Soyuz MS-16

Mission emblem

Mission dates

Mission:

Soyuz MS-16

Spacecraft:

Soyuz 7K-MS ( GRAY index 11F747)
serial number 745

Launcher:

Soyuz-2.1a (GRAY index 14A14)

Call sign:

Иркут (" Irkut ")

Crew:

3

Begin:

April 9, 2020, 8:05 am ( UTC )

Starting place:

Baikonur 31/6

Space station:

ISS

Coupling:

April 9, 2020, 14:15 (UTC)

Decoupling:

October 21, 2020 (planned)

Duration on the ISS :

195 days (planned)

Landing:

October 22, 2020 (planned)

Landing place:

Kazakhstan

Team photo

Chris Cassidy, Anatoli Iwanischin and Iwan Wagner

◄ Before / After ►

Soyuz MS-15
(manned)

Soyuz MS-17
(manned)

Soyuz MS-16 is a flight of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). As part of the ISS program, the flight is designated ISS AF-62S. It is the 168th flight in the Soyuz program and the 62nd visit by a Soyuz spaceship to the ISS.

Mission description

The mission brought three members of ISS Expeditions 62 and 63 to the space station. The Soyuz-2.1a rocket version was used for a manned flight for the first time. It replaces the Soyuz-FG , which was retired after the start of the Soyuz MS-15 mission .

crew

Main crew

Anatoly Iwanischin (3rd space flight), Commander ( Russia / Roscosmos )
Iwan Wagner (1st spaceflight), flight engineer (Russia / Roskosmos)
Chris Cassidy (3rd spaceflight), flight engineer ( USA / NASA )

Initially, the JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide was scheduled to be the second flight engineer and commander of ISS Expedition 63 . Due to delays in the completion of the new US spaceships Crew Dragon and CST-100 Starliner , it was exchanged for Cassidy as a precaution. This will ensure that the American segment of the space station will continue to be occupied by an American after the Soyuz MS-15 undocked with Jessica Meir and Andrew Morgan .

Nikolai Tichonow and Andrei Babkin were supposed to fly for Roskosmos first . However, due to an eye injury by Tikhonov, they were replaced by Ivanishin and Wagner in February 2020; Babkin was assigned to the new substitute team.

Substitute team

Sergei Ryschikow (2nd space flight), Commander (Russia / Roskosmos)
Andrei Babkin (1st spaceflight), flight engineer (Russia / Roskosmos)
Stephen Bowen (4th spaceflight), flight engineer (USA / NASA)

Mission history

Play media file

Start preparations and start

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic , the crew members spent four weeks in quarantine instead of the usual two weeks . The isolation measures were stricter than usual; so the spacemen had to say goodbye to their relatives beforehand.

The spacecraft was launched into Earth orbit on April 9, 2020 with a Soyuz 2.1a rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome . It reached the ISS after a six-hour flight.