New Soyuz Spacecraft/Crew Successfully Launched to ISS

A Soyuz FG successfully launched Soyuz TMA 1 from Launch Complex 1 at Baikonur Cosmodrome at 03:11 UTC on October 30. The spacecraft was placed into a 200 by 242 km orbit, inclined at 51.6 degrees. The flight is expected to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) around 05:00 UTC on November 1, with the hatch between the Soyuz spacecraft and the Space Station expected be opened at 06:30 UTC. The spacecraft carried Mission Commander Sergei Zaletin, Soyuz Flight Engineer Yuri Lonchakov, and European Space Agency astronaut Frank DeWinne. The crew is expected to return November 10, at 05:03 local time (00:03 UTC). Lonchakov was added to the crew after space tourist Lance Bass was removed from the flight because his promoters missed scheduled payments. Bass is reportedly considering a flight in the future.

The station and Soyuz crews will spend about a week together unpacking Soyuz TMA 1, performing experiments and preparing the Soyuz TM 34 spacecraft that has been docked to the station since April for its November 9 return to Earth.

DeWinne will conduct 23 experiments, including biomedical and weightlessness studies. He will be using the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) which was designed and developed in Europe.

This launch was the inaugural flight of the Soyuz TMA spacecraft. It has the same outer moldline as the Soyuz TM model, but the interior has been rearranged to allow for taller crew members. Some of the systems were upgraded to ease the training burden on future space tourists. The Soyuz TMA is expected to now be able to accommodate 95 percent of NASA's astronaut corps.

The Soyuz TMA manned transport spacecraft is a modification of Soyuz TM spacecraft, built by RKK Energia. Energia reported the following changes to the TMA spacecraft. The equipment was rearranged in the areas above and below the seats to allow for the accommodation of longer chairs for taller astronauts. Three long Kazbek-UM amortization chairs were developed, having new four-mode dampers that provide chair adjustment, depending on the astronaut mass. On the DM primary structure, in the area of right and left chair footrests, the cavities were stamped about 30 mm deep to allow taller astronauts and their longer seats to be accommodated. The related primary structure and the routing of pipes and cables were changed. The passage area through the access hatch was enlarged to allow easier egress/ingress of larger crew members. The new control panel was decreased in height, and a new cooling-drying assembly, data storage system and other new or modified systems were installed. A minimum of modification was made to elements of the DM primary structure, instrument frame and brackets. Projecting elements, as much as possible, were cleared from the crew cabin, moving them to more accessible places. The valve unit for the spacesuit oxygen supply system was redesigned. Two (of 6 single-mode) soft landing engines (SLE) were replaced with two new three-mode engines (SLE-M). The Kaktus-1V gamma-altimeter was replaced with a new Kaktus-2V instrument, to reduce measurement errors. To denote the modification of the spacecraft design and general technical documentation, the name "Soyuz TMA" (anthropometric) was adopted.

Russia has agreed to provide 11 Soyuz spacecraft for the International Space Station program, a schedule that will maintain a lifeboat option for the station until April 2006. The International Space Station partners are negotiating with the Russians to extend their ability to supply Soyuz spacecraft beyond 2006. While the Russians have reassured the international partners they will meet their spacecraft commitments through 2006, Energia, the contractor that builds the ships has repeatedly said debt and cash flow problems could force it to stop production. NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe has said the agency will not purchase more Soyuz from the Russians. The United States and its partners are attempting to find something they could trade the Russians to spur them to resolve whatever problems might prevent delivery of more Soyuz spacecraft. O'Keefe recently said the agency is considering accelerating the development of a crew return or crew transfer vehicle, which might be launched by expendable rockets. However, even the most optimistic estimates say such a vehicle could not be ready to serve as a crew rescue vehicle for the station until 2010.

This flight follows closely after the explosion and failure of a Soyuz U launched from Plesetsk Cosmodrome on October 15. The accident killed one soldier on the ground. It was probably caused by contamination in the rocket's hydrogen peroxide system. Additional inspections and checks of the Soyuz FG rocket were ordered prior to this flight.  

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