the ‘cervantes’ · the eventual successful completion of the ‘cervantes’ mission is solid...

Human Spaceflight

44 esa bulletin 117 - february 2004 www.esa.int

The

‘Cervantes’ Mission- Another European Astronaut at the ISS

CERVANTES 2/26/04 2:43 PM Page 44

esa bulletin 117 - february 2004www.esa.int 45

How It Came to Pass

When Spain expressed interest in sponsoring a Soyuz tothe International Space Station (ISS), I was informed thatI might be assigned to such a mission. At the time I was amember of the Columbus Project team, where I had beenworking since 1999 in the areas of crew interfaces,maintainability, EVA/robotics interfaces and also to someextent NASA interfaces. In addition, I was one of a groupof ESA astronauts training to operate the systems of theSpace Station, with the four of us being candidates for thefirst Permanent Crews with ESA participation.

Several months passed between the initial flight idea and the official announcement by the SpanishGovernment, during which it became increasinglyprobable that I would have to train in Russia to operate theSoyuz TMA as Flight Engineer, learn how to executeexperiments in the (as yet undefined) ESA UtilisationProgramme, and therefore also hand over my Columbusduties. Our Training Division and the Gagarin Centreconsidered one year a reasonable time to devote to this,based on their experience with previous such projects(Cassiopée, Marco Polo and Odissea). By September2002, therefore, the time pressure began to mount and soat the beginning of October I went to Russia to starttraining, six months before the flight. Then the adventurereally began.....

The Cervantes Mission

Astronauts from NASA, NASDA and ESA in front of the Columbusmodule during the European part of their Space Station training

Training in the US Lab simulator

Press Conference at the Spanish Ministry for Science and Technologyon 4 February 2003

Pedro DuqueESA Astronaut, European Astronaut Centre (EAC), ESA Directorate of Human Spaceflight, Cologne, Germany


Human Spaceflight


The Framework Agreement

ESA and the Russian Aviation and Space Agency (Rosaviakosmos) have developed an extensive and fruitful cooperation in the area of humanspaceflight activities, both on the Mir space station and through the current International Space Station (ISS) Programme. The resulting operationalinteraction and cooperation between Russian cosmonauts and European astronauts has proved beneficial to the strengthening of the human spaceflightexpertise and experience of both agencies.

In order to further pursue common endeavours in the field, in May 2001 ESA and Rosaviakosmos established a Framework Agreement for European-Russian cooperation in the organisation of flights for ESA astronauts using Russian flight opportunities to the ISS. The goal was to undertake a numberof flights in order to utilise the ISS for scientific research and applications through well-established experimental programmes. Two types ofopportunities are foreseen in the Agreement: ISS Taxi Flights, which are defined as short-duration Soyuz flights to the ISS for exchanging the Soyuzdocked with the Station, including a short-duration stay on-board, and ISS Increment Flights, which are defined as crew-exchange flights, including astay of several months (one increment) on-board the Station.

Within the scope of the Framework Agreement, CNES (F) sponsored the first ISS Taxi Flight in October 2001, known as the ‘Andromède’ mission, withESA astronaut Claudie Haigneré on board. In April 2002, ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori flew on the ‘Marco Polo’ Taxi Flight sponsored by ASI (I),followed by ESA astronaut Frank De Winne in October 2002 on the ‘Odissea’ mission, sponsored by Belgium.

With those precedents established, Rosaviakosmos offered ESA two further flight opportunities, in April and October 2003. At ESA’s invitation, Spaindecided to sponsor the first one, with ESA astronaut Pedro Duque in the role of Flight Engineer, and The Netherlands took the second one, with ESAastronaut André Kuipers also serving as Flight Engineer.

Following the Spanish decision, the experimental programme for Pedro Duque’s flight, which subsequently became known as the ‘Cervantes’ mission,was then drawn up in close cooperation with the sponsoring organisation, namely the Spanish Ministry for Science and Technology, through the Centrefor Technological and Industrial Development (CDTI). Pedro eventually performed more than twenty experiments during his stay aboard the ISS.

