Tentative Launch Date Set For Remaining Expedition 29 Crew
Three International Space Station crew members safely returned
to Earth Thursday, wrapping up a six-month mission of research and
exploration.
Expedition 28 Landing NASA Image
NASA's Ron Garan, Expedition 28 commander Andrey Borisenko and
flight engineer Alexander Samokutyaev, both of the Russian Federal
Space Agency, landed their Soyuz spacecraft in Kazakhstan at 1159
EDT. The trio, which arrived at the station on April 6, had been
scheduled to land on Sept. 8, but that was postponed because of the
Aug. 24 loss of the Progress 44 cargo ship.
Before leaving the station, Borisenko handed over command to
NASA's Mike Fossum, who leads Expedition 29. He and Flight
Engineers Satoshi Furukawa of Japan and Sergei Volkov of Russia are
conducting research and maintenance aboard the station. They should
be joined in a couple of months by NASA's Dan Burbank and Russia's
Anatoly Ivanishin and Anton Shkaplerov if the new launch schedule
approved Thursday by NASA and its international partners holds up.
The tentative launch schedule has crew flights to the ISS resuming
on Nov. 14.
The Space Station Control Board, with representation from all
partner agencies, set the schedule after hearing the Russian
Federal Space Agency’s findings on the Aug. 24 loss of the
Progress 44 cargo craft. The dates may be adjusted to reflect minor
changes in vehicle processing timelines.
"Our top priority is the safety of our crew members. The plan
approved today, coupled with the conditions on orbit, allow the
partnership to support this priority while ensuring astronauts will
continue to live and work on the station uninterrupted," said
International Space Station Program Manager Michael Suffredini.
"Our Russian colleagues have completed an amazing amount of work in
a very short time to determine root cause and develop a recovery
plan that allows for a safe return to flight. We'll have a longer
period of three-person operations and a shorter than usual handover
between the next two crews, but we are confident that the crews
will be able to continue valuable research and execute a smooth
crew transition."
The updated space station traffic plan included Thursday's
undocking and landing of three Expedition 28 crew members: NASA's
Ron Garan and Russia's Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev.
Expedition 29 Commander Mike Fossum of NASA, Satoshi Furukawa of
Japan and Sergei Volkov of Russia will remain aboard the station to
continue research and maintenance for 61 days until the remainder
of the Expedition 29 crew arrives.
On Nov. 22, Fossum, Furukawa and Volkov will undock their Soyuz
27 spacecraft and land in the northern Kazakhstan landing zone.
Expedition 30 Commander Burbank, Ivanishin and Shkaplerov will work
as a three-person crew for 36 days. The remainder of the Expedition
30 crew -- NASA's Don Pettit, Russia's Oleg Kononenko and Europe's
Andre Kuipers -- will launch to the station aboard the Soyuz 29
spacecraft on or about Dec. 26 and dock to the station two days
later. The exact launch date is under review.
The control board also received a report on the status of
supplies and spare parts aboard the station. The report shows there
is sufficient logistical supplies to support crews through the
summer of 2012 without deliveries from the scheduled cargo
flights.