Easter

Dear all,
On the top of the Easter celebrations today, the most amazing event to be reported was the fantastic weather change we experienced in the course of last week. In one word we have witnessed in few days the transition from the cool to the warm period. For instance, by sunny afternoons, the temperature raises now higher than +20C and we don't need anymore our black CryoSat-2 winter jackets to walk in the Baikonur streets. But don't believe that we can now stroll about incognito: we still wear the CS-2 fleece uniform :-)!

In the sky have appeared the first ballets of swallows. Funnily enough small bats are also visible in day light in the streets. On the Syr Daria river, the "frog concert'' has started...
Green has started to become a familiar colour in the city as we can notice growing grass on the sandy ground aside the pavement.

Blossoms on trees are exploding everywhere.
Тополь/Populus/Peupliers

Вяз/Elm/Orme?

Липа/Tilia/tilleul?

Birds are actively nesting

but be careful... cats as well!

This time it is not a joke, along the river, the beach is open and some people enjoyed it as it was almost +30C today in the afternoon !
Natural hot springs, water containing sulfur about +30C, very good and indicated for skin!

On the cosmodrome as well, life has resumed after the cold winter (particularly cold according to the Baikonurtsi). Birds (eagle, falcon...) and small rodents (susliks) are being more and more visible during our daily commuting trips. This is the evident sign that the food chain is again in place.

So Spring is definitely there! ... and this nice week end has been most welcome and relaxing for the 'Baikonur" team after 12 weeks of launch campaign.

For the CS-2 team (including our ESTEC, ESOC, ASTRIUM, THALES ALENIA, CNES colleagues and friends) there is an important week to come culminating with the launch on April 8th. We are all getting progressively fully prepared for this very important moment and looking forward sharing this extraordinary experience with you.

Keep in touch

Poka

Kirill B.

PS:
Before I forget, last but not least, Happy Easter from Kazakhstan !

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Baikonur city 03/04/2010 - 16:54 (Suslik)

Russian Orthodox Church prepares for Easter

The Baikonur church actively prepared on Saturday 3/4 for the important Orthodox Feast tomorrow: Пасха. At the church entrance, on the right, the typical bread for Easter is on sale. Some pieces are bought and put as offers on the altar inside the church.

When entering the church, above the entrance door, a poster widely says: Христос Воскресе: Christ is resurrected.

In Russian language, the word resurrection (Воскресение) has been extended to the meaning of the 7th day of the week: so Воскресение means both Sunday and Resurrection. In French and Italian, Sunday is the day of the "Master'' based on the Latin root "Dominus", while in English and German it is the day of the Sun...
If the origin of the Russian population comes from Northern Europe, the religion has come from the South West and Greek Orthodox influence (Constantinople) in particular. The Cyrillic alphabet (based partly on the old Greek alphabet) has been created by the two Greek brothers Cyril and Methodius in the IXth century to translate (parts of) the Bible into Old Church Slavonic language. Note for instance the similarity between the Greek and the Russian spellings for the word Christ (Khristos): Χριστός in Greek and Христос in Russian...
Icon of Saint Cyril/Kirill/Кирилл holding the "Slavic"alphabet.

The outcome of all these efforts was the conversion of the Slavic people in the south to Christianity. Vladimir I of Kiev adopted the Byzantine Rite Christianity in 988, and later on Russia converted to the "Orthodox Christianity". Russian Orthodox Church is the main religion in Russia today.

Inside the church, a small shop sales candles, small icons, sorted by names, explaining the life of the saints, Easter chocolate (with the Baikonur St George church picture on the packaging), rings, crosses...
Everything is ready for the long Easter ceremony that will start this evening.
The grave of the Christ is well materialized and still covered with a mourning cloth,

In the afternoon, a young boy rehearses loudly the long texts (litanies?) he will have to read during the ceremony..., in the meantime, few people pray in the church, make offerings and lighten candles.

What is striking (for us) leaving the church is the size of the tank of "blessed water, which is drunk by quiet of a few of the attendees at the end of the mass.

The Easter ceremonies will start on 3/4 at 22:30 to end on 4/4 at 16:00.

