posted 08-22-2012 09:59 AM               

In 2015, Russia and the US will send their cosmonaut and astronaut respectively to the International Space Station (ISS) with one-year mission.

A source with the Russian space agency told Interfax that the long expedition would make it possible to have vacant seats in the Soyuz spacecraft, which would continue to fly regularly to the ISS four times a year.

The free seats would be sold to space tourists, the source said.

NASA has already chosen Peggy Whitson, who completed two space missions and made six spacewalks, as the astronaut for the 12-month mission in 2015.

The Russian space agency has not chosen the cosmonaut for this mission yet.

posted 08-26-2012 12:09 AM               

Granted, scientific data gathering on orbit has advanced a bit, so I imagine if Whitson or someone else were to do a year long duration, they would likely be gathering data in a few more areas than what came before and given Whitson's background in bio-medical science, she could be the ultimate researcher/guinea pig as it were. There are also the unique aspects of female anatomy as well.

posted 10-03-2012 08:55 AM               

The first year-long mission to the International Space Station may begin in March 2015, following an agreement between ISS partners who have previously sent crews for six months, the Russian space agency director said Oct. 2.

Alexei Krasnov, in charge of manned flights at Roscosmos, said the decision was made by participants at the International Astronautical Congress in Naples, Italy, this week.

The two-person expedition - with crew members from Roscosmos and NASA - will be a first test, the result of which will determine whether all flights are extended to a year, he said.

"The fundamental decision has been made, only the formalities remain to be negotiated. So far, we are talking about a single mission," Krasnov told RIA news agency.

"If it proves effective, we will be able to discuss with partner countries a permanent transition from half-year flights to year-long flights."

posted 10-05-2012 03:32 PM               

NASA and International Partners Approve Year-Long Space Station Stay

NASA and its international partners have announced an agreement to send two crew members to the International Space Station on a one-year mission designed to collect valuable scientific data needed to send humans to new destinations in the solar system.

The crew members, one American astronaut and one Russian cosmonaut, will launch and land in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and are scheduled to begin their voyage in spring 2015.

The space station serves as a laboratory for technological demonstrations and scientific research, including experiments that improve understanding of how the human body reacts and adapts to the harsh environment of space. Data from a year-long expedition also will help inform assumptions about crew performance and health, and will help reduce the risks associated with future exploration.

"In order for us to eventually move beyond low Earth orbit, we need to better understand how humans adapt to long-term spaceflight," said Michael Suffredini, International Space Station program manager. "The space station serves as a vital scientific resource for teaching us those lessons, and this yearlong expedition aboard the complex will help us move closer to those journeys."

During the 12 years of permanent human presence aboard the space station, scientists and researchers have gained valuable, and often surprising, data on the effects of microgravity on bone density, muscle mass, strength, vision and other aspects of human physiology. This year-long stay will allow for greater analysis of these effects and trends.

"We have gained new knowledge about the effects of spaceflight on the human body from the scientific research conducted on the space station, and it is the perfect time to test a one-year expedition aboard the orbital laboratory," said Julie Robinson, NASA's program scientist for the International Space Station. "What we will gain from this expedition will influence the way we structure our human research plans in the future."

The expedition also will serve as a test bed for future exploration technologies. Those innovative technologies, the logistics of the trip to and from the space station and the selection of the crew will be announced at a future time.

posted 11-26-2012 06:42 AM               

NASA, Roscosmos assign veteran crew to year-long space station mission

NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), and their international partners have selected two veteran spacefarers for a one-year mission aboard the International Space Station in 2015. This mission will include collecting scientific data important to future human exploration of our solar system. NASA has selected Scott Kelly and Roscosmos has chosen Mikhail Kornienko.

Kelly and Kornienko will launch aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in spring 2015 and will land in Kazakhstan in spring 2016. Kelly and Kornienko already have a connection; Kelly was a backup crew member for the station's Expedition 23/24 crews, where Kornienko served as a flight engineer.

