Soyuz MS-15

Mission emblem

Mission dates

Mission:

Soyuz MS-15

Spacecraft:

Soyuz 7K-MS ( GRAY index 11F747)
serial number 744

Launcher:

Soyuz FG (GRAY index 11A511FG)

Call sign:

Сармат (" Sarmat ")

Crew:

3

Begin:

September 25, 2019, 13:57:43 UTC

Starting place:

Baikonur 1/5

Space station:

ISS

Docking place:

Zvezda

Coupling:

September 25, 2019, 19:42 UTC

Decoupling:

April 17, 2020, 01:53 UTC

Duration on the ISS :

204d 6h 11min

Landing:

April 17, 2020, 05:16 UTC

Landing place:

149 km SE of Sheqasghan , Kazakhstan , ( 47 ° 17 ′ N , 69 ° 33 ′ E )

Flight duration:

204d 15h 19min

Earth orbits:

3280

Team photo

Hassa al-Mansuri, Oleg Skripotschka and Jessica Meir

◄ Before / After ►

Soyuz MS-14 (unmanned)	Soyuz MS-16 (manned)
Previous manned mission:
Soyuz MS-13

Soyuz MS-15 was a flight by the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). As part of the ISS program, the flight is designated ISS AF-61S. It was the 167th flight in the Soyuz program and the 61st visit by a Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS.

Mission description

The mission brought two members of Expeditions 61 and 62 to the ISS. In addition, a short-term participant from the United Arab Emirates was on board, who returned after a week with Soyuz MS-12 . It was the first space flight by an astronaut from the Emirates.

The Soyuz MS-15 was the last time the Soyuz-FG rocket version was used, which was launched in May 2001. The subsequent Soyuz MS-16 mission started with the newer Soyuz-2.1a . Since the Soyuz 2.1 uses a different launch site, the use of the historic "Gagarin launch site", the launch pad 1/5 of the Baikonur cosmodrome , from which Yuri Gagarin was the first person to fly into space in 1961 with Vostok 1 , ended with MS-15 . After it was feared that herewith an era of Russian space would come to an end, gave the Roskosmos -directors Dmitry Rogozin in July 2019 announced that the space 01.05 modernized after the MS-15 start and usable for the Soyuz-2.1 should be made.

crew

Outward flight

Main crew

Oleg Skripotschka (3rd space flight), Commander ( Russia / Roscosmos )
Jessica Meir (1st spaceflight), flight engineer ( USA / NASA )
Hassa al-Mansuri (1st space flight, UAE / MBRSC )

Originally, a seat at Soyuz MS-12 was reserved for the astronaut from the Emirates . However, the false start of Soyuz MS-10 resulted in changes in the ISS mission planning. Most recently, the US tried to buy the third seat of Soyuz MS-15 due to delays in the development of the new US spaceships Crew Dragon and CST-100 Starliner , which would have postponed al-Mansuri and al-Nejadi respectively .

Substitute team

Anatoly Iwanischin (3rd space flight), Commander (Russia / Roscosmos)
Stephen Bowen (4th spaceflight), flight engineer (USA / NASA)
Sultan al-Nejadi (1st space flight), flight engineer (UAE / MBRSC)

Return flight

Oleg Skripotschka, Commander (Russia / Roskosmos)
Jessica Meir, flight engineer (USA / NASA)
Andrew Morgan , flight engineer (USA / NASA, one-way flight with Soyuz MS-13 )

Mission history

The flight took off on September 25, 2019 at 3:57 p.m. ( CEST ) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome . After almost six hours, the spaceship docked at the Zvezda module of the ISS at 9:42 p.m.

The undocking happened after a record residence time of 204 days on April 17, 2020 at 03:53 a.m. (CEST); The space capsule landed in Kazakhstan at 07:16 a.m. (CEST) . Instead of Hassa al-Mansuri from the Emirates, who had already returned with Soyuz MS-12, Andrew Morgan , who started with Soyuz MS-13, landed with Soyuz MS-15.