Space station awaits new crew
14/10/2004 09:37  - (SA)  

Nasa astronaut Leroy Chiao, bottom, Russian cosmonauts Salizhan Sharipov, centre, and Yuri Shargin, top, wave before the launch. (Mikhial Metzel, AP)

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Kazakhstan - A Russian rocket carrying two cosmonauts and an American astronaut to the international space station lifted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome on Thursday.

For Russians Salizhan Sharipov and Yuri Shargin and American Leroy Chiao, it was the first mission in a Soyuz spacecraft - breaking the nearly 30-year tradition of having at least one crewman with previous experience in piloting the capsule.

Chiao and Sharipov both have flown US space shuttles, while Shargin is a rookie.

The Soyuz TMA-5 spacecraft lifted off from the bleak steppes of Kazakhstan at 07:06 Moscow time (03:06 GMT) and entered its designated orbit less than 10 minutes later.

"The crew reached orbit and the parameters are normal," Russian Mission Control chief Vladimir Solovyov told reporters in Korolyov, outside Moscow. "We are in for two days of quiet, energetic work."

The spaceship is due to dock with the station at 08:17 (04:17 GMT) on Saturday.

Since the mid-1970s, Soviet and Russian space crews always have included a cosmonaut with previous pilot experience to ensure a smooth ride.

Simply need to adapt

The tradition has been broken because several veteran cosmonauts have resigned in recent years and the space agency hasn't had enough seats on recent Soyuz missions to train their replacements, said Yuri Grigoryev, a spokesperson for Russia's Cosmonaut Training Centre.

"It's not a problem. We simply need to adapt to new conditions," he said.

Russian space officials have played down the lack of Soyuz experience.

"It's true it's their first time flying the Soyuz, but I don't see anything scary in that," Solovyov said.

"What's hardest is not what ship you're surrounded by but the surrounding, aggressive factors of space and two of the crew members are already familiar with that."

Soyuz spacecraft are guided by autopilot on their approach to the station and during the docking, but the crew is trained to operate it manually in case of computer failure.

"We hope that the docking will be conducted in automatic mode, but the crew is ready to switch to manual controls if the need arises," Sharipov said.

The grounding of the US shuttle fleet following the February 1, 2003, Columbia disaster has left Russian spacecraft as the sole link to the 16-nation station. One of three seats on the latest Soyuz missions was assigned to a US astronaut.

In order to earn some extra cash, the underfunded Russian space agency has also sold several seats to European astronauts or space tourists.

Crucial task

Initial plans for Thursday's mission had envisaged including a space tourist, Russian millionaire businessman Sergei Polonsky, who said he was ready to pay some $20m for a 10-day ride in space. Polonsky was eventually jettisoned from the mission after officials said he was too tall for the tiny capsule.

Polonsky was replaced by Shargin, a Russian military officer who is to return to earth 10 days later with the station's current crew, Russian Gennady Padalka and American Mike Fincke, who are ending a six-month mission.

After arriving at the station, a crucial task for the crew will be to fix a broken generator that makes oxygen from waste water. Previous repair efforts have failed, and the new crew is bringing spare parts.

Oxygen supplies on the station are running out, and US space officials have warned that if Russians fail to launch the next Progress cargo ship by late December to replenish them, the station could temporarily be abandoned.

During the six-month mission, the new crew also is set to conduct experiments to research new Aids vaccines, study plant growth and conduct at least two space walks.