ISS: Expedition 43

Crew & expedition duration:

Exp 43 crew patch

Complet crew

Backup Crew

Mission details

• On Mar 11, 2015 at 22:44 UTC Soyuz TMA-14M undocked from the Poisk module with Exp 42 crewmembers Aleksandr Samokutyaev, Barry Wilmore and Elena Serova.
  Expedition 43 then began under the command of Terry Virts, with FE-3 Anton Shkaplerov and FE-4 Samantha Cristoforetti also aboard.
• Soyuz TMA-15M is docked at Rassvet; Progress M-25M is docked at Pirs and Progress M-26M at Zvezda.
• Soyuz TMA-16M was launched on Mar 27, 2015 docking with the Poisk module 5h50m after launch. Soyuz TMA-16M carried Gennadi Padalka, Mikhail Korniyenko and Scott Kelly to the space station.
• Scott Kelly and Mikhail Korniyenko began their almost one-year-mission activities (1-Year Mission (1YM) Human Research Program (HRP) Science Operations) in the first days on their stay onboard when both crewmembers performed their first Fine Motor Skills test and Sleep log entries. They then continued with their one-year-mission protocols, performing another Sleep Log and a morning Reaction Self Test. The crew performed a second Reaction Self Test prior to their scheduled sleep period. In the Fine Motor Skills experiment, crew members perform a series of interactive tasks on a touchscreen tablet. The investigation is the first fine motor skills study to measure long-term microgravity exposure, different phases of microgravity adaptation, and sensorimotor recovery after returning to Earth gravity. The Sleep ISS-12 experiment monitors ambient light exposure and crew member activity and collects subjective evaluations of sleep and alertness to examine the effects of space flight and ambient light exposure on sleep during a year-long mission on the ISS. Reaction Self Test is a portable, five-minute task that enables astronauts to monitor the daily effects of fatigue on performance while in space. Sleep restrictions and residual effects from sleep medications, slam shifts that change the sleep/wake cycle, and effects from spacewalks can cause fatigue and degrade astronaut performance. Periodically during the mission, and in association with major events, an astronaut performs a reaction-time test on a computer to measure changes in responses
  
  

  Kelly and Korniyenko One Year path

  Kelly and Korniyenko

  
  
• Dragon CRS-6 arrived at ISS on Apr 17, 2015. Dragon spacecraft arrived at the space station on April 17, 2015. Expedition 43 Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti used the station's 57.7-foot (17.6 meters) robotic arm to reach out and capture Dragon at 10:55 UTC. Commander Terry Virts supported Samantha Cristoforetti as they operated from the station's cupola. Dragon was installed to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module at 13:29 UTC.
  Dragon is filled with more than 4,300 pounds (1,950 kg) of supplies and payloads, including critical materials to directly support about 40 of the more than 250 science and research investigations that will occur during the space station's Expeditions 43 and 44.
  Science investigations launching on Dragon include commercial and academic payloads in myriad disciplines, exploring new ways to possibly counteract the microgravity-induced cell damage seen during spaceflight; studying the effects of microgravity on the most common cells in bones; gathering new insight that could lead to treatments for osteoporosis and muscle wasting conditions; continuing studies into astronaut vision changes; and testing a new material that could one day be used as a synthetic muscle for robotic explorers of the future.
• In April 2015 Scott Kelly recorded a video, documenting observations using the Space Habitability Observation Reporting Tool (iSHORT) application, providing insights related to human factors and habitability. This video was of the hygiene areas onboard the ISS. Habitability assesses the relationship between crewmembers and their environment in order to better prepare for future longduration spaceflights to destinations, such as Near Earth Asteroids (NEA) and Mars. The ultimate goal is to understand how much habitable volume is required for vehicle internal design and layout, and if mission duration impacts the volume needed. Observations during the one year mission, as well as 6 month missions, can help spacecraft designers understand how much habitable volume is required, and whether a mission's duration impacts how much space crewmembers need. The iShort application will enable ground support teams and human factor engineers to study and evaluate the design of the ISS and use these results for future spacecraft.
• Progress M-26M's engines were used to move the ISS out of the path of some space debris on Apr 23, 2015 and (following a malfunction on May 16) made an orbit reboost on May 18.
• The Progress M-25M cargo ship undocked from the Pirs module at 0641 UTC Apr 25, 2015 and was deorbited on Apr 26, with debris falling in the South Pacific at 1300 UTC.
  
