Steps of ISS assembly
¹ |
Spacecraft |
Launch date |
Landing date |
Station element |
30 |
Progress M1-9 |
Sep 25, 2002 | Feb 1, 2003 | |
31 |
Atlantis STS-112 |
Oct 7, 2002 | Oct 18, 2002 |
S-1 Truss, starboard section of the ISS Integrated Truss Structure and the Crew and Equipment Translation Aid (CETA) Cart A. |
32 |
Soyuz TMA-1 |
Oct 30, 2002 | May 4, 2003 | |
33 |
Endeavour STS-113 |
Nov 24, 2002 | Dec 7, 2002 |
Right section of the ISS Integrated Truss Structure (P1) and the Crew and Equipment Translation Aid (CETA) Cart B |
34 |
Progress M-47 |
Feb 2, 2003 | Aug 28, 2003 | |
On September 25, 2002, the Progress M1-9 cargo vehicle was launched into the low earth orbit from Baikonur launch
site and performed automatical docking to its axial docking
node on the ISS Service Module Zvezda on September 29.
In the process of flight to the space station the joint
testing of the Kurs approach system located on the Russian
Zvezda module and the cargo vehicle was conducted successfully
as planned. The cargo vehicle delivered about 2,6 t of cargo
to the ISS including: propellants for the station refilling;
oxygen; equipment required to outfit and maintain the onboard
systems; scientific equipment; food; onboard documentation;
parcels for crewmembers; Russian national census sheets
for 2002; equipment for the program of ESA astronaut Franc
Devignes, Belgium. In-orbit system has been built, comprising
of: Functional Cargo Block "Zarya", Zvezda Service
Module, docking compartment-module "Pirs", "Soyuz
TM-34" manned space vehicle, "Progress M1-9"
cargo vehicle and also Unity, Destiny modules and Quest
Airlock. The weight of the system is about 155,8 t.
On February 1, 2003 Progress M1-9 undocked from the ISS and
after departing from the station was transferred to a descent
and de-orbit trajectory to splashdown in the assigned region
of the world oceanic area.
On October 7, 2002, the Atlantis Shuttle STS-112 was launched from J. Kennedy Space Center (ISS Expansion Program, Flight
9A) which docked to the ISS on October 9. The crew - NASA
astronauts Jeff Ashby (commander), Pam Melroy (pilot), David
Wolf , Sandra Magnus, Piers Sellers (specialists) and Russian
cosmonaut Fedor Yurchikhin (flight specialist, employee
of S.P Korolev RSC Energia).
Goal of the flight - delivery and installation of S-1 Truss,
starboard section of the ISS Integrated Truss Structure
and also delivery of water, cargo and scientific equipment
to outfit USOS. During the joint flight the US crew performed
three spacewalks. The shuttle thruster jets raised the ISS's
orbit during two maneuvers. On October 16 the Atlantis'
crew undocked and returned to the Earth on October 18.
On
October 30, 2002 the
first Russian manned space vehicle of new modification "Soyuz
TMA-1" (ISS Expansion Program, Flight 5S)
was launched from Baikonur launch site by the Soyuz FG launch
vehicle, which on November 1 docked to the station. The
fourth Russian expedition crew was onboard the station
(EP-4): Russian cosmonauts Sergey Zaletin (commander), Yury
Lonchakov (onboard engineer-2) and Belgian astronaut from
ESA Franc Devignes (onboard enginer-1). The goal of the
mission - scheduled replacement of the Soyuz TM-34 that
stayed as a part of ISS since April 27, 2002, as a rescue
vehicle and also flight testing of the Soyuz TMA-1 space
vehicle, space experiments and research onboard, including
Odyssey project and also engineering support to the main
crew flight. On November 9, 2002, the Soyuz TM-34 space
vehicle was undocked from the Zarya module and on November 10 reentry module
of the space vehicle returned crew EP-4 to the Earth.
On November 24, 2002 the launch of the American Space Shuttle Endeavour was performed with the subsequent docking with
the ISS on November 25 at 21 hours 59 minutes UTC (i.e.
on November 26 at 00 hours 59 minutes Moscow legal time).
The flight is denoted by STS-113 (the flight number is 11A
under the ISS assembly program). The crew makeup was the
following: NASA astronauts James Wetherbee (Commander),
Paul Lockhart (Pilot), Michael Lopez-Alegria,
John Herrington, Kenneth Bowersox, Donald Pettit and the
Russia cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin (Flight Specialists). The
flight objective is to deliver and mount on the station
of the starboard section as part of the ISS Integrated Truss
Structure (the P1 section), which is a 14-m aluminum structure.
Subsequently, it will house the boards carrying solar arrays,
as well as provide delivery of the
6th Prime Crew (ISS-6) members (Kenneth Bowersox, Nikolai
Budarin, Donald Pettit) and return to Earth of the fifth
Prime Crew (ISS-5) members (Valery Korzun, Peggy Whitson
and Sergei Treschev), who have been operating onboard the
Orbital station since June 7, 2002. During the Endeavour/ISS
mated flight, the US astronauts M. Lopez-Alegria and J.
Herrington preformed three spacewalks, during which they
conducted the assembly operations to connect service lines
between the sections of the ISS Integrated Truss Structure
(central section SO and the side section P1 placed in orbit
during this flight and mounted on the section SO by the
Orbiter robot arm); continued the work to mount elements
of the rail-guided cart (crew and Equipment Translation
Aid); installed external transceivers of the wireless video
system on the Unity Module and the P1 Truss; conducted the
assembly/dismantling operating with other structural members.
The Orbiter propulsion system enabled to perform three orbital
raising corrections of the Complex. On December 2th the
Endeavour crew members conducted undocking; on December
7th they carried out successful ground landing.
On February 2, 2003 Progress M-47 cargo vehicle was launched from Baikonur cosmodrome to a near-earth orbit. Following
a two-day free flight in near-earth orbit on February 4,
2003 Progress M-47 made an automatic docking to the side
port of the Russian Service Module Zvezda of the International
Space Station.
The vehicle delivered about 2.5 tons of various cargoes
to the ISS including 870 kg of propellant for the station
refueling. An on-orbit complex of about 180.4 t was assembled
consisting of Functional Cargo Module Zarya, Service Module
Zvezda, docking compartment-module Pirs, cargo vehicle Progress
M-47, manned spacecraft Soyuz TMA-1, modules Unity, Destiny
and airlock Quest.
On August 28, 2003 the Progress M-47 cargo transport vehicle
was undocked from the ISS, made to follow descent trajectory
and ceased to exist in a preset area of the Pacific Ocean.