ARLA/CLUSTER: Primeiro astronauta dinamarques na ISS em 2015

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Andreas Mogensen set for Soyuz mission to Space Station in 2015

ESA's Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen has been assigned to be
launched on a Soyuz spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan
in September 2015 for a mission to the International Space Station.

This 10-day mission will be Andreas's first flight into space and the
first ever space mission by a Danish astronaut.

The flight is directly connected to the new era in ISS operations: 2
experienced spacefarers from the USA and Russia will work on the
Station for one year from May 2015. During his stay onboard the ISS,
he will conduct a series of experiments preparing future missions and
testing new technologies.

"I'm happy to announce this mission as this is already the fifth
flight assignment for the class recruited in 2009," said Thomas
Reiter, ESA’s Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations.

"With first of the new class, Luca Parmitano, KF5KDP, currently
working on the Space Station, and three other astronauts already
training for their imminent missions, ESA's new astronauts are very
busy.

“Thanks to the decisions of the Member States at the Ministerial
Council last November, we will be able to fulfil our commitment to fly
all six newly selected astronauts before the end of 2017,” said Mr
Reiter.

"This mission is the fulfilment of a life-long dream and the
culmination of many years of hard work and training,” said Andreas
Mogensen.

“I am excited to be able to participate in ESA’s outstanding programme
of science and technology development on board the International Space
Station and I am honoured to represent Denmark and Europe in space.
The mission is a unique opportunity for Europe to develop and test the
technologies necessary for the future of human space exploration."

New technology and science mission
The launch of the mission will take place on 30 September, 2015 with
the launch of Soyuz TMA-18 (44S) and it will end on 10 October, when
Andreas will land with Soyuz TMA-16 (42S).

During his flight, Andreas will test novel ways of interaction between
the ground and space crews with a mobile device that allows astronauts
to operate it hands-free and with several multi-user communication
techniques. The system will have also advanced 3D visualisation and
augmented reality –features that will be fully exploited with added
wearable computers and cameras to allow the general public to follow
activities on the ISS 'through the eyes of an ESA astronaut'
potentially in real time.

Andreas's short mission is an excellent opportunity for several
science studies, particularly in life science. By adding samples and
measurements from a short-duration mission astronaut to material
gathered and being collected during long-duration missions, the value
of the biomedical statistics is increased. All the instrumentation
needed for physiology, biology and material science experiments is
already available in the Columbus laboratory and samples can be
returned quickly back to Earth for further analysis.

A short-duration mission is also perfect for testing a new generation
of health sensors, vital measurement devices and
electro-muscle-mobility devices. These have direct benefit for future
exploration missions and even sooner on Earth, for instance with
operators of heavy machinery or with rehabilitation after sports
injuries.

Andreas will be specially suited too: he will assess a new ‘skinsuit’
during normal daily activities. This is tight garment made from
elastic material mimicking Earth gravity and thus passively mitigating
deconditioning of an astronaut’s body during spaceflight.

Along with the Soyuz arrival, the ISS will host up to nine persons for
a while – a record that has not been broken since retirement of the
Space Shuttle in 2011.

Between Luca's ongoing mission and flight of Andreas in 2015, ESA
astronauts Alexander Gerst and Samantha Cristoforetti, are scheduled
for launch in 2014 for long-duration missions to the Station. After
Andreas, the next European destined for space will be Tim Peake, who
will start his long-duration mission on the ISS as a member of the
Expedition 46/47 in December 2015.

High-flying engineer

This new technology packed mission will be a dream flight for an
aerospace engineer like Andreas. Not only will the mission include
many firsts and demonstrations, but also Andreas will fly as the
flight engineer in the ‘left seat’ of Soyuz, making him
second-in-command of their vehicle.

Andreas was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 2 November 1976, and he
received a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from Imperial
College London, UK, in 1999, followed by a doctorate in aerospace
engineering from the University of Texas, Austin, USA, in 2007.

He was selected as an ESA astronaut in May 2009 and completed the
astronaut basic training programme in November 2010 with the five
other astronauts of the 2009 class. Andreas is a qualified Eurocom at
the Columbus Control Centre in Munich, where he has been communicating
with the astronauts on the International Space Station.

In addition to his training and work activities, Andreas worked for
ESA on the Lunar Lander programme at ESTEC, Noordwijk, the
Netherlands, where he was involved in the design of the guidance,
navigation and control system for a precision lunar landing.

>From his homebase at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne,
Germany, Andreas will start his mission training with the partners of
the International Space Station. This will take him to NASA’s Johnson
Space Center in Houston, USA, and Star City, near Moscow, Russia, as
well as Japan and Canada.

Andreas blogs about space exploration and his astronaut training
activities in Danish at videnskab.dk/profil/andreas-mogensen.