April 23, 2014
Categories: ESA, GCTC, ISS, NASA, Roscosmos, Russia, Soyuz

Main and back-up crews of ISS-40/41 mission started passing exams. After examination session the cosmonauts and astronauts will have examinational trainings concluding their preflight preparations in Star City.

The main crew comprises Roscosmos cosmonauts Maksim Surayev, NASA atrpnaut Reid Wiseman and ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst. The back-up crew consists of Roscosmos cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and NASA astronaut Terry Virts.

Back-up crew members were the first to pass their exams. Anton Shkaplerov and Samantha Cristoforetti passed their examinational training on “Teleoperator” simulator. In the framework of this training they practiced manual approaching and docking with unmanned vehicles, cargo vehicle in particular. Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft commander Maksim Surayev passed the same training either.  Examination Commission gave a high estimate to the cosmonauts’ actions.

Then Anton Shkaplerov and Samantha Cristoforetti passed an exam on TS-18 simulator. With the help of this simulator designed on the basis of TsF-18 Centrifuge the cosmonauts practice manual controlled descent.  The task is to bring the descent module to the estimated landing point with maximum accuracy and without exceeding acceptable g-loads.

The control is exercised on the basis of two graphs showing the velocity gained dependence on estimated and real time. The graphs are plotted on control board on a real time basis. Following the results of the training the commission concluded that the crew coped with the tasks set.

Maksim Surayev is going to have the training on TF-18 simulator next week. In the short term he and Read Wiseman will practice Soyuz TMA-M approach and redocking with the ISS. Besides both crews will have “standard flight day” training of ISS Russian segment this week.

On May 6 and 7 the crews will start complex examinational trainings.

Image credit: GCTC

More from this category:
August 20, 2020

The Science module, which is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station in the spring of 2021, has arrived at the Baikonur cosmodrome. It…

full story
January 30, 2014

According to Eurockot company responsible for launch services with the help of Rokot booster European Space Agency (ESA) made arrangements about Sentinel-5p launch by this…

full story
July 15, 2014

The first after May crash launch of Proton heavy booster is planned for September 28, 2014, Roscosmos head Deputy Alexandr Ivanov reported. “According to the…

full story
April 19, 2021

Early Saturday morning of April 17, 2021, the Soyuz MS-17 crewed ship descent vehicle, which undocked from the International Space Station, routinely landed at the…

full story
April 23, 2013

Soyuz-2.1b booster with Glonass-M spacecraft delivered to the launch pad of Plesetsk cosmodrome According to RIA Novosti, specialists of Plesetsk cosmodrome rolled Soyuz-2.1b booster with…

full story
January 18, 2019

Specialists of Roscosmos State Corporation will continue their attempts to reconnect with the “Spectrum-R” spaceunit. In case the communication cannot be established via the command…

full story
November 21, 2019

The backup crew of ISS-62/63 performed an “emergency training”, during which the Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Wagner, together with the astronaut Stephen Bowen,…

full story
June 25, 2024

Five days after its official commissioning, the Resurs-P remote sensing satellite No.4 started transmitting target information to the Earth. This was reported by one of…

full story