ISS: Expedition 36

Crew & expedition duration:

Exp 36 crew path

TMA-08M crew in dark blue and TMA-09M in light blue clothes

Backup Crew

Mission details

• On May 13, 2013 at 2308 UTC Soyuz TMA-07M undocked from Rassvet carrying commander Roman Romanenko and flight engineers Chris Hadfield and Tom Marshburn. Expedition 36 began with commander Pavel Vinogradov, FE-2 Aleksandr Misurkin and FE-3 Chris Cassidy.
• On May 17, 2013 the Station's orbit was raised slightly using Progress M-19M's rocket engines.
• Soyuz TMA-09M was launched on May 28, 2013 carrying Fyodor Yurchikin, Karen Nyberg and Luca Parmitano. They docked with the Rassvet module at 0210 UTC May 29 after a 5 hr 39min flight, the fastest ascent to ISS to date.
• Progress M-19M undocked from the Zvezda module at 1358 UTC on Jun 11, 2013 making room for ATV, and entered a 416 x 456 km orbit for Radar-Progress ionospheric experiments. Ferry ship Soyuz TMA-08M is at Poisk and TMA-09M at Rassvet. Cargo ship Progress M-18M is at the Pirs module.
• ATV-4 "Albert Einstein" was launched on an Ariane 5ES rocket from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana at 21:52:11 UTC on June 05, 2013. The ATV docked successfully with the ISS at 14:07 UTC on June 15, 2013 and the hatch was opened on June 18, 2013.
  The Albert Einstein supplied the ISS with dry cargo, fuel, water and air to ensure the continued operation of the station.
• On June 19, 2013, Albert Einstein conducted its first reboost of the ISS, performing a 407-second burn which provided a delta-v change of 1.0 m/s to the station. A further reboost was undertaken on July 10, 2013, where a burn of just less than 10 minutes provided a delta-v change of 1.45 m/s; this operation consumed 199 kilograms (439 lb) of propellant. By July 12, 2013, all the dry cargo had been unloaded from Albert Einstein, allowing the ATV to be filled with waste for removal from the station. Albert Einstein undocked safely from the ISS at 08:55 UTC on October 28, 2013; it then conducted a series of orbital adjustments to allow the ISS astronauts to clearly observe its re-entry.
  
  

  EVA Yurchikhin

  EVA Misurkin.

  
  
  
• On Jun 24, 2013 astronauts Yurchikhin and Misurkin carried out spacewalk VKD-33 in spacesuits Orlan-MK No. 5 and 6.
  The Pirs airlock was depressurized at around 13:14 UTC and the hatch was opened at 13:32 UTC. The astronauts replaced the SP RRZh No. 2 flow control panel on the Zarya module's thermal control system, installed the Indikator-MKS atmosphere sensor on the Poisk module, and retrieved the Vinoslivost panel 2 exposure experiment and the Foton-Gamma instrument, bringing them inside Pirs toegether with the old SP RRZh. The airlock hatch was closed at 2006 UTC and the airlock was repressurized at 20:09 UTC. (6h 34m duration)
  The SP RRZh No. 2 has a mass of 51 kg and Indikator-MKS is about 15 kg; both were delivered by Progress M-19M in April.
• Astronauts Cassidy and Parmitano made spacewalk US EVA-22 on Jul 9, 2013 from the Quest airlock, using EMU suits 3010 and 3011 respectively. The airlock was depressurized at 1200 UTC and repressurized at 1809 UTC. (6h 07m)
  The astronauts repaired one of the two S-band space-to-ground communications systems by replacing its SGTRC electronics box with a spare that had been stored inside the Station for some time. Then they retrieved the two parts of the MISSE-8 exposure experiment, the PEC `suitcase' and the ORMATE-III installation, and installed the two Radiator Grapple Bars delivered by the last Dragon cargo ship. The RGB package had been stored on the Mobile Base System; the two bars were moved to the base of the thermal radiators on the port and starboard truss sections. A `Y-bypass jumper' was wired into the Z1 truss to allow aspects of the station′s power system to be rerouted remotely without requiring a future spacewalk. Finally, a multi-layer-insulation (MLI) cover was wrapped over the old PMA-2 docking port, formerly used by visiting Shuttles, to protect it for future use.
  
  

  EVA Parmitano

  Columbus module by ISS-36 exp.

