Expedition 16 was the 16th
expedition to the
International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...
(ISS).
The first two crew members,
Yuri Malenchenko
Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko (russian: Юрий Иванович Маленченко; born December 22, 1961) is a retired Russian cosmonaut. Malenchenko became the first person to marry in space, on 10 August 2003, when he married Ekaterina Dmit ...
and
Peggy Whitson, launched on 10 October 2007, aboard
Soyuz TMA-11, and were joined by
spaceflight participant Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor
Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Al Masrie bin Sheikh Mustapha (born 27 July 1972) is the first Malaysian astronaut. He launched to the International Space Station aboard Soyuz TMA-11 with the Expedition 16 crew on 10 October 2007. Sheikh Muszaphar fl ...
, the first
Malaysian in space.
Expedition 15 Flight Engineer
Clayton Anderson did not land with the
Soyuz TMA-10, so he was considered part of Expedition 16 for the few weeks prior to the arrival of
STS-120.
STS-120 launched on 23 October, docked on 25 October, and replaced Anderson with new Flight Engineer
Daniel Tani
Daniel M. Tani (born February 1, 1961) is an American engineer and retired NASA astronaut. He was born in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, but considers Lombard, Illinois, to be his hometown.
With Peggy Whitson, Tani conducted the 100th spacewalk on ...
.
Following docking, the Soyuz seat liners for Anderson and Tani were swapped, and Anderson became part of the STS-120 crew.
Léopold Eyharts, who came aboard during
STS-122, joined the mission on 9 February 2008, replacing Tani.
The crew was then joined by
Garrett Reisman
Garrett Erin Reisman (; born February 10, 1968) is an American engineer and former NASA astronaut. He was a backup crew member for Expedition 15 and joined Expedition 16 aboard the International Space Station for a short time before becoming a ...
, who was launched aboard
''Endeavour'' with
STS-123
STS-123 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) which was flown by Space Shuttle ''Endeavour''. STS-123 was the 1J/A ISS assembly mission. The original launch target date was 14 February 2008 but after the delay of ...
, on 11 March 2008, replacing Eyharts. Reisman joined Expedition 16 in progress, and was a part of
Expedition 17
Expedition 17 was the 17th expedition to the International Space Station (ISS).
The first two crew members, Sergey Volkov, and Oleg Kononenko were launched on 8 April 2008, aboard the Soyuz TMA-12. Once aboard the station, they joined Garret ...
as well. Upon reentry, the astronaut's
Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft suffered a minor malfunction, causing the craft to follow a very steep ballistic descent. As a result, the crew experienced forces up to 10
G, ending up about 260 miles (418 km) west of the targeted landing site. Roscosmos reported all three crew members were doing just fine and in good health.
Crew
Backup crew
*
Michael Fincke Commander - NASA (for Whitson)
*
Salizhan Sharipov Flight Engineer 1 - RSA (for Malenchenko)
*
Greg Chamitoff
Gregory Errol Chamitoff (born 6 August 1962) is a Canadian-born American engineer and former NASA astronaut. He has been to space twice, spending 6 months aboard the ISS across Expedition 17 and 18 in 2008, and another 15 days as part of STS-13 ...
Flight Engineer 2 - NASA (for Anderson)
*
Sandra Magnus
Sandra Hall Magnus (born October 30, 1964) is an American engineer and a former NASA astronaut. She returned to Earth with the crew of STS-119 ''Discovery'' on March 28, 2009, after having spent 134 days in orbit. She was assigned to the crew of ...
Flight Engineer 2 - NASA (for Tani)
*
Frank De Winne Flight Engineer 2 - ESA (for Eyharts)
*
Timothy Kopra
Timothy Lennart "Tim" Kopra (born April 9, 1963) is an engineer, a Colonel in the United States Army and a retired NASA astronaut. He served aboard the International Space Station as a flight engineer for Expedition 20, returning to Earth aboar ...
Flight Engineer 2 - NASA (for Reisman)
Mission details
*Docked: 12 October 2007 14:50
UTC
*Undocked: 19 April 2008 6:06 UTC
*Time docked: 192 days
Expedition 16 was the first ISS mission to include two crew members who had served on a previous expedition, and the first time a former commander (Malenchenko) returned as a flight engineer.
Whitson was the first female commander of an ISS expedition,
and with STS-120 commanded by female astronaut
Pamela Melroy, it marked the first time that two female mission commanders were in orbit simultaneously.
