Soyuz Undocking Rescheduled for Friday
Three departing Expedition 24 crew members will spend at least another day on the International Space Station following an unsuccessful attempt to undock their Soyuz spacecraft overnight.
At 12:12 a.m. EDT Friday, the Mission Control Centers in Houston and Moscow concurred on a plan to reopen the Soyuz hatches and allow Alexander Skvortsov, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko to reenter the station. The planned undocking was prevented when commands being sent to disengage the hooks and latches holding the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft failed. The spacecraft remains securely docked to the Poisk module.
Engineers are continuing to troubleshoot the problem. Expedition 25 Commander Doug Wheelock and Flight Engineers Shannon Walker and Fyodor Yurchikhin sent down video and still photos of a small star-shaped gear with two broken teeth, and experts are evaluating whether the part is related to the commanding problem.
Flight controllers are aiming for an undocking at 10:02 p.m. Friday, which would result in a landing at 1:21 a.m. Saturday, or 11:21 a.m. Kazakhstan time, near Arkalyk. The six-person station crew is scheduled to awaken about 10:30 a.m. Friday to begin preparations for the second undocking attempt.
NASA Television coverage of the Soyuz hatch closing activities will begin at 6:15 p.m. Friday, and landing coverage will begin at midnight.
Undocking of Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft
I watched the whole undocking Friday night, September 24, 2010. I watched it on the NASA TV website. It started at about 6:45pm Pacific time and ended about 8:00pm. It was the most exciting thing I have ever seen. Watching the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft flying over Hawaii was a beautiful sight to witness. I will be waiting to watch the docking of the other three crew memebers that will be coming onboard the ISS in October. Thank you NASA TV.
73 de K6LPB
Undocking
Is this considered a normal malfunction or something more serious?