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Preflight
Interview: Alexander Kaleri
The
International Space Station Expedition 8 Crew Interviews with Flight
Engineer Alexander Kaleri.
Q: The International
Space Station Crew Interviews with Alexander Kaleri, the Flight
Engineer on the eighth expedition to the International Space Station.
Alexander, you're set to begin a spaceflight that is going to last
for several months, and will include the third anniversary of the
arrival on the International Space Station of its first permanent
residents. Tell me, what are the goals of this expedition to ISS?
A: The main
goal is to maintain Station in controlled, man-controlled flight,
and to perform a set of scientific experiments. We'll do maybe some
dozens of these experiments, both with our close participation or
without our participation-the Earth will perform this experiment-
when we will stay there. And, our duties will be, and our duties
will be maintaining, to maintain equipment in operational state
and to live there; what else?
You have
flown in space three times before and have accumulated more than
400 days' experience on board the Mir space station. On your most
recent flight, you and Sergei Zalyotin prepared Mir for its ultimate
deorbit. In fact, you were the, pretty much the last man on board
Mir. Tell me your thoughts about the place in history that will
be taken by the Mir station.
That's a difficult
question for my English, so I will use Russian. Well, first of all,
at that time we were, we did not think we would be the last humans
on board the Mir station. We were quite sure that at least one crew
or even more will be following our footsteps, and the station was
fully operational. Unfortunately, it did not come true. We left
a letter for the new crew that would be coming to replace us. We
also left some memorabilia behind us, some…subjects, and we
also left some instructions for them how to live on the station
for the first time when they arrive. We used our experience for
deactivation of the station. Unfortunately, we did not live to our
hopes. The place of the Mir station in history is actually a very
broad question. First of all, the Mir station is, has given us the
most rich experience. And it was not only the experience for Russia
in terms of long-term flights into space, but also for the future
international partners, the future partners in the ISS project.
I believe that over twenty countries' representatives have already
visited the station. We've learned how to work together, how to
operate together; not only how to develop specific operations and
events, but also how to implement them. We've also learned a lot
about cooperation. We've learned how to live in space, and it was
a useful experience both for the crews who are on board the station
and also ground controllers, the ground specialists who plan our
activities on board: those who control the flight, who send the
consumables on board the Station, and so on and so forth. Everybody
has learned a lot about this tense and difficult work that…this
very complex project is accompanied with. We've also performed a
lot of experiments on board the station. I wouldn't recall all of
them, but I think that there were about fifteen thousand experiment
sessions over these several years. So, I believe that the science
community has also benefited from the station. However, I think
that the biggest advantage was for the benefit of the whole humankind:
we could witness that it is quite possible to live a normal life
on the station and have an international cooperation. I think this
is the most important contribution of the Mir station.
On February
1st of this year, you and Mike Foale were in fact assigned to different
crews from one another and were halfway around the world from one
another, at the time of the loss of Columbia and its crew. Tell
me about the reactions and the responses that you experienced at
that time while you were here in Houston.
Yes, indeed,
I was in Houston at that time; we were getting ready for the launch.
There were, there was about one month before the launch-it was Expedition
7. My very first reaction…was the feeling of unreal situation.
I could not believe that it actually happened. When I saw the footage
and actually could see it, during the first hour when it happened-it
was early in the morning on Saturday; I watched CNN-my first impression
was that it was some kind of a movie, it was a sci-fi movie or,
you know, science fiction, something like that. Then I thought that
it actually looked a little bit like the Mir destruction when it
fell apart over the Pacific Ocean, and it was also filmed. At the
very beginning I could not even realize there were people aboard
the Shuttle. It was very difficult to believe and actually be accustomed
with the thought that this happened. After, when we gathered in
the Astronaut's Office, we understood much better then this tragedy
really occurred. And then, as the time passed, this sensation, this
feeling, grew bigger and stronger. So all our thoughts about the
future flight were kind of postponed. We could not help in any way,
we could not manage the situation as we wished. The Expedition 6
on board the Station was under the Mission Control, Control, so
their safety was not an issue. Here, on the ground, the ground personnel
was dealing with the families of the deceased astronauts and did
everything they could to man the situation. However, in the very
first days, this was a shock. Then we actually started thinking
about how we will change our future, how the future of the Space
Station will be changed. Then, very rapidly we started negotiations
and discussions on how to continue, or whether to continue, the
manned spaceflight on board the Station. If we go ahead and deactivate
the Station, then what do we do? How do we implement this? The,
this whole process, this whole activity, helped us to, make us feel
a little bit better.
