duration: 4 days, 57 minutes.

20 Years Ago – 1994 9 May: MSTI 2 (Miniature Sensor Technology Integration 2), a U.S.A. defense spacecraft, was launched at 02:47 UTC from Vandenberg AFB by the last of the now discontinued Scout series.

page 4

Continued on page 11

Midlands Spaceflight Society: CapCom: Volume 24 no 5 May/June 2014

ASTRONAUT NEWS Rob Wood

French Astronaut to Fly to ISS

On 17 March 2014 ESA’s Director General Jean Jacques Dordain announced the assignment of Thomas Pesquet to an ISS Expedition in 2016. Although not stated in the ESA press release the mission should be Expeditions 50/51 and is due to start in November 2016.

The flight will launch on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. He is the final member of ESA’s 2009 astronaut group to be assigned to a mission.

On 20 May 2009 at a press conference at their headquarters in Paris ESA announced the selection of six new astronauts. This was the third specific group chosen by ESA to train as astronauts; although in the period 1998 to 2002 a number of European astronauts transferred in from national astronaut teams when it was decided to have one European squad under the umbrella of ESA. There were also some new candidates nominated by ESA member nations at this time.

In 1977 four physicists were selected by ESA as candidates for flights on the US Space Shuttle in conjunction with Europe’s Spacelab (a reusable experiments laboratory) which would fly in the payload bay of the shuttle. All four did get to fly in space although one as part of his own nation’s astronaut team and not as an ESA astronaut.

In 1992 a second group of astronaut candidates was chosen. There were six candidates of whom five would fly in space and one would leave the team for personal reasons.

The 2009 recruitment process started on 19 May 2008 and saw 8413 valid applications. The six selected were: Samantha Cristoforetti (representing Italy), Alexander Gerst (Germany), Andreas Mogensen (Denmark), Luca Parmitano (Italy), Timothy Peake (UK) and Thomas Pesquet (France).

The choice of six was made taking into account flight opportunities planned not only under ESA programmes but also those planned in the frame of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (the Italian Space Agency or ASI) and NASA. Hence there were two Italian candidates. They completed their basic training in November 2010 and moved on to more advanced training including working in Russia and the USA.

On 28 August 2013 the fifth announcement was made confirming that Mogensen would fly a short 10-day mission to the ISS. Currently scheduled for October 2015 he will travel to the ISS on Soyuz TMA18M and will return to Earth using the descent module of Soyuz TMA-16M. Dordain said in May 2013 that, “When we recruited the six new ESA astronauts in May 2009, I made a promise to secure flight opportunities for all of them on missions within seven years of graduation”. Well, their flight opportunities have been announced within four years of the end of basic training and the last flight should start about six years after it finished.

At the announcement of Pesquet’s assignment Dordain commented that “Thomas’ mission assignment concludes the first phase for our newest members of the ESA astronaut corps, which was to make each of them assigned to a spaceflight. This is a clear demonstration of the reputation of ESA among the international partners of ISS as well as of ESA astronauts among the international community of astronauts. The flight experience gained by this new class of ESA astronauts is providing a solid ground for ESA Member States to contribute to further international human exploration missions.”

Hyperbole from Dordain? Yes, but I liked the bid for more cash from ESA Member States. Let us hope ministers are listening and perhaps get caught up a little in the excitement.

Thomas Gautier Pesquet was born in Rouen, France, on 27 February 1978. In 2001 he received a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the École Nationale Supérieure de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace in Toulouse, France, majoring in spacecraft design and control.

In 2001 he had a six-month engineering internship at Thales Alenia Space in Cannes, France, before taking up a position as a spacecraft dynamics engineer with GMV (a technological company involved in such areas as space, aeronautics and defence), in Madrid, Spain.

In 2002 he joined the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES or French Space Agency), working as a research engineer.

Parmitano was the first to be assigned to a spaceflight. ESA made the announcement on 18 February 2011. He flew on ISS Expeditions 36/37 using the Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft (28 May – 11 November 2013). By the time this issue of CapCom reaches you Gerst should have just started or be about to start the second flight of a 2009 astronaut. He is scheduled to launch on 28 May 2014 aboard Soyuz TMA-13M as part of the Expeditions 40/41 crews. His mission was announced on 18 September 2011.

In 2004 he linked up with Air France and entered their cadet pilot training programme. He graduated in 2006 and started flying the Airbus A320 short to medium range twin-engine commercial passenger jet airliner. He later qualified as an instructor-pilot on the A320. He logged more than 2300 flight hours as a commercial airline pilot as well as several hundred hours as a private pilot. With the agreement of ESA he continues to fly for Air France to maintain his qualification to fly the A320.

ESA will be hoping the second flight is a little less dramatic after the curtailment of Parmitano’s second EVA on 16 July 2013 when water pooled in his US made Extravehicular Mobility Unit (space suit) helmet due to a blocked filter. His sight was affected and he was unable to communicate fully with the ground and his fellow astronauts. There was a real possibility that Parmitano could have drowned. Gerst is due to make at least one EVA during his flight.

As an astronaut he has worked as a CapCom (ESA calls this role EuroCom) at the Columbus Control Centre at Oberpfaffenhofen, near Munich, Germany. He has also led Future Projects at the European Astronaut Centre and this included initiating cooperation with China. He is multilingual and includes Chinese as one of his languages. It is rumoured that he is a candidate for a joint mission with China when their new modular space station is operational in the early 2020’s.

The third member of the class to be assigned a flight was Cristoforetti. Her mission was announced on 3 July 2012 during a crowded press conference at the headquarters of the ASI in Rome.

She is due to be launched on Soyuz TMA-15M on 24 November 2014. She will be part of the crews for Expeditions 42/43.

The Science Museum in London on 20 May 2013 was the venue for the next announcement. This was for Britain’s Timothy Peake. On 30 November 2015 he is due to lift-off aboard Soyuz TMA-19M. His mission will continue through to May 2016 as part of ISS Expeditions 46/47.

