ISS: Expedition 44

ISS Expedition 44 began with the undocking of spacecraft Soyuz TMA-15M on June 11, 2015 at 10:20:05 UTC. The former Expedition 43 (Anton Shkaplerov, Samantha Cristoforetti and Terry Virts) returned safely to Earth.

On June 28, 2015 SpaceX's Dragon CRS-7 or SpX-7 spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida on a Falcon 9 rocket at 14:21 UTC on the company's seventh NASA-contracted cargo mission and its planned eighth visit to the station. SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket failed approximately 2 minutes, 20 seconds after liftoff. The flight was scheduled to deliver several tons of supplies, such as new science experiments and technology research, as well as the first of two International Docking Adapters. These adapters were planned to be installed on the station to facilitate docking of commercial crew spacecraft, including the Boeing Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 and SpaceX Crew Dragon.
A CST-100 standard mission to the station will carry four NASA or NASA-sponsored crew members and about 220 pounds (90.7 kg) of pressurized cargo. The spacecraft will remain at the station for up to 210 days and serve as an emergency lifeboat during that time.

The next Russian unmanned freighter was launched on July 03, 2015 at 04:55:48.163 UTC from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and reached without any problems the planned orbit. Progress M-28M is delivering more than 3 tons of food, fuel and supplies to the crew and will dock to the Pirs docking compartment.
Following a two-day-flight Progress M-28M docked with the International Space Station on July 05, 2015 at 07:10:56 UTC. With the successful docking after the failures of the transport ships Cygnus in October 2014, Progress M-27M in April 2015 and Dragon in June 2015 there were enough supplies for Expedition 44.

On July 10, 2015 a planned reboost using the Progress M-28M 8R&D thrusters was performed. This reboost is the second of two to set up 4-orbit rendezvous for Soyuz TMA-17M launch scheduled for July 22, 2015. The reboost is also the first of three scheduled to set up 4-orbit rendezvous conditions for Soyuz TMA-18M launch and Soyuz TMA-16M landing in the primary landing zone in September 2015. The next ISS reboosts are scheduled for August 07, 2015 and August 24, 2015.

On July 16, 2015 the Flight Control Team was notified of a conjunction with insufficient time to execute a Predetermined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM). The ISS crew sheltered in place until the Time of Closest Approach (TCA) passed without incident at 12:01 UTC. While configuring the ISS for the shelter in place, the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) Intermodule Ventilation (IMV) valve did not close as expected, and had to be manually closed by the crew. Ground teams determined that PMM IMV valve was not powered at the time, so they will revise the procedure to check for power before issuing the close command.

With the arrival of Soyuz TMA-17M on July 23, 2015 the Expedition 44 became a six-person-crew. Soyuz TMA-17M carried Oleg Kononenko, Kimiya Yui and Kjell Lindgren to the space station.

A spacewalk was performed by station Commander Gennadi Padalka and Flight Engineer Mikhail Korniyenko on August 10, 2015 (5h 34m). They left the Pirs docking compartment in their Russian Orlan spacesuits for a photographic inspection of the station's Russian segment, retrieval of an experiment, window cleaning and surface sampling.
Gennadi Padalka and Mikhail Korniyenko installed devices called gap spanners on the hull of the station. These devices will facilitate the movement of crew members on future spacewalks. They also cleaned residue off of the windows of the Zvezda Service Module, installed fasteners on communications antennas, replaced an aging antenna used for the rendezvous and docking of visiting vehicles at Russian docking ports, and photographed a variety of locations and hardware on Zvezda and nearby modules. The pair also retrieved an experiment first deployed in 2013, the Obstanovka Experiment, which studies the interaction between the space station and the space plasma environment in low-Earth orbit, as it can affect power supply systems and other external surfaces.