The tragedy
of Columbia, for many people around the world, has made it very
clear how dangerous spaceflight can be. But you've flown before
and you understand the danger. In fact, you even flew again after
experiencing a fire on board the Mir station. And now after Columbia,
you're training to fly in space once again, so I'm interested-tell
me why you think the rewards that we get from spaceflight are worth
the risks that you're willing to take.
Well, since
we've started flying into space, I believe nothing can stop us:
it is in the nature of the human being that, whatever happens, we
will go to extremes to reach our goals. This is the same situation
here. And we are not risking our lives just because of our ambition
or pleasure or whatnot; we are professionals, and we understand
the full extent of the risk we are taking. We understand it is not
done just for us; it is done, the whole project exists, for the
humankind, for our friends, for our relatives, for everybody on
this planet. Somebody must do this work; we are the professionals,
so we have to do it.
In your
case, Alexander, why did you want to become a cosmonaut? As a young,
was it as a young boy or after you were older that you decided to
pursue that as a profession?
When I was
a kid it was a dream, my dream. But then I, when I maybe graduated
from school, I recognized that it could be possible because you
see in our country at that time, all young men- young men and girls-
knew that almost all what they wish could be possible if you are
patient or, [thinks aloud in Russian] patient or hard enough in
this way. So, I recognized that it could be possible for me. And
I entered the institute, in Moscow, and my first specialty was aerospace
engineering, and after graduation I entered in the design bureau,
now it is called Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, it was the
main design bureau in manned space programs in Russia. So, it was
straight way to the cosmonauts and, then, I decided, why not? I
can try it.
You mentioned
a couple of minutes ago that all of the world's spaceflights have
occurred within your lifetime. Do you remember Gagarin's flight,
because you were a very young boy at the time?
Yes, indeed,
I was almost five. However, I don't remember that flight very well.
At that time I did not live in Moscow-I was living in a small town
in Russia-and I didn't, don't have a very good recollection of it,
although I remember Gherman Titov's flight very well. It was in
August 1961. I guess by that time I had already seen the, Gagarin's
welcome when he came back from his spaceflight, and I had remembered
already all those TV and radio conversations, discussions, and I
could actually relate a little bit more to Titov's flight. So, that's
what I actually remember best of all. So, since I grew amidst all
those space-related things, I guess I had this psychological inclination.
Probably it was due to my parents, my family, or my surroundings;
it was actually very favorable environment, and, it fostered my
desire to become a cosmonaut. Now I can't even remember the time
when I decided that I would like to be a cosmonaut: I think at that
point all the boys in Russia would play Gagarin and Titov so there
is nothing surprising in my decision.
Now, you
are going to again play Gagarin and Titov in real life. You will
launch on a Soyuz spacecraft, as the current crew, Yuri Malenchenko
and Ed Lu, did, and you will be the Commander of that Soyuz spacecraft.
Describe for me what happens on board a Soyuz during the time of
launch and the trip of two days to reach the International Space
Station.
First we will
take places in our capsule, Soyuz capsule, and I will get ready
for launch. After launch, when staying on orbit, we'll check all
our equipment after launch, after separation, from the rocket, and
we will perform leak check of our compartments of living and equipment
compartments, and then we'll get ready the docking equipment, docking
system for future docking and test our navigation and guidance systems,
system and radio, radar equipment for rendezvous. And then we'll
have a set of maneuvers for, to…not to reach but to wait in
appropriate way, the rendezvous with Station. So we'll be maybe
half a turn…
…an
orbit?
…an orbit,
half, half an orbit, for [thinks aloud in Russian] relative to the
Station. And we should, we'll decrease this angle, this angle to
the, maybe, in, in two days. So, we'll man, make some maneuvers
for this reason, and, at the end of the second day of flight we
will begin our rendezvous procedure. It will takes, it will take,
about two-and-a-half hours to have a docking with Station. And after
docking we will, will check, will perform leak check of, of [thinks
aloud in Russian] of our hatches, and then we'll open hatches and
go into the Station and meet our friends on orbit. Then, we'll have
a one-week handover, and Pedro Duque, my Flight Engineer, will perform
his scientific program. And then, we'll, he'll return to the Earth
with Yuri and Ed, and we will stay there with Mike, for about six-and-a-half-months.
And, we'll meet next crew.
In describing
what happens in the Soyuz launch all the way up to the docking,
is, is, in that period of time is most of the maneuvers and whatnot,
are they automatic, or as the Commander do you get to fly the spaceship?
No. Mainly
all maneuvers, automatic, in automatic mode, but, we have, some…not,
not special modes but we have some opportunities, for manual control
and, for all this maneuvers, and, this is a redundant, possibility.