On her first expedition, Whitson implemented a "Friday night movie night" to help the crew wind down at the end of the week, and plans to keep the custom of adding some levity to the station going for Expedition 16.
Anderson incorporated some entertainment into the daily planning conference with the ground, quizzing the ground team on a wide variety of subjects, and
Michael Lopez-Alegria
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name "Michael"
* Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...
did a similar activity with movie and music trivia.
STS-120
The first major objective of the increment was accomplished successfully on 26 October, when the crew of STS-120 delivered the
''Harmony'' module, and attached it to a temporary location on the
''Unity'' module.
The new addition added over to the station's living volume.
The joint crews also moved the
P6 truss, and relocated it from its position on top of the station, to its final port-side position, during the
third
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute''
Places
* 3rd Street (disambiguation)
* Third Avenue (disambiguation)
* Hi ...
of four
spacewalks.
Configuration of ''Harmony''
Following the departure of STS-120, a series of
Extra-vehicular activity
Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environmental support. EVA in ...
(EVA) and robotic activities were carried out to move the
Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA-2) from the end of the
Destiny laboratory, to the end of ''Harmony''. Whitson and Malenchenko carried out the increment's first EVA on 9 November, that prepared the docking port for relocation.
On 12 November, Whitson and Tani used the station's
Mobile Servicing System
The Mobile Servicing System (MSS), is a robotic system on board the International Space Station (ISS). Launched to the ISS in 2001, it plays a key role in station assembly and maintenance; it moves equipment and supplies around the station, supp ...
(robotic arm) to detach the docking port, and relocated it to the forward port of ''Harmony''.
On 14 November, the Tani and Whitson again used the robotic arm and moved ''Harmony'' from its temporary location, to its permanent location on the forward port of ''Destiny''.
On 20 November, Whitson and Tani completed the second EVA for the increment, a 7-hour, 16-minute spacewalk to outfit the ''Harmony'' node in its new position. All tasks were accomplished, and three get-ahead tasks were performed.
On 24 November, Whitson and Tani completed the third EVA for the increment, a 7-hour, 4-minute spacewalk to complete the outfitting of ''Harmony''. All task were accomplished, and photographic inspection of the starboard
Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) was performed, as well as some ISS maintenance get-ahead tasks.
EVA milestone
On 18 December 2007, during the fourth
spacewalk
Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environmental support. EVA in ...
of Expedition 16 to inspect the
S4 starboard
Port and starboard are nautical terms for watercraft and aircraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the bow (front).
Vessels with bilateral symmetry have left and right halves which ar ...
Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ), the ground team in Mission Control informed Whitson that she had become the female astronaut with the most cumulative
EVA time in
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...
history, as well as the most EVAs, with her fifth EVA. Three hours and 37 minutes into the spacewalk, Whitson surpassed NASA astronaut
Sunita Williams with a total time at that point of 29 hours and 18 minutes.
At the completion of Whitson's fifth EVA, the 100th in support of ISS assembly and maintenance, Whitson's cumulative EVA time became 32 hours, and 36 minutes, which placed her in 20th place for
total EVA time.
STS-122
STS-122 delivered
Columbus
Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to:
* Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer
* Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio
Columbus may also refer to:
Places ...
and replaced
Dan Tani with
Léopold Eyharts.
STS-123
STS-123
STS-123 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) which was flown by Space Shuttle ''Endeavour''. STS-123 was the 1J/A ISS assembly mission. The original launch target date was 14 February 2008 but after the delay of ...
delivered the first element of
Kibō and replaced
Léopold Eyharts with
Garrett Reisman
Garrett Erin Reisman (; born February 10, 1968) is an American engineer and former NASA astronaut. He was a backup crew member for Expedition 15 and joined Expedition 16 aboard the International Space Station for a short time before becoming a ...
.
ATV ''Jules-Verne''
Expedition 16 also saw the arrival of the first
Automated Transfer Vehicle
The Automated Transfer Vehicle, originally Ariane Transfer Vehicle or ATV, was an expendable cargo spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), used for space cargo transport in 2008–2015. The ATV design was launched to orbit fiv ...
(ATV) to the station, named
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the '' Voyages extra ...
after the science fiction author.
Soyuz TMA-12
Expedition 16 also saw the arrival of the first Korean astronaut, Yi So-yeon.
Extra-vehicular activity
References
External links
NASA: Expedition 16Roscosmos:Soyuz TMA-11 launch page in English,
NASA: STS-120
{{Use British English, date=August 2010
Expedition 16
2007 in spaceflight
2008 in spaceflight