Pedro was fully engaged in his Cervantes mission training in Russia when, on 1 February 2003, tragedy struck the US Space Shuttle ‘Columbia’ duringits return from the STS-107 mission. The days and weeks that followed saw the mourning space community considering its options following thegrounding of the Shuttle fleet, and assessing the best way to proceed in order to keep the ISS safe. The outcome of the assessment in terms of thenumber of crew on-board ISS was that, as from April, it would be reduced to just two until the Shuttle’s return to flight. It also meant that the next TaxiFlight had to become a crew-exchange flight and that Pedro Duque could not therefore fly as early as originally planned. Rosaviakosmos and ESA,together with the Spanish Ministry and CDTI, agreed to postpone his flight until October 2003. Similarly, the two partners and the Dutch governmentagreed to postpone André Kuipers’ flight until April 2004. Agreeing to the two postponements was Europe’s contribution to protecting the ISS crew.

The eventual successful completion of the ‘Cervantes’ mission is solid proof of the good co-operation between the sponsoring entities, in this case Spain,ESA and Rosaviakosmos, within the Framework Agreement, and marks another positive milestone in the long-standing relations between ESA andRosaviakosmos.

With the forthcoming flight of André Kuipers in April 2004, the Framework Agreement continues to be a solid and stable basis for the strategicplanning of the activities of the European Astronaut Corps, as well as an important tool in the further development of the operational expertise of ESA’sastronauts prior to full European utilisation of the ISS with the launch of Columbus. While the Framework Agreement allows for attractive financialconditions commensurate with the number of flights actually implemented, at the same time it supports the Russian space effort through theinvolvement of ESA astronauts. It is therefore intended to continue with this mutually very fruitful approach.

Manuel VallsHead of Programme Integration DepartmentESA Directorate of Human Spaceflight


A Fast Pace

The astronaut colleagues who hadpreceded me in undertaking similartraining – Jean-Pierre and ClaudieHaigneré, Roberto Vittori and Frank DeWinne – had already warned me that sixmonths was a very short time in which tolearn the Flight Engineer’s job fully.Everybody was therefore braced forfurious activity, with no time to relax, butthe objective was clear to all: no half-hearted attempts, we must continue toshow that Europe’s astronauts makevaluable crew members, able to cope withthe full range of responsibilities, and at thesame time continue to demonstrate ourexcellence in executing experimentalprogrammes with commitment and precision.It’s hard to be seen as a junior partner…butso far I believe that we all at ESA, in all ofour relations with our partners, have been

able to show that we compare favourablywith the best from the other agencies. Thistime it was my turn! And I know that thepeople who were there to help prepare mytraining, the experiments, the overallprogramme for my flight, etc., and forwhom the six months was even shorter, feltexactly the same way.

It was straight into the classroom and the simulator, and so October andNovember were already gone withoutnoticing. I was starting to believe that Iwas actually going to make it at thebeginning of December, when I was toldthat the Christmas holiday period in Russiafollowed the old calendar, and so only fouror five free days were allowed around NewYear. It was strange to spend the last weekof December in the classroom andsimulator, but it was all in a good cause –namely to fly in April in the knowledgethat I had been fully trained.

The Columbia Accident Takes its Toll

Training as a complete crew started asearly as December 2002. Gennadi Padalkawas my Commander, and his very extensiveSoyuz experience and his excellentoperational skills both challenged me tokeep up and accelerated my learningprocess. All was well, with the lastexaminations taking place in January (inRussia you take an oral examination forevery system you are supposed to operate),and the rest of the learning programmebeing made up of simulator training forSoyuz and procedural training for theexperiments.

At this stage in the flight-preparationprocess, the ESA programme of activitiesto be conducted aboard the ISS was not yet very full. The Announcement ofOpportunity (AO) had only been issued tothe scientists in late November and most of


About to go into the centrifuge for an 8-g test In the barochamber

CERVANTES 2/26/04 2:43 PM 7

Human Spaceflight


the experiment hardware wassupposed to be transported to theStation on a Progress flightscheduled for 2 February. Theshort lead time available meantthat very few of the potentialinstruments for that Progressflight would make the deadline.This was, of course, a cause forconcern, but the programme’smanagement was determined tomake the best use of theequipment that would arrive, andto re-use almost all of thehardware that had already beendelivered and proven during theprevious three flights.