In September 2011 he took part in the six day ‘CAVES 2011’ ESA mission where astronauts from ESA, Japan, Russia and the USA went down into partly unexplored caves in Sardinia. One of his colleagues during the caving was ESA’s British astronaut Timothy Peake. Caving provides an analogue to spaceflight and is a useful training exercise.

The astronauts involved lived and worked in a dark and humid underground environment isolated from the outside world.

Caving has confinement, minimal privacy, technical challenges and limited hygiene and comfort. It has psychological issues. For

page 5

Midlands Spaceflight Society: CapCom: Volume 24 no 5 May/June 2014 example, the use of artificial light in constant darkness alters the perception of time and of colour. The absence of natural time clues from daylight has the potential to alter the circadian rhythm and effect sleep patterns.

In 1990 he graduated with honours from the Tallinn Polytechnic Institute with a degree in Electrical Equipment of Industrial Enterprises and Installations and followed this with his National Service in the Soviet Army. Following two years in the army he returned to his education and in 1998 he graduated from the Moscow Bauman Technical University with a degree in Low Temperature Physics and Technology.

In September 2013 he took part in NASA’s SEATEST 2 mission at the Aquarius Reef Base undersea research laboratory off the coast of Key Largo, Florida. Similar to ESA’s ‘CAVES’ missions, the SEATEST operations provide many parallels to spaceflight.

In 1998 he joined the S P Korolyov Rocket-Space Corporation Energiya where he worked in their EVA branch on flight documentation and the development and testing of EVA equipment. He performed tasks in the neutral buoyancy laboratory at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre including testing EVA suits and acting as a safety diver for cosmonauts who were practising for EVA’s. He participated in emergency sea landing training. One of his jobs was supervising actual EVA’s from the Russian Mission Control Centre.

Pesquet said on his flight assignment, “I am happy to have been selected for a mission but this is just the start of a new phase for me. There is a lot of work to do and a lot to learn before my flight.

I will consider my dream complete when I am working on the International Space Station.”

New Soyuz Crew Launches to ISS

At 03:17 local Kazakh time on 26 March 2014 Soyuz TMA-12M lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Aboard were three new crew members for the ISS who would form part of Expeditions 39/40. There were two Russian cosmonauts Aleksandr Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev, and one NASA astronaut Steven Swanson. Artemyev was the only space rookie.

In 2000 he passed the Chief Medical Commission, which allowed him to apply for cosmonaut training. He was selected as a cosmonaut candidate by the State Interdepartmental Commission in 2003 and commenced his basic training in June of that year. He took his final exams in June 2005 and was officially confirmed as a ‘Test Cosmonaut’ by the Interdepartmental Qualification Committee the following month making him eligible for flight assignment.

Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Skvortsov (Colonel, Russian Air Force, Ret.) was born in Schyolkovo, Moscow Region, on 6 May 1966. He represents the Russian Federal Space Agency and is on his second ISS expedition. He is the Soyuz commander and will be one of the ISS flight engineers.

In 1987 he graduated from the Stavropol Higher Military Aviation School as a pilot-engineer and served as a fighter pilot in the Soviet then Russian Air Forces flying the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 and the Sukhoi Su-27 fighter aircraft.

Following graduation from the Air Defence Academy in 1997 he was selected as a cosmonaut candidate by the State Interdepartmental Commission. He commenced his basic training in January 1998 and took his final exams in November 1999. He was officially confirmed as a ‘Test Cosmonaut’ by the Interdepartmental Qualification Committee in December 1999 making him eligible for flight assignment.

In the following years he continued preparing for spaceflight and was also involved in a significant amount of survival training, including water landings and landings in remote arrears. During the exercises he worked not only with his Russian colleagues but also with NASA astronauts and Charles Simonyi, a spaceflight participant.

He took part in the Mars-500 international study into manned flights to Mars. In 2007 and 2009 he took part in isolation precursor tests, which lasted for 14 and 105 days. A full 520 day Mars-500 isolation experiment was carried out in 2010/2011 involving a crew of six but Artemyev was not one of them as he was closing in on an ISS assignment.

In 2009 Artemyev graduated from the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration with a degree in Personnel Management.

He commenced advanced training for the ISS in January 2000.

He served as a back-up to ISS Expeditions 22/23. The crew that he was specifically backing-up was launched on Soyuz TMA-16 in September 2009. His first spaceflight commenced on 2 April 2010 when his Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft lifted-off from Baikonur.

In July 2011 he received a prime ISS assignment. From September 2011 he trained as a back-up flight engineer for ISS Expeditions 37/38 that launched on Soyuz TMA-10M on 26 September 2013.

Following the launch he commenced full time preparations for his first spaceflight.

He arrived at the ISS two days after launch to become part of ISS Expeditions 23/24, initially as a flight engineer then as commander of the space station for Expedition 24. He also served as the Soyuz commander. He returned to Earth on 25 September 2010 after a flight lasting 176 days. Also in 2010 he graduated from the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration with a Law degree.

Steven Ray Swanson (Ph., D.) was born in Syracuse, New York on 3 December 1960. He is representing NASA and is a flight engineer for Soyuz and the first part of the ISS expedition before taking over command of the station for the second period of the mission. He has previously flown on two shuttle missions.

In 2012 the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre was put under civilian control and it was no longer considered a posting for serving military personal. They were given the option of resigning from the military or re-assignment to another place. Serving military cosmonauts were also allowed to leave the military and join the cosmonaut team as civilian specialists. Skvortsov chose to remain a cosmonaut and in the summer of 2012 he retired from the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

He received another back-up assignment for ISS and that crew launched on 26 September 2013 aboard Soyuz TMA-10M to form parts of ISS Expeditions 37/38. Following the launch he commenced full time preparations for his second spaceflight.

Oleg Germanovich Artemyev was born in Riga, which was then the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Latvia became an independent nation in 1991), on 28 December 1970. He represents the Russian Federal Space Agency and is making his first spaceflight. He is a flight engineer for the Soyuz spacecraft and the ISS.

He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Physics from the University of Colorado in 1983 and followed this with a Master of Science degree in Computer Systems from Florida Atlantic University in 1986. His doctorate degree was in Computer Science from the Texas A & M University in 1998.

