Over the break, I've been following Ron Garan's tweets on his progress as he moves closer to launch. @Astro_Ron, Ron Garan's twitter handle, has been sharing photos and videos of the process and blogging as his training and preparation schedules allow. This is the first time I've followed a Soyuz launch this closely so I'm finding myself both fascinated and excited. In a word, it is a very different process than what I've become accustomed to with NASA launches. Not only are the technologies of a completely different design, culturally, it seems very different. It must be quite an adjustment for someone who has been on the shuttle. I know I am busy trying to figure out all of the details to understand the process. The last few days days have been very busy in Baikonur. The timeline for the Soyuz program is much more compressed than what we've observed for the Shuttle. Here are some of the key highlights from the last two weeks:
March 21 (T-14 days): Russian cosmonaut and Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev, NASA Flight Engineer Ron Garan and Russian Flight Engineer Andrey Borisenko fly from Star City to Baikonur and begin pre-launch quarantine. Over the next two weeks they will complete their training and preparations for launch and see their spacecraft assembled and moved to the launch pad.
March 22 (T-13 days): Capsule, fairing, and launch vehicle are in the hanger but not yet assembled into the complete spacecraft. Compare that to the Shuttle Endeavour STS-135 assembled and moved to launch pad on March 10 with a scheduled launch for April 19, spending about 6 weeks assembled and loaded, sitting on the launch pad.
March 25 (T-10 days): the capsule section was assembled and enclosed in the fairings that protect it during launch, though it had not yet been mated with its launch vehicle.
March 30 (T-5 days): capsule and launch vehicle are mated in a horizontal orientation.
April 2 (T-2 days): The space craft is moved from the assembly building on a special rail car to the launch pad. This is the same launch pad that Yuri Gagarin was launched from 50 years ago, becoming the first human in space. The spacecraft is moved into a vertical position on the launch pad.
The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft is rolled out by train on its way to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Saturday, April 2, 2011. Photo Credit (NASA/Carla Cioffi)
@Astro_Ron Our Rocket is all set on the launchpad that Yuri Gagarin launched from 50 years ago. In 48 hours will blast off Photo credit: Jake Garan
For more photos from NASA, check out the Flicker Album from the Rollout.
April 4: Launch is scheduled for 6:18 p.m. EDT
NASATV will be airing the launch. (www.nasa.gov/ntv)
Monday, April 4
4:45 p.m. - Video File of the crew pre-launch activities in Baikonur
5:30 p.m. - Launch coverage (launch scheduled at 6:18 p.m.) from Baikonur
9 p.m. - Video File of pre-launch, launch and post-launch interviews
Stay tuned to this blog for more updates on the Soyuz launch as well as news on from the International Space Station and Shuttle Endeavour.
