Expedition 18
Encyclopedia
Expedition 18 was the 18th permanent crew of the International Space Station
(ISS).
The first two crew members, Michael Fincke, and Yuri Lonchakov
were launched on 12 October 2008, aboard Soyuz TMA-13
. With them was astronaut Sandra Magnus
, who joined the Expedition 18 crew after launching on STS-126
and remained until departing on STS-119
on 25 March 2009. She was replaced by JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata
, who arrived at the ISS on STS-119
on 17 March 2009. Gregory Chamitoff
, who joined Expedition 18 after Expedition 17
left the station, ended his stay aboard ISS and returned to Earth with the STS-126 crew.
, was originally slated to be the Soyuz commander and Expedition 18 Flight Engineer 1, but was replaced by his back-up Yuri Lonchakov.
from the upper stage
of a Delta II
rocket used to launch a GPS satellite
in 1993, passed close to the ISS. The conjunction between the debris and the Space Station was not detected until it was too late to perform a collision avoidance manoeuvre. The crew prepared to evacuate the station by closing hatches between modules, and boarding the Soyuz spacecraft that was docked to provide emergency crew escape. The debris did not hit the station, instead it passed by at 16:38 UTC, and the crew were cleared to resume operations about five minutes later.
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
(ISS).
The first two crew members, Michael Fincke, and Yuri Lonchakov
Yuri Lonchakov
Yury Valentinovich Lonchakov is a Russian cosmonaut and a veteran of three space missions. He has spent 200 days in space and has conducted two career spacewalks.- Personal :...
were launched on 12 October 2008, aboard Soyuz TMA-13
Soyuz TMA-13
Soyuz TMA-13 was a Soyuz mission to the International Space Station . The spacecraft was launched by a Soyuz-FG rocket at 07:01 GMT on 12 October 2008. It undocked at 02:55 GMT on 8 April 2009, performed a deorbit burn at 06:24, and landed at 07:16...
. With them was astronaut Sandra Magnus
Sandra Magnus
Sandra Hall Magnus is an American engineer and a NASA astronaut. She returned to Earth with the crew of STS-119 Discovery on March 28, 2009, after having spent 134 days in orbit. She was assigned to the crew of STS-135, the final mission of the Space Shuttle...
, who joined the Expedition 18 crew after launching on STS-126
STS-126
-Crew notes:Originally scheduled to fly on STS-126 was Joan E. Higginbotham, who was a mission specialist on STS-116. On 21 November 2007, NASA announced a change in the crew manifest due to Higginbotham's decision to leave NASA to take a job in the private sector. Stephen G...
and remained until departing on STS-119
STS-119
-Crew notes:This mission was originally scheduled to bring the Expedition 9 crew to the ISS. This crew would have consisted of:-Mission parameters:* Mass:* Orbiter liftoff: * Orbiter landing: * Perigee: * Apogee:...
on 25 March 2009. She was replaced by JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata
Koichi Wakata
is a Japanese engineer and a JAXA astronaut. Wakata is a veteran of four NASA Space Shuttle missions and a long-duration stay on the International Space Station. During a nearly two decade career in spaceflight he has logged five months in space. Wakata is currently assigned to the Soyuz...
, who arrived at the ISS on STS-119
STS-119
-Crew notes:This mission was originally scheduled to bring the Expedition 9 crew to the ISS. This crew would have consisted of:-Mission parameters:* Mass:* Orbiter liftoff: * Orbiter landing: * Perigee: * Apogee:...
on 17 March 2009. Gregory Chamitoff
Gregory Chamitoff
Gregory Errol Chamitoff is an engineer and NASA astronaut. He was assigned to Expedition 17 and flew to the International Space Station on STS-124, launching 31 May 2008. He was in space 198 days, joining Expedition 18 after Expedition 17 left the station, and returned to Earth 30 November 2008 on...