He worked in the Telecommunications industry for GTE in Phoenix, Arizona, as a software engineer following his master’s degree. In 1987 he joined NASA as an engineer working on the Shuttle Training Aircraft in the Aircraft Operations Division of the Johnson Space Center.

He was selected as an astronaut in 1998 (NASA Group 17). He underwent basic training from August 1998 to August 1999 and qualified as a mission specialist. He was assigned to the Astronaut Office Robotics Branch and also served as a CapCom. He has flown two shuttle missions as a mission specialist, STS-117 Atlantis in 2007 and STS-119 Discovery in 2009. Both flights continued the assembly of the ISS. STS-117 (8-22 June 2007) delivered the second starboard truss

page 6

Midlands Spaceflight Society: CapCom: Volume 24 no 5 May/June 2014

Ex-Astronaut Movements in the Private and Other Public Sector Areas

segment; the third set of US solar arrays, batteries and associated equipment. He was part of the EVA team conducting construction tasks. He made two spacewalks accumulating 13 hours and 45 minutes of EVA. STS-119 (15-28 March 2009) delivered the fourth and final starboard truss segment and the fourth and final set of US solar arrays. He was again part of the EVA team and made two further spacewalks in connection with space station construction work. He accumulated a further 12 hours and 37 minutes of EVA time.

From September 2011 he trained as a back-up for ISS Expeditions 37/38 that launched on Soyuz TMA-10M on 26 September 2013. He was then able to commence full time preparations for his first longduration spaceflight.

Leland Melvin Departs from NASA

Whilst at college, Leland Melvin was a promising wide-receiver in US Football and was selected by the Detroit Lions in the 11th round of the 1986 National Football League college draft. However, his career pathway would ultimately lie away from pro-football. He joined NASA in 1989 and was chosen as an astronaut nine years later flying on the Space Shuttle twice. He took over as NASA Associate Administrator for Education in October 2010 which effectively ended his time as an active astronaut. In February 2014 he left NASA. Leland Devon ‘Lee’ Melvin was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, on 15 February 1964. He went to the University of Richmond, Virginia, on a football scholarship and in 1986 received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. In 1987 he enrolled at the University of Virginia from where he received a Master of Science degree in Materials Science Engineering in 1991.

During his time at the University of Richmond he broke receiving records, achieving 198 receptions for 2,669 yards during one season. He was training with the Detroit Lions in 1986 when a bad hamstring injury put him out of action and the Lions released him.

The following spring he had another try at making it in pro-football with the Dallas Cowboys but a recurrence of the same injury dashed his hopes.

He had not shirked on the academic side of his education. He had worked hard throughout. A chance meeting with a NASA representative at a careers’ fair led to an interview and a job at NASA’s Langley Research Centre from 1989 conducting research in fibre optics. In 1994 he took the lead for the Vehicle Health Monitoring Team for the cooperative Lockheed/NASA X-33 Reusable Launch Vehicle Programme.

He was selected as a mission specialist astronaut in 1998 (NASA Astronaut Group 17). In addition to the normal pre-flight duties he was also the co-manager of NASA’s former Educator Astronaut Programme with a remit to inspire students to pursue careers in the STEM subjects by speaking about the excitement of space exploration. He was a crew support astronaut for ISS Expedition 1, which launched on 31 October 2000.

His first spaceflight was STS-122 Atlantis (7-20 February 2008), the main task of which was the delivery and installation of the ESA’s Columbus Laboratory to the ISS. Melvin operated the shuttle’s 58foot Canadarm during the mission. He celebrated his 44th birthday during the spaceflight. He described lift-off as feeling like “a human slingshot pulled back about a mile and then let go.”

His second and final spaceflight saw him return to the ISS. He was again aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. STS-129 (16-29 November 2009), delivered two Express Logistics Carriers containing nearly 30,000 pounds of replacement parts for the space station He again operated the shuttle’s Canadarm.

Both his parents were teachers and with his previous experience in the Educator Astronaut Programme he was a natural choice for the Office of Education. In April 2010, he was assigned to the Office of Education to lead the Education Design Team and in October 2010 took over as its Associate Administrator.

On 25 February 2014 Wilcox Industries Corp announced the appointment of William Shepherd as Vice-President of advanced development and restricted programmes. Wilcox is a producer of tactical equipment for military and law enforcement agencies.

“Shep’s experience and knowledge of special operations, aerospace and defense activities will add unique depth to Wilcox’s development team. We are continuing to grow into new technology areas and we know that Shep will be instrumental in this process,” said Jim Teetzel, Wilcox Chief Executive Officer. Shepherd was a US Navy SEAL who joined NASA in 1984. He made three flights on the Space Shuttle before commanding the first Expedition crew to man the ISS. He left NASA in 2002.

On 28 February 2014 LIFT Philanthropy Partners announced that former Canadian Astronaut Robert Thirsk had joined its board of directors. Jane Pepino, Chair of LIFT said that. “Robert’s knowledge, experience and proven leadership will play an integral role in LIFT’s efforts to support large-scale social change in Canada.” LIFT is a not-for-profit organization that supports health, education, skills training and employment across Canada. Dr Thirsk was a member of the first Canadian astronaut group in 1983 and spent over 200 days in space over two missions. He flew on the US Space Shuttle in 1996 and then as an ISS Expedition crew member in 2009. He was the first Canadian astronaut to complete a long-duration spaceflight. He retired from the astronaut corps in 2012.

On 6 March 2014 the US Senate confirmed Dr Kathryn Sullivan as Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator. She had been in these roles since February 2013 but the title included ‘Acting’ as a prefix. She had previously been Chief Scientist at NOAA from 1993 to 1996 before re-joining them in 2011 as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental Observation and Prediction, and as Deputy Administrator. In 1978, she was one of the first six women selected to join the NASA astronaut corps and became the first American woman to walk in space on her first spaceflight in 1984. She flew on two more shuttle missions during her 15-year astronaut career.

Obituary Notes Valeriy Nikolayevich Kubasov 1935-2014

Valeriy Kubasov was one of the earliest Soviet civilian engineers selected for spaceflight training. He is probably best known in the west for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975 but he was extremely lucky to make it that far. During his first spaceflight an experiment nearly went horribly wrong and in 1971, shortly before launch, a medical test caused his withdrawal from Soyuz 11 which was to visit the Salyut 1 space station. The crew of Soyuz 11 later died during re-entry.

