Expedition 8
Encyclopedia
Expedition 8 was the eighth expedition to the International Space Station
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Astronaut Pedro Duque
docked the Soyuz TMA-3
with the International Space Station at 07:15:58 UTC on 20 October 2003. At the time of docking, both spacecraft orbited the Earth above Russia.
Once the Expedition 7 crew undocked, Foale and Kaleri settled down to work, beginning a more than six-month stint focused on Station operations and maintenance.
The new Station crew, along with Duque, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 05:38:03 UTC, on 18 October 2003.
at the International Space Station. Unlike previous spacewalks conducted by ISS crews, there was not a crewmember inside the Station as the spacewalkers worked outside. The spacewalk was based out of the Pirs docking compartment; the spacewalkers wore Russian Orlan space suits.
This was the 52nd spacewalk devoted to Space Station assembly, operations and maintenance, bringing the cumulative total to 322 hours and 32 minutes. It was the 27th based out of the Station, bringing the total to 155 hours and 17 minutes.
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...
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Crew
Mission parameters
- PerigeePerigeePerigee is the point at which an object makes its closest approach to the Earth.. Often the term is used in a broader sense to define the point in an orbit where the orbiting body is closest to the body it orbits. The opposite is the apogee, the farthest or highest point.The Greek prefix "peri"...
: 384 km - Apogee: 396 km
- InclinationInclinationInclination in general is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or axis of direction.-Orbits:The inclination is one of the six orbital parameters describing the shape and orientation of a celestial orbit...
: 51.6° - PeriodOrbital periodThe orbital period is the time taken for a given object to make one complete orbit about another object.When mentioned without further qualification in astronomy this refers to the sidereal period of an astronomical object, which is calculated with respect to the stars.There are several kinds of...
: 92 min
- Docked: 20 October 2003 - 07:15:58 UTC
- Undocked: 29 April 2004 - 20:52:09 UTC
- Time Docked: 192 days, 13 h, 36 min, 11 s
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Mission objectives
Expedition 8 Commander and NASA Station Science Officer Michael Foale, Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri and ESAEuropean Space Agency
The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...
Astronaut Pedro Duque
Pedro Duque
Pedro Duque Duque is a Spanish astronaut and a veteran of two space missions.Duque earned a degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in 1986. He worked for GMV and for the European Space Agency for six years before being selected as an astronaut candidate in...
docked the Soyuz TMA-3
Soyuz TMA-3
-Mission parameters:*Mass: ? kg*Perigee: 193 km*Apogee: 227 km*Inclination: 51.7°*Period: 88.6 min-Docking with ISS:*Docked to ISS: October 20, 2003, 07:16 UTC...
with the International Space Station at 07:15:58 UTC on 20 October 2003. At the time of docking, both spacecraft orbited the Earth above Russia.
Once the Expedition 7 crew undocked, Foale and Kaleri settled down to work, beginning a more than six-month stint focused on Station operations and maintenance.
The new Station crew, along with Duque, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 05:38:03 UTC, on 18 October 2003.
Spacewalks
The Expedition 8 crew conducted the first two-person spacewalkExtra-vehicular activity
Extra-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...
at the International Space Station. Unlike previous spacewalks conducted by ISS crews, there was not a crewmember inside the Station as the spacewalkers worked outside. The spacewalk was based out of the Pirs docking compartment; the spacewalkers wore Russian Orlan space suits.
This was the 52nd spacewalk devoted to Space Station assembly, operations and maintenance, bringing the cumulative total to 322 hours and 32 minutes. It was the 27th based out of the Station, bringing the total to 155 hours and 17 minutes.
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expedition 8 EVA 1 |
Michael Foale Michael Foale Colin Michael Foale, CBE, PhD is a British-American astrophysicist with dual citizenship and a NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of six space shuttle missions and extended stays on both Mir and the International Space Station... Alexander Kaleri |
26 February 2004 21:17 |
27 February 2004 01:12 |
3 hours, 55 minutes |
| This spacewalk was cut short due a cooling system malfunction in Kaleri's spacesuit. Although the spacewalk ended early, Foale and Kaleri were able to complete a number of their tasks. The first task was the replacement of cassette containers that hold sample materials for an experiment studying the effect of long-duration exposure to the microgravity environment. Later, Foale replaced two similar cassettes housed on the outside of the Zvezda Service Module. A Russian experiment named Matryoshka was attached to the outer hull of Zvezda which will provide data on radiation exposure to the human body during space flight. The spacewalkers also removed one of the suitcase-sized devices associated with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's MPAC-SEEDS experiment. They relocated a second device. This experiment was studying micro-meteor impacts and material exposure in the space environment. This experiment was installed on the ISS by Expedition 3 spacewalkers 15 October 2001. The crew was not able to complete the removal of laser light retroreflector devices from the aft end of Zvezda. The reflectors were being studied as navigation devices for the European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle Automated Transfer Vehicle The Automated Transfer Vehicle or ATV is an expendable, unmanned resupply spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency . ATVs are designed to supply the International Space Station with propellant, water, air, payload and experiments... , which first flew to the ISS in 2008. Another task not included was work on a materials science experiment called Kromka. This experiment measured the amount of residue emitted from Zvezda's jet thruster firings. Foale and Kaleri departed the station for earth aboard the Soyuz TMA-3 spacecraft on 29 April 2004 along with ESA Astronaut André Kuipers André Kuipers André Kuipers is a Dutch physician and ESA astronaut. He officially became the second Dutch and the third Dutch-born astronaut upon launch of Soyuz TMA-4 on April 19, 2004. Kuipers returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-3 11 days later.Kuipers is scheduled to become the first Dutch astronaut to... , who had arrived with the Expedition 9 Expedition 9 Expedition 9 was the 9th expedition to the International Space Station.-Crew:-Mission parameters:*Perigee: 384 km*Apogee: 396 km*Inclination: 51.6°*Period: 92 minthumb|left|250px|Edward M... crew aboard Soyuz TMA-4 Soyuz TMA-4 Soyuz TMA-4 was a Soyuz mission to the International Space Station launched by a Soyuz FG launch vehicle. It was launched on April 19, 2004 from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Gennady Padalka from Russia, Michael Fincke from the USA and André Kuipers from the Netherlands were flown to the International... nine days earlier. |
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