The goal of their yearlong expedition aboard the orbiting laboratory is to understand better how the human body reacts and adapts to the harsh environment of space. Data from the 12-month expedition will help inform current assessments of crew performance and health and will determine better and validate countermeasures to reduce the risks associated with future exploration as NASA plans for missions around the moon, an asteroid and ultimately Mars.

"Congratulations to Scott and Mikhail on their selection for this important mission," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Their skills and previous experience aboard the space station align with the mission's requirements. The one-year increment will expand the bounds of how we live and work in space and will increase our knowledge regarding the effects of microgravity on humans as we prepare for future missions beyond low-Earth orbit."

"Selection of the candidate for the one year mission was thorough and difficult due to the number of suitable candidates from the Cosmonaut corps," said head of Russian Federal Space Agency, Vladimir Popovkin. "We have chosen the most responsible, skilled and enthusiastic crew members to expand space exploration, and we have full confidence in them."

Kelly, a captain in the U.S. Navy, is from Orange, N.J. He has degrees from the State University of New York Maritime College and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He served as a pilot on space shuttle mission STS-103 in 1999, commander on STS-118 in 2007, flight engineer on the International Space Station Expedition 25 in 2010 and commander of Expedition 26 in 2011. Kelly has logged more than 180 days in space.

Kornienko is from the Syzran, Kuibyshev region of Russia. He is a former paratrooper officer and graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute as a specialist in airborne systems. He has worked in the space industry since 1986 when he worked at Rocket and Space Corporation-Energia as a spacewalk handbook specialist. He was selected as an Energia test cosmonaut candidate in 1998 and trained as an International Space Station Expedition 8 backup crew member. Kornienko served as a flight engineer on the station's Expedition 23/24 crews in 2010 and has logged more than 176 days in space.

During the 12 years of permanent human presence aboard the International Space Station, scientists and researchers have gained valuable, and often surprising, data on the effects of microgravity on bone density, muscle mass, strength, vision and other aspects of human physiology. This yearlong stay will allow for greater analysis of these effects and trends.

Kelly and Kornienko will begin a two-year training program in the United States, Russia and other partner nations starting early next year.

posted 11-26-2012 01:20 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Lasv3:
Is there a back-up crew named, or planned?

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quote:

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Originally posted by dabolton:
What is involved in a 2-year training period, especially for such a veteran ISS pair?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Jay Chladek:
As I see it, this will likely be the first of a couple expeditions as if the goal is to gather science data rather than set a record...

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posted 11-26-2012 05:15 PM               

Another challenge that comes with this one-year flight is logistics as the two crew members have to be ferried to and from ISS in different Soyuz vehicles as the Soyuz is only certified to stay in orbit for 200 days. Kelly and Kornienko will launch aboard a Soyuz Spacecraft in spring 2015, presumably March, along with a Russian Soyuz Commander yet to be named. In May of 2015 the Soyuz that delivered the Expedition 42/43 crew of Sergei Saljotin, Samantha Cristoferetti and Terry Virts to ISS for their regular 6-month increment, will land, followed by the launch of the next Soyuz with three regular ISS crew members one month later. In October, the Soyuz that carried Kelly and Kornienko to the Station will approach the end of its stay aboard ISS, and so will the Commander of that vehicle.

To change the Soyuz vehicles, the Russian Space Agency will have to launch a replacement – giving them the opportunity to fly short-duration crew members to ISS as it was done in the early portion of the ISS Program. One seat has already been assigned to singer Sarah Brightman, the other is still open and could be filled with another spaceflight participant or a researcher representing an agency that is not normally assigned slots on ISS Expeditions. They will be brought to ISS aboard a Soyuz commanded by a Russian Cosmonaut who will fly a regular ISS mission of six months.

posted 11-26-2012 08:23 PM               

• The space station will retain a six-person crew, but only two (Kelly and Kornienko) will stay for the full year.

• To expand upon and clarify the Spaceflight 101 summary, here is Bill Harwood's reporting from last month, citing sources close to NASA:

  ...the astronaut and cosmonaut who will stay up for a year likely will launch in March 2015 aboard the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft, sources said, accompanied by a Russian spacecraft commander who would stay aboard the lab for a normal six-month tour.

