Soyuz TMA-12M
Soyuz TMA-12M approaches the ISS, 27 March 2014.
|
|
| Mission type | ISS crew transport |
|---|---|
| Operator | Roskosmos |
| COSPAR ID | 2014-013A |
| SATCAT no. | 39622 |
| Mission duration | 169 days, 5 hours, 6 minutes |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Soyuz 11F732A47 No.712 |
| Spacecraft type | Soyuz-TMA 11F747 |
| Manufacturer | RKK Energia |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 3 |
| Members |
Aleksandr Skvortsov Oleg Artemyev Steven R. Swanson |
| Callsign | Cliff |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 25 March 2014 21:17:23 UTC |
| Rocket | Soyuz-FG |
| Launch site | Baikonur 1/5, Kazakhstan |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | 11 September 2014 02:23 UTC |
| Landing site | Kazakh Steppe, Kazakhstan |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Docking with ISS | |
| Docking port | Poisk zenith |
| Docking date | 27 March 2014 23:53 UTC |
| Undocking date | 10 September 2014 23:01 UTC |
| Time docked | 166 days, 23 hours, 8 minutes |
|
 (l-r) Swanson, Skvortsov and Artemyev
Soyuz programme
(Manned missions) |
|
Soyuz TMA-12M was a 2014 flight to the International Space Station. It transported three members of the Expedition 39 crew to the International Space Station. TMA-12M was the 121st flight of a Soyuz spacecraft since the first in 1967 and the 38th Soyuz mission to the ISS.
After a successful launch on 25 March 2014, docking was scheduled to occur on 26 March via the relatively new six-hour duration orbital trajectory. In the event, one of the orbital burns scheduled to refine the trajectory did not occur as planned, due to an attitude control problem in which the spacecraft was incorrectly oriented. The rendezvous phase was subsequently replanned to the formerly-used two-day trajectory. Accordingly, TMA-12M arrived at the ISS on 27 March. The Soyuz remained docked to the ISS to serve as an emergency escape vehicle until undocking and landing as scheduled on 11 September 2014.
Soyuz TMA-12M successfully launched aboard a Soyuz-FG rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 21:17 UTC on Tuesday, 25 March 2014 (3:17 AM Wednesday 26 March local time). Approximately nine minutes later, the spacecraft reached low Earth orbit.
Because of the nighttime launch and the fact that the International Space Station was orbiting over Baikonur at the time of lift-off, the launch of TMA-12M was visible from the ISS and NASA astronaut Richard Mastracchio was able to take a photograph of the view (see below in gallery).
Originally, TMA-12M was scheduled to dock with the International Space Station's Poisk module at 03:04 UTC on 26 March 2014, with hatch opening scheduled for 04:45 UTC. The spacecraft was not able to perform the third course-correction successfully, however, and docking was rescheduled for Thursday, 27 March at 23:58 UTC at the earliest. The approach and docking phase of the mission was reverted to the previous two-day profile used in Soyuz flights before Soyuz TMA-08M, leaving the possibility of updating the mission profile after the nature of the issue was fully known. Initially, flight controllers suspected it was an issue with the attitude (orientation) control system. According to flight controllers, the crew was not in any danger and ample supplies were on board the Soyuz for the modified flight profile.
...
Wikipedia