Soyuz TMA-7

Soyuz TMA -7 is the mission name for the flight of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). It is the eleventh visit to a Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS and the 117th flight in Sojusprogramm.

Crew

Start crew

  • Valeri Ivanovich Tokarev ( second space flight), Commander ( Roscosmos / Russia)
  • William McArthur (4th space flight), flight engineer (NASA / USA)
  • Gregory Olsen ( first space flight ), Space Tourist ( USA)

Tokarev was at the time of the launch 52 years old, 54 years McArthur and Olsen 60 years. With an average age of almost 56 years, this team is so far the oldest, which is launched into space.

Backup crew

  • Mikhail Tyurin Vladislavovich, Commander ( Roscosmos / Russia)
  • Jeffrey Nels Williams, Flight Engineer (NASA / USA)
  • Sergei Kostenko, space tourist

Return crew

  • Valeri Ivanovich Tokarev ( second space flight), Commander ( Roscosmos / Russia)
  • William McArthur (4th space flight), flight engineer (NASA / USA)
  • Marcos César Pontes ( first space flight ), flight engineer (Brazil )

Mission overview

This flight was a crew exchange mission to the ISS and the 28th manned flight to the station. The working on the Space Station Expedition 11 was replaced by the crew of Expedition 12. It consists of Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev and American William McArthur. Also, the space tourist Gregory Olsen took part in the flight. He returned with the crew Soyuz TMA- 6 and the ISS Expedition 11 on 11 October 2005 returned to earth and paid for 20 million U.S. dollars.

This flight also marks the last of the Soyuz crew transport flights, which belong under the contract is closed between NASA and Roscosmos to the obligations of Russia in the ISS project. Beginning with the landing of Soyuz TMA -7 must pay NASA for Soyuz seats, they should want to take off or land a crew member with a Soyuz spacecraft. However, adoption of the Bush administration said since 2000 the purchase of high-tech products in countries that support non- nuclear states such as Iran, which is the case in Russia. However, this law was loosens in September 2005 that NASA now has the ability to pay Russian space technology with cash.

The launch took place at a carrier rocket Soyuz -FG type from the Baikonur cosmodrome on October 1, 2005 at 03:54:53 UTC clock. Nine minutes after the launch, the spacecraft separated from the third stage of the rocket, then the solar panels were expanded. The astronauts on board reported that all systems have up to this point works as intended. Docking with the ISS ( Pirs module on ) was performed fully automatically on October 3, 2005 at 05:26:58 UTC clock over Central Asia. 08:36 UTC clock, the hatches were opened and the crew of Soyuz TMA -7 entered the space station.

On 18 November 2005 at 08:45 UTC docked Soyuz TMA- 7 with the Astronauts Tokarev and McArthur on board from the Pirs docking port from and docked 20 minutes later manually at the bottom docking port of the Zarya module.

On March 20, 2006 at 06:49 UTC Soyuz TMA -7 spacecraft docked with the space travelers Tokarev and McArthur from on board from the bottom docking port of the Zarya module and docked 22 minutes later manually to the rear docking port of the Zvezda module, which was previously occupied by Progress M -54 cargo ship.

Further details concerning the work of the crew on the ISS Expedition 12 ISS are described in the article.

The Soyuz TMA -7 spacecraft with Tokarev, McArthur and the admit -curing with Soyuz TMA -8 Brazilian Pontes aboard has disconnected on 8 April 2006 at 20:28 UTC from the ISS, and then about three hours later, 23:48 UTC to land in the steppes of Kazakhstan.

More flight data

  • Coupling ISS: October 3, 2005, 05:27 UTC ( to the Pirs module )
  • Decoupling ISS: November 18, 2005, 08:46 UTC ( from Pirs module )
  • Coupling ISS: November 18, 2005, 09:05 UTC ( to the Zarya module )
  • Decoupling ISS: March 20, 2006, 06:49 UTC ( from the Zarya module )
  • Coupling ISS: March 20, 2006, 07:11 UTC ( to the Zvezda module )
  • Decoupling ISS: April 8, 2006 20:28 UTC ( from Zvezda module )
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