, who joined Expedition 18 after Expedition 17
Expedition 17
Expedition 17 was the 17th expedition to the International Space Station .The first two crew members, Sergey Volkov, and Oleg Kononenko were launched on 8 April 2008, aboard the Soyuz TMA-12...
left the station, ended his stay aboard ISS and returned to Earth with the STS-126 crew.
Crew
| Position | First Part (October 2008 to November 2008) |
Second Part (November 2008 to March 2009) |
Third Part (March 2009 to April 2009) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commander | Michael Fincke, NASA NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research... Second spaceflight |
||
| Flight Engineer 1 | Yuri Lonchakov Yuri Lonchakov Yury Valentinovich Lonchakov is a Russian cosmonaut and a veteran of three space missions. He has spent 200 days in space and has conducted two career spacewalks.- Personal :... , RSA Russian Federal Space Agency The Russian Federal Space Agency , commonly called Roscosmos and abbreviated as FKA and RKA , is the government agency responsible for the Russian space science program and general aerospace research. It was previously the Russian Aviation and Space Agency .Headquarters of Roscosmos are located... Third spaceflight |
||
| Flight Engineer 2 | Gregory Chamitoff Gregory Chamitoff Gregory Errol Chamitoff is an engineer and NASA astronaut. He was assigned to Expedition 17 and flew to the International Space Station on STS-124, launching 31 May 2008. He was in space 198 days, joining Expedition 18 after Expedition 17 left the station, and returned to Earth 30 November 2008 on... , NASA First Spaceflight |
Sandra Magnus Sandra Magnus Sandra Hall Magnus is an American engineer and a NASA astronaut. She returned to Earth with the crew of STS-119 Discovery on March 28, 2009, after having spent 134 days in orbit. She was assigned to the crew of STS-135, the final mission of the Space Shuttle... , NASA Second spaceflight |
Koichi Wakata Koichi Wakata is a Japanese engineer and a JAXA astronaut. Wakata is a veteran of four NASA Space Shuttle missions and a long-duration stay on the International Space Station. During a nearly two decade career in spaceflight he has logged five months in space. Wakata is currently assigned to the Soyuz... , JAXA Third spaceflight |
Crew notes
Salizhan SharipovSalizhan Sharipov
Salizhan Shakirovich Sharipov is a Kyrgyz cosmonaut. Sharipov is a co-author and investigator for the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity project. He has been to space twice and has conducted two spacewalks...
, was originally slated to be the Soyuz commander and Expedition 18 Flight Engineer 1, but was replaced by his back-up Yuri Lonchakov.
Backup crew
- Gennady PadalkaGennady PadalkaGennady Ivanovich Padalka is a Russian Air Force officer and an RSA cosmonaut. As of June 2010, Gennady ranks sixth for career time in space due to his time on both Mir and the International Space Station....
- Commander - RSA (for Lonchakov) - Michael BarrattMichael R. BarrattMichael Reed Barratt is an American physician and a NASA astronaut. Specializing in aerospace medicine, Barratt served as a flight surgeon for NASA before his selection as an astronaut, and has played a role in developing NASA's space medicine programs for both the Shuttle-Mir Program and...
- Flight Engineer - NASA (for Fincke) - Timothy KopraTimothy L. KopraTimothy Lennart Kopra is a colonel in the United States Army and a NASA astronaut. Kopra deployed to the Middle East in support of Operation Desert Storm as a member of the 3rd Armored Division...
- Flight Engineer - NASA (for Chamitoff) - Nicole StottNicole P. StottNicole Marie Passonno Stott is an American engineer and a NASA astronaut. She served as a Flight Engineer on ISS Expedition 20 and Expedition 21 and was a Mission Specialist on STS-128. In 2011, She flew a second time as a Mission Specialist on STS-133....
- Flight Engineer - NASA (for Magnus) - Soichi NoguchiSoichi Noguchiis a Japanese aeronautical engineer and a JAXA astronaut. His first spaceflight was as a Mission Specialist aboard STS-114 on 26 July 2005 for NASA's first "return to flight" Space Shuttle mission after the Columbia disaster. He was most recently in space as part of the Soyuz TMA-17 crew and...