During a cosmonaut career spanning 1966 to 1993 he made three spaceflights; Soyuz 6 (11-16 October 1969), Soyuz 19 (15-21 July 1975 and Soyuz 36 (26 May – 3 June 1980). As well as the Soyuz 11 mission noted above he also trained for a number of other missions in prime and back-up roles.

He was born in the town of Vyazniki in the Vladimir Oblast, Russia, on 7 January 1935. Following his school years in Vyazniki he studied at the Moscow Aviation Institute where he graduated from the Aircraft Building Department in 1958 as an Aerospace Engineer.

In July 1958 he joined OKB-1 (Special Design Bureau number 1) which at this time was led by Sergei Korolyov, the Soviet Union’s leading rocket engineer. The design bureau was later named after Korolyov and is today known as the S P Korolyov Rocket-Space Corporation Energiya (RSC Energiya). With OKB-1 he worked on the control systems for spacecraft both for Earth orbit and planetary travel.

page 7

Midlands Spaceflight Society: CapCom: Volume 24 no 5 May/June 2014 In 1964 he was one of 14 candidates submitted by OKB-1 to be considered for the Voskhod 1 flight but did not make the final cut.

In 1965 he passed preliminary medical tests and the following year joined the OKB-1 cosmonaut group. In September 1966 he reported for duty at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre. He immediately began training for upcoming Soyuz flights.

Because the civilian engineers were already familiar with the Soyuz spacecraft they were able to enter specific mission training almost immediately. In November 1966 he was named at a State Commission meeting as the back-up flight engineer for Soyuz 2. Problems with unmanned Soyuz precursor missions led to several delays with the manned missions but eventually the launch of Soyuz 1 was set for 23 April 1967 with Soyuz 2 due to lift-off the following day.

The two spacecraft were due to dock and it was planned that two cosmonauts launched on Soyuz 2 would spacewalk from their spacecraft to Soyuz 1. They would then return to Earth in Soyuz 1.

Kabasov had trained as one of the back-up EVA cosmonauts. Several major failures on Soyuz 1 following launch led to the cancellation of Soyuz 2 and sadly the Soyuz 1 cosmonaut, Vladimir Komarov died when the descent module smashed into the ground following a failure of the parachute recovery system.

It was perhaps quite fortunate that Soyuz 2 did not fly as subsequent tests indicated the same inherent problem with the Soyuz 2 parachute system as on Soyuz 1. It was quite probable that if Soyuz 2 had flown it would have met the same fate on re-entry as Soyuz 1. The Soyuz spacecraft was clearly not ready for manned spaceflight but pressures to launch had been high. This was not dissimilar to the US Apollo programme where the Apollo spacecraft was being rushed for flight and three astronauts perished in a fire on the pad in January 1967.

There were delays for both nations’ space programmes and it was October 1968 before the next manned flights took place, Apollo 7 and Soyuz 3. The Soyuz parachute recovery system had been redesigned and was now able to return cosmonauts safely to the Earth. In the meantime Kubasov continued his training for an EVA flight and in January 1969 was the back-up flight engineer for Soyuz 5. Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 successfully completed the mission originally planned for Soyuz 1 and Soyuz 2.

In April 1969 he began training as the prime flight engineer for Soyuz 6. One of the major experiments developed for the flight was welding in the vacuum of microgravity. Named the ‘Vulcan’ experiment, several methods of welding were to be carried out.

On consecutive days in October 1969, Soyuz 6, Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8 were launched into space. Kubasov aboard Soyuz 6 with his commander Georgiy Shonin lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 11 October 1969. The overall mission of the three spacecraft was hardly an unqualified success. Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8 failed to dock as planned, and the welding experiment went wrong and could have had disastrous consequences.

On 16 October 1969 Kubasov and Shonin moved into the descent module (DM) of Soyuz 6 and sealed the hatch to the orbital module (OM). They depressurized the OM and instigated the start of the welding. The rest of the operation was automatic. The cosmonauts were able to monitor the experiment but were not aware that anything had gone wrong until after they re-opened the hatch to recover the samples.

During one of the welding procedures the Vulcan unit malfunctioned and aimed a beam at the internal wall and almost burned a hole through. None of this was made public at the time.

The USSR was not very keen on airing their dirty linen in public.

Kubasov and Shonin returned to earth in the DM of Soyuz 6 shortly after the completion of the welding operations.

In September 1970 he was assigned to train for the USSR’s first space station and was due to fly as flight engineer on the second crew.

He was teamed with Alexei Leonov, the crew commander who had carried out the World’s first spacewalk in 1965, and Pyotr Kolodin, the research engineer and the only rookie in the crew.

A few days before launch a routine medical examination discovered a problem with Kubasov’s right lung and he was declared unfit for flight. In accordance with agreed procedures the whole crew was replaced by their back-ups and they flew the mission commencing on 6 June 1971. Unfortunately, during their return to Earth on 30 June 1971 the crew of Soyuz 11 died as a result of the rapid depressurization of the descent module.

In the future it was decided that all cosmonauts should launch and land whilst wearing their spacesuits and this meant that the current Soyuz spacecraft could only carry two cosmonauts. Kubasov continued to be teamed with Leonov but Kolodin would never get to fly in space.

The Leonov and Kubasov team were assigned as the first crew to visit two Soviet space stations but twice these plans were thwarted.

On 29 July 1972 a space station launch failed to reach orbit and on 11 May 1973 another space station suffered major failures during its first orbit.

The Leonov and Kubasov team had trained for three space missions and had not flown once. The question for the Soviets was what to do with this well trained and senior crew. The answer quickly came.

On 25 May 1973, it was announced they would be the primary crew for the Soviet side of a link-up in space between Soyuz and Apollo spacecraft.

