TIM FURNISS / LONDON
Soyuz flight follows Space Shuttle mission, equipped with uprated engines, to complete latest stage of construction
The world's second paying space tourist, South African Mark Shuttleworth, will be part of the crew aboard the Russian Soyuz TM34.
The spacecraft will be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on 25 April. TM34 will replace the present TM33 ferry craft, which is currently docked at the station.
The eight-day mission follows the success of the Space Shuttle STS 110 Atlantis mission to the ISS, launched on 8 April. This resulted in the installation of the first $600 million, 13m (43ft)-long, 12,260kg (27,000lb) section of the S-Zero truss crossbeam and a $190 million mobile transporter (MT) "railcar" during four spacewalks.
The MT will eventually be able to traverse the entire truss, which will have eight more segments, lengthening the entire structure to over 110m, making completion of assembly and maintenance of the ISS possible.
The unit will be used operationally for the first time in the third quarter when it will transport the Canadarm 2 remote manipulator system to assist in the installation of new sections of the truss crossbeam.
The STS 110 mission was also the first by a Space Shuttle featuring a full set of three uprated Block 2 main engines. The STS 110 launch followed tests last year of a single new engine alongside two earlier versions on the launches of STS 104 and 108.
The Block 2 engines, developed by Boeing's Rocketdyne division, feature an improved Pratt & Whitney high-pressure fuel turbopump with a stronger integral shaft and disc and tougher bearings, "making the engine safer and more reliable, potentially increasing the number of flights between major overhauls", according to Boeing.
A Block 1 upgrade in 1995 introduced a redesigned liquid oxygen turbopump, a two-duct engine power head and a single-coil heat exchanger. A Block 2A engine which was introduced in 1998 featured a larger throat main combustion chamber.
Further upgrades to the Space Shuttle will be conducted following NASA's confirmation that the Shuttle will be flying for another 20 years until new generation craft are fully operational.
Source: Flight International