And, my duties will be to control, to, to monitor, the, all the
systems and to be ready, do all this manual controlling if poss,
if necessary, if necessary. And main responsibility will be, during
rendezvous and, close approach when I am in charge of, not in charge
but, if, some contingencies, I'll be in charge, of manual control
and can, docking with the Station, to the Station.
You described
how after the docking, there will be a week where you will, there
will be five of you on board before Yuri and Ed and Pedro return
to Earth, leaving you and Mike to proceed with the work that is
set out for Expedition 8. Tell me how you see the overall scientific
aspect of the ISS mission, how is that going to, to advance, how
is that going to be promoted during your time on board?
OK. We'll have,
mainly we will have the, so I call them routine experiments, then
work begin, be [thinks aloud in Russian] work begin, maybe two or
three years ago, maybe earlier, by previous crews. But, we will
have some new experiments, both in Russian and American scientific
programs. And, but Mike is, science, crew Science Officer, and he
will be responsible for American ex, program, and I will be responsible
for Russian program. So, it would be better, to ask him more in
details about, American experiments. As to Russian experiments,
we will have a set of experiments of, in traditional areas, of science
like, geophysics, like Earth observations, like some technical experiments,
biomed experiments, biological, in fundamental physics and…not
in chemistry but in biotechnology, so a very, very traditional,
branches of science for spaceflights and for weightlessness.
In terms
of the day-to-day life on board the Station, you, once you arrive,
assume the role of what is called Flight Engineer; what are the
responsibilities for you during that period of time on board, apart
from your responsibilities with Russian science.
I'll maintain,
operational, all equipment on board the Russian segment, and maybe
in American segment, too, because both we are responsible for the
whole Station. So, generally speaking, I think Mike will be responsible,
mostly in the American systems, and [I'll] be mostly responsible
in Russian systems. But, we can interact, we can, help each other;
we have appropriate [knowledge] in both side systems. So, as a Flight
Engineer I see it will be the main task to keep them operating and,
to maintain, to maintain, to repair them, if necessary in some,
in some, if some failures occur or something will be, something
is wrong. And, in some contingencies, I'll be responsible for…an
analysis of the situation, and informing the ground about the, not
the reasons but about the features of the situation and I'll be
responsible to do all, to perform all the [thinks aloud in Russian]
to perform all the advices, advices and orders of the Earth in these
situations. And it will have no comm with Earth-we are responsible
for our decisions in this situation, how we can understand this.
So, the first responsibility is to be safe, to have a crew, to have
a safe crew, and the second responsibility is to safe the Station.
What are
the plans, at least at this point, about spacewalks during your
mission? I realize that it may change before you get there, but
what are the plans right now?
Now they planned
for us, at least one EVA, and the main tasks of this EVA are scientific
experiments, some scientific experiments, and, one task is for,
future, future docking of European ATV, automatic transfer vehicle,
in September next year. So we'll…not install, but remove some
equipment necessary for its docking to the Russian segment, to Service
Module; to analyze on the Earth the, not state but the quality of
the optical surfaces of this equipment exposed in the space environment
for approximately three years, three-and-a-half years; and, then
next crew will replace all this stuff to the new one to receive
ATV appropriately. And, other tasks…only scientific experiments,
like some samples of, materials, of…a lot of samples, and a
new experiment in, radiation monitoring of, of [thinks aloud in
Russian] interaction with the human body. We'll install a, a so-called
phantom, phantom of, tissue equivalent material with dosimeters,
for, maybe for one year outside the Station to monitor and to monitor
the radiation and doses in human body tissues…not human body,
but, tissue equivalent, material.
As we talk
today, it has not yet been decided whether or not Expedition 8 will
return to Earth, in the Soyuz in which you launch or whether or
not you will return in a Space Shuttle. What are your thoughts about
the way NASA and the Station program is going through the issue
of returning the Space Shuttle to flight? And do you have any preference
about which ride you take home?
I believe this
is a very difficult situation for NASA because the Columbia tragedy,
to my point of view and in a general point of view, gave not that
much information to understand the causes of this catastrophe. Probably
we'll have to, suggest that only some most-plausible causes were
in place, and, we'll have to take measures to counteract those possible
causes in the future, safety-wise. Both for engineers and managers
it's a very difficult and complex situation. However, we are quite
sure that everything will be done in order to guarantee the flight
safety. Of course, a hundred percent safety cannot be reached, we
understand that, we are professionals; not even the aircraft can
guarantee hundred percent safety, not even when you walk in the
street or drive your car, you can guarantee hundred percent safety.
Anything can happen. You know, a, a meteor can fall on the ground
and, you know, damage a car or hurt a person, so you cannot guarantee
one hundred percent safety all the time, but we can ensure that
the maximum of measures be implemented so that we increase the safety.