The rivalry between the USSR and USA was in history known as the ‘Cold War’. They did not officially shoot at each other in open conflict but in clandestine operations and wars between their proxy’s the ‘Game’ was deadly as they tried to build empires based on their own diametrically opposed political and economic systems. Frank Borman who flew around the moon in 1968 would later comment that “the Apollo program was just a battle in the Cold War.” By the end of the 1960’s/early 1970’s both sides were under severe financial pressures as a result of the Cold War and attempts were made to thaw the relationship between the two superpowers. As well as arms limitations this period led to an agreement to mount a joint manned space mission that became known as the ApolloSoyuz Test Project (ASTP).

On 17 July 1975 ASTP culminated in the link-up between Soyuz 19 and an Apollo spacecraft. The five astronauts, Leonov and Kubasov for the Soviets, and Thomas Stafford, Donald Slayton and Vance Brand for the USA shook hands in space and visited each other’s spacecraft. Of course, they always made sure at least one from each nation remained in their own spacecraft. The Cold War had not thawed that much.

There was however time for some humour. Kubasov was known as a quiet and serious engineer not one for jokes and although the idea probably came from the more open and gregarious Leonov, Kubasov played along. Prior to lift-off labels were replaced on food/ drink tubes which indicated the contents were famous brands of Russian vodka, Stolichnaya and Russkaya.

The US astronauts were of course a little concerned when they were brought out and Leonov said “we must drink to our mission”. The US guys were worried because there were plenty watching on TV in the US who would not approve of drinking alcohol and could cause trouble. After much persuasion Leonov was able to convince them to partake of the tubes. Stafford smiled and said, “it’s borscht.”

Leonov later recounted that Stafford looked “slightly disappointed.”

With the successful conclusion of ASTP Kubasov remained an active cosmonaut. In 1977 he was assigned to the Intercosmos Programme. The Intercosmos Programme originally started as unmanned international satellite research missions but in 1976 the Soviets opened it up for manned flights involving other communist countries. He served as back-up commander for Soyuz 30’s visit to Salyut 6 in the summer of 1978. This was the second manned Intercosmos flight and dedicated to Poland.

In November 1978 he was appointed the commander for the Hungarian mission then due as Soyuz 34 in May 1979 but

page 8

Midlands Spaceflight Society: CapCom: Volume 24 no 5 May/June 2014 problems on the Soyuz 33 flight in April 1979 caused a delay and he eventually flew as commander of Soyuz 36. He was accompanied by Bertalan Farkas who was Hungary’s first cosmonaut. They visited Salyut 6 in May/June 1980. It had taken nearly 10 years but Kubasov had finally successfully visited a Salyut space station.

He continued to be classed as an active cosmonaut but does not appear to have been in the actual running for another flight.

He was involved in training other cosmonauts and worked on the design of equipment related to spaceflight such as in life support, biological, medical and thermal regulation. He officially retired from the cosmonaut team on 6 December 1993 but continued to work for RSC Energiya as a deputy head of a department until 1997. Following this he continued to act as a consultant to the company.

He received many honours including twice Hero of Soviet Union, three Orders of Lenin, the Gold Star Medal of the Hero of the People’s Republic of Hungary and the Medal for the Space Exploration Services. He held a Candidate of Science degree in Engineering.

He fell ill suddenly and was admitted to hospital where he continued to deteriorate and went into a coma. He died on 19 February 2014 as a result of cardiovascular disease. He is survived by his wife and their two children.

Dale Allen Gardner 1948-2014

Dale Gardner was a member of the first group of astronauts specifically chosen to fly on the Space Shuttle. On his second spaceflight he was involved in the first satellite salvage operations carried out in space and is noted for holding up a ‘For Sale’ sign during an EVA. He made two spaceflights and if not for the Challenger accident in January 1986 would have flown at least one more.

Dale Gardner was born in Fairmont, Minnesota on 8 November 1948. He graduated as Valedictorian (top student) of his class from Savanna Community High School, Savanna, Illinois, in 1966 and then entered the University of Illinois from where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Physics in 1970. Following graduation he joined the US Navy.

In October 1970, he entered basic flight training with the VT-10 squadron at Pensacola, graduating with the highest academic average ever achieved in the history of the squadron. He followed this with advanced training at the Naval Technical Training Centre at Glynco, Georgia where he was named a Distinguished Naval Graduate and awarded his wings on 5 May 1971.

He was assigned to the Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent River, Maryland, with the Weapons Systems Test Division and was involved in initial developmental test and evaluation of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. He was Project Officer for the Inertial Navigation and Avionics Systems. In 1973, he was assigned to the first operational F-14 squadron (VF-1) based at Naval Air Station Miramar, San Diego, California, from where he deployed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. The Enterprise was the world’s first nuclear powered aircraft carrier.

In December 1976, he was assigned to the Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 4(VX-4) at Naval Air Station Pt. Mugu, California, where he was involved in the operational test and evaluation of Navy fighter aircraft.

In July 1976, NASA began accepting applications for a new astronaut class. This would be the first group specifically selected to fly the Space Shuttle. Gardner was put forward as a Navy candidate. On 16 January 1978, NASA announced the names of 35 astronaut candidates including Gardner. He was one of a new type of astronaut. As a mission specialist astronaut he would not pilot the shuttle. His job was as an engineer or scientist. They were to acquire detailed knowledge of the shuttle’s onboard systems, and look after, evaluate and operate the experiments and cargo.

He reported to the Johnson Space Center in July 1978 for one year of basic training. On successful completion of his training he conducted pre-assignment tasks for the Astronaut Office. He was the Astronaut Project Manager for the shuttle’s computer software in the period leading up to the first flight in April 1981. He also served as a crew support astronaut for the fourth shuttle flight, STS-4, which launched on 27 June 1982. A few months prior to this, on 19 April 1982, a NASA press release had named him as a mission specialist for STS-8.

STS-8 launched from the Kennedy Space Center on 30 August 1983, in what was the first night launch of the space shuttle. The end of the flight would also see the first night landing. This was the third time that Challenger had entered orbit. Its mission was to deploy the Indian National Satellite-1B, conduct tests of the Canadarm and carry out numerous Earth resources and space science experiments.

STS-8 landed at Edwards Air Force Base on 5 September 1983.

