The meeting of the Council of Chief Designers for the Russian Segment of the International Space Station (ISS RS), held at S.P.Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia under direction of the Chairman of the Council of Chief Designers, Technical director of the Russian manned space programs, Designer General, member of the Rusian Academy of Sciences Yu.P.Semenov, addressed the readiness for the next step in the ISS program.

The results of the ISS man-tended mission over the period from November 2002 till present (completion of the Expedition Five ISS-5 mission, Expedition Six ISS-6 mission), the status of the space station and the first modernized manned transportation spacecraft Soyuz TMA-1, preparations for the launch of Soyuz TMA-2 were reported by Yu.I.Grigoriev, deputy designer general of S.P.Korolev RSC Energia.

Also heard were the final reports from chief designers, authorized representatives of developers and manufacturers on the readiness for the launch of the manned spacecraft and ISS status as a whole.
Reports and communications on the readiness of the Expedition Seven ISS-7 crew, on the health status of cosmonauts and astronauts of ISS-6 and ISS-7 crews, ISS mission progress and the readiness of the mission control documentation, personnel of the Lead Operations Control Team (LOCT) and the crews for the Soyuz TMA-2 docking were presented by the head of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center Colonel-General P.I.Klimuk, deputy director of the Institute for Medical and Biological Problems V.V.Bogomolov, LOCT director cosmonaut V.A.Soloviev.

The primary crew of ISS-7 to be launched to ISS on Soyuz TMA-2 is training for the mission and consists of a Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko (commander) and US astronaut Edward Lu (flight engineer).

The TsNIIMash report on the Soyuz TMA-2 launch readiness was presented by the deputy director of that institute A.T.Goryachenkov.

The Council of Chief Designers having reviewed the ISS status, the readiness of the Soyuz TMA-2 manned spacecraft, the progress of Soyuz-FG launch vehicle processing, the readiness of the personnel of the Russian and US ground facilities for the mission preparation and control, ISS-6 and ISS-7 crews readiness for carrying out the space station and spacecraft mission program, as well as taking into account positive final reports on the spacecraft and ISS readiness as a whole, have made a decision to approve the following:

  • the results of the ISS mission phase covering the period from November 2002 to April 2003, including the implementation of Visiting (“Taxi”) Mission Four;
  • the results of tests and the plan of upcoming work on the launch preparation of the Soyuz TMA-2 which is to replace on ISS the Soyuz TMA-1 and to implement the two-men 185-days mission of ISS-7;
  • research and experiments program for the ISS-7 mission phase;
  • ISS flight program for the year 2003, including launches, before the year’s end, of two logistics vehicle Progress M1, one Progress M, and manned spacecraft Soyuz TMA-3.

The meeting was attended by representatives from the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, NASA, European Space Agency, companies and organizations in the industry, that participate in the implementation of the ISS project.

The launch of Soyuz TMA-2 is scheduled for April 26, 2003 at 7 hours 53 minutes, Moscow daylight saving time.