I'm not sure how much time it will take NASA to implement those
measures; I don't have all the information with regards to the Shuttle
investigation, and I'm not sure what the conclusions of the investigation
committee are. And I guess this is not up to me at this point to
think about those issues-we are now training for the flight, and
we are trusting those who ensure our mission. As to my preferences,
as a professional on the one hand, it would be really interesting
for me to try another vehicle: the Shuttle, in this case, instead
of the Soyuz, and compare both. I heard a lot but I never tried
flying on Shuttle. Then, on the other hand, I'm not as a professional
interested to become a passenger on board the Shuttle. So this is
a two-prong situation. In this case, I probably would choose Soyuz,
because there I am in control and I'm not a passenger. I do my job,
I do my professional job, which I have been preparing for all my
career. However, if I had a chance to fly a Shuttle, as a Mission
Specialist, for example, and take a real part in controlling the
vehicle, to sit on the flight deck, not on the middeck, I would
grab this opportunity. But I guess we'll leave it for the next time.
The landing
of the Soyuz this past April, the first Soyuz TMA, ended up being
rougher than was planned and they were off target as well. What
has been determined was responsible for that ballistic landing of
the last Soyuz, and has, and can you do, in the event you do land
in the Soyuz, to, not have to deal with the same situation again?
This was not
a failure, as you understand; it was not a failure per se, it was
one of the possible modes of descent. Since both launch and landing
are the most dangerous stages of flight, and since a lot of energy
is spent during a very short period of time, you can imagine then
when you are going to orbit you burn, on the Soyuz rocket, at least
250 tons of prop, and it takes less than ten minutes to do so. So,
this is a dangerous situation. But once the vehicle absorbs this
energy, it stays on orbit. But when the vehicle is going down, it's
going to deorbit, you have to spend this energy and dissipate it.
We don't have enough time, enough margin, to dissipate this energy
in the same amount of time, so we use atmosphere as a buffer. This
is a very dangerous operation. So, when there are many g-forces
obtained on the vehicle, and also another dangerous factor is the
temperature range: it, it gets really hot. This is why we are guaranteeing
the each, most-secured measures for guaranteeing the safety of the
flight at this stage. We have several modes for descent, and those
are backup modes, one for another. We need to guarantee the safest
possible way to get the crew back to the ground. In that particular
case, that descent was the third possible-it was not the last possible
because there were four modes all in all. In this case, we can say
it was a planned contingency…and the ground was expecting this
situation. The only difficulty was for us to determine where exactly
the vehicle would land. This kind of descent provides for a larger
range of possible landing sites, and so the ground services need
to spend more time to organize search and rescue on a bigger territory.
It was not a hardware failure; it was just a very rare combination
of factors in the control loop that actually triggered the reaction
of, the particular device involved. It did not fail, it just, it
was not meant for that combination of parameters. The vehicle that
we are now going to land on, to launch and then land on, was modified
so that we can avoid the situation that occurred. Again, the situation
that happened was a very unique one, and when the specialists were
analyzing the situation they were impressed and surprised that it
was actually the case and it happened. You cannot, you could not
think of it happening in real life. So after we analyzed the situation,
the specialists could, do it on the electronic unit, they could
not do it on the flight unit. It's a very rare situation indeed,
but it happened.
The International
Space Station is an ambitious project that has designs on achievements
in the areas of engineering and science, and even global relations
as well as space exploration. Alexander, what do you think is the
most valuable contribution that will come from the International
Space Station program?
In my opinion,
the most important contribution to the future work…will be
our skills and knowledge gained in how to work together. And I hope
that we will reach this experience, gain it, when we are at the
end of the project, when we have worked together for a long time.
As I told you, a human being will always be trying himself in a
different environment; people are explorers by nature, they, they
always strive for exploring new countries, new territories, venturing
into new projects. Today we have a situation where we can make a
future step into the space and start exploring the outbounds. This
is our integral desire, to want to explore other environments; our
next step will be starting exploring new planets. On the other hand,
all human beings are different from each other, we have different
nationalities-we have Europeans, Americans, Russians, Japanese,
you name it. And you can only think of how different we are, all
of us coexist on the same planet. We cannot choose our neighbors.
We have to be friends with our neighbors, and it's much better than
to have a feeling of animosity. However, if you want to move forward,
we need to cooperate. If we are by ourselves, it is virtually impossible
to move forward. The International Space Station is a very good
step forward, and it's a very good experience for us that can show
us how to work together in the future. If we put this task in front
of ourselves and learn how to, operate very difficult scientific
projects, we'll be able to reach much more in the future. We can
go together on Mars, we can go to other planets. At least I would
like to believe that.
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