International Space Station Expedition 33 will be dedicated to ISS Utilization meaning lots of science activities for the crew of six Astronauts and Cosmonauts aboard the orbiting complex. International Space Station Science features studies from numerous fields of science including biology, human research, material science, physics, chemistry and technology as well as education. In addition to science operations, the crew will be supporting visiting vehicles activities including the departure of ATV-3, the arrival of the first regular Commercial ISS Resupply Mission and a Progress arrival.
Expedition 33 begins with the Undocking of Soyuz TMA-04M (Gennady Padalka, Joe Acaba and Sergei Revin) on September 16, 2012 and starts out with a crew of three (Suni Williams, Aki Hoshide, Yuri Malenchenko) until Soyuz TMA-06M docks to ISS (Kevin Ford, Oleg Novitsky, Evgeny Tarelkin) in mid-October. Increment 33 is scheduled to end with the Undocking and Landing of Soyuz TMA-05M.
Expedition 33 begins with the Undocking of Soyuz TMA-04M (Gennady Padalka, Joe Acaba and Sergei Revin) on September 16, 2012 and starts out with a crew of three (Suni Williams, Aki Hoshide, Yuri Malenchenko) until Soyuz TMA-06M docks to ISS (Kevin Ford, Oleg Novitsky, Evgeny Tarelkin) in mid-October. Increment 33 is scheduled to end with the Undocking and Landing of Soyuz TMA-05M.
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The Crew Patch
The International Space Station Expedition 33 Crew patch shows the Space Station orbiting around the Earth, and into the future. The national flags of the United States of America, Russia and Japan represent the crew of Expedition 33 with crew members coming from these three nations. The five stars featured on the patch represent the partner countries participating in the ISS Program: Canada, Japan, Russia, the US and the European Countries. “Expedition 33 will continue the work of the previous 32 expedition crews on board the multinational laboratory in areas such as biology and biotechnology, earth and space science, educational activities, human research, physical and material sciences, and technology development and demonstration,” NASA said in a statement. The names of the six crew members are featured in their respective languages. In addition to Earth and the five stars, the patch features additional celestial bodies. |
Credit: NASA
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The Crew
The Crew will be a crew of 3 Astronauts and 3 Cosmonauts with experienced Astronauts/Cosmonauts as well as Space Station Rookies. For Expedition 33/34, Crew Handover will be crucial. At the end of increment 33, the Space Station will be handed from the more experienced Soyuz TMA-05M Crew with three veteran ISS-Crew Members to the TMA-06M Crew of two Space Flight Rookies. Crew handover prepares the rookies for the short interval in between Soyuz Flights during which they have to operate the Space Station on their own. -- Click Photos to go to Crew Bios.
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Expedition Timeline
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Photo: NASA
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Visiting Vehicles
International Space Station Expedition 33 will feature a busy Visiting Vehicle Schedule with a number of visiting vehicle arriving at the Station to deliver ISS supplies.
After Soyuz TMA-04M leaves the Space Station, there will be three docked vehicles at the Station, Soyuz TMA-05M, Automated Transfer Vehicle 3 and Progress M-16M. For up-to-date mission updates, refer to the dedicated mission sections. [Links below this section.] The first visiting vehicle movement coming up for Expedition 33 is the departure of Automated Transfer Vehicle 3 that arrived at the Station during Expedition 30. ATV- 3 will depart the Space Station on September 25 to finish its 6-month docked mission. ATV-3 was launched on March 23, 2012 aboard an Ariane 5 Launcher from the Guiana Space Center. Edoardo Amaldi, as the vehicle is also known, arrived at the International Space Station at 22:31 GMT on Wednesday, March 28, 2012. |
Photo: NASA
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After docking, ATV-3 made its delivery of 6,960 Kilograms of cargo, including dry cargo, fuel for the Russian Segment, ISS Maneuver Fuel, pressurized air and oxygen as well as water. ATV-3 Unloading was basically completed during Expeditions 30 and 31. The spacecraft is loaded with trash and other items for a fiery trip back to Earth after undocking from ISS. Yuri Malenchenko will be assisted by the other two ISS Crew Members to monitor the undocking and departure from the ISS Service Module.
Photo: NASA
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After the departure of ATV-3, the Space Station Program will get ready for its next big Milestone, the first regular Commercial ISS Resupply Mission. After completing a successful Dragon C2+ Demonstration Flight in May 2012, SpaceX was approved to enter the Commercial Resupply Services Program without making another demonstration flight after all objectives of the Demonstration Flights were met on Dragon C2+.