Shortly after his return from space NASA announced Gardner’s assignment to another mission. On 21 September 1983 he was named as a mission specialist for STS-41G; then scheduled for launch in August 1984. This was a satellite deployment mission. In the same press release NASA explained the changes in how Space Shuttle flights were designated. STS-10 had been cancelled and other launches would be out of order, but it was not explained how the change would help with the number ordering problem.

The first number referred to the US Government’s financial year that the flight was planned for, the second number told us the launch site (1 for the Kennedy Space Center and 2 for Vandenberg Air Force Base – Vandenberg was never used in the wake of the Challenger disaster) and the letter referred to the sequence within the financial year that the mission was scheduled to occur, i.e. A is the first flight and B the second flight etc.

Surprising no one, the change in numbering did not help with the launch order and the system was abandoned after Challenger.

Rumours persist however that the new numbering system had little to do with scheduling issues but had more to do with superstition.

Astronaut Mike Mullane later wrote that, “Astronauts and engineers aren’t immune from it any more than the rest of the population.”

Apparently there was concern about having an STS-13 (Apollo 13 anyone).

On 17 November 1983, following scheduling difficulties, NASA announced that Gardner was now assigned to STS-41H. No date of launch was given but it was probably in the September – October 1984 timeframe. On 3 August 1984, a NASA news release showed he was now assigned to STS-51A as continuing technical problems caused chaos with flight plans. Launch was now set for 2 November 1984.

What Gardner would be doing on his second flight was also evolving. When he was first assigned it looked like a fairly mundane satellite deployment mission. Although, as any astronaut will tell you, there is nothing mundane about spaceflight, to the general public, mundane was exactly what it looked like. STS-41B in February 1984 changed all that. The Westar 6 and Palapa B2 satellites had successfully deployed from the payload bay but the McDonnell Douglas Payload Assist Module D (PAM-D) rocket engine upper stage boosters failed to put the satellites into the planned geostationary orbit.

Strategies were quickly formulated to rescue the satellites and by March 1984 Gardner and the rest of the shuttle crew were already working the problem. Despite this it was not until early September 1984 that NASA publically acknowledged in a news release that STS51A would attempt to capture the errant satellites.

The Discovery Space Shuttle, as STS-51A, lifted-off from the Kennedy Space Center on 8 November 1984. On the second and third days of the mission two communication satellites were deployed. The first, Anik D2, was put into geostationary orbit by a now functioning PAM-D. The second, Syncom IV-1, had its own built in upper stage and this took it to the correct geostationary orbit.

page 9

Midlands Spaceflight Society: CapCom: Volume 24 no 5 May/June 2014 The shuttle was manoeuvred to a rendezvous with Palapa B2 and on 12 November 1984 Gardner and fellow astronaut Joe Allen conducted the EVA to capture the satellite. The satellite would not fit into its prepared frame in the payload bay and the astronauts had to improvise. Eventually they were able secure the satellite. Two days later, it was the turn of the Westar 6 satellite. This time it was an easier capture as they used the experience and improvised methods learnt on the first EVA.

Bits & Pieces 1/ Richard Mastracchio will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the School of Engineering of the University of Connecticut on 10 May 2014. He will not be present for the ceremony in person as he will be orbiting the Earth on the ISS until 14 May 2014.

Before Gardner returned to the airlock he held up a hand drawn ‘For Sale’ sign and indeed that is basically what happened. Both satellites were now owned by insurance companies and were refurbished and resold. Westar 6, now under the name of AsiaSat 1, was re-launched on 7 April 1990 by a Chinese Long March rocket. A few days later, on 13 April 1990, Palapa B2 followed. It had been sold back to the original owners and had a slight change of name to Palapa B2R. It was launched by a US Delta rocket.

2/ India’s only astronaut to fly in space, Rakesh Sharma, is to write an inspirational memoir; Hachette’s Indian arm of the book publishers’ have announced. No other information such as publishing date is currently available. Sharma visited Salyut 7 in 1984 as part of the crew of Soyuz T-11.

On 16 November 1984 Discovery returned to Earth at the Kennedy Space Center. As a result of his work on this mission, Gardner was awarded the Lloyd’s of London Meritorious Service Medal.

Air and Space Magazine; Air France; America Space; Astronaut.ru; The Bookseller; CapCom (previous issues); Collect Space; ESA; GMV; Google; Johnson Space Center; LIFT Philanthropy Partners; Military Times; NASA; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; New York Times; Novosti Kosmonavtika; The Observer’s Book of Manned Spaceflight ©1978 by Reginald Turnill; Orbiter (magazine publication of Astro Info Service). Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006 ©2007 by Tim Furniss and David J Shayler with Michael D Shayler; Riding Rockets ©2006 by Mike Mullane; Russian Federal Space Agency; Salyut: The First Space Station ©2008 by Grujica S Ivanovich; The Shuttlenauts 1981-1992: The First 50 Missions.

Volumes 2: STS Flight Crew Assignments ©1992/1993 by D J Shayler Astro Info Service Publications; The Shuttlenauts 1981-1992: The First 50 Missions. Volume 3: Flown Crew Biographies ©1996 by D J Shayler Astro Info Service Publications; Soldiersystems.net; Soviet Cosmonaut Detachment ©1998 AIS Publications; The Soviet Space Race With Apollo ©2000 by Asif A Siddiqi; Space.com; Spacefacts; Spaceflight (magazine publication of the British Interplanetary Society); Space Shutttle Challenger ©2007 by Ben Evans; S P Korolyov Rocket-Space Corporation Energiya; Sputnik and the Soviet Space Challenge ©2000 by Asif A Siddiqi; The Story of the Space Shuttle ©2004 by David M Harland; Two Sides of the Moon ©2004 by David Scott and Alexei Leonov; Universe Today; University of Connecticut; The Voice of Russia; Who’s Who in Space ©1999 by Michael Cassutt; Wikipedia; Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre;

On 15 February 1985 Gardner received another flight assignment.

NASA announced that he had been assigned to a dedicated military shuttle mission, STS-62A. This would be the first shuttle launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base and would carry an experimental military satellite. Launch was then stated to be no earlier than 29 January 1986.