- Flight Engineer - JAXA (for Wakata)
Mission plan
- Launch vehicle: Soyuz TMA-13
- Launch date: 12 October 2008 3:01 a.m. EDT
- Docking: 14 October 2008
- Spacewalks: 22 December 2008 (completed 23 December) and 10 March 2009
- Landing: 8 April 2009
March 2009 debris incident
On 12 March 2009, a piece of debrisSpace debris
Space debris, also known as orbital debris, space junk, and space waste, is the collection of objects in orbit around Earth that were created by humans but no longer serve any useful purpose. These objects consist of everything from spent rocket stages and defunct satellites to erosion, explosion...
from the upper stage
Payload Assist Module
frame|PAM-D with the [[Phoenix |Phoenix]] spacecraft. The [[Star 48|Star 48-B]] engine is shown being spun, fired, [[Yo-yo de-spin|yo-yo de-spun]] and jettisoned.thumb|SBS-3 satellite with PAM-D stage inside the space shuttle...
of a Delta II
Delta II
Delta II was an American space launch system, originally designed and built by McDonnell Douglas. Delta II is part of the Delta rocket family and was in service from 1989 until November 1, 2011...
rocket used to launch a GPS satellite
GPS satellite
A GPS satellite is a satellite used by the NAVSTAR Global Positioning System . The first satellite in the system, Navstar 1, was launched February 22, 1978. The GPS satellite constellation is operated by the 50th Space Wing of the United States Air Force....
in 1993, passed close to the ISS. The conjunction between the debris and the Space Station was not detected until it was too late to perform a collision avoidance manoeuvre. The crew prepared to evacuate the station by closing hatches between modules, and boarding the Soyuz spacecraft that was docked to provide emergency crew escape. The debris did not hit the station, instead it passed by at 16:38 UTC, and the crew were cleared to resume operations about five minutes later.
Extra-vehicular activity
| Mission | Spacewalkers | Start (UTC Coordinated Universal Time Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose... ) |
End (UTC) | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EVA 1 | Yuri Lonchakov Yuri Lonchakov Yury Valentinovich Lonchakov is a Russian cosmonaut and a veteran of three space missions. He has spent 200 days in space and has conducted two career spacewalks.- Personal :... Michael Fincke |
23 December 2008 00:51 |
23 December 2008 06:29 |
5 hours, 38 minutes |
| Installed an electromagnetic energy measuring device, (Langmuir probe Langmuir probe A Langmuir probe is a device named after Nobel Prize winning physicist Irving Langmuir, used to determine the electron temperature, electron density, and electric potential of a plasma. It works by inserting one or more electrodes into a plasma, with a constant or time-varying electric potential... ) on Pirs, removed the Russian Biorisk long-duration experiment, installed the Expose-R experiment package on Zvezda, but subsequently removed it after it failed to activate and transmit telemetry on ground command. Installed the Impulse experiment. EVA conducted from Pirs airlock in Russian Orlan space suits. |
||||
| EVA 2 | Yuri Lonchakov Yuri Lonchakov Yury Valentinovich Lonchakov is a Russian cosmonaut and a veteran of three space missions. He has spent 200 days in space and has conducted two career spacewalks.- Personal :... Michael Fincke |
10 March 2009 16:22 |
10 March 2009 21:11 |
4 hours, 49 minutes |
| Installed the EXPOSE-R onto the universal science platform of the Zvezda module, removed tape straps from the area of the docking target on the Pirs airlock and docking compartment, inspected and photographed the exterior of the Russian portion of the station. EVA conducted from Pirs airlock in Russian Orlan space suits. | ||||
See also
- Extra-vehicular activityExtra-vehicular activityExtra-vehicular activity is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth, and outside of a spacecraft. The term most commonly applies to an EVA made outside a craft orbiting Earth , but also applies to an EVA made on the surface of the Moon...
- List of cumulative spacewalk records
- List of spacewalks since 2000