STS-128
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on the 128th shuttle flight, a two-week mission to the International Space Station. Supplies and equipment are delivered to the space station in a cargo-bay-mounted logistics module. Aboard Discovery for her 37th flight are Commander Rick Sturckow, Pilot Kevin Ford, and mission specialists Jose Hernandez, Danny Olivas, Nicole Stott, Christer Fuglesang and Patrick Forrester. Stott remains on the International Space Station, while station crewmember Timothy Kopra returns to Earth aboard the shuttle.
Part of the 21st full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-16. Maksim Surayev and Jeffrey Williams take up residence on the ISS for 168 days, becoming part of the Expedition 21 crew. Joining them for the flight to the ISS is Canadian space tourist and Cirque de Soleil CEO Guy Laliberté, who visits the station for ten days before returning to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-14 with members of the Expedition 19/20 crew. As with other space tourists before him, he pays for his own Soyuz seat and space training, but the impending retirement of the space shuttle fleet puts an end to Soyuz space tourism for several years after this flight.
Russia launches the Poisk module into orbit, where it will rendezvous with and be attached to the International Space Station. The Poisk module adds another docking port to the station (with a mechanism specific to Soyuz) as well as another airlock and an experiment platform which remains exposed to space.
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the 129th shuttle flight, an 11-day mission to the International Space Station. Equipment, supplies, and spare parts are delivered, enough to make in-orbit maintenance of the station possible for several years. Aboard Atlantis for her 31st flight are Commander Charles Hobaugh, Pilot Barry Wilmore, and mission specialists Mike Foreman, Leland Melvin, Robert Satcher and Randy Bresnik; ISS crewmember Nicole Stott returns to Earth via Atlantis, and is the last ISS crewmember to return home on a shuttle.
Part of the 22nd full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-17. Oleg Kotov, Timothy Creamer and Soichi Noguchi take up residence on the ISS for 164 days, becoming part of the Expedition 22/23 crews. All three return to Earth in June 2010 aboard the same vehicle.
Space Shuttle Endeavour lifts off on the 130th shuttle flight, a 14-day mission to the International Space Station. The Endeavour crew and station astronauts install another module, the Tranquility node, allowing for further expansion of the station in the future; this module also includes the cupola “control tower” that has become visually synonymous with the ISS. Aboard Endeavour for her 24th flight are Commander George Zamka, Pilot Terry Virts, and mission specialists Nicholas Patrick, Stephen Robinson, Robert Behnken and Kathryn Hire.
Part of the 23rd full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-18. Aleksandr Skvortsov, Mikhail Korniyenko and Tracy Caldwell Dyson take up residence on the ISS for 164 days, becoming part of the Expedition 23/24 crews. All three return to Earth in September 2010 aboard the same vehicle.
Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on the 131st shuttle flight, a 15-day resupply mission to the International Space Station. Equipment and experiment packages are transferred to the station from a logistics module in the shuttle cargo bay. The joint portion of the flight features the largest female astronaut contingent in orbit at any one time to date, with three of Discovery’s six crewmembers plus station astronaut Tracy Dyson. Aboard Discovery for her 38th flight are Commander Alan Poindexter, Pilot James Dutton, and mission specialists Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Rick Mastracchio, Naoko Yamazaki, Clayton Anderson and Stephanie Wilson.
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the 132nd shuttle flight, a 12-day resupply and maintenance mission to the International Space Station. A “mini research module” built by the Russian space agency is attached to the station, along with cargo and supplies. Upgrades to the station’s solar power arrays are conducted during spacewalks. Aboard Atlantis for her last planned flight (an additional mission will later be scheduled for Atlantis in 2011) are Commander Ken Ham, Pilot Tony Antonelli, and mission specialists Garrett Reisman, Michael Good, Piers Sellers and Steve Bowen. This is the last shuttle flight for over six months.
