Soyuz TMA-20

Soyuz TMA -20 mission is the designation for a flight of Russia's Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). In the course of the ISS program of flight is called ISS AF -25S. It was the 25th visit of a Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS, and the 131st flight in Sojusprogramm.

Crew

Main occupation

  • Dmitri Kondratyev Jurjewitsch ( first space flight), Commander ( Roscosmos / Russia)
  • Catherine Grace Coleman ( third space flight ), aircraft engineer (NASA / USA)
  • Paolo Nespoli ( second space flight), flight engineer ( Esa / Italy)

Backup crew

  • Anatoly Alexeyevich Ivanishin ( first space flight), Commander ( Roscosmos / Russia)
  • Satoshi Furukawa ( first space flight), flight engineer ( JAXA / Japan)
  • Michael Edward Fossum ( third space flight), flight engineer (NASA / USA)

The crews were confirmed on November 26, 2010 by Roskosmos again.

During the multi-day rail transportation from the factory of the RKK Energia in Moscow to the launch site in Kazakhstan, the spacecraft slipped into its container, so that the heat shield was moved. The damage was discovered during the inspection on October 5, 2010 in Baikonur. After a thorough investigation it was decided that the return capsule to be replaced by the copy, which was originally intended for Soyuz TMA -21. This was flown to Baikonur, so that only a postponement of two days showed.

Mission History

This mission brought three crew members of the ISS Expeditions 26 and 27 to the International Space Station. The spacecraft docked after a two- day flight automatically at the Rassvet module. In the meantime, it came through a cable damage on the ground to a radio interruption, so that the local reserve system had to be used for communication. The Soyuz spacecraft Soyuz TMA -19 sparked off as a rescue capsule. Dmitri Kondratyev took over three months after the launch, the team aboard the ISS.

On 23 May 2011 at 21:35 UTC docked Soyuz TMA -20 with Kondratyev, Coleman and Nespoli from aboard. Thus began on the ISS Expedition 28 with Andrei Borisenko as commander. The mission leadership had agreed in advance a photographic documentation of the complex of ISS and Space Shuttle (STS- 134). This task completed from Paolo Nespoli from the orbital module of the Soyuz spacecraft. The ISS was rotated slightly to get different angles.

After the Soyuz TMA -20 was removed from the ISS, the brake ignition at 1:36 UTC of the following day was initiated. The crew capsule landed after a normal descent to 2:27 UTC on warm and sunny weather in the steppes of Kazakhstan 147 km east of Schesqasghan. "It was a picture book for Dmitri Kondratyev landing, Paolo Nespoli and Cady Coleman ," said NASA commentator Rob Navias, " All systems of Soyuz TMA -20 operating as required, no problems there. "

736833
de