The ISS-64 crew is preparing for a flight according to the two-turn scheme of the spacecraft rendezvous with the station
According to the two-turn rendezvous scheme, it will be possible to fly to the International Space Station on the Soyuz MS in 3 hours 20 minutes.
As part of preparations for the Soyuz MS-17 short rendezvous flight with the ISS, scheduled for October 14, 2020, the cosmonauts of the ISS-64 main and backup crews will undergo training cycles in the standard and reserve modes.
The ISS-64 prime crew includes Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov and Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins. The backup crew consists of Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky, Pyotr Dubrov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hai.
Among the advantages of a short two-turn flight, the main crew instructor Aydar Bikmuchev highlighted the reduction in the number of operations performed by the crew in the ship. “Thus, the probability of making mistakes for the commander and the ship’s flight engineers will decrease,” A. Bikmuchev noted.
He explained that reducing the number of hours of vigorous activity of the crew in space flight will preserve the well-being of the astronauts, reduce their fatigue and work out the entire cycle of final operations at a high level. After docking with the ISS and before opening the hatches, the astronauts are actively involved in work for another hour and a half: they check the tightness of the joints between the spacecraft and the station, take off their spacesuits, and dry them.
The Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft, which will deliver the ISS-64 crew to orbit, will differ from other “machines” in that the correction of the rendezvous forecast will be possible not only from measurements of the Kurs-NA radio system, but also from the data received from navigation satellites “GLONASS” and GPS.
The training program at the CTC will be completed by an exam in which the cosmonauts and astronauts of the ISS-64 crew will work out two-turn, four-turn and two-day rendezvous schemes, depending on the ticket they have drawn.