Part of the 24th full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-19. Fyodor Yurchikhin, Shannon Walker and Douglas Wheelock take up residence on the ISS for 163 days, becoming part of the Expedition 24/25 crews. All three return to Earth in November 2010 aboard the same vehicle.
Part of the 25th full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-01M. This is a newly redesigned and upgraded Soyuz vehicle, boasting fully digital navigation and automation. Aleksandr Kaleri, Oleg Skripochka and Scott Kelly take up residence on the ISS for 159 days, becoming part of the Expedition 25/26 crews. All three return to Earth in March 2011 aboard the same vehicle.
Part of the 26th full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-20. Dmitri Kondratyev, Catherine Coleman and Paolo Nespoli take up residence on the ISS for 159 days, becoming part of the Expedition 26/27 crews. All three return to Earth in May 2011 aboard the same vehicle.
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on the 133rd shuttle flight, a 13-day mission add a new (but familiar) module to the International Space Station. One of the logistics modules that has flown in the cargo bay of seven prior shuttle missions is attached to the ISS permanently, adding nearly 2,500 cubic feet of storage space to the facility. Also delivered to the station is Robonaut 2, an experimental robot designed to assist with routine tasks as well as spacewalks. Discovery’s 39th and final crew is Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Eric Boe, and mission specialists Alvin Drew, Nicole Stott, Steve Bowen and Michael Barratt.
Part of the 27th full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-21. Aleksandr Samokutyayev, Andrei Borisenko and Ron Garan take up residence on the ISS for 164 days, becoming part of the Expedition 27/28 crews. All three return to Earth in September 2011 aboard the same vehicle.
Part of the 28th full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-02M. Sergey Volkov, Satoshi Furukawa and Michael Fossum take up residence on the ISS for 167 days, becoming part of the Expedition 28/29 crews. All three return to Earth in November 2011 aboard the same vehicle.
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the 135th and final flight of an American Space Shuttle. During the 13-day mission to the International Space Station, the final shuttle-sized supply delivery takes place. The mission was originally budgeted as a rescue flight for the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing flight in 2009, but is approved as a final station flight since funding and supplies had already been set aside. Atlantis’ 33rd and final crew is Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, and mission specialists Rex Walheim and Sandy Magnus. Upon landing at Kennedy Space Center for the final time, Atlantis joins the other orbiters in a months-long process to strip them of working engines and other key components before the shuttles are delivered to their museum destinations.
Part of the 29th full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-22. Anton Shkaplerov, Anatoli Ivanishin and Daniel Burbank take up residence on the ISS for 165 days, becoming part of the Expedition 29/30 crews. All three return to Earth in April 2012 aboard the same vehicle. This was the first Soyuz mission to the International Space Station following the end of the American space shuttle program.
Part of the 30th full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-03M. Oleg Kononenko, André Kuipers and Donald Pettit take up residence on the ISS for 194 days, becoming part of the Expedition 29/30 crews. All three return to Earth in July 2012 aboard the same vehicle.
Part of the 31st full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-04M. Gennady Padalka, Sergei Revin and Joseph Acaba take up residence on the ISS for 124 days, becoming part of the Expedition 31/32 crews. All three return to Earth in September 2012 aboard the same vehicle.
SpaceX launches its second Dragon unmanned cargo vehicle, this time as the first privately-owned spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station. Carrying only supplies, equipment and experiments, the Dragon capsule carries out a program of closing to within a certain distance of the station and then slowly approaches until it is close enough to be grabbed by the station’s remote manipulator arm and attached to a docking port under the station crew’s control. The Expedition 31 astronauts aboard the station report that the interior of the capsule has a “new car smell” that is quite noticeable when compared to the atmosphere aboard the station. Over the course of a week, fresh cargo is unloaded into the station from the Dragon capsule, and cargo intended for return to Earth is loaded into the capsule. NASA is satisfied with the results and contracts SpaceX to begin routine cargo flights via Dragon later in the year.
