Soyuz TMA-04M

Mission emblem
Mission dates
Mission:	Soyuz TMA-04M
COSPAR-ID :	2012-022A
Spacecraft:	Soyuz 7K-STMA-Z ( GRAU index  11F747) serial number 705
Launcher:	Soyuz FG (GRAY index 11A511FG)
Call sign:	Альтаир (" Altair ")
Crew:	3
Begin:	May 15, 2012, 03:01 UTC
Starting place:	Baikonur 1/5
Space station:	ISS
Docking place:	Poisk
Coupling:	May 17, 2012, 4:36 UTC
Decoupling:	September 16, 2012, 11:09 pm UTC
Duration on the ISS :	122d 18h ​​33min
Landing:	September 17, 2012, 02:53 UTC
Landing place:	85 km northeast of Arkalyk , Kazakhstan 50 ° 59 ′  N , 67 ° 15 ′  E
Flight duration:	124d 23h 52min
Earth orbits:	2000
Team photo
Sergei Rewin, Gennadi Padalka, Joseph Acaba
◄ Before / After ►
Soyuz TMA-03M (manned) Soyuz TMA-05M (manned)

Soyuz TMA-04M is a mission name for a flight of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz to the International Space Station . As part of the ISS program, the flight is designated ISS AF-30S. It was the 30th visit by a Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS and the 136th flight in the Soyuz program.

crew

Main crew

• Gennady Ivanovich Padalka (4th space flight), commander, ( Russia / Roscosmos )
• Sergei Nikolajewitsch Rewin (1st space flight), flight engineer, (Russia / Roskosmos)
• Joseph Michael Acaba (2nd spaceflight), flight engineer, ( USA / NASA )

Substitute team

• Oleg Wiktorowitsch Novizki (1st space flight), Commander, (Russia / Roscosmos)
• Evgeni Igorewitsch Tarelkin (1st space flight), flight engineer, (Russia / Roscosmos)
• Kevin Anthony Ford (2nd space flight), flight engineer, (USA / NASA)

Mission description

The mission brought three crew members from ISS expeditions 31 and 32 to the International Space Station. The Soyuz spaceship replaced the Soyuz TMA-22 as an escape pod.

The mission was originally scheduled to start on March 30, 2012. However, with the tightness test in was Energija -Werk Korolev , the re-entry capsule of the Soyuz spaceship seriously damaged. It was decided to remove the entire spaceship with the serial number 704 and to accelerate the preparation of the spaceship actually intended for Soyuz TMA-05M . As a result, the next possible launch date for Soyuz TMA-04M was postponed to May 15, 2012. The original spacecraft was fitted with a new landing capsule and used with the serial number 704A on the Soyuz TMA-07M space flight .

Soyuz TMA-04M then took off without any problems on May 15, 2012 at 3:01 UTC from launch pad 1 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome to the ISS. Two days later, the spacecraft docked at 4:36 UTC at a record altitude of 399 kilometers on the Russian mini research module Poisk .

The decoupling from the ISS took place on September 16, 2012 at 23:09 UTC. This marked the end of ISS Expedition 32 and the beginning of Expedition 33 . The landing in Kazakhstan took place about four hours later on September 17, 2012 at 02:53 UTC. With this flight Padalka had spent a total of 711 days in space , only Sergei Krikalev with 803 days, Alexander Kaleri with 769 days and Sergei Avdejew with 747 days have even more space experience than him.

See also

• List of Soyuz missions
• List of manned space flights

Web links

Commons : Soyuz TMA-04M  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Soyuz TMA-04M at spacefacts.de
• Soyuz TMA-04M on the Russian Space Web
• Soyuz TMA-04M at space.kursknet.ru (English / Russian , archived 2016)
• Soyuz TMA-04M in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
• Soyuz TMA-04M in the NSSDCA Master Catalog (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Планируемые полёты. astronaut.ru, March 13, 2012, accessed March 23, 2012 (Russian). 
2. ↑ Robert Pearlman: Soyuz TMA-04M launch reset for May 15.collectSPACE, February 2, 2012, accessed on March 23, 2012 . 
3. ^ William Harwood: Russia orders Soyuz delays in wake of test mishap. Spaceflightnow.com, February 2, 2012, accessed March 23, 2012 . 
4. ↑ Soyuz docks at the ISS at a record height. Focus Online, May 17, 2012, accessed May 17, 2012 .