Soyuz TMA-18

Mission emblem
Mission dates
Mission:	Soyuz TMA-18
COSPAR-ID :	2010-011A
Spacecraft:	Soyuz 7K-STA ( GRAY index  11F732) serial number 228
Launcher:	Soyuz FG (GRAY index 11A511FG)
Call sign:	Утёс (" rock ")
Crew:	3
Begin:	April 2, 2010, 4:04 UTC
Starting place:	Baikonur 1/5
Space station:	ISS
Docking place:	Poisk
Coupling:	April 4, 2010, 5:25 UTC
Decoupling:	September 25, 2010, 2:02 UTC
Landing:	September 25, 2010, 5:23 UTC
Landing place:	35 km south of Arkalyk , Kazakhstan 50 ° 1 ′  N , 66 ° 58 ′  E
Flight duration:	176d 01h 19min
Earth orbits:	2772
Team photo
v. l. To the right: Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, Alexander Skworzow, Michail Kornijenko
◄ Before / After ►
Soyuz TMA-17 (manned) Soyuz TMA-19 (manned)

Soyuz TMA-18 is a mission name for the flight of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz to the International Space Station (ISS) . As part of the ISS program, the flight is designated ISS AF-22S. It was the 22nd visit of a Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS and the 128th flight in the Soyuz program.

crew

• Alexander Alexandrowitsch Skworzow , (1st space flight), Commander (Roskosmos / Russia)
• Tracy Ellen Caldwell-Dyson (2nd space flight), flight engineer (NASA / USA)
• Michail Borissowitsch Kornijenko (1st space flight), flight engineer (Roskosmos / Russia)

Mission overview

Soyuz TMA-18 took off from the Baikonur spaceport on April 2, 2010 at 4:04 UTC, and two days later brought three crew members from ISS expeditions 23 and 24 to the International Space Station. The Soyuz spaceship replaced the Soyuz TMA-16 as an escape pod. The crew received three Progress M space freighters (-05M, -06M and -07M), as well as Soyuz TMA-19 and the space shuttles STS-131 and STS-132 and carried out some outboard maneuvers .

When uncoupling the spaceship, there was a problem with the seal, so that the uncoupling process was aborted. The on-board computer reported based on sensor data that the hatch between the Poisk module and the spaceship was not hermetically closed. The spacemen left the Soyuz capsule and their return was postponed one day to September 25th. An investigation of the coupling adapter by ISS flight engineer Fjodor Yurtschichin identified a loose gear behind a panel as a possible cause. Roskosmos boss Anatoly Perminov later reported that the defect was triggered by the breakage of a small bolt, which prevented the spaceship's retaining bolts from loosening.

The second attempt to disconnect one day later on September 25, 2010 went without any problems. After a normal descent, the Soyuz TMA-18 crew capsule landed in the Kazakh steppe 35 km south of Arkalyk at around 5:23 a.m. UTC .

See also

• List of Soyuz missions
• List of manned space flights

Web links

Commons : Soyuz TMA-18  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Soyuz TMA-18 at spacefacts.de
• Soyuz TMA-18 on the Russian Space Web
• Soyuz TMA-18 at space.kursknet.ru (English / Russian , archived 2016)
• Soyuz TMA-18 in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
• Soyuz TMA-18 in the NSSDCA Master Catalog (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Позывные экипажей советских / российских космических кораблей. astronaut.ru, October 31, 2010, accessed November 9, 2010 (Russian). 
2. ↑ Spaceflight Now: Space Station Report - Mission Status Center , accessed September 25, 2010
3. ^ Soyuz crew transport capsule heads for space station. Spaceflight Now, April 2, 2010, accessed April 3, 2010 . 
4. ↑ Katherine Trinidad, Nicole Cloutier-Lemasters: NASA Assigns Space Station Crews, Updates Expedition Numbering. NASA, November 21, 2008, accessed November 21, 2008 . 
5. ↑ Soyuz TMA-18 cannot decouple from the ISS on time. RIA Novosti / Sputnik News, September 24, 2010, accessed September 24, 2010 . 
6. ↑ New attempt to uncouple the Soyuz from the ISS scheduled for Saturday. RIA Novosti / Sputnik News, September 24, 2010, accessed September 24, 2010 . 
7. ↑ A Surprising End - Soyuz Mission TMA-18/19. In FliegerRevue , November 2010, pp. 42–44