Part of the 32nd full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-05M. Yuri Malenchenko, Sunita Williams and Akihiko Hoshide take up residence on the ISS for 127 days, becoming part of the Expedition 32/33 crews. All three return to Earth in November 2012 aboard the same vehicle.
Having successfully demonstrated an unmanned cargo vehicle to make supply runs to the International Space Station, SpaceX launches the first Dragon capsule to the ISS under its new commercial resupply contract with NASA. The flight is not without difficulties: one of the nine engines of the Falcon 9 booster’s first stage shuts down in flight without impacting the Dragon capsule’s ability to reach the right orbit, but a secondary payload – a commercial satellite to be launched from the Falcon’s upper stage – is stranded in the wrong orbit and falls back into Earth’s atmosphere in days. NASA and SpaceX begin a joint investigation into the mishap, while the Dragon capsule docks with the ISS and remains in orbit for nearly three weeks as Expedition 33 crew members unload new cargo and stow items for return to Earth aboard the capsule, which will be recovered on Earth after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
Part of the 33rd full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-06M. Oleg Novitskiy, Evgeny Tarelkin and Kevin Ford take up residence on the ISS for 143 days, becoming part of the Expedition 33/34 crews. All three return to Earth in March 2013 aboard the same vehicle.
Part of the 34th full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-07M. Roman Romanenko, Chris Hadfield and Thomas Marshburn take up residence on the ISS for 145 days, becoming part of the Expedition 34/35 crews. All three return to Earth in May 2013 aboard the same vehicle, with Hadfield becoming an internet sensation at the end of the mission with a cover of David Bowie’s “A Space Oddity” recorded aboard the station.
Canadian-born International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield, following up on a brief communication via Twitter that caught the attention of Star Trek fans and space exploration afficionados alike, conducts a live video chat from orbit with Star Trek star William Shatner (speaking from Earth). The two discuss the risks of space exploration and the technological leaps forward (including means of communication that were strictly science fiction in Star Trek’s heyday), though Shatner can’t convince Hadfield to confirm rumors that the astronaut has volunteered to head up a mission to Mars.
Soyuz TMA-08M lifts off from Russia, testing a new “fast track” trajectory to the International Space Station. With cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin, and astronaut Chris Cassidy aboard, the Soyuz capsule reaches the Station only six hours after liftoff, as opposed to the usual two days. The three new crew members join Expedition 35.
Part of the 36th full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-09M. Fyodor Yurchikhin, Karen Nyberg and Luca Parmitano take up residence on the ISS for 166 days, becoming part of the Expedition 36/37 crews. Once again, a new “fast track” trajectory propels Soyuz from launch to docking at the ISS in under six hours. This crew returns to Earth in November 2013 aboard the same vehicle.
A two-man spacewalk outside the International Space Station is called off when water begins collecting inside the helmet of astronaut Luca Parmitano’s spacesuit. Originally scheduled as a six-and-a-half-hour maintenance spacewalk, the EVA is called off at one hour and the astronauts make a hasty return to the airlock. Once inside, an estimated half liter of water is found inside Parmitano’s space helmet; the remainder of the tasks scheduled for this spacewalk are rescheduled for a later EVA.
Part of the 37th full-time crew of the International Space Station lifts off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard Soyuz TMA-10M. Oleg Kotov, Sergey Ryazansky and Michael Hopkins take up residence on the ISS for 166 days, becoming part of the Expedition 37/38 crews. Use of the recently developed “fast track” trajectory resumes, taking Soyuz from launch to docking at the ISS in under six hours. This crew returns to Earth in March 2014 aboard the same vehicle.
Orbital Sciences’ unmanned Cygnus cargo spacecraft is grappled and docked to the International Space Station via remote manipulator arm. This demonstration model of the Cygnus cargo ship had been launched ten days earlier via Orbital Sciences’ Antares booster from Wallops Island, Virginia. With 1,300 pounds of crew supplies, experiments and other cargo aboard, the Cygnus vehicle is expected to remain attached to the station for a full month before being jettisoned to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.