Launching aboard a Falcon 9 Rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, a Dragon Spacecraft will be placed on a two-day journey to the International Space Station. After these two days in free-flight, Dragon will perform a Rendezvous featuring several stops as part of a methodical process to make sure Dragon approaches ISS in a safe fashion. Once arriving at the Capture Point, Aki Hoshide and Suni Williams control the Station’s Robotic Arm, Canadarm2, to capture the vehicle and berth it to the Harmony Node of the Space Station. |
Once hatches are open and Dragon is configured for docked operations, the crew can unload the vehicle that will bring a variety of equipment to the International Space Station including daily-life supplies as well as experiment material for the various studies aboard the Space Station. Once all equipment is removed from Dragon, the vehicle will be loaded with trash and return items. These return items include hardware and experiment materials as well as samples that are returned to Earth for post-flight analysis by NASA. In late October, the spacecraft is unberthed by Canadarm2 before being released and placed on path back to Earth following its deorbit burn. Dragon makes a splashdown landing in the Pacific Ocean off the Coast of California where it will be retrieved and brought back to SpaceX via barge. Time-critical materials are handed over to NASA within 48 hours of landing.
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In mid-October, the second half of the Expedition 33 crew departs Earth en-route to the Space Station to begin their long-duration flight. Soyuz TMA-06M launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard a Soyuz FG Launch Vehicle that delivers the spacecraft to its preliminary orbit 9 minutes after blastoff. Two days of maneuvers and orbit-trimming later, the vehicle will perform an automated Rendezvous and Docking to the Poisk Module of ISS using its KURS Navigation System. After its arrival, the ISS crew will restored to six. The Soyuz will also carry some equipment to the Space Station – mostly time-critical experiment payloads and small items for the Russian Segment as well as personal crew items.
On October 31, 2012, another Soyuz Rocket will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, but this time, it will carry an unmanned Progress Spacecraft. After being delivered to Orbit, Progress M-17M will make use of the fast-Rendezvous Trajectory, linking up with ISS in just four orbits, instead of the nominal 34 Rendezvous Orbits. This flight profile has been used on the Progress M-16M Flight and is being evaluated for use for manned Soyuz Vehicles to limit the time crew members have to spent in the tight quarters of the Soyuz vehicles. |
Photo: NASA
Progress Spacecraft
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The vehicle makes an automated docking to the Zvezda Module that was vacated by ATV-3 earlier in the increment. Progress approaches with the Russian Crew monitoring its approach ready to take over control of the spacecraft via the TORU System should any problems occur. Progress M-17M will deliver about 2,700 Kilograms of cargo to the Station including about 1,900 Kilograms of dry cargo. The vehicle will deliver fuel, resupply items and experiment material to the orbiting outpost. After cargo is unloaded, the Progress will be loaded with trash and disposed science payloads to burn up during re-entry. Progress M-17M will remain docked throughout Expedition 33 and undock in April 2013.
Expedition 33 will end with the departure of Soyuz TMA-05M that arrived at ISS on July 17, 2012. The Vehicle will undock from the Rassvet Module and bring its three crew members, Suni Williams, Aki Hoshide and Yuri Malenchenko back to Earth after completing ISS Expedition 32 and 33.
Expedition 33 will end with the departure of Soyuz TMA-05M that arrived at ISS on July 17, 2012. The Vehicle will undock from the Rassvet Module and bring its three crew members, Suni Williams, Aki Hoshide and Yuri Malenchenko back to Earth after completing ISS Expedition 32 and 33.
Progress M-16M: Click Here
Automated Transfer Vehicle 3: Click Here
Soyuz TMA-05M: Click here
CRS SpX-1: Click Here
Automated Transfer Vehicle 3: Click Here
Soyuz TMA-05M: Click here
CRS SpX-1: Click Here
Science Overview
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ISS Expedition 33 will be largely dedicated to science operations aboard the complex with studies being active in several fields of science including biology, human research, material science, physics, chemistry and technology as well as education. ISS Science Payloads are controlled and operated by the crew working inside the modules or by the Mission Control Centers around the world including payload operation facilities. The crew is expected to spend more than 35 hours a week on science operations. More than 200 different experiments will be active during Expedition 33.