On August 10, 2015 Kjell Lindgren harvested lettuce grown in the Veggie facility. Kjell Lindgren, Kimiya Yui, and Scott Kelly consumed the harvested lettuce, first plain, then prepared with oil and balsamic vinegar. The remainder of the leaves were packed and placed in Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) for return on a future flight. The primary goal of the Veggie Hardware Validation Test (Veg-01) testing is to demonstrate plant growth in the Veggie hardware using lettuce as a test species. Plants will be grown in two different sizes of arcillite, a calcined clay media. This test will help compare root zones of the two media sizes to determine water and root distribution in the different sized-particles to provide recommendations for future Veggie investigations. Shoot samples will also provide information on growth anomalies when compared with ground controls and will provide information on microbial growth and food safety. Photographs will be used to assess plant growth rates and plant health. A data logger will record the environment within the Veggie hardware. Crew questionnaires will provide insight into the appropriateness and thoroughness of the crew procedures for Veggie hardware and plant growth operations.

On August 14, 2015 Progress M-26M, an unpiloted Russian cargo spacecraft departed from the International Space Station (ISS). Progress M-26M arrived at the orbiting laboratory on February 17, 2015 and undocked from the rear port of the Zvezda Service Module at 10:19 UTC. Several hours after it undocked, the Progress was deorbited by Russian flight controllers to burn up in the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. The undocking cleared the Zvezda docking port for the relocation of the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft on August 28, 2015.

On August 24, 2015 the HTV-5 approached the station from below and slowly inch its way toward the orbital complex. Expedition 44 Flight Engineers Kimiya Yui and Kjell Lindgren operated the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to reach out and grappled the 12-ton spacecraft and installed it on the Earth-facing side of the Harmony module, where it will spend five weeks. Flight Engineer Scott Kelly monitored HTV-5 systems during the rendezvous and grapple.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched its H-II Transport Vehicle (HTV)-5 on August 19, 2015 at 11:50:49 UTC from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. Loaded with more than 4.5 tons of supplies, including water, spare parts and experiment hardware for the six-person space station crew, the unpiloted cargo craft, named Kounotori, Japanese for "white stork," blasted off for a four-day journey to the station.

Expedition 44 Commander Gennadi Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Flight Engineers Scott Kelly of NASA and Mikhail Korniyenko of Roscosmos moved their Soyuz TMA-16M on August 28, 2015 from the Poisk module to the Zvezda docking port. The relocation will enable delivery of the new Soyuz TMA-18M to the station on September 02, 2015 (launch) which will bring Scott Kelly and Mikhail Korniyenko home in March 2016 to conclude their one-year mission.

On September 04, 2015 at 07:39 UTC Russian Spacecraft Soyuz TMA-18M docked with the International Space Station. It brought Sergei Volkov to the resident crew. He replaced Gennadi Padalka who will return with Soyuz TMA-16M together with Soyuz TMA-18M crew members Andreas Mogensen und Aydyn Aimbetov.

Among the experiments were:
Microchannel Diffusion (Microchannel Diffusion): Using microgravity, researchers seek insight into the interactions of particle flows at the nanoscale. Nanotechnology interactions occur at the atomic level, and some of the basic physical processes happen on small scales. Since fluid dynamics are very different on this small scale, scientists want to know how microparticles interact with surfaces of channels than with each other. Nanoscience and nanotechnology are the study and application of exceptionally small things and can be used across the fields of medicine, biology, computer science and many others. Knowledge gleaned from Microchannel Diffusion may have implications for drug delivery, particle filtration and future technological applications for space exploration.
Microbial Tracking Payload Series (Microbial Observatory-1): A variety of microbes which can threaten crew health and jeopardize equipment reside aboard the space station. The Microbial Observatory-1 investigation monitors the types of microbes on the station over a one-year period. Samples returned to Earth enable scientists to understand the diversity of the microbial flora on the station and how it changes over time. The same techniques can be used to identify microbes in hospitals, pharmaceutical laboratories and other environments on Earth where microbe identification is crucial.
Observation & Analysis of Smectic Islands in Space (OASIS): The OASIS research team examines the behavior of liquid crystals in microgravity. Specifically, the research team is observing the overall motion of the crystals and the merging of crystal layers known as smectic islands. This investigation may shine light on how microgravity affects the ability of liquid crystals to act like both a liquid and a solid. Liquid crystals are used in television and laptop screens, watches and clocks, and a variety of other electronics with flat panel displays. Studying them in microgravity may help researchers design better liquid crystal display (LCD) devices on Earth. Engineers also could use certain types of liquid crystals in small screens applied directly to the face shields in future space helmets, enabling astronauts to easily view the small screens and read important information during a spacewalk.
Twins Study: The Twins Study is an integrated compilation of multiple studies led by numerous principal investigators at various centers and academic institutions. The studies take advantage of a unique opportunity to look at the effects of space travel on identical twins: one in space and the other on Earth for the same year. The study looks at changes in the human body in the fields of genetics, psychology, physiology, microbiology, and immunology.

