ID :
145157
Thu, 10/07/2010 - 11:25
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/145157
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Soyuz TMA-20 to be launched in December despite incident -- Energia.
BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan, October 7 (Itar-Tass) -- Soyuz TMA-20 will be launched in December, as planned, despite the latest incident during its transportation to Baikonur, Energia Aerospace Corporation President Vitaly Lopota said on Wednesday, October 6.
The launch will take place as scheduled even if the ship brought over
to the spaceport has to be returned to the plant, Lopota said.
"We have reserves," he stressed, adding that that there are about 30
spaceships at Energia's production premises in different stages of
readiness.
The takeoff is scheduled for December 13, 2010.
The container carrying Soyuz TMA-20 was damaged during transportation
to Baikonur. The spaceship will bring the next crew to the International
Space Station (ISS) in December.
"Tests revealed damage of the container, not the spaceship itself,"
Lopota told Itar-Tass.
The commission investigating the incident should complete its work in
two weeks, by October 20.
The Energia plant in Korolyov, Moscow region, makes Soyuz spaceships.
The spaceships are placed in special containers and taken to Kazakhstan by
railroad.
Meanwhile, the State Commission at Baikonur named the main crew of the
first upgraded spaceship Soyuz TMA-M that will set out on a journey to the
ISS on the night from Thursday to Friday.
The crew consists of Russian cosmonauts Alexander Kalery and Oleg
Skripochka, as well as NASA astronaut Scott Kelly. They will operate the
Soyuz TMA-M spaceship fitted out with digital systems. The expedition of
the ISS-25/26 crew will continue for over five months.
At the end of September, the inter-agency commission highly
appreciated the results of the qualification exam taken by the primary
crew of next expedition to the ISS and their backups -- Sergei Volkov,
Oleg Kononenko, and Ronald Garan -- who manifested fine skills in
controlling the new Soyuz and in work on the mock-up of the Russian
segment of the ISS.
All three of them will travel to the ISS next year: Garan in March,
Volkov in May, and Kononenko in November.
The Soyuz TMA-M spaceship with the ISS-25/26 crew on board is to lift
off at 03:11, Moscow time, on Friday, October 8.
On October 10, Kalery, Oleg Skripochka and Kelly will join Fyodor
Yurchikhin of Russia, and Shannon Walker and Douglas Willock of NASA who
have been working on orbit since the middle of June.
-0-zak/
The launch will take place as scheduled even if the ship brought over
to the spaceport has to be returned to the plant, Lopota said.
"We have reserves," he stressed, adding that that there are about 30
spaceships at Energia's production premises in different stages of
readiness.
The takeoff is scheduled for December 13, 2010.
The container carrying Soyuz TMA-20 was damaged during transportation
to Baikonur. The spaceship will bring the next crew to the International
Space Station (ISS) in December.
"Tests revealed damage of the container, not the spaceship itself,"
Lopota told Itar-Tass.
The commission investigating the incident should complete its work in
two weeks, by October 20.
The Energia plant in Korolyov, Moscow region, makes Soyuz spaceships.
The spaceships are placed in special containers and taken to Kazakhstan by
railroad.
Meanwhile, the State Commission at Baikonur named the main crew of the
first upgraded spaceship Soyuz TMA-M that will set out on a journey to the
ISS on the night from Thursday to Friday.
The crew consists of Russian cosmonauts Alexander Kalery and Oleg
Skripochka, as well as NASA astronaut Scott Kelly. They will operate the
Soyuz TMA-M spaceship fitted out with digital systems. The expedition of
the ISS-25/26 crew will continue for over five months.
At the end of September, the inter-agency commission highly
appreciated the results of the qualification exam taken by the primary
crew of next expedition to the ISS and their backups -- Sergei Volkov,
Oleg Kononenko, and Ronald Garan -- who manifested fine skills in
controlling the new Soyuz and in work on the mock-up of the Russian
segment of the ISS.
All three of them will travel to the ISS next year: Garan in March,
Volkov in May, and Kononenko in November.
The Soyuz TMA-M spaceship with the ISS-25/26 crew on board is to lift
off at 03:11, Moscow time, on Friday, October 8.
On October 10, Kalery, Oleg Skripochka and Kelly will join Fyodor
Yurchikhin of Russia, and Shannon Walker and Douglas Willock of NASA who
have been working on orbit since the middle of June.
-0-zak/
