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Soyuz Capsule Relocated on the ISS Ahead of New Crew Launch

Astronauts on the orbital lab are facing a very busy week

Nov 5, 2013 09:35 GMT  ·  By
The Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft is seen here moving from the Rassvet port to the Zvezda service module, on November 1
   The Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft is seen here moving from the Rassvet port to the Zvezda service module, on November 1

On Friday, November 1, astronauts aboard the International Space Station conducted a delicate maneuver that saw one of the Russian spacecraft on the orbital lab relocated to another port. The move was required to make room for the capsule that will arrive later this week, with three other astronauts. 

The Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft is currently scheduled to take off on November 7, from launch pad 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan. It will carry mission commander Mikhail Tyurin (RosCosmos), and flight specialists Richard Mastracchio (NASA) and Koichi Wakata (JAXA).

Once they arrive in space, the ISS will hold a total of nine astronauts. Already aboard the station are astronauts Oleg Kotov, Sergey Ryazansky and Fyodor Yurchikhin (RosCosmos), Michael S. Hopkins and Karen L. Nyberg (NASA) and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency.

The new Soyuz capsule will dock to the Russian-built Rassvet port on the ISS about six hours after launch. This is the 120th mission of the veteran spacecraft, whose first flight took place in 1967. As a special addition, this capsule will carry the Olympic torch, which astronauts will take outside the station during a spacewalk.

In order to make room on the Rassvet port, the crew already aboard the ISS had to move the Soyuz TMA-09 spacecraft to the Russian-built Zvezda service module. Astronauts started the maneuver at 0833 GMT, and concluded it some 21 minutes later, Space reports.

The Soyuz flight was led by Yurchikhin, who was joined by Nyberg and Parmitano. ISS protocol dictates that such maneuvers are always performed with a full crew so that, if something goes wrong, the capsule can return to Earth ahead of schedule with all of the astronauts it ferried to orbit.

The moment Soyuz TMA-11M reaches the station will mark the first time since October 2009 when nine astronauts reside on the ISS at the same time. Usually, half of the crew departs before its replacement arrives, leaving only three of their colleagues to man the orbital facility.

Yurchikhin, Nyberg and Parmitano, who are part of Expedition 36/37, will return to Earth in their Soyuz capsule on November 10, putting an end to their five months in space. Before they leave, they will get to witness Kotov and Ryazanskiy taking the Olympic torch outside the station during an extra-vehicular activity (EVA).