Finally, the station command changed from Russian cosmonaut Gennadi Padalka to US astronaut Scott Kelly. With undocking of Soyuz TMA-16M, carrying Gennadi Padalka, Andreas Mogensen and Aydyn Aimbetov, on September 11, 2015 at 21:29:10 UTC the Expedition 44 concluded and the new ISS Expedition 45 began.

During the stay on board of the ISS the crews of Expeditions 43 / 44 carried out the following scientific experiments:
3DA1 Camcorder (Panasonic 3D Camera)
ACE-H-1 (Advanced Colloids Experiment-Heated-1)
AMO-TOCA (Autonomous Mission Operations TOCA Autonomous Operations Project)
AMS-02 (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer - 02)
ATOMIZATION (Detailed validation of the new atomization concept derived from drop tower experiments--Aimed at developing a turbulent atomization simulator)
Aniso Tubule (Roles of cortical microtubules and microtubule-associated proteins in gravity-induced growth modification of plant stems)
Area PADLES (Area Passive Dosimeter for Life-Science Experiments in Space)
Astro Palate (Factors Contributing to Food Acceptability and Consumption, Mood and Stress on Long-Term Space Missions)
BCAT-KP-1-Critical Point ( Binary Colloidal Alloy Test Low Gravity Phase Kinetics-Critical Point)
BCAT-KP1-Shelf Life (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test Low Gravity Phase Kinetics-1-Product Shelf Life)
BP Reg (A Simple In-flight Method to Test the Risk of Fainting on Return to Earth After Long-Duration Space Flights)
Biochem Profile (Biochemical Profile)
Biological Rhythms 48hrs (The effect of long-term microgravity exposure on cardiac autonomic function by analyzing 48-hours electrocardiogram)
Bisphosphonates ( Bisphosphonates as a Countermeasure to Space Flight Induced Bone Loss)
Blind and Imagined (SLINK: move Short bLind plus shrink - Moving blind and throwing an imagery ball)
Body Measures (Quantification of In-Flight Physical Changes - Anthropometry and Neutral Body Posture)
CALET (CALorimetric Electron Telescope)
CARTILAGE (CARTILAGE)
CATS (Cloud-Aerosol Transport System)
CEO (Crew Earth Observations)
Capillary Beverage (Capillary Effects of Drinking in the Microgravity Environment)
Cardio Ox (Defining the Relation Between Biomarkers of Oxidative and Inflammatory Stress and Atherosclerosis Risk in Astronauts During and After Long-duration Spaceflight)
Check-Saliva (Salivary Markers of Metabolic Changes during Space Missions)
Circadian Rhythms (Circadian Rhythms)
Cognition (Individualized Real-Time Neurocognitive Assessment Toolkit for Space Flight Fatigue)
DOSIS-3D (Dose Distribution Inside the International Space Station - 3D)
Drain Brain (Strain-gauge Plethysmographic Analysis of the CErebral DRainage Experimented and Assessed in the Micro-gravitational Setting)
Dynamic Surf (Experimental Assessment of Dynamic Surface Deformation Effects in Transition to Oscillatory Thermo capillary Flow in Liquid Bridge of High Prandtl Number Fluid)
EDOS (Early Detection of Osteoporosis in Space)
EML Batch 1 - CCEMLCC Experiment (EML Batch 1 - CCEMLCC Experiment)
EML Batch 1 - COOLCOP Experiment (EML Batch 1 - COOLCOP Experiment)
ESA-EPO-Cristoforetti (European Space Agency-Education Payload Operations-Convection-Cristoforetti)
ESA-Haptics-1 (ESA-Haptics-1)
Embryo Rad (Lifetime Heritable Effect of Space Radiation on Mouse embryos Preserved for a long-term in ISS)
Energy (Astronaut's Energy Requirements for Long-Term Space Flight)
Exerc-Orthostatic Tolerance (Structured Exercise Training as Countermeasure to Space Flight-Induced Orthostatic Intolerance)
