Tidelanders

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FLV File

• STS-111 flew in June 2002, bringing Expedition 5 to the International Space Station.  

• ISS Expedition 8 -- The International Space Station Expedition Eight crew, Mike Foale and Sasha Kaleri launched aboard their Soyuz TMA vehicle from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on 18 October 2003. They are both veterans of long-duration flight on the Russian Mir station.

ISS 8 Gallery

It looks like all ISS crews will be launching from, and landing in, Kazakhstan in Russian Soyuz vehicles for the foreseeable future.  Below are some brief crew surgeon comments based on my experience with Expedition 8; if colleagues have anything to add, PLEASE do!

Star City is located about 35km east-northeast of downtown Moscow.  Just as Johnson Space Center is where astronauts are trained for their missions, Star City is the Russian center for space flight.  It has equivalent facilities, such as a hydrolab (like NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Lab), vehicle mock-ups, medical and administrative facilities.  Nearby Chklovski military airfield has much the same function as Ellington field does for Johnson Space Center.

Once upon a time, the existence of Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan was a Soviet state secret.  Now, it is the Russian version of Kennedy Space Center.  There is even a fledgling tourists industry encouraging people to flock to see multi-national launches from the same pad that Yuri Gagarin first hurtled into space.  About 16 days before a Soyuz launch, the lot of us flew with the prime and backup crews from Star City to Baikonur for a fit check of their Sokol launch-and-entry pressure suits.  While in the town of Baikonur, the flight crew and most direct support staff stay in the old military-run Cosmonaut Hotel.  A block away is the French-run Sputnik Hotel, which is very new, modern, and expensive.  It does have a swimming pool, so don't forget your suit!  Most of those staying at the Sputnik make it a point to enjoy the very nice European-style breakfast they serve.  But for dinner, the favorite is a pizza place that is about 15 minute's walk -- or a very quick, cheap taxi ride -- toward the main part of town.

Everyone returns to Star City after the Fit Check and the crew's quarantine begins to tighten up.  Final preparations and training are completed before L-6 (six days before launch), when the crew and ground team, including the lead crew surgeon return to Baikonur for the launch.  At L-3, I 

Here is a 5 minute video describing the roll-out of Expedition 8's Soyuz rocket to the launch pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Soyuz TMA 3 Roll-Out (19.7MB, WMV, 5:08)

• STS-114 Was scheduled to fly in March 2003, but after the Columbia disaster, we are still waiting for the Space Shuttle's return to flight.  Pete is the Deputy Crew Surgeon for this mission.  The current estimate is May 2005.  For more about this and other missions, visit http://spaceflight.nasa.gov

• Zero G flight

For experiments and for astronaut pre-flight preparation, NASA flies a former US Air Force KC-135 tanker aircraft in parabolic flight.  The flight profile allows the plane to experience about 25-28 seconds of weightlessness.  A typical mission profile consists of 40 parabolas, one right after the other.  Going from zero G to about 1.7 times the force of gravity as the aircraft sets up for the next parabola has an undesirable effect on many folks who fly in the plane.  Hence its informal nickname of the "Vomit Comet."

KC-135 Weightless Wonder Video Clip  (2.5MB, WMV format, 0:30)

• A vision for space exploration

(Under development)