Mar 29 2006
From The Space Library
The Russian federal space agency Roskosmos launched the crew of ISS Expedition 13 in a Soyuz spacecraft at 9:30 p.m. (EST) from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The members of Expedition 13 were Russian cosmonaut Commander Pavel V. Vinogradov and American astronaut Jeffrey N. Williams. The two men would replace the crew of Expedition 12, which comprised American astronaut Commander William S. McArthur Jr. and Russian cosmonaut Valery I. Tokarev. The ISS partners planned for the new crew to stay at the station for six months. In NASA’s second return-to-flight mission, STS-121, scheduled for July 2006, Discovery would bring ESA astronaut Thomas A. Reiter to the ISS to join the crew of Expedition 13. The Russian spacecraft also transported astronaut Marcos C. Pontes of the Brazilian space agency, Agência Espacial Brasileira (AEB), who had joined NASA as an international astronaut in 1998. Pontes, the first Brazilian to fly in space, would conduct scientific experiments under a commercial contract with Roskosmos, returning to Earth with the Expedition 12 crew on 8 April 2006.
NASA, “International Space Station Status Report SS06-013,” 29 March 2006, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/mar/HQ_SS06013_ISS_Status_Report.html (accessed 24 September 2009); NASA, “International Space Station Status Report: SS06-014,” 1 April 2006, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/mar/HQ_SS06014_ISS_Status_Report.html (accessed 25 September 2009); Tariq Malik, “Orbital Rendezvous: Fresh Crew, Brazilian Astronaut Arrive at ISS,” Space.com, 1 April 2006, http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/060401_exp13_docking.html (accessed 7 July 2010).
NASA’s JPL awarded Lockheed Martin a preliminary start-up contract for the design and concept of the aeroshell system for Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). Scheduled for launch in the fall of 2009, MSL would support NASA’s exploration for water on Mars, in preparation for human exploration missions. The aeroshell system, which Lockheed Martin had built, included the thermal protection system (heat shield) that would encapsulate and protect the MSL rover from the intense heat and friction generated during the system’s descent through the Martian atmosphere. In addition, the aeroshell system included a parachute system and a crane, which would lower the rover to a soft landing on the surface of Mars.
Lockheed Martin, “Lockheed Martin Awarded Contract To Design the Mars Science Lab Aeroshell,” 29 March 2006, http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2006/LOCKHEEDMARTINAWARDEDCONTRACTDESIGN.html (accessed 21 April 2010); Associated Press, “Lockheed Martin Making Mars Heat Shield,” 30 March 2006.
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