FLEX-2 (Flame Extinguishment Experiment - 2)
Field Test (Recovery of Functional Sensorimotor Performance Following Long Duration Space Flight)
Fine Motor Skills (Effects of Long-Duration Microgravity on Fine Motor Skills: 1 year ISS Investigation )
Fluid Shifts (Fluid Shifts Before, During and After Prolonged Space Flight and Their Association with Intracranial Pressure and Visual Impairment)
Force Shoes (In-flight Demonstration of Portable Load Monitoring Devices-Phase I: XSENS ForceShoe™)
Functional Task Test (Physiological Factors Contributing to Postflight Changes in Functional Performance)
Group Combustion (Elucidation of Flame Spread and Group Combustion Excitation Mechanism of Randomly-distributed Droplet Clouds)
HDEV (High Definition Earth Viewing)
HREP-HICO (HICO and RAIDS Experiment Payload - Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean)
HREP-RAIDS (HICO and RAIDS Experiment Payload - Remote Atmospheric and Ionospheric Detection System (RAIDS))
Habitability (Habitability Assessment of International Space Station)
Hip QCT (Feasibility Study: QCT Modality for Risk Surveillance of Bone - Effects of In-flight Countermeasures on Sub-regions of the Hip Bone)
IMAX (IMAX Documentary film: A PERFECT PLANET)
ISERV (ISS SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System)
ISS Ham Radio (ARISS) (International Space Station Ham Radio (also known as Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS)))
ISS RapidScat (ISS-RapidScat)
ISSpresso (ISSpresso)
Intervertebral Disc Damage (Risk of Intervertebral Disc Damage after Prolonged Space Flight)
JAXA PCG (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Protein Crystal Growth)
JAXA PCG Demo (JAXA High Quality Protein Crystal Growth Demonstration Experiment)
JAXA-Commercial (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency - Commercial Payload Program)
Journals (Behavioral Issues Associated with isolation and Confinement: Review and Analysis of Astronaut Journals)
LONESTAR (Low Earth Orbiting Navigation Experiment for Spacecraft Testing Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking)
MAXI (Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image)
MCE (Multi-mission Consolidated Equipment)
MVIS Controller-1 (MVIS Controller 1)
Manual Control (Assessment of Operator Proficiency Following Long-Duration Space Flight)
Marangoni-UVP (Spatio-temporal Flow Structure in Marangoni Convection)
Medical Consumables Tracking (Medical Consumables Tracking)
Meteor (Meteor Composition Determination)
Microbe-IV (Microbiological monitoring in the International Space Station-KIBO)
Microbial Observatory-1 ( Microbial Tracking Payload Series)
Microbiome (Study of the Impact of Long-Term Space Travel on the Astronauts' Microbiome)
Multi-Gas Monitor (Multi-Gas Monitor)
Myco (Mycological Evaluation of Crew Exposure to ISS Ambient Air)
NIH-Osteo ( Gravitational Regulation of Osteoblast Genomics and Metabolism)
NanoRacks-AHS-Pollen Propulsion (NanoRacks-Ambassador High School-Pollen Propulsion in a Microgravity Environment)
NanoRacks-Planet Labs-Dove (NanoRacks-Planet Labs-Dove)
NanoRacks-Planetary Resources-Arkyd-3 (NanoRacks-Planetary Resources-Arkyd-3)
Nematode Muscles (Alterations of C. elegans muscle fibers by microgravity)
NeuroMapping (Spaceflight Effects on Neurocognitive Performance: Extent, Longevity, and Neural Bases)
OASIS (Observation & Analysis of Smectic Islands in Space)
OPALS (Optical PAyload for Lasercomm Science)
