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Space station trio coming back to Earth later tonight BY WILLIAM HARWOOD STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION Posted: November 25, 2010 
Outgoing Expedition 25 commander Douglas Wheelock, flight engineer Shannon Walker and cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin are set for a fiery return to Earth Thursday evening (U.S. time) aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule to wrap up a five-and-a-half-month orbital tour of duty.
Soyuz commander Yurchikhin, seated in the descent capsule's center seat, and Walker, strapped in to his left, will oversee a computer-controlled four-minute 24-second deorbit rocket firing starting at 10:54:30 p.m. that will slow the craft by about 258 mph and put it on the proper trajectory for re-entry and landing 48 miles north of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan. At an altitude of about 87 miles, the three modules making up the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft will separate and the central crew module will orient itself heatshield first for the plunge back into the atmosphere. Three minutes later, at 11:22 p.m., the descent module will reach the discernible atmosphere at an altitude of 63.5 miles. Eight minutes after atmospheric entry, parachutes will deploy, slowing the craft for a landing at 11:46 p.m. to close out a mission spanning 163 days and seven hours. Russian recovery forces will be stationed nearby, along with U.S. and Russian flight surgeons to help the returning station fliers re-adjust to Earth's gravity. After medical exams, all three crew members will be flown to Kustanai for a traditional welcome ceremony. After that, Yurchikhin will be flown back to Star City near Moscow while Wheelock and Walker will be flown directly to the Johnson Space Center in Houston for debriefing and rehabilitation. "It's been a great ride," Wheelock said Wednesday before turning command of the station over to Kelly. "I think Shannon, Fyodor and I, when we launched back in June, we came up here with great expectations and although expectations were met ... the way our mission played out was in a lot of ways different than what we had planned. "But it was very, very exciting, we saw a lot of exciting things happening with the advent of the full utilization of the space station as an orbiting science laboratory. That's come to full fruition for us now as we've got over 130 experiments going on board. It's just been a real thrill to be able to work with all of the scientists and engineers and researchers on the ground." In August, Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson, who returned to Earth in late September, staged three dramatic spacewalks to replace a faulty ammonia pump module that disabled one of the space station's two main coolant loops. The complex repair job worked, and the station was brought back up to full power. Wheelock, Walker and Yurchikhin had hoped to welcome the shuttle Discovery's crew to the station earlier this month. But Discovery ran into a series of technical problems and launch, originally scheduled for Nov. 1, has now been delayed to no earlier than Dec. 17. "We've had some challenges in the way of maintenance and things in the past several weeks and months, events that really challenged us as a crew, challenged us a team," Wheelock recalled Wednesday. "And we've come through it a better station and a better crew for it." Turning to Kelly, he said "Scott, it's my great honor and pleasure to relinquish command of the International Space Station to you, my friend and crewmate." "Thank you, Doug. I assume command," replied Kelly, a veteran shuttle commander. "t's a real honor and a privilege to take command of this great ship, the International Space Station. I look forward to leading the Expedition 26 crew on a great mission. Thank you." The crew then took a break for an early Thanksgiving dinner. "Shannon and I have been here now since the middle of June and it's been an incredible experience, an incredible journey traveling through the cosmos around our Earth and looking out at our beautiful planet," Wheelock reflected in an earlier Thanksgiving message to the ground. "I'm very, very thankful for the things that we have on board here that keep us safe and keep us busy and keep us sharp. I'm thankful for my crewmates and thankful for the good Earth and looking forward to coming home." Said Walker: "I just wanted to wish everyone well this Thanksgiving. I hope everyone is surrounded by friends and family and are enjoying the wonderful Thanksgiving dinner together." Kelly, Kaleri and Skripochka will have the space station to themselves until Dec. 17 when three fresh crew members -- Soyuz TMA-20 commander Dmitri Kondratyev, NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli -- arrive two days after launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. "I'd like to wish everyone a very, very happy Thanksgiving," Kelly said. "I am very thankful to be a crew member on board the International Space Station. This is really an amazing vehicle. I'm thankful and I feel privileged that I was born and grew up in a country that could be major contributors to something as magnificent as the International Space Station." Here is a timeline of Soyuz re-entry events (in EST and mission elapsed time): DATE/EST......DDD...HH...MM...SS...EVENT 06/15/10 04:35:19 PM...000...00...00...00...Soyuz TMA-19 Launch 11/25 07:25:00 PM...163...02...49...41...U.S. to Russian attitude control handover 07:35:00 PM...163...02...59...41...ISS maneuvers to undocking attitude 07:45:58 PM...163...03...10...39...Sunset 08:11:30 PM...163...03...36...11...Sunrise 08:14:11 PM...163...03...38...52...Daily Orbit 15 Russian ground station AOS 08:18:00 PM...163...03...42...41...ISS to free drift 08:19:00 PM...163...03...43...41...Undock Command 08:22:00 PM...163...03...46...41...Physical separation (0.27 mph) 08:25:00 PM...163...03...49...41...Soyuz separation burn #1 (15 sec, 1.2 mph) 08:27:00 PM...163...03...51...41...ISS maneuver to duty attitude 08:37:57 PM...163...04...02...38...Daily Orbit 15 Russian ground station LOS 09:17:29 PM...163...04...42...10...Sunset 09:18:00 PM...163...04...42...41...ISS maneuvers to relaxation 09:43:13 PM...163...05...07...54...Sunrise 10:05:00 PM...163...05...29...41...Sunrise at landing site 10:49:01 PM...163...06...13...42...Sunset 10:54:30 PM...163...06...19...11...Soyuz deorbit burn start (257.7 mph) 10:58:54 PM...163...06...23...35...Deorbit burn complete 10:59:00 PM...163...06...23...41...ISS maneuvers to communications attitude 11:14:55 PM...163...06...39...36...Sunrise 11:19:49 PM...163...06...44...30...Separation of modules (86.8 miles altitude) 11:22:47 PM...163...06...47...28...Atmospheric entry (63.6 miles altitude) 11:23:00 PM...163...06...47...41...ISS maneuvers to duty attitude 11:24:36 PM...163...06...49...17...Entry guidance start (50 miles altitude) 11:24:36 PM...163...06...49...17...Terminator rise 11:29:29 PM...163...06...54...10...Maximum Gs (20.6 miles altitude) 11:31:25 PM...163...06...56...06...Command to open parachute (6.6 miles altitude) 11:46:25 PM...163...07...11...06...LANDING 11/26 12:00:00 AM...163...07...24...41...Russian to U.S. attitude control handover
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VIDEO:
WATCH PROGRESS 40P FREIGHTER DOCKING 