  

  Live on board

  
  
• Progress M-27 was launched on Apr 28, 2015 with almost three tons of food, fuel and supplies for the station's Expedition 43 crew. It was the 59th Progress transporter in the ISS program; however, the Soyuz-2-1a third stage did not shut down correctly and damaged the spacecraft during separation.
  The launch proceeded as planned, however, Russian flight controllers could not initially confirm the health of the freighter's systems and deployment of its Kurs rendezvous and other navigational antennas. As a result, the controllers opted for to a backup rendezvous plan with a targeted arrival on April 30, 2015. As the Progress passed over ground stations, the flight control team issued commands through a telemetry system aboard the spacecraft in an attempt to confirm that the navigation and rendezvous systems had deployed. But, due to sporadic telemetry, inconclusive data, and trouble uplinking commands, the controllers were unable to verify the status of the craft's systems. Flight controllers also confirmed that the vehicle had entered into a wild spin and have issued commands in an attempt to control it. In addition the spacecraft is in a lower orbit than planned.
  Nine days after it spun out of control on its way to resupply the International Space Station, the Russian Progress M-27M spacecraft plunged back to Earth on May 08, 2015 at 02:04 UTC over the South Pacific to the west of the southern tip of South America. The cargo craft broke apart and burned up as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, though some debris may have made it to the surface. An investigation is ongoing as to what caused the Progress M-27M and its three tons of supplies to be lost.
• After the failed docking of Progress M-27M to the ISS station on April 28, the landing of Soyuz TMA-15M was moved from May 16 to June 11, 2015. The launch of the next manned mission (Soyuz TMA-17M) will be two months later than planned.
• The cargo ship Dragon CRS-6 was unberthed around 09:29 UTC May 21, released at 11:04 UTC and splashed down in the Pacific at 1642 UTC May 21, with more than 3,100 pounds (1,400 kg) of cargo. This include science samples from human research, biology and biotechnology studies, physical science investigations and education activities sponsored by NASA and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the nonprofit organization that manages research aboard the U.S. national laboratory portion of the space station.
• On May 27, 2015 the SSRMS arm was used to move the PMM Leonardo storage module from the Unity (Node 1) nadir port to the Tranquility (Node 3) forward port. Unberthing was at 09:46 UTC and berthing was complete at 13:08 UTC. Expedition 43 Commander Terry Virts and Flight Engineer Scott Kelly supervised the unbolting of the module from Unity and its final attachment to Tranquility. They closed the hatch to the module on May 26, 2015 and will reopen it at its new location on the next day.
  
  

  Exp.43 - Canadarm 2

  Exp.43 - PMM Relocation

  
  NASA is in the process of reconfiguring the station to create primary and back up docking ports for U.S. commercial crew spacecraft currently in development by Boeing and SpaceX to once again transport astronauts from U.S. soil to the space station and back beginning in 2017. The primary and backup docking ports also will be reconfigured for U.S. commercial spacecraft delivering research, supplies and cargo for the crew.
  Tranquility now has the Cupola at the nadir port, PMA-3 at the aft port, and Leonardo at the forward port. The zenith port is vacant.
• Soyuz TMA-15 undocked on Jun 11, 2015 at 1020 UTC with Anton Shkaplerov in command and Terry Virts, Samantha Cristoforetti as flight engineers. The spacecraft landed at 13:43 UTC in Kazakhstan.
  
  

External links:

• Kelly and Korniyenko long duration flight
• Wikipedia: Exp. descriptions
• Spacefacts: Exp. description

Astrophilately covers:

Docking & undocking cancel TMA-15M and ISS board cancel, signed by the crew