Ocular Health (Prospective Observational Study of Ocular Health in ISS Crews)
Osteo-4 (Osteocytes and mechano-transduction)
PK-4 (Plasma Krystall-4)
PS-TEPC (Establishment of dosimetric technique in the International Space Station (ISS) with Position Sensitive Tissue Equivalent Proportional Chamber)
Plant Gravity Sensing (Utilization of the micro gravity condition to examine the cellular process of formation of the gravity sensor and the molecular mechanism of gravity sensing)
Plant Rotation (Plant circumnutation and its dependence on the gravity response)
RJR (Augmented) Microbial Sampling (RJR (Augmented) Microbial Sampling)
RRM-Phase 2 (Robotic Refueling Mission Phase 2)
Radi-N2 (Radi-N2 Neutron Field Study)
Radiation Environment Monitor (Radiation Environment Monitor)
Reaction Self Test (Psychomotor Vigilance Self Test on the International Space Station)
Repository (National Aeronautics and Space Administration Biological Specimen Repository)
Robonaut (Robonaut)
Rodent Research-2 (NASA #1) ( Rodent Research-2 (NASA #1) Impact of Spaceflight on Primary and Secondary Antibody Responses )
Rodent Research-2 (NASA #2) ( Rodent Research-2 (NASA #2) Implications for Elevated Intracranial Pressure )
SCAN Testbed (Space Communications and Navigation Testbed)
SEDA-AP (Space Environment Data Acquisition Equipment - Attached Payload)
SNFM (Serial Network Flow Monitor)
SPHERES-Slosh (SPHERES-Slosh)
SPHERES-Zero-Robotics ( Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites-Zero-Robotics)
Salivary Markers (The Effects of Long-Term Exposure to Microgravity on Salivary Markers of Innate Immunity)
Sally Ride EarthKAM (Sally Ride Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students)
Skin-B (Skin-B)
Sleep ISS-12 (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy and Light Exposure on ISS-12)
Solar-SOLACES (Sun Monitoring on the External Payload Facility of Columbus - SOLar Auto-Calibrating EUV/UV Spectrophotometers)
Solar-SOLSPEC (Sun Monitoring on the External Payload Facility of Columbus -Sun Monitoring on the External Payload Facility of Columbus -SOLar SPECtral Irradiance Measurements)
Space Aging (Study of the effects of space flight on the aging of C. elegans)
Space Headaches (Space Headaches)
Space Pup (Effect of space environment on mammalian reproduction)
SpinSat (SpinSat)
Sprint (Integrated Resistance and Aerobic Training Study)
Stem Cells (Study on the Effect of Space Environment to Embryonic Stem Cells to Their Development)
Story Time From Space (Story Time From Space)
Synergy (The elucidation of the re-adaptation on the attitude control after return from long term space flight)
Synthetic Muscle (Synthetic Muscle: Resistance to Radiation; Ras Labs-CASIS-ISS Project for Synthetic Muscle: Resistance to Radiation)
Telomeres (Assessing Telomere Lengths and Telomerase Activity in Astronauts)
Training Retention (Effects of Long-Duration Spaceflight on Training Retention: 1-Year ISS Investigation)
TripleLux-A (Gene, Immune and Cellular Responses to Single and Combined Space Flight Conditions - A)
UBNT (Ultrasonic Background Noise Test)
UPA (Urine Processor Assembly Hardware Improvements)
V-C REFLEX (Plastic alteration of vestibulo-cardiovascular reflex and its countermeasure)
VIABLE ISS (eValuatIon And monitoring of microBiofiLms insidE International Space Station)
Veg-01 (Veggie hardware validation test)
Vessel ID System (Vessel ID System)
Wearable Monitoring (Wearable System for Sleep Monitoring in Microgravity)
Windows on Earth (Windows on Earth)