On 1 February 2003 the worldof all of us involved in humanspaceflight was turned upsidedown, when Space Shuttle‘Columbia’ was destroyed duringre-entry and seven colleaguesdied. Everything was in turmoil. Itquickly became clear that theShuttle would not be flying againany time soon, and so the currentSpace Station crew would have toreturn home in a Soyuz spacecraft.Obviously, there was no time tosend a new one, and so they wouldhave to use the one that GennadiPadalka and I had been planningto use to return to Earth at the endof our visit.

Interesting times followedduring which all of the variousoptions were carefully studied.Two or three people had to go up,making up a long-duration crew,one of whom needed to be aSoyuz Commander and another aFlight Engineer according tocrew-composition rules. Threewould return, one of whom had tobe a Commander. If an ESAastronaut was to go up and down,obviously only two of the threecurrent crew members couldreturn, so one would have to stayfor another six-month tour ofduty. Another option was for meto fly up and stay for the whole sixmonths, making up the first three-

nation permanent crew. The thirdoption was to postpone the ESAflight for six months and fly upthe next crew, but only with twoastronauts, taking a NASAastronaut with a Flight Engineerqualification. Eventually thelatter option was taken, but sinceno NASA astronaut was suitablyqualified at that point, Edward(Ed) Lu was chosen to train atalmost impossible speed betweenFebruary and April. He workedextremely hard, including nightsand weekends, and eventually thebare minimums were met,although no-one but Ed couldhave accomplished that much.

The good news was that we hadsix more months in which totrain, to prepare instruments forlater Progress shipments, todefine the procedures better, etc.,and we all made very good use ofthat extra time. We even managedto fit in an EVA training coursefor Thomas Reiter and myself inHouston as part of our continuedpreparation for the first Europeanlong-duration expedition.

My Flight to the Space Station

It turned out to be a totallydifferent kind of flight for methan for the ESA astronauts whohad made similar trips previously.To start with, it was not very clearwho were ‘my crew’. I launchedwith the Expedition 8 andreturned with the Expedition 7crews. None of them was reallyinvolved in the ESA programmebecause they had their own jobsto do, both during training and atthe Station. Being a technicalperson, I sometimes joked that Iwas the Commander of the FifthVisiting Expedition, and its onlycrew member! This turned out tobe more accurate than I thought.

Before Yuri Malenchenko leftto command the ISS for six

With Gennadi Padalka in the Soyuz simulator at the end of January 2003

Preparing for EVA teamwork…

…and executing it



months, we spent a number of trainingsessions together in order to qualify ‘as acrew’ for a later descent. The position ofFlight Engineer for both the outward andreturn legs was, I’m told, hotly debated,with both ESA and NASA proposing crewmembers. ESA eventually prevailed,probably in part because I had had theopportunity to devote much more time tomy Soyuz training than my NASAcolleagues.

Training with Alexander Kaleri turnedout to be as enlightening as with GennadiPadalka, but in a different way. Being thefirst non-military, non-pilot astronaut to belaunched in the Commander’s seat inRussia, a lot of attention was focused onhis performance, and he did not let anyonedown. Both being engineers, we tended tolook at problems in the same way, and healways took just a little longer than the‘immediate-reaction approach’ I have seenfrom other Commanders. He would alwaysfirst assess how much time he had toavailable to make a decision, and only thenstart considering the options.

A little later, Michael Foale arrivedfollowing his last training session for theUS segment of the ISS. His contributionsduring training were always helpful and hislong experience as a Shuttle MissionSpecialist was very apparent. DuringStation simulations, Michael assumed hisrole as Station Commander with a lot ofcharacter and always had his ownapproach, based on sound principles, toevery problem.

Our launch vehicle lifted-off on 18October, on a perfect sunny day on which,they say, our rocket was visible forhundreds of kilometres down range. Insidewere the three of us – Alexander, veteranof three such flights, Michael and myself –on our first ride on the legendary‘Semyorka’ rocket. Michael and I agreedthat the launch was much smoother than onthe Space Shuttle, especially comparedwith the first two minutes of Shuttle flightwhen you are being propelled by the veryloud, resonating solid-rocket boosters.With the several detailed briefings that Ihad had from Alexander about the intricateworkings of the Semyorka, I was not at allsurprised by the falling sensation at theend of the first phase of flight, thenoticeable roll oscillation during thesecond, or the loud separation charges atthe end of the third.