By January 1986 STS-62A was aiming at a 15 July 1986 launch but on 28 January 1986, the failure of an O-Ring on one of the Solid Rocket Boosters led to the destruction of the Challenger Space Shuttle during lift-off. Challenger’s crew of seven were killed and within two weeks all assigned crews were stood down. The future looked uncertain and there was certainly going to be a long delay before the next shuttle flight.

By October 1986 it was known that the next shuttle launch would not be before 1988 (it was actually September of that year). It was also in October 1986 that Gardner resigned from NASA and returned to active service with the Navy. He had become increasingly frustrated by the length of time it was taking to get the shuttle back into space. He was assigned to US Space Command at Colorado Springs.

He served more than two years as the Deputy Chief of the Space Control Operations Division at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Base and, after promotion to the rank of Captain in June 1989, became the command’s Deputy Director for Space Control at Peterson Air Force Base. In October 1990, he retired from the US Navy to become a Programme Manager for TRW’s Space and Defense Sector in Colorado Springs. He later became Manager of Northrup Grumman’s Colorado Springs operations.

In 2003 he joined the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado as the Associate Director for Renewable Fuels Science & Technology. He retired from NREL in January 2013. He logged more than 2300 hours flying time in over 20 different types of aircraft and spacecraft.

He died on 19 February 2014 in Colorado Springs due to a brain aneurysm. He is survived by his wife, one daughter and two stepchildren. He was divorced from his first wife and their son predeceased him.

Acknowledgements and sources:

----------------------------

Colin Pillinger 1943 - 2014

British planetary scientist Professor Colin Pillinger, a former ESA principal investigator, sadly passed away on 7 May. The Open University scientist was best known as the driving force behind Beagle-2, the lander for ESA’s Mars Express.

He also proposed the Ptolemy experiment on ESA’s Rosetta lander, Philae, which is just months away from landing on comet 67P/ Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

“Colin was a unique and brilliant scientist, and always took immense pleasure in his work,” says Alvaro Giménez, ESA’s Director of Science and Robotic Exploration.

ADDENDUM On 3 March 2014 Skylab IV astronaut Bill Pogue died at home from natural causes. He was aged 84. He would have orbited the Moon as the command module pilot on Apollo 19 but the mission was cancelled and he was assigned to the Skylab Programme. He flew the final mission to the Skylab space station, spending 84 days in space, and went on strike whilst in orbit. I will discuss these and more aspects of his career in the next issue of Astronaut News.

“His determination and passion for the exploration of space and Mars in particular never waned, and captured the imagination of the general public.

“He is also the reason that many of our ESA scientists became interested in pursuing careers in planetary exploration, and he will be sorely missed.”

ESA http://www.esa.int

page 10

Midlands Spaceflight Society: CapCom: Volume 24 no 5 May/June 2014 15 Years Ago - 1999 18 May: TERRIERS (Tomographic Experiment using Radiative Recombinative Ionsopheric EUV and Radio Sources) launched at 05:09:36 UTC by a Pegasus XL rocket carried by a L-1011 cargo plane flyingout of Vandenberg AFB intended to monitor the solar (not ionospheric) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectrum. 27 May: STS-96 (Space Shuttle Discovery) launched from KSC at 6:49 a.m., EDT as a logistics and resupply mission (2A.1) for the International Space Station. Crew: Kent V. Rominger, Rick D. Husband, Ellen Ochoa, Tamara E. Jernigan, Daniel T. Barry, Julie Payette (Canada), and Russian cosmonaut Valery I. Tokarev. Julie Payette was the first Canadian to participate in an ISS assembly mission – and the first Canadian to board the International Space Station. Landed at KSC on 6 June at 2:02 a.m., EDT. Mission duration: 9 days, 19 hours, 13 minutes.

20 Years Ago–1994 June 17: Intelsat 702 launched on an Ariane 44LP from Kourou, French Guiana at 07:07:19 UTC.

5 Years Ago - 2009 11 May: STS -125 (Space Shuttle Atlantis) launched from KSC at 2:01 p.m. Crew: Michael J. Massimino, Michael T. Good, Gregory C. Johnson, Scott D. Altman, K. Megan McArthur, John M. Grunsfeld and Andrew J. Feustel. This is the fifth Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission. Atlantis’ astronauts repaired and upgraded the Hubble Space Telescope, conducting five spacewalks during their mission toextend the life of the orbiting observatory.

Landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California. on 24 May, at 11:39 a.m., EDT. Mission duration:12 days, 21 hours, 37 minutes.

20 June: QuikScat (QUIcKSCATterometer) launched by a Titan 2 from Vandenberg AFB at 02:15 UTC to measure ocean winds and directions.

May 13: Planck, and Herschel, two ESA astronomy satellites, were launched by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou French Guiana, at 13:12 UTC. Planck’s mission is to measure minute variations in the cosmic microwave background radiation. Herschel operates from an orbital position around the second Lagrangian point and makes infrared observations of stars, galaxies and star-forming regions using a 3.5m-diameter mirror, the largest yet carried into space.

May 27: Soyuz - TMA 15 launched from Baikonur cosmodrome by a Soyuz-FG rocket at 10:34 UTC. It carried a Russian cosmonaut (Roman Romanenko), an ESA astronaut (Frank De Winne) and a Canadian Space Agency astronaut (Robert Thirsk) to the International Space Station (ISS). This mission will increase the number of crew members of the ISS to six.

JUNE: 55 Years Ago - 1959: 8 June: X-15 first glide flight, with A. Scott Crossfield at the controls, Dryden Flight Research Facility, California.

50 Years Ago – 1964 30 June: Atlas-Centaur-3 developmental flight launched 9:04 a.m., EST, from Cape Canaveral.

45 Years Ago – 1969 5 June: OGO 6 launched by Thor Agena, 10:43 a.m., EDT, Vandenberg AFB. 28 June: Biosatellite 3 launched by Thor Delta at 11:16 p.m., EDT, Cape Canaveral.

