Station crew move Soyuz spacecraft to new Russian module – Spaceflight Now

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The Soyuz MS-18 probe during the approach of the Nauka module on Monday. Credit: NASA TV / Spaceflight Now

Two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut tethered their Soyuz ferry to the International Space Station on Tuesday and moved the craft to a new docking port on the Russian Nauka lab module which arrived at the complex in July.

The relocation maneuver paved the way for a new Soyuz crew spacecraft to dock with the Rassvet module at the space station next month.

Russian commander Oleg Novitskiy, on his third space station expedition, manually controlled the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft during the relocation. Novitskiy was joined by Russian flight engineer Pyotr Dubrovnik and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei.

The three crew members were launched onto the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft on April 9. They were all aboard the Soyuz crew module, wearing their Sokol launch and entry space suits, in case any re-docking issues with the space station required them to return to Earth.

The Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft detached from the Rassvet module, located on the underside of the space station’s Zarya module, at 8:21 a.m. EDT (1221 GMT). After moving away from the complex, Novitskiy, a former Russian Air Force pilot, first flew the Soyuz spacecraft to the US segment of the station for a quick photoshoot.

Dubrovnik briefly left his seat in the Soyuz cockpit to enter the spacecraft’s upper orbital compartment, where he collected stills and video from outside the space station.

Then, the Soyuz returned to the Russian segment to line up with the Nauka mooring target.

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, Commander Oleg Novitskiy and flight engineer Pyotr Dubrovnik tried out their Sokol space suits on September 21. They will wear the coveralls during the relocation maneuver on Tuesday. Credit: NASA

Nauka is attached to the underside, or facing Earth, of the Zvezda service module near the rear end of the space station. The Nauka Multipurpose Lab Module is the newest part of the complex and the biggest addition to the station in over a decade.

The new Russian laboratory arrived at the space station on July 29, eight days after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Nauka encountered several issues after launch, then an issue inadvertently ordered the module’s control thrusters to start firing within hours of docking, causing the space station to temporarily lose control of its orientation.

The Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft docked at the Nauka module at 9:04 a.m. EDT (1:04 p.m. GMT) and the hooks closed a few minutes later to create a strong mechanical connection.

It was the 20th relocation of Port Soyuz in the history of the International Space Station, and the second this year.

“All activity went through the book this morning,” said Rob Navias, a NASA spokesperson providing commentary on NASA TV.

With the Rassvet mooring port free, the relocation paved the way for the launch of a three-person crew on the Russian Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft on October 5 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Commander Anton Shkaplerov, a veteran cosmonaut, will lead the crew of the Soyuz MS-19 for the flight to the space station. Klim Shipenko and Yulia Peresild, Russian director and actress, will join Shkaplerov.

Shipenko and Peresild will spend 11 days in the space station filming a Russian feature film called “The Challenge”. The two-person film crew will leave the station and return to Earth on October 16 aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft with Novitskiy.

The Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, seen in this illustration docked at the Rassvet module, moved towards the Nauka module just behind Rassvet. Credit: NASA

Shkaplerov will stay at the station for more than five months. Dubrovnik and Vande Hei, which launched in April, will also remain at the space station. Their stays in space have been extended to make way for Shipenko and Peresild’s short-lived mission.

Dubrovnik and Vande Hei will now stay in space for almost a year before returning to Earth with Shkaplerov in March on Soyuz MS-19.

The Soyuz relocation maneuver on Tuesday will be followed later this week by the departure of a SpaceX Cargo Dragon supply ship.

The Cargo Dragon has been docked at the station since August 30. After space station astronauts finish packing the cargo and experiments in the supply ship, the Cargo Dragon is expected to undock at 9:05 a.m. EDT (1305 GMT) on Thursday, settling down for the water landing off Florida coasts around 11:00 p.m. EDT Thursday (03:00 GMT Friday).

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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @ StephenClark1.



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