Science Operations that are controlled from Earth will continue as planned on Expedition 33. The AMS-2 – Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer – that was delivered on Space Shuttle Mission STS-134 is continuing to provide unprecedented data of Particles that are travelling through space and will continue to operate through Expedition 33. It is the largest and most advanced spectrometer in space and it is gathering information on dark matter, anti matter and cosmic rays. Notable studies that are active during Expedition 33 (among others): A number of relatively new Material Science Studies will be active during increment 33. Continuing operations that started during Expedition 32, the Advanced Colloids Experiment-1 (ACE-1) will be performing a series of microscopic imaging investigations of materials which contain small colloidal particles. These materials have the specific characteristic of remaining evenly dispersed and distributed within the material. Performing these types of experiments aboard the Space Station in Zero Gravity allows scientists to separate the effects induced by Earth’s gravity in order to examine flow characteristics and the evolution and ordering effects within these colloidal materials. Results from this study will be used for a number of applications on Earth. ACE uses a Light Microscopy Module to monitor colloidal activity. Another Canadian Materials Science Study that will be active during Expedition 33 is the Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-C1. “BCAT-C1 will probe three-phase separation kinetics and the competition between phase separation and crystallization in colloid polymer mixtures. This regime remains virtually uncharacterized in any type of material including molecular fluids or complex mixtures. BCAT-C1 takes advantage of a substantial opportunity to fill a gap in the knowledge of these fundamental processes. By examining the kinetics in seven samples of different composition, we intend to show that significant quantitative differences in kinetics occur even though the resulting phases are similar,” the official experiment description notes. The USOS Crew (Williams, Hoshide, Ford) will be subject to several human research studies. One of those is the Reaction Self Test that is performed several times a week and includes a session in the morning and one just before going to bed. The RST consists of a 5-minute session using a laptop application. |
Photo: NASA
Image: NASA
Photo: NASA
Colloidal Experiments aboard ISS
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The Study evaluates the effects fatigue has on Crew Members aboard ISS in order to create better solutions for sleep cycle shifting during Mission-Critical Periods. Also, USOS Crewmembers will participate in the European Space Agency Studies VO2max and Integrated Cardiovascular that examine the effects long-duration spaceflight has on different functions of the human body. ESA is also operating the Pro-K study that involves a crew member sticking to a high or low salt diet over a several day period and log their diet, take blood and urine samples and analyses and store those samples. In addition to that, the USOS Crewmembers will service several payloads that are used for ground controlled science operations. ESA Integrated Cardiovascular is another Study that is active for Increment 33. The ICV Experiment involves periodic resting Echo Ultrasound-Scan and ambulatory monitoring sessions to evaluate the extent, time course, and clinical significance of cardiac atrophy and identify its mechanisms.
Photo: NASA
Dan Burbank working with ICV
Image: NASA
Photo: NASA
Photo: NASA
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The European Space Agency will also begin operations of its Circadian Rhythms Study that will examine the role of synchronized circadian rhythms and possible maintenance during long-duration spaceflight and addresses the impacts to crew members’ health and wellbeing. Understanding how the dark/light cycle and sleep shifting affects circadian rhythms and with that the performance of the crew members will enable scientists to develop new sleep shifting techniques for crew members in space and shift workers on Earth.
The International Space Station Test Bed for Analog Research I-STAR Earth Departure Communications Delay Study (COMM Delay) is the first study that implements time-delayed communications to use ISS as a testbed for future missions that will leave Earth Orbit. Researchers want to understand significant impacts in crew behavior as well as performance. A communications network will be set up to evaluate a "store and forward" approach of Delay/disruption-tolerant networking with ISS serving as a testbed. The first full voice communications delay test is planned for Expedition 36 with COMM Delay serving as an evaluation to prepare teams for that. During Expedition 33, several NanoRacks Studies will be in progress. NanoRacks are small experiment racks that can be placed within ISS facilities to host a number of different autonomous, self-contained experiments that can be flown quickly and inexpensively, enabling students to have payloads flown to ISS. Earth Observation Studies are also planned for Expedition 33, on both, the Russian and US side. On the USOS there is a number of Earth Observation Facilities including the SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System (ISERV) that was designed to assess an automated data acquisition process. ISERV will further improve Earth Observation techniques in support of environmental management, humanitarian assistance and disaster assessment. The project is managed by NASA and USAID. It will operate from the Window Observation Facility in the Destiny Laboratory. In addition, the ISS Agricultural Camera is also going to be active during ISS expedition 33. Also in progress during Expedition 