Soyuz TMA-8

Soyuz TMA-8
Operator Roskosmos
Mission duration 182 days
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type Soyuz-TMA 11F732
Manufacturer RKK Energia
Launch mass 7,270 kilograms (16,030 lb)
Crew
Crew size 3
Members Pavel Vinogradov
Jeffrey Williams
Launching Marcos Pontes
Landing Anousheh Ansari
Callsign Carat
Start of mission
Launch date March 30, 2006, 02:30 (2006-03-30UTC02:30Z) UTC
Rocket Soyuz-FG
Launch site Baikonur 1/5
End of mission
Landing date September 29, 2006, 01:13 (2006-09-29UTC01:14Z) UTC
Landing site Kazakhstan
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth
Perigee 200 kilometres (120 mi)
Apogee 241 kilometres (150 mi)
Inclination 51.67 degrees
Period 88.64 minutes
Docking with ISS


From left to right: Marcos Pontes, Jeffrey Williams, Pavel Vinogradov


Soyuz programme
(Manned missions)
 Soyuz TMA-7 Soyuz TMA-9

Soyuz TMA-8 was a Soyuz mission to the International Space Station (ISS) launched by a Soyuz FG launch vehicle.

Crew

Soyuz TMA-8 was a transport mission for portions of the International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 13 crew. The flight delivered ISS Commander Pavel Vinogradov and ISS Flight Engineer Jeffrey Williams to the station to replace Expedition 12 crew members. Flight Engineer Marcos Pontes joined the TMA-8 crew for the ascent and docking with ISS, spent approximately seven days aboard the ISS conducting experiments, then returned to Earth with the outgoing members of Expedition 12 aboard Soyuz TMA-7. Vinogradov and Williams were joined on their return trip to Earth by Spaceflight Participant Anousheh Ansari who launched aboard Soyuz TMA-9 and spent approximately eight days aboard ISS conducting experiments for the European Space Agency.

Position Launching crew Landing crew
Commander Russia Pavel Vinogradov, RKA[1]
Expedition 13
Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer United States Jeffrey Williams, NASA[1]
Expedition 13
Second spaceflight
Spaceflight Participant Brazil Marcos Pontes, AEB[1]
First spaceflight
Iran/United States Anousheh Ansari, SA
First spaceflight
Tourist

Back-up crew

Position Crew
Commander Russia Fyodor Yurchikhin, RKA[2]
Flight Engineer United States Michael Fincke, NASA[2]
Flight Engineer Russia Sergei Volkov, RKA[2]

Docking with ISS

Mission highlights

The Soyuz TMA-8 launch on 30 March 2006.
Jeffrey Williams inside the Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft

29th manned flight to ISS (Flight 12S)

Soyuz TMA-8 is a Soyuz spacecraft which was launched on March 30, 2006 by a Soyuz-FG rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Near the end of second stage burn, a communications blackout occurred at Moscow Mission Control. A satellite link was lost, but was restored about 10 minutes later. The crew was safe throughout the loss of communications.

The spacecraft carried two members of the Expedition 13 crew to the International Space Station, together with Marcos Pontes, the first Brazilian in space. The Brazilian government paid Russia approximately $20 million (USD) for Pontes' flight.[4] They replaced the Expedition 12 crew, Commander William McArthur and Valery Ivanovich Tokarev. Together with the Expedition 12 crew, Marcos Pontes returned to Earth on board Soyuz TMA-7.

Soyuz TMA-8 returned to Earth, together with Expedition 13, the spaceflight participant launched with Soyuz TMA-9, Anousheh Ansari.[5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 NASA (2006-03-29). "New Station Crew Launches From Baikonur". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
  2. 1 2 3 NASA (2006-01-05). "NASA Announces Next International Space Station Crew". NASA. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
  3. NASA (2006-03-31). "New Crew Docks With Space Station". NASA. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
  4. Delphine Thouvenot (2005). "Brazil's President In Moscow Signs Deal For Joint Space Mission". Space Daily. Retrieved October 30, 2007.
  5. NASA (2005-09-28). "Space Station Crew Back on Earth". NASA. Retrieved 2007-08-12.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, December 28, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.