Soyuz TMA-20M

Mission emblem

Mission dates

Mission:

Soyuz TMA-20M

COSPAR-ID :

2016-018A

Spacecraft:

Soyuz 7K-STMA-Z ( GRAY index 11F747)
serial number 720

Launcher:

Soyuz FG (GRAY index 11A511FG)

Call sign:

Бурла́к (" Burlak ")

Crew:

3

Begin:

March 18, 2016, 21:26 UTC

Starting place:

Baikonur 1/5

Space station:

ISS

Docking place:

Poisk

Coupling:

March 19, 2016, 03:09 UTC

Decoupling:

September 6, 2016, 21:51 UTC

Duration on the ISS :

171d 18h 42min

Landing:

September 7, 2016, 01:13 UTC

Landing place:

148 km SE of Scheskasgan , Kazakhstan
47 ° 18 ′ N , 69 ° 39 ′ E

Flight duration:

172d 03h 47min

Earth orbits:

2752

Apogee :

406

Perigee :

402

Team photo

Jeffrey Williams, Alexei Ovchinin and Oleg Skripotschka

◄ Before / After ►

Soyuz TMA-19M
(manned)

Soyuz MS-01
(manned)

Soyuz TMA-20M is the 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-46S. It was the 46th visit by a Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS and the 152nd flight in the Soyuz program.

crew

Main crew

Alexei Nikolayevich Ovchinin (1st space flight), Commander ( Russia / Roscosmos )
Oleg Iwanowitsch Skripotschka (2nd space flight), flight engineer (Russia / Roskosmos)
Jeffrey Williams (4th space flight), flight engineer ( USA / NASA )

Substitute team

Sergei Nikolajewitsch Ryschikow (1st space flight), Commander (Russia / Roskosmos)
Andrei Iwanowitsch Borissenko (2nd space flight), flight engineer (Russia / Roskosmos)
Robert Shane Kimbrough (2nd space flight), flight engineer (USA / NASA)

Mission description

The spacecraft launched on March 18, 2016 and docked with the International Space Station six hours later. The mission brought three crew members from ISS expeditions 47 and 48 to the ISS.

It is the last use of a spaceship of the older Soyuz TMA-M design . After that, only the modernized Soyuz MS variant will be used. The use of the new Soyuz MS spaceship was originally planned for this mission. Due to problems this flight, Soyuz MS-01 , was swapped with the Soyuz TMA-20M flight.

Soyuz TMA-20M undocked on September 6, 2016 punctually at 21:51 UTC with Ovchinin, Skripotschka and Williams on board. This marked the beginning of Expedition 49 on the ISS with Anatoly Ivanishin as commander. The deorbit burn began at 0:21 UTC on September 7 and brought the lander half an hour later over northern Iraq into the denser areas of the earth's atmosphere . The braking parachute was activated at a height of 10.7 kilometers, and the huge white-orange-striped main parachute unfolded at a height of about 7.5 kilometers. The landing finally took place at 1:13 UTC 148 km southeast of Scheskasgan during a picturesque sunrise in the middle of the steppe of Kazakhstan .