Soyuz TM-18 Launch

Aside CryoSat-2 launch preparation, a manned mission to the International Space Station (ISS) took off from Baikonur Cosmodrom Launch pad Nr.1 at 10:04 sharp this morning 02/04/2010. Two Russian cosmonauts (Alexander Skortsov, Mihail Kornienko) and one US woman astronaut (Tracy Caldwell Dyson) were on board the Soyuz TM-18 capsule.

CryoSat team was invited to see the astronauts when they left the Cosmonaut hotel (just behind the Sputnik Hotel) this morning at ca 4:00 am to prepare for the flight. The team also had the permission to see the launch of the Soyuz rocket.
Pass on the windscreen of the CryoSat-2 bus.

The attendance was very large, including Baikonur school pupils . This is normal for manned missions.

A debriefing team informed in real time the public about the main events of the Countdown (even long time after the launch).

A closer view of the rocket on the launch pad.

Credits: Klaus
... and few minutes before launch, when "arms'' are opened.

Credit: Klaus
Below is a short movie of the launch. It is (always) very impressive.

The booster separation was well visible.
This crew will be be one of the first to enjoy a new element of the ISS that has been integrated last February with one of the last American shuttle missions: the Cupola. This element will, among other purposes, increase the habitability of the ISS providing astronauts, thanks to the 7 large windows, beautiful and relaxing views on Earth and the cosmos.

After this successful and very beautiful launch, let's wish to this crew a very fruitful mission !

CryoSat-2 at the Silo

Launch-7 days
Activities planned for today have been successfully completed.
Again, not much more that was already said in Day-10:CS-2 travels to the Silo can be added.

The transport from MIK site 31 to Launch pad 109 was safely performed in 1 hour 15 minutes to run the 13.5 kilometers distance.
The convoy here is approaching the launch pad 109 (on the right).

Credits: Klaus

In parallel of this transport, the ESA/ASTRIUM team had to get the Electrical Ground Support Equipment (EGSE) and the NDIU (needed for the communication with the ESOC, the ESA control center in Darmstadt) down to the bunker. The few pictures below may show how inconvenient and risky this task is:
Approaching the Bunker entrance form the outside

Difficulty to pass through the bunker narrow door entrance

Descending the stair case (30 meters long) with 100kgs racks!

A pause between to levels

Finally all equipment successfully installed and connected!

The Spacecraft was successfully mated on the DNIEPR rocket as some Battery telemetry could already been read after the EGSE have been connected.
Next steps

• Spacecraft will be powered on 02/04.
• Battery charging and usual telemetry measurements
• Dress rehearsal 6/04

CS-2 ready for the Silo

Launch -8 days
CryoSat-2 has has now been in loaded on to the Crocodile as it was already done on February 12th. This activity was widely described in "the crocodile closes its jaws"
The similar operation today went smoothly.

This was the last picture shot today before ESA & ASTRIUM were not allowed to continue witnessing activities.

Next steps on 01/04 (hopefully not a joke) :

• transport of the Spacecraft to the Silo
• transport of EGSE+NDIU to the bunker

Fairing

Yesterday, handling of the PayLoad Fairing (PLF= Part located at the upper tip of the rocket) permitted to get nice views of this element.

PLF will be mounted on the top of the black platforms A+B (already described in
Cryosat-2 fairing) and will cover the Gas Dynamic Shield (GDS) in white below.
The GDS covers the Spacecraft.

Here under is a nice view of the PLF after it was lifted and laid on the trolley used for its transport to the Silo.
PLF is still partly covered with the protection material needed for the road transport to the Silo.

The inside of the fairing (2 pictures below) shows the configuration of pyro elements that will:

• activate the separation springs (and eject the fairing from the launcher)
• split/tear the fairing in 2 pieces (pyros are located along the string in the middle)
  

These two events will take place simultaneously, and PLF separation will occur at Launch + 5mn 9 sec precisely. Then, the fairing will fall into the Indian Ocean.
Inside the PLF during lifting.

Inside the PLF when laying on its jig.

Here under is a closer view on the separation springs seen from the outside.
Note some red tag items still to be removed before flight at the silo.

The PLF will be transported to the Silo with same convoy as the spacecraft and will be integrated there. Therefore, there are unfortunately no pictures of the fully integrated "rocket head'' i.e. Platforms +PLF.