Soyuz TMA-9

Soyuz TMA-9
Operator Roskosmos
COSPAR ID 2006-040A
Mission duration 215 days, 8 hours, 22 minutes
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type Soyuz-TMA 11F732
Manufacturer RKK Energia
Launch mass 7,270 kilograms (16,030 lb)
Crew
Crew size 3
Members Mikhail Tyurin
Michael López-Alegría
Launching Anousheh Ansari
Landing Charles Simonyi
Callsign Vostok
Start of mission
Launch date 18 September 2006, 04:08 (2006-09-18UTC04:08Z) UTC
Rocket Soyuz-FG
Launch site Baikonur 1/5
End of mission
Landing date 21 April 2007, 12:31 (2007-04-21UTC12:32Z) UTC
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth
Perigee 200 kilometres (120 mi)
Apogee 242 kilometres (150 mi)
Inclination 51.67 degrees
Period 88.64 minutes[1]
Docking with ISS


Soyuz programme
(Manned missions)
 Soyuz TMA-8 Soyuz TMA-10
Soyuz TMA-9 launch.

Soyuz TMA-9 was a Soyuz mission to the International Space Station (ISS) launched by a Soyuz FG launch vehicle. It was a human spaceflight mission transporting personnel to and from the ISS. It launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 18 September 2006 at 08:09 MSD (04:09 UTC), docked with the ISS at 09:21 MSD (05:21 UTC) on 20 September, and returned to Earth on 21 April 2007. Soyuz TMA-9 transported two-thirds of ISS Expedition 14 to the space station along with one "spaceflight participant" who performed several experiments on behalf of the European Space Agency. [2]

Crew

Position Launching crew Landing crew
Commander Russia Mikhail Tyurin, RKA
Expedition 14
Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer United States Michael López-Alegría, NASA
Expedition 14
Fourth and last spaceflight
Spaceflight Participant Iran/United States Anousheh Ansari, SA
Only spaceflight
Tourist
Hungary/United States Charles Simonyi, SA
First spaceflight
Tourist

Crew notes

Daisuke Enomoto Was originally scheduled to be the spaceflight participant, but on 21 August 2006, he was determined to be unfit for the flight due to medical reasons, and replaced by Anousheh Ansari, his back-up crew member.

Docking with ISS

The docked Expedition 13 / Soyuz TMA-9 (foreground) and Progress 22 resupply vehicle are featured in this image photographed by an STS-116 crewmember from a window on the International Space Station while Space Shuttle Discovery was docked with the station in December 2006. The blackness of space and Earth's horizon provide the backdrop for the scene.

Mission highlights

Soyuz TMA-9, known within the International Space Station program as ISS Soyuz 13, was the 32nd manned flight to the ISS. It is of note because for three days, from 18–21 September 2006, it marked the first time since before the Columbia accident that twelve humans have been in space simultaneously; three aboard the International Space Station (Expedition 13), three aboard Soyuz TMA-9, and six aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis, flying mission STS-115.

The capsule successfully launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a Soyuz-FG rocket at 09:08 MDS (04:08 UTC) on Monday 18 September 2006.[3] It successfully docked with the ISS on Wednesday 20 September to begin a six-month stay on the orbiting laboratory.

Anousheh Ansari, the Spaceflight Participant launched by TMA-9, has returned to Earth safely alongside Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeffrey Williams of the Expedition 13 crew aboard Soyuz TMA-8 on 29 September 2006 at 01:13 UTC. Undocking from the ISS took place at 21:53 UTC on 28 September. López-Alegría and Tyurin undocked from ISS on 21 April 2007, 09:11 UTC, and landed at 12:31:30 UTC, after a six-month stay on the station.

When the capsule landed after 215 days in space, exceeding the 210-day warranty for Soyuz TMA spacecraft, it concluded the longest flight by a Soyuz spacecraft.

References

  1. "Soyuz TMA-9 Launch". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2006-09-23.
  2. "ESA experiments with spaceflight participant Ansari to ISS". Retrieved 2006-09-22.
  3. "Soyuz TMA-9 - NSSDC ID: 2006-040A". National Space Science Data Center.
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