The three-nation crew training for Soyuz launch and docking

The crew beforelaunch


Human Spaceflight


The Soyuz craft performed flawlesslyduring the forty-eight hours that we spentgoing around the Earth waiting for the‘gods of orbital mechanics’ to pull us intothe correct position with respect to theSpace Station, using the minimum amountof propellant. Every system worked well,with the exception of a manual valve thathad accidently been left closed during pre-launch ground processing. The approachand docking manoeuvre was alsoperformed flawlessly, with the crew andground staff supervising the automaticsystems, which did all the work from startto finish.

The International Space Station Today

Opening the hatch was an unforgettableexperience. It took some time to check forair tightness, equalise the pressures, plugthe Soyuz into the Space Station’s power,and carry out all the procedures that ensurethat two spaceships couldbecome one. We in the Soyuzwere eager to meet the crew andto see the Station itself, aboutwhich we had heard so manystories. I can imagine that theStation crew were eager to openthe door to anyone at all, as wewere the first people they hadseen in six months!

Our hatch was opened first and thecharacteristic smell of something likegunpowder filled the Soyuz; I don’t knowif anyone has ever succeeded in explainingwhy the space vacuum always seems tohave this kind of smell. Then their hatchopened and we saw them to be in prettygood shape, shaved, with short hair anddressed in matching clothes – not the lookof shaggy explorers seeing a ship comeashore, but the look of a pair of officersproudly welcoming visitors aboard a largevessel.

The size of the ISS, or more accuratelyits length, is staggering. One cannot seeone end from the other; in fact one canhardly see either end from the centre. Bothairlocks are attached sideways-on to theStation, so the structure is not completelylinear. Contrary to the Russian Mir station,however, the ISS has not yet grown largeenough for one to become disorientedwhen inside.

Opening the hatch also made us aware ofthe smell in own Soyuz: after the two daysinside it, it was a relief to breathe the muchcleaner and cooler air in the Station.Everybody on board agreed that during theeight days of our stay the air was perfectlyclean. The ventilation is good and one does not see floating dust, the filters‘swallowing it’ very efficiently.

Work started right away: there was notime to lose in getting experimentoperations underway, because theinvestigators had done a lot of work indefining a meaningful programme for thewhole eight days available, and dataneeded to be gathered from the very firstmoment. The biological samples were

Not much room in the Soyuz at lunchtime

The Expedition 7 crew opens the hatch for us



introduced into the incubator, the proteincrystal growth was started, the medicalexperiments prepared, etc.

Upon arrival at the Station, there is anunavoidable adaptation phase to be gonethrough, which can range from simplygetting used to the crew restraints and howto move around, to even nausea anddisorientation. Therefore, planning a veryfull first-day programme is always a risk,of which both the crew and ground controlare well aware, so we all were very relievedto see all of the day’s tasks get done.

The timeline for the eight days involved21 different activities, as shown in theaccompanying table. Every day there wereeight to nine hours of scheduled activities,timelined by the ESA Operations Groupresident in the Erasmus building at ESTEC(NL), within the constraints imposed bygeneral Station operations. They wereready for any contingency, although therewere luckily very few of those and we wereable to execute the plan practically asoriginally envisaged. Nevertheless, spacemissions at ESA, whether automated orwith astronauts, are always taken veryseriously and means are always in place tocope with any foreseeable problems.

Every Space Station day starts with aplanning conference, during which theAmerican, Russian and ESA ground teamsdiscuss very briefly with the crew the tasksof the day, and all make sure they will be

working with the same information. Thenall of the crew members ‘fly’ in differentdirections and start performing theirplanned activities, either alone or in pairs ifrequired.

In our case, most of the time thepermanent members of the Station crewwere working in pairs, with the newlyarrived member looking over the shoulderof the one about to leave or being briefedabout the various details they should keepin mind for their six-month stay. I wasmostly working alone, on operations thatwere not particularly complex when takenone by one, but which neverthelessrequired my full attention. It is our

responsibility as astronauts to be the eyesand hands of the dedicated groups on theground, the success of whose experimentsdepends on our careful handling andaccurate operation of their hardware.

