Soyuz TMA-16

Soyuz TMA-16
Mission type ISS crew rotation
Operator Roskosmos
COSPAR ID 2009-053A
SATCAT № 35940
Mission duration 168 days
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft Soyuz No.226
Spacecraft type Soyuz-TMA 11F732
Manufacturer RKK Energia
Crew
Crew size 3 up
2 down
Members Maksim Surayev
Jeffrey Williams
Launching Guy Laliberté
Start of mission
Launch date September 30, 2009, 07:14:45 (2009-09-30UTC07:14:45Z) UTC[1][2]
Rocket Soyuz-FG
Launch site Baikonur 1/5
End of mission
Landing date March 18, 2010, 11:24 (2010-03-18UTC11:25Z) UTC[1]
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth
Perigee 340 kilometres (210 mi)
Apogee 351 kilometres (218 mi)
Inclination 51.6 degrees
Period 91.44 minutes
Epoch October 7, 2009[3]
Docking with ISS


From left to right: Laliberté, Williams and Surayev

Soyuz programme
(Manned missions)
← Soyuz TMA-15 Soyuz TMA-17 →

The Soyuz TMA-16 (Russian: Союз TMA-16) was a manned flight to and from the International Space Station (ISS). It transported two members of the Expedition 21 crew[1] and a Canadian entrepreneur from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the ISS. TMA-16 was the 103rd flight of a Soyuz spacecraft, the first flight launching in 1967. The launch of Soyuz TMA-16 marked the first time since 1969 that three Soyuz craft were in orbit simultaneously.

Guy Laliberté, founder and CEO of Cirque du Soleil, was a spaceflight participant aboard TMA-16 during its flight to the ISS, paying approximately US$35 million for his seat through the American firm Space Adventures.[4] He returned on board the Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft left as an emergency vehicle during that previous flight. The Soyuz TMA-16 flight spacecraft flew back to Earth with only two crewmembers.

Crew

Position[4][5] Launching Crew Member Landing Crew Member
Commander Russia Maksim Surayev
Expedition 21
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer United States Jeffrey Williams, NASA
Expedition 21
Third spaceflight
Spaceflight Participant Canada Guy Laliberté, SA
First spaceflight
Tourist		 None

Backup Crew

Position[6] Launching Crew Member Landing Crew Member
Commander Russia Aleksandr Skvortsov
Flight Engineer United States Shannon Walker, NASA
Spaceflight Participant United States Barbara Barrett, SA
Tourist		 None

Mission highlights

Soyuz TMA-16 Lands
Soyuz TMA-16 lifts off
The Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft approaches the International Space Station
Soyuz TMA-16 during the relocation to the zenith-facing port of the Poisk module.

Soyuz TMA-16 was docked to the ISS at the aft port of the Zvezda module. On January 21, 2010, cosmonaut Suraev and Expedition 22 Commander Jeffrey Williams relocated the spacecraft to the zenith-facing port of the Poisk module.[7] The Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft undocked from the aft end of the Zvezda service module at 5:03 a.m. EST and backed away to a distance of about 100 feet from the space station. Undocking occurred as the station flew about 213 miles high off the southwest coast of Africa. Re-docking occurred at 5:24 a.m. EST after Suraev fired the Soyuz maneuvering thrusters to fly halfway around the orbiting space station and line up with the Poisk module.

Spaceflight participant Guy Laliberté landed aboard Soyuz TMA-14 after approximately 12 days in space while Surayev and Williams landed aboard TMA-16 in Kazakhstan on March 18, 2010.

Space tourism status

Soyuz TMA-16 could have been the final flight of a space tourist to the International Space Station for some time. With the imminent retirement of the Space Shuttle and the expansion of the station to six crew members, all Soyuz crew positions for the foreseeable future should be occupied by Expedition crew,[8] until another manned spacecraft such as Orion is available to service the International Space Station.

References

  1. 1 2 3 NASA Assigns Space Station Crews, Updates Expedition Numbering - NASA press release - 08-306 - Nov. 21, 2008
  2. ↑ NASA. "Consolidated Launch Manifest". NASA. Retrieved March 28, 2009.
  3. ↑ McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  4. 1 2 Associated Press (October 1, 2009). "Circus tycoon Guy Laliberté becomes first clown in space". London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved October 1, 2009.
  5. ↑ NASA HQ (November 21, 2008). "NASA Assigns Space Station Crews, Updates Expedition Numbering". NASA. Retrieved November 21, 2008.
  6. ↑ Жена главы компании Intel готовится стать космонавтом
  7. ↑ Stephen Clark (January 21, 2010). "Crew shifts Soyuz capsule to new station docking port". Spaceflightnow.com. Retrieved January 21, 2010.
  8. ↑ AFP (November 13, 2008). "Russia sees end of road for space tourism". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved October 1, 2009.
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