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Soyuz Spacecraft Docks With International Space Station

Posted on: Saturday, 16 October 2004, 06:00 CDT

By MARIA DANILOVA

KOROLYOV, Russia (AP) -- A Russian spacecraft ferrying a fresh crew to the international space station had to be docked manually Saturday after an unexplained glitch sent it toward the outpost too quickly.

Mission Control staff monitoring the docking from Korolyov, outside Moscow, broke into applause after Captain Salizhan Sharipov docked the Soyuz with the station.

Mission Control chief Vladimir Solovyov said that with 660 feet to go before docking at the station, the spacecraft braked and officials on the grounds switched off the autopilot. Soyuz spacecraft are normally guided by autopilot on their approach to the station and during the docking, but the crew is trained to operate the capsule manually in case of computer failure.

"Everything went normally, even though we noted a higher speed, close to dangerous, but the crew acted brilliantly," Solovyov said.

The Soyuz TMA-5, also carrying Russian Yuri Shargin and American Leroy Chiao, docked with the station at 8:16 a.m. Moscow time, or 12:16 a.m. EDT, just over two days after lifting off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday.

It was the fourth time a Soyuz had filled in for U.S. space shuttle flights, suspended since the Columbia burned up on re-entry in February 2003.

"We were very nervous. This isn't our first time seeing off a crew, but of course when it's about the people you love, it's a different kind of anxiety," said Lyudmila Lutokhina, Shargin's wife.

Fred Gregory, the deputy director of the U.S. space agency NASA, said the switch from automatic to manual mode was "seamless."

"It appears that the crew was extremely well trained," he said.

In a rare rupture with a tradition of having at least one crewman with previous experience in piloting the capsule, none of the astronauts aboard the Soyuz had flown it before. But space officials downplayed the lack of experience, saying the crew had undergone sufficient training.

Officials said they still did not know what caused the glitch.

"At the approach stage, we faced a few divergences in speed. We need to find out the facts and reasons why it happened," said Yuri Semyonov, head of the Energiya company, the Soyuz's manufacturer. "At the moment of automatic docking, the machine gave a danger signal and the crew had to take manual control."

Sharipov and Chiao are to replace Russian Gennady Padalka and American Mike Fincke, who are ending a half-year mission on the orbiting station. Padalka and Fincke will return to Earth with Shargin on Oct. 24.

About three hours after the docking, Padalka opened the hatch and embraced Sharipov, the first new crew member to enter the station. Chiao and Shargin followed the captain, and space officials on the ground wished them a productive mission - and wished the crew they are replacing a safe journey back to Earth.

"Gennady, I see your hair has gotten too long," Gregory quipped over the radio to Padalka. "It looks like you're ready to go home."

During their six-month mission, Sharipov and Chiao will conduct experiments to research AIDS vaccines and study plant growth, and will take at least two space walks.

Expedition 10 crewmembers Leroy Chiao and Salizhan Sharipov. Credit: NASA

Closeup of the Soyuz docked with the ISS. Credit: NASA

Sharipov's 16-year-old daughter Nagira and 12-year-old son Dzhakhangir watched the docking at Mission Control anxiously.

"I was very nervous this time. My mama and I didn't sleep the whole night," Nagira said.

She said that her father previously had been away at most one month, "that's why it will be very unusual this time."

Gregory said that Russia and the United States had completed negotiations on joint flights earlier this month, paving the way for the two nations to work together through April 2006. Negotiations are underway for 2006-2010, he said.

NASA scientists are evaluating shorter and longer missions, he said, in response to Russia's desire to send crews up for more than six months at a stretch.

Gregory said NASA had hoped its shuttles would be flying again by early spring, but because of the hurricane damage in Florida the target now is early summer.

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THE GLITCH: An unexplained problem sent a Russian-made Soyuz spacecraft speeding toward the international space station too quickly and officials decided it should be docked manually.

THE WRINKLE: None of the three people aboard the station - two Russians and an American - had ever flown on a Soyuz before, breaking 30 years of tradition. But they had trained extensively with simulators and the pilot linked it up without trouble.

OLD FAITHFUL: The Soyuz is a workhorse of Russia's cash-strapped space program, and while minor glitches happen from time to time its safety record is stellar.

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