September 11, 2009. S.P. Korolev RSC Energia,
Korolev, Moscow Region

S.P.Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia held a session of the Council of Chief Designers chaired by the Corporation President and General Designer V.A. Lopota.

Heard during the session were the following reports:
• about the status of Soyuz TMA-16 manned transportation spacecraft readiness for launch, of the Soyuz TMA-14 readiness for flight completion, and the ISS readiness status.
• about Soyuz-FG launch vehicle (LV) flight readiness for the launch of Soyuz TMA-16,
• about the readiness of the launch pad for the launch of the integrated launch vehicle carrying Soyuz TMA-16;
• about the results of Expedition ISS-19/20 and the mission program for the next period;
• on the state of readiness of the Lead Operations Control Team (LOCT) and mission support assets for carrying out the program of the next Expedition ISS-21/22, final report on the technical readiness of Expedition ISS-19/20 crew and on-board documentation for completion of the flight under the Expedition program;
• on the progress of preparations of the Mini Research Module MRM2 and cargo transportation spacecraft/module Progress M-MRM2 for upcoming flight tests,
• about the status of the ISS US segment, the readiness of Space Shuttles for the next phase of the flight under ISS program;
• about the readiness for upcoming operations with Soyuz TMA16, Soyuz TMA-14 and ISS of the ground control assets and infrastructure;
• about the readiness of the search and rescue assets for performing work in support of Soyuz TMA16 launch and Soyuz TMA-14 landing;
• about the readiness of the ISS-21/22 crew and the crew of Visiting Mission 17 for carrying out the program of upcoming activities on the ISS, and of the crew of ISS-19/20 for landing;
• about the health status of the crews of ISS-21/22, ISS-19/20, and the crew of the Visiting Mission 17;
• about compliance of Soyuz TMA-16 with the technical documentation of the General Designer.

Also heard were supplementary reports, announcements and findings from chief designers and responsible representatives of organizations and companies participating in the implementation of the ISS program. These included final reports on the readiness of Soyuz TMA-16 systems and structure, of the components of the integrated launch vehicle Soyuz-FG/Soyuz TMA-16 and all of the ISS equipment for the upcoming phase of the mission.

It was stated that there were no obstacles to continuing the work under the ISS program.

The Council of Chief Designers made the decision to approve the S.P.Korolev RSC Energia proposal for the plan of the upcoming final operations to prepare Soyuz TMA-16 for launch, and return to Earth of Soyuz TMA-14. Also approved was a plan for preparing and conducting flight tests on MRM2 module and cargo spacecraft/module Progress M-MRM2, and Corporation proposals for the programs of Expeditions ISS-21/22 and Visiting Mission 17.

Taking part in the work of the Council of Chief Designers were: the head of the Roscosmos Manned Programs Directorate A.B. Krasnov, Director of NASA manned missions program in the Russian Federation Mark Bowman, Head of Permanent ESA Mission to the Russian Federation Rene Pishel, representatives of Roscosmos, NASA, ESA, subdivisions of RSC Energia, organizations and companies of Russian rocket and space industry.

 For information:
1. S.P. Korolev RSC Energia is the prime Russian company engaged in development and operation of the ISS Russian Segment, its integration into the space station and its transportation/logistics support using Soyuz/Progress-type spacecraft.

2. The launch of Soyuz TMA-16 is scheduled for September 30, 2009, and Soyuz TMA-14 return to Earth for October 11, 2009.

3. The program of Expedition ISS-21/22 is planned to be 169 days long (the stay on-board the station will take -167 days), the visiting mission 17 will be 11 days long (9 days on-board the station), with the Russian side providing logistics support for the station using Progress M-03M in October 2009 and Progress M-04M in February 2010. The launch of Progress M-MRM2 logistics spacecraft/module to deliver to ISS the new Russian module MRM2 is scheduled for November 2009.