40 Years Ago–1974 3 June: Explorer 52 (Hawkeye-1) launched by Scout, 7:09 p.m., EDT, Vandenberg AFB.

24 June: FUSE (Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer) launched by a Delta 2 rocket at 11:44a.m., EDT from Cape Canaveral to study primordial chemical relics of the Big Bang, from which all the stars, planets and life evolved.

10 Years Ago – 2004 June: Report of the “ President’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy - A Journey to Inspire, Innovate, and Discover” released.

16 June: Intelsat 10-02 launched on a Proton M rocket from Baikonur at 22:27 UTC. 18 June: First U. S. astronaut in space during the birth of his child on Earth (Edward Michael “Mike” Fincke) as member of International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 9 crew.

5 Years Ago – 2009 18 June: LCROSS, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite launched with LRO, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter by an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral at 2:32 PDT. LCROSS consists of a shepherding satellite and the attached spent Centaur upper stage. The mission objective is to send the Centaur upper stage into a lunar crater near the south pole of the Moon and observe the impact to look for signs of water in the debris plume.

The mission successfully uncovered water, after the 9 October impact into the permanently shadowed region of Cabeus crater near the moon’s south pole, LRO will enter circular polar orbit above the Moon’s surface collecting detailed information about the Moon and its environment to provide key data sets to enable a safe and productive human return to the Moon. During its one to three year mission, LRO study permanently shadowed lunar craters near the poles to search for signs of water ice.

Anniversary list information from the NASA History Program Office http://history.nasa.gov/index.html

2014 is a special year: the space community is celebrating the anniversary of the construction of Europe as a space power and 50 years of unique achievements in space.

35 Years Ago – 1979: 2 June: Ariel-6 launched on a Scout rocket from Wallops Island at 23:26 UTC. 6 June: Soyuz 34 launched on a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur at 18:12:41 UTC. Unmanned ferry flight to Salyut- 6 space station.

It started with the creation of two entities, entering into force in 1964, the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) and the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO).

27 June: NOAA-6 launched by Atlas, 11:52 a.m., EDT, Vandenberg AFB. 30 Years Ago–1984 9 June: Intelsat 5 F9 launched at 7:03, p.m.,EDT from Cape Canaveral. First launch of the upgraded A tlas/Centaur (Atlas-Centaur-62) launch vehicle.

25 Years Ago-1989 10 June: GPS NavStar satellite launched at 6:19 p.m., EDT on Delta 2, from Cape Canaveral AF Station, Florida.

Spacecraft also designated USA 38.

15 Years Ago - 1999 5 June: Starshine was a passive reflector that was released from STS 96 by Canadian astronaut Julie Payette at 2:21 a.m. CDT. It was a hollow sphere of 48 cm diameter and studded with 878 tiny mirrors which had been polished by school children in Zimbabwe, Pakistan and 16 other countries. Some 25,000 high school students around the world tracked the reflector during twilight hours.

50 Years of European Collaboration in Space

24 June: Salyut-3 launched 2238 UTC by Proton K, Baikonur, USSR.

13 June: NavStar-9 launched by Atlas E at 11:37 UTC, Vandenberg AFB.

Late June: By a 123-vote margin, the U.S. House of Representatives defeated an amendment that would have terminated the Space Station program.

A little more than a decade later, the European Space Agency (ESA) would be established, replacing these two organisations and since then serving European cooperation and innovation.

A video is available on the ESA web site that recalls the importance of Europe efforts in space and its successes with now a guaranteed and independent access to space and several programs covering all possible areas from Science, to Earth Observation, Human Spaceflight, Telecom and Navigation.

ESA http://www.esa.int

page 11

Midlands Spaceflight Society: CapCom: Volume 24 no 5 May/June 2014

Next Meeting The next MSS Meeting will be held at the Quinbourne Community Centre, Rigacre Road, Quinton on Saturday 19 July from 11:00 am until 2:00 pm Join the Midlands Spaceflight Society (MSS) and receive CapCom magazine

Midlands Spaceflight Society Contact Dave Evetts, Secretary,

Membership of the MSS costs ÂŁ14 per year and includes Midlands Spaceflight Society six issues of CapCom magazine and the Newsletter of the 124 Stanhope Rd, Smethwick Federation of Astronomical Societies (FAS).

B67 6HP We can take payment online through PayPal. Visit the MSS Tel. 0121 429 8606 website at www.midspace.org.uk or use our payment email (evenings & weekends only) or address mss.secure.midspace.org.uk. e-mail mss.shop@midspace.org.uk Cheques and postal orders can be sent to the MSS Secretary; Dave Evetts, 124 Stanhope Road, Smethwick B67 6HP. www.midspace.org.uk Enquiries about subscriptions can be emailed to ---------------------------------------------mss.shop@midspace.org.uk.

Contributions to CapCom

Web Site:

The MSS Shop We have created a limited number of postal covers to mark anniversaries of the Apollo missions and Helen Sharman’s flight to Mir in 1991.

Images of the latest covers are in the Photos section of the MSS forum at http://uk.groups. yahoo.com/group/midlandspaceflightsociety/ We also have lapel badges with the Apollo CSM logo of the MSS, as seen in CapCom. Press Kits were made available on the internet by NASA through the years of the Space Shuttle programme. You can download these for free. For a very small charge to cover materials and postage MSS can put copies of these fact-laden files on a CD or DVD for you.

Copy Deadline All copy intended for the July/ August 2014 issue should be emailed to the editor by

Contact mss.shop@midspace.org.uk with any inquiries or write to 124 Stanhope Road, Smethwick, B67 6HP. Have you got anything you want to sell through CapCom? Let us know MSS

page 12

The Editor welcomes contributions for CapCom. Articles on any aspect of space exploration are considered. Articles in Word format or text files should be sent by email to capcom.editor@midspace.org.uk. Material is accepted in any form whether hand written or typed. Editorial Address: Mike Bryce, Editor CapCom, 16 Yellowhammer Court, KIDDERMINSTER. DY10 4RR. The Society is not responsible for individual opinions expressed in articles, reviews or reports of any kind.

Such opinions are solely those of the author.

Material published in CapCom does not necessarily reflect the views of the Society. Any comments directly concerning the magazine should be addressed to the Editor at the address above.

Friday 13 June 2014