Expedition 6
Expedition 6 was the sixth expedition to the International Space Station (25 November 2002 - 3 May 2003). It was the last three-man crew to reside on the station until the arrival of STS-121. The crew performed two spacewalks in support of maintenance and assembly of the International Space Station. Crew Mission parameters * Perigee: 384 km * Apogee: 396 km * Inclination: 51.6° * Period: 92 min Mission objectives The Station's sixth crew was launched to the Station aboard Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'' STS-113 in November 2002. The mission was planned to be a four-month mission that was to end in March 2003 when ''Atlantis'' STS-114 was to fly to the Station with the Expedition 7 crew. The ''Columbia'' disaster, which occurred during the mission on 1 February 2003 and resulted in the indefinite suspension of Shuttle flights, led to a change of plan such that the crew stayed on the station until May 2003. They returned to Earth on Soyuz TMA-1, and a reduced E ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kenneth Bowersox
Kenneth Dwane "Sox" Bowersox (born November 14, 1956) is a United States Navy officer, and a former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of five Space Shuttle launches and an extended stay aboard the International Space Station. When he launched on STS-73 at the age of 38 years and 11 months, he became the youngest person to command a Space Shuttle. Biography Bowersox was born November 14, 1956, in Portsmouth, Virginia, but considers Bedford, Indiana his home town. As a young boy, his family lived in Oxnard, California for seven years and he attended Rio Real Elementary School. Bowersox was active in the Boy Scouts of America, and is an Eagle Scout. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, before receiving his commission in 1978. A year later, in 1979, he received a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Columbia University in New York City, New York. Bowersox attended the U.S. Air Force ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Apogee
An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion. General description There are two apsides in any elliptic orbit. The name for each apsis is created from the prefixes ''ap-'', ''apo-'' (), or ''peri-'' (), each referring to the farthest and closest point to the primary body the affixing necessary suffix that describes the primary body in the orbit. In this case, the suffix for Earth is ''-gee'', so the apsides' names are ''apogee'' and ''perigee''. For the Sun, its suffix is ''-helion'', so the names are ''aphelion'' and ''perihelion''. According to Newton's laws of motion, all periodic orbits are ellipses. The barycenter of the two bodies may lie well within the bigger body—e.g., the Earth–Moon barycenter is about 75% of the way from Earth's center to its surface. If, compared to the larger mass, the smaller mass is negligible (e.g., f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Expeditions To The International Space Station
Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most of ''Homo sapiens'' history, saw humans moving out of Africa, settling in new lands, and developing distinct cultures in relative isolation. Early explorers settled in Europe and Asia; 14,000 years ago, some crossed the Ice Age land bridge from Siberia to Alaska, and moved southbound to settle in the Americas. For the most part, these cultures were ignorant of each other's existence. The second period of exploration, occurring over the last 10,000 years, saw increased cross-cultural exchange through trade and exploration, and marked a new era of cultural intermingling, and more recently, convergence. Early writings about exploration date back to the 4th millennium B.C. in ancient Egypt. One of the earliest and most impactful thinkers of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bill Pullman
William Pullman (born December 17, 1953) is an American actor. After graduating with a Master of Fine Arts degree in theater, he was an adjunct professor at Montana State University before deciding to pursue acting. He made his film debut in ''Ruthless People'' (1986), and starred in ''Spaceballs'' (1987), ''The Accidental Tourist'' (1988), ''Sleepless in Seattle'' (1993), '' While You Were Sleeping'' (1995), ''Casper'' (1995), ''Independence Day'' (1996), '' Lost Highway'' (1997), and '' Lake Placid'' (1999). He has appeared frequently on television, usually in TV films. Starting in the 2000s he has also acted in miniseries and regular series, such as ''Torchwood'' (2011), starring roles in '' 1600 Penn'' (2012–13) and '' The Sinner'' (2017–2021). In 2021, he had a recurring role in the miniseries ''Halston''. Pullman has also had a long stage acting career. He has appeared on Broadway several times, including in Edward Albee's ''The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?'' in 2002. Early ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Don Pettit
Donald Roy Pettit (born April 20, 1955) is an American astronaut and chemical engineer. He is a veteran of two long-duration stays aboard the International Space Station, one Space Shuttle mission and a six-week expedition to find meteorites in Antarctica. As of 2022, at age 67, he is NASA's oldest active astronaut. Early life and education Pettit was raised in Silverton, Oregon, and is an Eagle Scout. He is married to Micki Pettit and has twin sons. Pettit earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from Oregon State University in 1978, followed by a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in 1983. NASA career Pettit worked as a scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory until 1996 when he was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA. He was a junior advisor to the Synthesis Committee of the Space Exploration Initiative on its May 1991 report "America at the Threshold", recommending plans for a human mission to Mars. Spaceflight experience Expedition 6 Pe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time or UTC is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about one second of mean solar time (such as UT1) at 0° longitude (at the IERS Reference Meridian as the currently used prime meridian) and is not adjusted for daylight saving time. It is effectively a successor to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). The coordination of time and frequency transmissions around the world began on 1 January 1960. UTC was first officially adopted as CCIR Recommendation 374, ''Standard-Frequency and Time-Signal Emissions'', in 1963, but the official abbreviation of UTC and the official English name of Coordinated Universal Time (along with the French equivalent) were not adopted until 1967. The system has been adjusted several times, including a brief period during which the time-coordination radio signals broadcast both UTC and "Stepped Atomic Time (SAT)" before a new UTC was adopted in 1970 and implemented in 1972. This change also a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dennis Tito