  Under that scenario, the next Soyuz in the rotation, TMA-17M, would launch with a normal three-person station crew the following May. The Soyuz after that, TMA-18M, would take off that Fall with a Russian commander and two paying customers, sources said, either tourists, researchers representing nations not normally in the rotation or a combination of the two.

  The spaceflight participants would spend about two weeks aboard the lab complex and return to Earth aboard the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft with the same commander that ferried the long-duration crew to orbit the previous March. The long-duration crew members would return to Earth in March 2016 aboard the Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft with the commander who ferried the commercial fliers to orbit.

• March 2015: Soyuz TMA-16M delivers Kelly, Kornienko and cosmonaut (rumored to be Yuri Lonchakov) to join Sergei Zalyotin, Terry Virts and Samantha Cristoforetti already aboard the space station.

• May 2015: Zalyotin, Cristoforetti and Virts depart the space station on Soyuz TMA-15M. Soyuz TMA-17M launches with three new crew members for the ISS, returning the occupancy to six.

• Fall 2015: Soyuz TMA-18M launches with a Russian cosmonaut and two spaceflight participants. After two weeks, Lonchakov (or whoever) returns to Earth with spaceflight participants on Soyuz TMA-16M.

• March 2016: Kelly, Kornienko and the Russian cosmonaut launched with the spaceflight participants return to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M.

posted 11-27-2012 04:28 AM            

I see the Russians are quoted as saying they had a few potential candidates, so I guess they feel they can substitute another crew member should Kornienko be grounded.

But I would have thought NASA would treat this "high profile" increment as one needing a backup in case Scott Kelly is grounded.

Has that happened but I missed it? Or is a backup announcement pending? Or are there no plans for a backups at all?

posted 11-28-2012 04:26 PM               

NASA, Roscosmos Hold Briefings for Yearlong Space Station Mission

NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) will hold two briefings on Wednesday, Dec. 5, beginning at 8 a.m. CST (1400 GMT), to preview the upcoming yearlong expedition by two crew members aboard the International Space Station. NASA Television and the agency's website will carry the briefings live.

Scott Kelly of NASA and Mikhail Kornienko of Roscosmos will launch to the station in early 2015 to begin a yearlong stay aboard the orbiting laboratory. This will be the longest time an American has spent in space on a single mission.

Both briefings will take place at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and will include participants at Johnson and the Russian Mission Control Center outside of Moscow.

The programmatic news conference at 8 a.m. will include:

• Michael Suffredini, International Space Station program manager
  
• Julie Robinson, International Space Station program scientist
  
• Robert Behnken, NASA chief astronaut
  
• Alexey Krasnov, director of Piloted Space Programs Department, Roscosmos
  
• Sergei Krikalev, director, Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center
  
• Igor Ushakov, director, Institute for Biomedical Problems

The crew news conference at 9 a.m. CST (1500 GMT) will include Kelly and Kornienko.

posted 12-05-2012 09:49 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Henry Heatherbank:
Or is a backup announcement pending?

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Kornienko said today that his backup is Sergei Volkov.

quote:

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Originally posted by Tom:
Is it true that neither Kelly nor Kornienko will fly as CDR during their one year increment aboard ISS?

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posted 12-05-2012 09:58 PM               

Furthermore, "Each had served as a commander aboard the space station, and was able to perform spacewalks and robot arm operations. Medical information also went into the selection: A crew member could not have exceeded his limit for exposure to cosmic radiation, for instance."

posted 12-06-2012 11:07 AM               

But he has Mir experience as well as ISS, and it would be interesting to see a translation of health experiences from Mir to ISS to what is essentially a proto-Mars flight.

posted 12-06-2012 11:29 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Hart Sastrowardoyo:
If anything, Foale should be Kelly's backup.

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posted 12-06-2012 12:09 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
Kornienko said today that his backup is Sergei Volkov.

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