Yury Usachov

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Yury Usachov : biography

October 9, 1957 –

On September 2, 1996, Usachov, Yuri Onufriyenko and Claudie André-Deshays returned to Earth on board the Soyuz TM-23 capsule. The spacecraft landed at 07:41:40 UTC 108 km south west of Akmola (Tselinograd). On board Soyuz TM-23 and Mir, Usachov spent 193 days in space.

STS 101

Usachov next flew on STS-101, the third Shuttle mission devoted to International Space Station (ISS) construction. On 9 May 2000 at 6:11 a.m. EDT lifted off from Kennedy Space Center. Usachov served as a Mission specialist and was seated down on Atlantis middeck for both entry and landing. The primary mission objectives for STS-101 was to deliver supplies to the International Space Station, with the supplies hauled up using a Spacehab double module and Spacehab Integrated Cargo Carrier pallet, perform a spacewalk and then reboost the station from 230 to 250 statute miles (370 to 402 km). Usachov and NASA astronaut Susan Helms were the first crew members to enter the station. On Flight Days 5 and 6 of the mission, Usachov and Helms replaced two of six batteries in the Zarya module along with some associated battery-charging electronics. Usachov and Helms also installed a new Radio Telemetry System in the Zarya module, a memory unit that can store data on board when the station is not in communications with the ground. The new memory unit replaced one that was nearing the end of its planned operational lifetime. On Flight Day 8, he and Helms began backing out of the ISS by closing five hatches behind them. On the day, Usachov also took some time to talk with Russian media gathered at the Russian Mission Control Center. On the next day Usachov with other shuttle crewmembers continued stowing away equipment used over their time in orbit.

On May 29, Atlantis flew to a nighttime touchdown at KSC Runway 15 at 2:20 a.m. EDT after completing a 4,076,000 mile mission. Atlantis circled the globe 155 times for a mission duration of 9 days, 21 hours, 10 minutes.

Expedition 2

Usachov made his fourth trip into space on board on STS-102. Launched from KSC on March 8, 2001 at 06:42 EST Discovery successfully docked with the ISS a day later on March 9 at 6:38 UTC. The Expedition 2 crew of Usachov and NASA astronauts Susan Helms and James Voss lived and worked aboard ISS for the next 167 days. Usachov was the Commander of Expedition 2. During Expedition 2, research facilities launched to the ISS included a Human Research Facility, two EXPRESS (Expedite the Processing of Experiments to the Space Station) Racks, one of which contains the Active Rack Isolation System and the Payload Equipment Restraint System. They also prepared the Destiny laboratory to enable upcoming experiments to be conducted. A major focus was on gaining a better understanding of how to protect crew members from radiation while working and living in space. There were four Space Shuttle and one Soyuz missions to the ISS during Expedition 2: (STS-102, STS-100, STS-104, STS-105 and Soyuz TM-32.

Usachov, Helms and Voss returned to Earth with the crew of STS-105 on August 22, 2001, on the Shuttle flight delivering the third Expedition crew.

Spacewalks

Usachov has performed seven career spacewalks. He performed six spacewalks during his stay on board the Mir Space Station and performed another internal spacewalk during his visit to the ISS as the commander of the Expedition 2.

On 15 March 1996, Usachov performed his first career spacewalk. He and cosmonaut Onufriyenko started the spacewalk at 01:04 UTC. They installed the second Strela boom and prepared for Mir Cooperative Solar Array (MCSA) installation. The spacewalk lasted 5 hours and 51 minutes.

On 20 May 1996, Usachov performed his second career spacewalk. The spacewalk started at 22:50 UTC and ended at 04:10 UTC clocking 5 hours and 20 minutes. During the spacewalk, the two cosmonauts removed the Mir cooperative solar array (MCSA) from its stowed position on the exterior of the docking module at the base of the Kristall module. They used the Strela boom to reach and move the array to the Kvant-1 module. The two spacewalkers also inflated an aluminum and nylon pup-up model of a Pepsi Cola can, which they then filmed against the backdrop of Earth. The Pepsi Cola company paid for the procedure and planned to use the film in a television commercial. However, the commercial never aired—reportedly because Pepsi later changed the design of the can.