Spaceflight Now Home



The Mission




Mission: Expedition 22
Craft: Soyuz TMA-17
Launch: Dec. 20 @ 4:52 p.m. EST (2152 GMT)
Site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
Docking: Dec. 22 @ 5:48 p.m. EST (2248 GMT)
Port: Zarya module

Mission Status Center

Station patches

Exp. 21 video

Exp. 22 video





Top Stories



Obama to talk NASA - President Obama will visit Florida to host a space conference next month.

Orbital acquisition - Orbital Sciences to acquire General Dynamics satellite division.

TCDT wraps up - Discovery crew finishes week of training at Kennedy Space Center.

Delta 4 goes to space - New GOES weather satellite soars into orbit to join famed constellation of Earth observers.

Falcon 9 updates - Follow our status center to receive the latest updates on preps for the first Falcon 9 rocket launch from Florida.

Chinese satellite launch - Long March rocket orbits mysterious Chinese military reconnaissance payload.

China space plans - China maintains hectic space to reach more firsts in secretive space program.

Discovery rollout - Shuttle rolls to launch pad for International Space Station resupply mission.

Phobos close-up - Mars Express flies by Martian moon Phobos to probe object's origins.

Crew visits Florida - Discovery astronauts jet to Cape Canaveral for week of emergency training.

Proton launch - Russian Proton rocket launches three Glonass navigation satellites.

Last ride - Final fuel tank for shuttle Atlantis arrives at Florida launch site.





NewsAlert



Sign up for our NewsAlert service and have the latest news in astronomy and space e-mailed direct to your desktop.

Enter your e-mail address:

Privacy note: your e-mail address will not be used for any other purpose.



Cosmonauts on spacewalk to outfit new docking port
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: January 14, 2010


Bookmark and Share

Space station cosmonauts Maxim Suraev and Oleg Kotov opened the hatch of the Pirs docking compartment at 5:05 a.m. EST Thursday to officially kick off a planned five-hour 50-minute spacewalk. The primary goals of the excursion are to configure cables, antennas and docking targets on a new Russian module to give the station a fourth port for Russian Progress and Soyuz spacecraft.

"What's the weather there, Max?" a translator quoted a Russian flight controller before the hatch was opened.

"The weather is beautiful" Suraev joked. "It's dark so far."

"As long as it doesn't rain it will be fine because we didn't take any umbrellas with us," said someone, presumably Kotov.

"Well, that's what I was counting on, getting (a) sun tan."

For identification, Kotov is wearing a spacesuit with red markings while Suraev is wearing a suit with blue stripes. This is the 137th spacewalk devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction began in 1998, the third for Kotov and the first for Suraev.

The Russian segment of the International Space Station currently has three active docking ports, one on the Earth-facing side of the Zarya module, one on the Earth-facing end of the Pirs compartment attached to the Zvezda command module and an aft port at the back end of Zvezda.

On Nov. 12, a new docking compartment called Poisk - "explore" in Russian - docked at an upward-facing port on the command module directly across from Pirs. A similar module, scheduled for launch later this year aboard the shuttle Atlantis, will be attached to Zarya's downward-facing port.

To support full-time crews of up to six astronauts and cosmonauts, two three-seat Soyuz capsules must be docked at all times to serve as lifeboats. Additional ports are needed for unmanned Progress supply ships.

Suraev and Kotov plan to configure docking system antennas, cables and docking targets during today's spacewalk to rig Poisk for use by Soyuz and Progress spacecraft. They also plan to retrieve an experiment package.

If all goes well, a Soyuz spacecraft currently docked at Zvezda's aft port will be moved to Poisk on Jan. 21.

Spaceflight Now Plus
Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO: NEW CREW WELCOMED ABOARD PLAY
VIDEO: SOYUZ DOCKS TO THE SPACE STATION PLAY

VIDEO: FULL EXPERIENCE FROM LIFTOFF TO ORBIT PLAY
VIDEO: CREW DEPARTS SITE 254 FOR LAUNCH PAD PLAY
VIDEO: VIPS MEET THE CREW ON LAUNCH MORNING PLAY
VIDEO: CREW MEMBERS DON THEIR SOKOL SPACESUITS PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH MORNING TRADITIONS AT CREW QUARTERS PLAY

VIDEO: BIOS OF KOTOV, CREAMER AND NOGUCHI PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW OF NEXT SIX MONTHS AT SPACE STATION PLAY
VIDEO: POST-ROLLOUT COMMENTS FROM NASA OFFICIALS PLAY
VIDEO: SOYUZ ROCKET ROLLED TO BAIKONUR LAUNCH PAD PLAY
VIDEO: HIGHLIGHTS OF CREW'S ACTIVITIES AT BAIKONUR PLAY
VIDEO: CELEBRATIONS MARK CREW'S DEPARTURE FROM STAR CITY PLAY
SUBSCRIBE NOW

Current Shuttle Mission Patch

Free shipping to U.S. addresses!

The official embroidered patch for shuttle Endeavour's flight to launch the Tranquility module and cupola to the space station now available in our store!
 U.S. STORE
 WORLDWIDE STORE

Expedition 20
The official embroidered patch for the International Space Station Expedition 20 crew is now available from our stores.
 U.S. STORE
 WORLDWIDE STORE



Ares Patch
The Ares Project will develop two new rockets to launch astronauts back to the Moon under NASA's Vision for Exploration. The Ares 1 will employ a single space shuttle solid rocket booster to loft the Orion crew capsule. The gigantic Ares 5 will haul the equipment and cargo needed for such lunar voyages. This is the Ares emblem.
 U.S. STORE


One Giant Leap
Hosted by Corbin Bernsen, this award winning documentary marks the 50th anniversary of the U.S. space agency and features exclusive interviews with veteran astronauts.
 U.S. STORE
 WORLDWIDE STORE

Next Shuttle Mission Patch

Free shipping to U.S. addresses!

The official embroidered patch for shuttle Discovery's STS-131 flight to launch science and supplies for the space station now available in our store!
 U.S. STORE
 WORLDWIDE STORE

INDEX | PLUS | NEWS ARCHIVE | LAUNCH SCHEDULE
ASTRONOMY NOW | STORE

ADVERTISE

© 2010 Spaceflight Now Inc.