Dennis Anthony Tito (born August 8, 1940) is an American engineer and entrepreneur. In mid-2001, he became the first space tourist to fund his own trip into space, when he spent nearly eight days in orbit as a crew member of ISS EP-1, a visiting mission to the International Space Station. This mission was launched by the spacecraft Soyuz TM-32, and was landed by Soyuz TM-31. Life and career Tito was born in Queens, New York. He graduated from Forest Hills High School in New York City. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Astronautics and Aeronautics from New York University, 1962 and a Master of Science degree in Engineering Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute satellite campus in Hartford, Connecticut. He is a member of Psi Upsilon and received an honorary doctorate of engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on May 18, 2002 and is a former scientist of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Tito was appointed to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Pow ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Space Tourism
Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes. There are several different types of space tourism, including orbital, suborbital and lunar space tourism. During the period from 2001 to 2009, seven space tourists made eight space flights aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station, brokered by Space Adventures in conjunction with Roscosmos and RSC Energia. The publicized price was in the range of US$20–25 million per trip. Some space tourists have signed contracts with third parties to conduct certain research activities while in orbit. By 2007, space tourism was thought to be one of the earliest markets that would emerge for commercial spaceflight. Russia halted orbital space tourism in 2010 due to the increase in the International Space Station crew size, using the seats for expedition crews that would previously have been sold to paying spaceflight participants. Orbital tourist flights were set to resume in 2015 but the planned ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Soyuz TMA-2
Soyuz TMA-2 was a Soyuz (Russian Союз ТМА-2, ''Union TMA-2'') mission to the International Space Station (ISS) launched by a Soyuz FG launch vehicle. The spacecraft docked with the ISS on April 28, 2003 and undocked on October 10, 2003. Soyuz TMA-2 was the second flight for the ''TMA'' modification of the Soyuz spacecraft, and the 6th Soyuz to fly to the ISS. The commander was Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko (Russia), and the flight engineer was Edward Tsang Lu (USA). After docking with the ISS they exchanged with the resident crew on ISS and became the seventh station crew, called "ISS Expedition Seven". Alexander Kaleri and Michael Foale were assigned as the backup crew. Crew Original Crew Mission parameters *Mass: 7136 kg *Perigee: 200 km *Apogee: 250 km *Inclination: 51.7° *Period: 88.7 min Docking with ISS *Docked to ISS: April 28, 2003, 05:56 UTC (to nadir port of Zarya) *Undocked from ISS: October 27, 2003, 23:17 UTC (from nadir port of Zarya) ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Columbia Disaster
The Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster was a fatal accident in the United States space program that occurred on February 1, 2003. During the STS-107 mission, Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disintegrated as it reentered the atmosphere over Texas, killing all seven astronauts on board. The mission was the second that ended in disaster in the Space Shuttle program after the loss of ''Challenger'' and all seven crew members during ascent in 1986. During the STS-107 launch, a piece of the insulative foam broke off from the Space Shuttle external tank and struck the thermal protection system tiles on the orbiter's left wing. Similar foam shedding had occurred during previous Space Shuttle launches, causing damage that ranged from minor to near-catastrophic, but some engineers suspected that the damage to ''Columbia'' was more serious. Before reentry, NASA managers had limited the investigation, reasoning that the crew could not have fixed the problem if it had been confirmed. When ' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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STS-114
STS-114 was the first "Return to Flight" Space Shuttle mission following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster. Space Shuttle Discovery, ''Discovery'' launched at 10:39 Eastern Time Zone, EDT (14:39 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC), July 26, 2005. The launch, 907 days (approx. 29 months) after the loss of ''Columbia'', was approved despite unresolved fuel sensor anomalies in the Space Shuttle external tank, external tank that had prevented the shuttle from launching on July 13, its originally scheduled date. The mission ended on August 9, 2005, when ''Discovery'' landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Poor weather over the Kennedy Space Center in Florida hampered the shuttle from using its primary landing site. Analysis of the launch footage showed debris separating from the external tank during ascent; this was of particular concern because it was the issue that had set off the ''Columbia'' disaster. As a result, NASA decided on July ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Space Shuttle Atlantis
Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' (Orbiter Vehicle designation: OV‑104) is a Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA, the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States. ''Atlantis'' was manufactured by the Rockwell International company in Southern California and was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Eastern Florida in April 1985. ''Atlantis'' is also the fourth operational and the second-to-last Space Shuttle built. Its maiden flight was STS-51-J made from October 3 to 7, 1985. ''Atlantis'' embarked on its 33rd and final mission, also the final mission of a space shuttle, STS-135, on July 8, 2011. STS-134 by ''Endeavour'' was expected to be the final flight before STS-135 was authorized in October 2010. STS-135 took advantage of the processing for the STS-335 Launch on Need mission that would have been necessary if STS-134's crew became stranded in orbit. ''Atlantis'' landed for the final time at the Kennedy Space Center on July 21, 2011. By th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |