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 Previous: Professional Media Award Entry Deadline Nears |  Next: The K7VVV Solar Update |
 ISS Crew Commander Frank Culbertson, KD5OPQ, with the ARISS ham station H-T. |
NEWINGTON, CT, Nov 30, 2001--The International Space Station's fourth crew remains on Earth today as NASA works to correct a supply rocket docking problem aboard the ISS. Speaking via Amateur Radio today, ISS Crew Chief Frank Culbertson, KD5OPQ, told youngsters at the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia that a space walk scheduled for Monday will attempt to rectify the faulty docking situation.
Culbertson said the Russian Progress rocket, which arrived November 28, was not completely attached to the station. "It's firmly attached with some latches, but it doesn't have the right hooks engaged to make it really, really strong," Culbertson explained to the youngsters. "So, on Monday, two of the crew members are going to do a space walk to try to find out what is blocking the hooks and see if we can get that cleared and complete the latching." The Russian Progress supply rockets are programmed to dock automatically with the ISS.
It appears
likely that the two Russian crew members aboard the ISS--Mikhail Tyurin and Vladimir Dezhurov--would carry out Monday's space
walk. Culbertson said the space shuttle Endeavour would be launched
once the crew is able to fix the problem. He made the comments during a scheduled
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station--or ARISS--school contact.
 Crew portrait: Cosmonaut Yuri Onufrienko (center), mission commander, is flanked by astronauts Daniel Bursch, KD5PNU (left), and Carl Walz, KC5TIE, both flight engineers. [NASA Photos] |
The Expedition 4 crew of Commander Yuri Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch, KD5PNU, and Carl Walz, KC5TIE, was to head into space last evening (November 29). They are scheduled to replace the current crew of Culbertson, Tyurin and Dezhurov, who have been aboard the ISS since August.
Among other necessities, the Progress rocket carries six tons of food, fuel, equipment and fresh air. NASA managers felt that the impact of a shuttle docking could put too much stress on the docking probe that's now securing the Progress rocket. NASA believes it's possible that a stray piece of wire or cord could be fouling the docking mechanism.
Extraordinary security precautions are in place for the first manned launch to follow the September 11 terrorist incidents.
In addition to the replacement crew, new Amateur Radio antennas are stowed aboard the shuttle for transport to the ISS. Once they arrive , the new antennas will be installed around the perimeter of the Service Module, allowing future operation from HF to microwave frequencies. The HF antenna is made up of a flexible tape that will work on 10 meters--and possibly 15 and 20 meters.
For more information about the ISS, visit NASA's Human Space Flight Web site.--NASA,
ARISS, news accounts
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