Soyuz TMA-15

Soyuz TMA-15
Mission type ISS crew rotation
Operator Roskosmos
COSPAR ID 2009-030A
SATCAT № 35010
Mission duration 188 days
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type Soyuz-TMA 11F732
Manufacturer RKK Energia
Crew
Crew size 3
Members Roman Romanenko
Frank De Winne
Robert Thirsk
Callsign Таймыр (Taymyr)[1] or
Парус (Parus, meaning Sail)[1]
Start of mission
Launch date 27 May 2009, 10:34:53 (2009-05-27UTC10:34:53Z) UTC[2][3]
Rocket Soyuz-FG
Launch site Baikonur 1/5
End of mission
Landing date December 1, 2009, 07:17 (2009-12-01UTC07:18Z) UTC[4]
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth
Perigee 151 kilometres (94 mi)
Apogee 414 kilometres (257 mi)
Inclination 51.6 degrees
Period 90.16 minutes
Epoch 28 May 2009[5]
Docking with ISS
Docking port Zarya nadir
Docking date 29 May 2009, 12:43 UTC
Undocking date 1 December 2009, 03:56 UTC[6]
Time docked 6 months


From left to right; Thirsk, Romanenko and De Winne

Soyuz programme
(Manned missions)
← Soyuz TMA-14 Soyuz TMA-16 →

Soyuz TMA-15 was a manned spaceflight to the International Space Station. Part of the Soyuz programme, it transported three members of the Expedition 20 crew to the space station. TMA-15 was the 102nd manned flight of a Soyuz spacecraft, since Soyuz 1 in 1967. The Soyuz spacecraft remain docked to the space station during Expedition 20 and Expedition 21 as an emergency escape vehicle. The mission marked the start of six-person crew operations on the ISS.

Crew

Position[7][8] Crew Member
Commander Russia Roman Romanenko
Expedition 20
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer 1 Belgium Frank De Winne, ESA
Expedition 20
Second and last spaceflight
Flight Engineer 2 Canada Robert Thirsk, CSA
Expedition 20
Second and last spaceflight

Backup crew

Position Cosmonaut
Commander Russia Dmitrij Kondratiyev
Flight Engineer 1 Netherlands André Kuipers, ESA
Flight Engineer 2 Canada Chris Hadfield, CSA

Mission highlights

The rollout of Soyuz TMA-15 on 25 May, with an American flag painted on the capsule

Soyuz TMA-15 was launched successfully by a Soyuz-FG carrier rocket from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, at 10:34 UTC on 27 May 2009. It docked with the ISS at 12:34 UTC on 29 May 2009.

Roman Romanenko was the third second-generation space traveller. He was reported to have chosen Taymyr (Russian: Таймыр) as the mission callsign because it was the callsign on his father's first flight, Soyuz 26;[1] however, the callsign Parus (Russian: Парус meaning Sail) was used for communications with the spacecraft.[1] Robert Thirsk became the first Canadian to fly on a Soyuz; all previous Canadians in space had flown aboard Space Shuttles. Frank De Winne became the first European to be in command of the ISS.

The craft and crew returned to earth 1 December 2009.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 NASA TV coverage of the launch of Soyuz TMA-15, 2009-05-27
  2. ↑ CSA (2008). "Canadian astronauts Julie Payette and Robert Thirsk to go on space missions in 2009". CSA. Retrieved February 27, 2008.
  3. ↑ NASA. "Consolidated Launch Manifest". NASA. Retrieved March 28, 2009.
  4. ↑ NASA (Nov 24, 2009). "NASA TV to Broadcast Space Station Crew Soyuz Landing Events". NASA. Retrieved December 1, 2009.
  5. ↑ McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
  6. ↑ Zak, Anatoly. "Mission of Soyuz TMA-15". RussianSpaceWeb. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
  7. ↑ NASA (Feb 11, 2008). "NASA Assigns Crews for STS-127 and Expedition 19 Missions". NASA. Retrieved February 11, 2008.
  8. ↑ ESA (2008). "Frank De Winne prepares for new mission". ESA. Retrieved November 3, 2008.
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