  
  
  
• July 10, 2013 - ISS orbit′s reboost by ATV-4 "Albert Einstein" engines
• Cassidy and Parmitano made another spacewalk, US EVA-23, on Jul 16, 2013. It was planned to last over six hours but was cut short when water started leaking into Parmitano's helmet. The airlock was depressurizd at about 11:54 UTC with hatch open at 1156 UTC. Cassidy and Parmitano completed their first tasks involving external cabling, when at 12:42 UTC Parmitano reported water in his helmet. The problem got worse, and EVA work was paused at 1254 UTC; at 1306 UTC the decision was made to come back inside. (1h 32m)
  There are two ways to do this, 'terminate', which involves tidying up and returning at a normal pace, and 'abort', which would involve leaving things in a mess, skipping some of the normal checks, and doing a fast repressurization. Mission Control elected to go with the more leisurely method. Parmitano was inside the airlock by 1312 UTC, with Cassidy in by 1321 UTC and the hatch closed at 1326 UTC. At this stage there was so much water in Parmitano's helmet that he could neither see airlock switches nor communicate with the ground, and concern for his safety increased. Airlock repressurization began at 1329 UTC and the internal hatch was opened at 1337 UTC, followed by `expedited suit doffing', with astronauts Nyberg and Yurchikin removing Parmitano's helmet and mopping up the water with towels.
• NASA's public affairs commentator, during this process, repeatedly claimed that the crew were not in danger. Let's recall that you're falling through vacuum at 27000 kph, 300 km above a planetary atmosphere, with only a few layers of fabric between you and certain death, in an environment awash with sharp-edge hazards and thermal challenges, and with a scant few hours of air supply even if the equipment in your suit works just fine. Now you're suddenly blind, unable to communicate, and trying to breathe water. To quote Arthur Dent as penned by Douglas Adams, "this must be some new meaning of the word that I wasn't previously aware of." Kudos is due to the professionalism of the astronauts and the ground team in working through this emergency calmly and effectively - although I might have argued for the faster repress.
• Parmitano's suit, EMU 3011, was first flown on STS-96 in 1999; and after three previous tours as a Station suit in 2002-2006 and 2008-2009, it was relaunched on STS-132 in May 2010 and has been on board the ISS since then. Cassidy's suit has been in space since 2009. There are two other US EMU suits and three Russian Orlan suits on the station.
• Progress M-18M undocked from the Pirs module at 2053 UTC on Jul 25, 2013 and was deorbited over the South Pacific 3 hours later, with debris ocean impact around 0042 UTC Jul 26.
• Progress M-20M was launched from Baykonur on Jul 27, 2013 at 2045 UTC into a 189 x 218 km x 51.6 deg orbit and carried out a series of maneuvers to reach the ISS orbit of 413 x 419 km and dock with the Pirs module 5hr 41min after launch.
• HTV-4 reached the ISS on Aug 9, 2013 holding 10 metres off the Station until the Canadarm-2 robot arm captured it at 1122 UTC. The arm berthed the module on the Harmony node at 1528 UTC, and it was firmly bolted to ISS ten minutes later. The hatch to the pressurized cabin of the HTV was opened at 1111 UTC Aug 10. On Aug 11 at 2107 UTC the Canadarm removed the Exposed Pallet (EP) from the HTV, and at 0359 UTC Aug 12 the EP was installed on the end of the Kibo Exposed Facility pallet. The equipment on the EP will be relocated to the ELC pallets on the truss using the Japanese and Canadian robot arms.
  
  

  Arrival HTV-4 at ISS

  Depart HTV-4 from ISS

  
  
  
• On Aug 19, 2013 the fabric covers on ESA's ATV WAL-6 antenna, which is mounted on the forward end of the Zvezda module, floated away and was spotted near the Station by Chris Cassidy as a UFO.
• On Aug 16, 2013 astronauts Yurchikin and Misurkin made a spacewalk (VKD-34) from the Pirs airlock using the Orlan-MK 5 and 6 spacesuits. They installed the Vinovlivost Panel 2 exposure experiment on Poisk, and routed cables for the MLM module that Russia plans to launch to the Station. The airlock was depressurized around 1410 UTC and the hatch was opened at 1436 UTC; hatch was closed again at 2205 UTC and repressurization began at 2208 UTC (7h 29m).
• On Aug 22, 2013 Yurchikin and Misurkin went outside again for VKD-35, this time using suits 4 and 6 respectively. They retrieved the BLTS-N laser comms experiment, replacing it with the DPN/VRM adjustable mount. The mount was incorrectly assembled, but after a delay it was decided to install it anyway and take out the incorrect orientation by swivelling the DPN articulated arm.
  An Earth observing camera will be installed on the mount in a future spacewalk. The astronauts also inspected and tightened the remaining WAL antenna covers, obtained samples of the exterior of the Poisk module, and waved the Russian flag to celebrate the country's flag day.
  Airlock depress/repress was around 1110 UTC and 1735 UTC; hatch open/close was from 1134 to 1732 UTC (5h 58m).
• Expedition 36 was completed on Sep 10, 2013 which the undocking of Soyuz TMA-08M from the Poisk module at 2335 UTC.

External links:

• Spaceflight 101: Exp.36 Information
  

Astrophilately covers:

Docking date TMA-09M and ISS board cancel, signed by the crew

Exp 36, Italy′ First Spacewalking astronaut, cancel KSC

ISS 36, Russian spacewalk 36, cancel Houston