Soyuz MS-09

Mission emblem

Mission dates

Mission:

Soyuz MS-09

COSPAR-ID :

2018-051A

Spacecraft:

Soyuz 7K-MS ( GRAY index 11F747)
serial number 739

Launcher:

Soyuz FG (GRAY index 11A511FG)

Call sign:

Алтай (" Altai ")

Crew:

3

Begin:

June 6, 2018, 11:12 UTC

Starting place:

Baikonur 1/5

Space station:

ISS

Docking place:

Rasswet

Coupling:

June 8, 2018, 13:01 UTC

Decoupling:

December 20, 2018, 01:40 UTC

Duration on the ISS :

194d 12h 39min

Landing:

December 20, 2018, 05:02 UTC

Landing place:

147 km SE of Sheqasghan , Kazakhstan

Flight duration:

196d 17h 50min

Earth orbits:

3152

Team photo

Serena Auñón-Chancellor, Sergei Prokopjew and Alexander Gerst

◄ Before / After ►

Soyuz MS-08
(manned)

Soyuz MS-10
(manned)

Soyuz MS-09 was a flight from the Russian spacecraft Soyuz to the International Space Station . As part of the ISS program, the flight is designated ISS AF-55S. It was the 55th visit by a Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS and the 161st flight in the Soyuz program.

crew

Main crew

Sergei Valerjewitsch Prokopjew (1st space flight), Commander ( Russia / Roscosmos )
Alexander Gerst (2nd space flight), flight engineer ( Germany / ESA )
(with the ESA Horizons mission )
Serena Auñón-Chancellor (1st space flight), flight engineer ( USA / NASA )

The NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps was originally intended for this flight. In January 2018, however, she was removed from the team at short notice without giving any reason. NASA announced that it could, however, be assigned to later flights.

Substitute team

Oleg Dmitrijewitsch Kononenko (4th space flight), Commander (Russia / Roscosmos)
David Saint-Jacques (1st Space Flight), Flight Engineer ( Canada / CSA )
Anne McClain (1st space flight), flight engineer (USA / NASA)

As usual, Kononenko, Saint-Jacques and McClain flew to the ISS as the main crew of the next but one mission - Soyuz MS-11 - themselves.

Mission description

The Soyuz MS-09 mission brought three crew members from ISS expeditions 56 and 57 to the International Space Station.

As with Soyuz MS-07 and Soyuz MS-08 , the classic two-day approach was used again for this mission. The reason was the special positioning of the ISS for the landing of Soyuz MS-07 in daylight. It was not possible to reposition the station to accommodate the fast four-orbit / six-hour approach or the new super-fast two-orbit / three-hour approach.

The undocking took place on December 20, 2018 at 01:40 UTC, so that Expedition 58 began on the station with Oleg Kononenko as commander. The landing took place on the same day approx. 4 hours later in the Kazakh steppe 147 km southeast of Scheskasgan .

Leak in the spaceship

On August 29, while the Expedition 56 crew was sleeping, flight control noticed a slight but unusual drop in pressure in the space station. Since there was no imminent danger, the crew was not awakened. The next day the astronauts were able to determine the location of the pressure drop: the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft, which was docked with the hatch open to the Rassvet module. The astronauts discovered a small hole about two millimeters in diameter in the orbital module , photographed it and temporarily closed it. There was disagreement about how to deal with the leak. NASA and ISS commander Drew Feustel advocated a close investigation in order to subsequently find a method to permanently seal the hole. However, since the leak was in a Russian spaceship, Roskosmos prevailed with the proposal to plug the hole immediately, which cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Sergei Prokopyev did during the day.

Apparently the hole was not caused by a micrometeorite impact or a collision with space debris. The head of Roscosmos, Dmitri Rogozin announced that it was a drilling from the inside. Traces show how the drill slipped over the material. It is a matter of honor for RKK Energija to find the person responsible, to clarify whether it is a mistake or intent and where it happened: on earth or in space. A year later, Rogozin announced that they had found out how the hole came about, but that this information would be kept secret.

The borehole had no effect on the landing, as the orbital module had already been blown off in space. Meanwhile , the crew sat in the landing module , which is the return capsule for re-entry .