News: 2004
Sergei news, articles and sightings for 2004, including Expedition 11 news.
January
Sergei trained as backup commander for the original Expedition 7 crew of Yurii Malenchenko, Aleksandr Kaleri and Edward Lu. After the Columbia tragedy in February 2003, though, crews were reduced to two, ferried up and back by Soyuz until the remaining Shuttle fleet was permitted to fly again – not until September or October of 2004. Sergei was initially assigned to be ISS Expedition commander on the first flight to take up an Expedition Crew (and I doubt his family are enthused about him flying on the Shuttle again …) but this was moved back; he is tentatively assigned to Expedition 12 or 13 (along with Sergei Volkov and John Herrington – John Phillips seems to have been taken off the crew).
Sergei is in training at Star City (Zvyozdyi Gorodok) and also working for Energiya in Korolyov. He will not fly again until 2005, at least. He only needs to train for 6 months (as opposed to 1.5 years) for an ISS mission as he has been into space so many times already and thus knows all the technology!
(Thanks to Marius Werner for the above information – he happened to meet Sergei when skiing in Austria in January 2004! O lucky him!)
18/1
Raketenpost 2004: Sergei made an appearance at this ARGOS event in Switzerland, 18 January 2004. Sergei photos direct links:
- Sergei signs the rocket.
- Sergei launches the rocket.
- Screening of The Dream is Alive at an IMAX cinema.
- Herbert and Sergei.
February
23/2
According to the latest schedule posted at Spacefacts, Sergei is on ISS Expedition 12, to be launched on 11 August, 2005 on STS-116. He seems to have been relegated to Flight Engineer again, though, :-( with William McArthur as ISS commander and Sunita Williams as FE-2. (What happened to Sergei Volkov?) Seems to keep changing all the time (*throw hands up in air with exasperation*).
May
Spacefacts schedule changed again … Sergei is now ISS commander of Expedition 11 :-), with John Phillips and Sergei Volkov. They will either go up on Soyuz TMA-6 or STS-121. Launch 13 June 2005.
On an irrelevant note, “Googling” Sergei’s name currently brings up 5840 hits!
July
7/7
In the latest ISS crew roster, Sergei is assigned to crew ISS-11/МКС-11, along with Sergei Volkov and John Phillips. The launch of ISS-11 thus far is planned in 2 stages: Krikalyov and Phillips start on Soyuz TMA-6 during April 2005, and S. Volkov on STS-121 during May 2005. But if the Shuttle is detained again, then Volkov will not fly.
16/7
The first Expedition 11 preflight training pages are up in the NASA Gallery, with new photos of Sergei – below, here he is doing medical training at JSC on 24 June. His hair really DOES look greyer. :-(
August
27/8
A happy 46th birthday to Sergei!! С днём рождения!
September
21/10
Sergei made an appearance at the Night of the Astronauts, in Cologne, Germany, on Friday 17th. I guess he doesn’t suffer from stage fright!
October
1-3/10
Domodedovo 2004 | Радиолюбительский фестиваль «Домодедово-2004»: An amateur radio festival in Russia. Sergei (U5MIR) made an appearance at an amateur radio festival in the Russian city of Domodedovo, 1-3 October 2004. A gallery is available at the Russian UR7IWZ site. Cosmonaut Musa Manarov (U2MIR) also was there. (Be warned: there are 174 thumbnail photos on the page!) Sergei photos direct links: 64, 66, 68, 79, 80, 89, 160.
From the ISS On-Orbit Report for 2 October:
The crew conducted ham radio exchanges with attendees at the current 9th Festival of Ham Radio Operators in Domodedovo near Moscow, where over 350 of the most well-know amateur radio operators from Russia, USA, Germany, France, and former Soviet republics have gathered, holding competitions at HF and VHF. Cosmonauts Krikalyov, Manarov, Kaleri, and Treshchev were planning to attend also.
15/10
Sergei will fly next year in April, along with astronaut John Phillips, on Soyuz TMA-6. The third passenger will be ESA/Italian Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori, making his second Soyuz taxi flight to conduct Italian experiments.
Sergei is flying to Houston this weekend and will return home to Moscow in December or January to continue flight preparations. When in space, he will operate the amateur radio equipment onboard the ISS, and plans to talk to schools all around the world.
(Thanks to Claudio Ariotti of the ISS Fan Club for this info! More details on this page.)
November
2/11
Sergei is also involved in ESA’s Automated Transport Vehicle program, as described in “Astronauts: Key actors in ATV development program”. (Thanks to Pierre for this link!)
Although no Russian cosmonaut is based in Europe for supporting ATV, two space veterans Valeri Ryumin and Sergei Krikalyov are playing a key role on the Russian side of the ATV programme.
Ryumin, who flew in space four times, is the ISS and ATV integration manager of the Russian space company Energiya, in Korolev, near Moscow, where the ATV crew consoles, the docking mechanism, the refuelling system and the associated electronics are built. As for Krikalyov, a veteran of five spaceflights, he is working closely with his ESA counterpart Clervoy. Both Krikalyov and Clervoy are active astronauts.
26/11
The Expedition 11 crew was officially named on 23 November, as described in this NASA press release (H04-383):
Next International Space Station Crew Named
Veteran NASA astronaut John Phillips and seasoned Russian Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalyov are the next crew of the International Space Station. Their six-month mission is set for launch in April 2005.
Phillips and Krikalyov are the eleventh crew for the orbiting research complex. Krikalyov will serve as Station Commander, and Phillips is Flight Engineer and NASA International Space Station Science Officer. Designated Expedition 11, they will be on board the Station when the Space Shuttle makes its first Return to Flight mission. The Shuttle is scheduled to dock with the Space Station in May 2005.
Both crewmembers have previously been to the International Space Station. Phillips flew to the Station aboard the Shuttle on the STS-100 mission in 2001. During that 12-day mission, the crew installed the Canadarm2 Station robotic arm.
In 2000, Krikalyov was a member of Expedition 1, the first International Space Station crew. Expedition 11 will be his sixth space flight and fourth long-duration mission. He has the most flights for any Russian cosmonaut.
Selected in 1985, Krikalyov flew aboard the Mir Space Station in 1988-89, 1991-92 and the International Space Station in 2000-01. He flew aboard the Shuttle on the first joint U.S.-Russian mission, STS-60 in 1994, and on the first International Space Station assembly mission, STS-88 in 1998. Krikalyov has accumulated 625 days in space. At the completion of a six-month stay aboard the Station on Expedition 11, Krikalyov will have spent more time in space than any other person.
The Expedition 11 backup crewmembers are astronaut Daniel Tani and cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin.
See also this entry at collectSPACE.
December
Through this post at NASASpaceflight.com, found a document written by Sergei Krikalyov (27 December 2004), stored at the Русский фонд (Russian Fund) site.
The report on international programme for Earth defense from asteroid-comet threat is prepared under a Russian Federation patent from 27.12.2004 (RU 2243621 C1) “Method and device for generation of directed and coherent gamma-radiation”. In this patent under physico-mathematical and quantum analysis as well as work over constructional and technical details there is shown a unique and real way of defense a human civilization from a ruthless outer space.