The planners on the ground always try toschedule the lunch break so that we allmeet at the ‘table’, and most days it waspossible to get at least three crew memberstogether there. The break is over all toosoon, however, and off we go again indifferent directions. During the day theremay be conversations with the ground atthe request of the crew, for instance if weare having difficulties in performing aparticular task or have any doubts aboutthe correct way to proceed. Normally,ground control rarely calls the crew,because they know that reaching a headsetand activating the correct lines cansometimes be difficult, depending onwhere we are working at a particularmoment, and consumes valuable time.However, it is unavoidable once in a whileand in the worst case can involve threecrew members: the one who happens to beclosest to the radio, the one who goes tofind whoever is being paged, and the onewho actually has to answer the call.

We conducted a number of televisioninterviews during my time at the Station.Some were with all or several of the crew,but many were only with me. This was a


ESA activities during the Cervantes mission

‘Flying’ back into the Service Module


Human Spaceflight


sign not only that the European public isgenerally much more interested than theAmerican or Russian public in spacemissions, but also that Europeans fly veryseldom and thus it was a rare mediaopportunity. Some days we gave severalinterviews, and we worked hard to makeevery one valuable and to prepare thecameras, backgrounds, etc. as appropriate.Interviews in the Service Module (wherethe living quarters are) were the mostcommon, but also the hardest, since wewere blocking the table, the drinking water,the exercise treadmill and access to thebathroom during those times!

The Space Station day also ends as itbegan, with a planning conference. Duringthis one, we check that we have receivedall the necessary messages and instructionsfrom the ground that may be useful inpreparing for the next day, such asindications of any hardware that may bedifficult to find, prior warnings ofactivities that require very tight co-ordination, etc. After the main working dayis over, there are also unavoidable tasksthat have to be done at specific times,sometimes during dinner or immediatelythereafter. The control centres do a goodjob in minimising those needs as much aspossible. Worthy of special mention in this

context are the medical experiments thatare supposed to run during the night. Ifone of those is planned, then we have toprepare any sensors, electrodes orwhatever after dinner. Experiments of thiskind are a severe test of any astronaut’swork discipline!

Returning Home

After eight days in the Station, it was timeto return to Earth. The outgoing permanentcrew was, of course, eager to see theirfamilies and friends after six months inspace, although in no way did they give theimpression of having lost their enthusiasmfor work. As for me, I would certainly havestayed somewhat longer if I could. Tendays away from home is not so much, andopportunities like this don’t come alongoften! But taking the next flight home wasnever a real option, so we three packed theresults of our labours into the Soyuz on thelast day.

The packing itself is not a simple task,since the spacecraft is very small andhardly anything else can be fitted in whenyou already have three crew members on board. Stowing the dozen or so itemsthat we were returning for ESA, together

with those for theRussian and NASAprogrammes, was verycomplex and requiredprioritisation. People arestill discussing whichpriority should have beenassigned to each item and whether the crewinterpreted correctly thepriorities sent from theground. Packing for thereturn trip is thereforedifficult, and only oneperson can really work onit because the space inthe Soyuz capsule is solimited. Ed and I couldonly help by havingeverything ready, and by

packing all the trash that had to be returnedinto the other part of the Soyuz, whichburns up on reentry.

After an unexplained firing of the Soyuzthrusters had initially put everyone onedge, we detached normally from theSpace Station and landed with no moremalfunctions, exactly as planned and at theforeseen location. That was greeted byeverybody with a sense of relief - not leastwe three inside - since this was only thesecond test of the new TMA landingavionics and the first one had suffered afailure that sent the crew more than 400km off-course.

The Path Ahead

Now, with the flight debriefings havingtaken place and the medical people havingcompleted all of their post-flight measure-ments, the ESA team is gearing up for thenext challenge, Soyuz flight TMA-4 or 8S,which will carry our ESA colleague AndréKuipers to the International Space Stationon a mission, not unlike ‘Cervantes’, called‘Delta’. Have a good mission and a softlanding, André! s

Giving a TV interview from the ServiceModule


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THE SPACE DIMENSION – ESA BR-19067 pages, Price: 10 EuroAvailable from ESA Publications Division (using Order Form at back of this Bulletin)

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