33 will be the Russian Earth Observation Procedures called 'Relaxation' and 'Seiner'. Robonaut operations will also continue during Increment 33. Activities will include more checkouts involving functional tests and basic experiment activity to gradually improve knowledge of Robonaut Handling and capabilities before the robotic crew member starts periodic operations to support basic International Space Station Servicing tasks. Many other long term ISS Research projects will continue on Expedition 33 including many human research experiments focused on the effects of long duration flights on the human body. These tests include cardiovascular studies, studies of metabolism properties, etc. For that, the Astronauts will take regular tests (e.g. vision checks, electrocardiography) and give samples (Blood, Saliva, Urine) that will be returned to Earth for analysis. Russian Studies will also continue during Expedition 33. These experiments include material science, biology, human research, earth observation and physics&chemistry. One major activity that will be performed by the Russian Crew Members is the KPT-2 Study. Using the BAR Experiment Suite, several properties such as environmental data, vibrations, surface temperature and ultrasound frequencies are measured throughout the Russian Segment of the Space Station. This is done to identify any problem areas present aboard the complex in order to extend Space Station on-orbit lifetime. Two telescience experiments will be active in the research modules of the Russian Segment, ‘Plasma Crystal’ that looks at the behavior of plasma-dust crystals and fluids under microgravity, and ‘’Coulomb Crystal’ that studies dynamic and structural characteristics of the Coulomb systems formed by particles in a Zero-G Environment. ASEPTIC is another new Russian Space Agency Study that will contribute to the development of “methods and onboard equipment to provide aseptic conditions (free from microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites) to conduct biotechnological experiments in a space flight” according to the NASA experiment overview. |
CubeSat Deployment
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Another special event that is planned for Expedition 33 is the first ever release of small CubeSats via the Japanese Remote Manipulator System.
The new CubeSat Deployment System for the International Space Station was delivered to the complex on H-II Transfer Vehicle 3 and consists of the Multi Purpose Experiment Platform (MPEP with two JEM-Small Satellite Orbital Deployers (J-SSODs). Along with that hardware, five small Satellites were delivered to be the first payloads released via this mechanism. The two J-SSODs will be attached to the MPEP before the five small satellites are inserted in the Deployers. The MPEP is a flat-plate about 50 by 50 centimeters and the J-SSODs are similar to the PPODs that are used to deploy satellites from launch vehicles. Each J-SSOD can hold three 1-Unit Cubesats (100x100x113.5mm), one 3-Unit Cubesat (100x100x340.5mm) or a single 1-Unit and a single 2-Unit (100x100x227.5mm) spacecraft. The mechanism is delivered to the outside of the International Space Station via the Japanese Experiment Module's Airlock which is equipped with a slide table that can the used to place hardware outside the station. The airlock can be used for equipment, but does not function as an Airlock for Astronauts. The slide table allows ISS crew members to load experiments onto it inside the module, sliding it into the airlock, close the hatch and depressurize it before the external hatch is opened and the table can be placed outside the module - within reach of the Japanese Robotic Arm that can then be used to handle the payloads. For the CubeSat Deployment, the MPEP will be grappled by the JEM RMS and placed in the proper position to release the spacecraft on the desired trajectory. Deployment occurs via the springs of the J-SSODs that push the vehicles out of the mechanism while small rails are used to guide the CubeSats out of the deployer. The deployment occurs into the nominal ISS orbit into the nadir direction with a deployment speed of 80 to 99 centimeters per second into an 18-degree cone for ISS safety reasons. The MPEP and J-SSODs will then be brought back inside for future re-use to deploy more satellites. Deploying CubeSats from ISS has a number of benefits. Launching the vehicles aboard the logistics carrier of ISS visiting vehicle's reduces the vibration and loads they have to encounter during launch. |
Credit: JAXA
Credit: JAXA
MPEP with two J-SSODs
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Credit: http://www.fit.ac.jp
FITSAT-1
Image: Aaron Cohen/SJSU
TechEdSat
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In addition, they can be packed in protective materials so that the probability of CubeSat damage during launch is reduced significantly. Also, once arriving at the Space Station, the satellites can be checked pre-deplyoment, making sure any damage is detected before committing them to flight.
CubeSats to be launched during Expedition 33 will include three Japanese and two US Satellites:
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Spacewalks
Photo: NASA
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No Spacewalks are planned for Expedition 33. The crew aboard the International Space Station underwent extensive training for numerous spacewalk scenarios to prepare for any equipment failure that could require an EVA by the crew. Each crew member is trained for a series of problems that could emerge during their stay aboard the station. Also, the EMUs (Spacesuits) that are in storage inside the Quest Airlock, are being maintained by the crew to keep them in operating condition and ready for an unplanned EVA - even on very short notice. On the Russian side, there are no planned EVAs either. |
