ISS: Expedition 49

Crew & expedition duration:

Exp 49 crew patch

Complet Exp.49 crew

Backup Crew

Mission details:

• On Sep 6, 2016 at 21:51 UTC Soyuz TMA-20M undocked from the Poisk module with Ovchinin, Skripochka and Williams. Astronauts Ivanishin (CDR), Onishi (FE-5) and Rubins (FE-6) continue aboard ISS as Expedition 49.
• On September 10, 2016, an ISS reboost was performed using Progress MS-02 thrusters. This reboost was to set up for Soyuz MS-02 launch on September 23, 2016. The engines started at 00:45 UTC and fired 610.3 seconds. The ISS got 1.22 m / sec more speed. The orbit was 2.2 kilometers raised.
• On Sep 14, 2016 the Nanoracks NRCSD-9 deployer was pulled from the Kibo airlock by the Japanese RMS arm, and at 15:25 UTC eight Flock 2e-Prime cubesats for Planet were deployed. These satellites have been aboard ISS since their delivery aboard Cygnus OA-6 back in March.
• The unmanned Progress MS-02 cargo ship undocked from the International Space Station on October 14, 2016 at 09:38:30 UTC. The freighter was filled with trash and later deorbited into the Earth′s atmosphere during which it will burn up over the Pacific Ocean.
• Oct 19, 2016 saw the launch of Soyuz MS-02 with astronauts Ryzhikov, Borisenko and Kimbrough. Following a two days solo flight they docked to the Poisk module at 0952 UT on October 21, 2016. Sergei Ryzhikov, Andrei Borisenko and Shane Kimbrough became the ISS Expedition 49 (together with ISS Expedition 48 crew members Anatoli Ivanishin, Takuya Onishi and Kathleen Rubins). With the arrival Expedition 49 became a six-person-crew.
  During their two-day transit from the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the station, the crew tested a variety of upgraded systems on their Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft. The modified Soyuz is equipped with upgraded thrusters that are fully redundant, additional micrometeoroid debris shielding, redundant electrical motors for the Soyuz' docking probe and increased power with more photovoltaic cells on the spacecraft's solar arrays.
• The Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo ship OA-5 reached the ISS on Oct 23, 2016; it was grappled by the SSRMS at 11:28 UTC and berthed to the nadir port of the Unity module at 14:53 UTC.
  
  
  

  Cygnus CRS-5 grapple

  Cygnus, Soyuz & Progress docked

  
  
• This was the sixth cargo resupply mission by Orbital ATK under NASA′s Commercial Resupply Services contract. Cargo resupply by U.S. companies ensures a national capability to deliver critical science research to the space station, significantly increasing NASA′s ability to conduct new science investigations using the only microgravity laboratory.
  This was the first resupply mission to launch on the upgraded Antares 230 vehicle, and the first launch from Wallops since an Antares rocket and its Cygnus resupply vehicle were lost seconds after liftoff in October 2014. Since the accident, two Cygnus resupply missions launched on United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rockets to the station from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
  Cygnus carries to the space station more than 5,100 pounds (2,300 kg) of science and research in support of dozens of research investigations, as well as crew supplies and hardware.
  The new experiments include an investigation that looks at fuels that burn very hot at first, and then appear to go out, but actually continue to burn at a much lower temperature with no visible flames. A second planned large-scale fire inside Cygnus will be ignited after it leaves the space station to help researchers understand how fire grows in microgravity and design safeguards for future space missions. Cygnus also is carrying a new station research facility that will enable a new class of research experiments by allowing precise control of motion in the microgravity environment aboard the station.
• Finally the station command changed from Russian cosmonaut Anatoli Ivanishin to US astronaut Shane Kimbrough. With undocking of Soyuz MS-01, carrying Anatoli Ivanishin, Takuya Onishi and Kathleen Rubins, on October 30, 2016 at 00:35 UTC the Expedition 49 concluded and the new ISS Expedition 50 began.
  
  

  Life on board ISS

  
  

External links:

• Wikipedia: Exp. descriptions
• Spacefacts: Exp. description

Astrophilately covers:

ISS 49/50 cover - launch date MS-02, registered mail

Cosmic Mail: Bleu ISS boardcancel and special Mir-date docking cancel Soyuz MS-02, Cygnus 5 docking cancel Moscou, signed by the crew. - Credit: #417

Cosmic Mail: Bleu ISS boardcancel, end exp.49 cancel signed by the crew.