Soyuz TMA-2

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Soyuz TMA-2
Mission statistics
Mission name Soyuz TMA-2
Spacecraft name Soyuz TMA #212
Spacecraft mass 7136 kg
Crew size 3
Call sign Agat (Agate)
Launch pad Gagarin's Start
Launch date April 26, 2003 03:53:52 UTC
Landing October 28, 2003 02:40:20 UTC
49.55° N, 66.57° E, near Arkalyk
Mission duration 184 days, 22 hours 46 minutes, 28 seconds
Number of orbits ~3,005
Apogee 242 km [± 42] km
Perigee 200 km [+7, -22] km
Orbital period 1h 18m 38s [± 22.02] s
Orbital inclination 51.67° [± 0.058]°
Crew photo
Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko (left) and Edward Tsang Lu
Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko (left) and Edward Tsang Lu
Related missions
Previous mission Next mission
Soyuz TMA-1 Soyuz TMA-3
Soyuz TMA-2 launch
Soyuz TMA-2 launch

Soyuz TMA-2 was a Soyuz mission to the International Space Station (ISS) launched by a Soyuz FG launch vehicle. The spacecraft docked with the ISS 2003-04-28 and undocked 2003-10-27.[1]

Contents

[edit] Crew

[edit] Launched and landed ISS Expedition 7 crew:

[edit] Landed:

[edit] Mission parameters

  • Mass: 7136 kg
  • Perigee: 200 km
  • Apogee: 250 km
  • Inclination: 51.7°
  • Period: 88.7 min

[edit] Docking with ISS

[edit] Mission highlights

Soyuz TMA-2 (Russian Союз ТМА-2, Union TMA-2) is a Russian spaceflight mission to the International Space Station, the second flight for the TMA modification of the Soyuz spacecraft, and the 6th Soyuz to fly to the ISS.

The commander is Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko (Russia), and flight engineer Edward Tsang Lu (USA), and after docking with the ISS they exchanged with the resident crew on ISS and became the seventh station crew, called "ISS Expedition Seven". As backup crew Alexander Kaleri and Michael Foale stood by.

Originally the Soyuz missions to the ISS were all planned to be only taxi mission to deliver a new Soyuz spacecraft as the station's lifeboat every six month with a visiting crew, but not for crew exchange. Until the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster the same was planned for Soyuz TMA-2, a visiting crew consisting of commander Gennady Padalka and ESA-astronaut Pedro Duque were to spend about one week at the station and then return with the previous Soyuz TMA-1 spacecraft. The third seat might have gone to the Chilean Klaus von Storch as a Chilean space agency (Agencia Chilena del Espacio) cosmonaut, but even before the Columbia disaster it looked like his flight would not happen, and the seat would go to the Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov or to deliver freight to the station.

During his stay on the station, Malenchenko became the first person to get married in space. His bride was in Texas where long distance marriages are legal.

Soyuz TMA-2 landing
Soyuz TMA-2 landing

The spacecraft returned to Earth on October 28, with both the "Expedition 7" crew as well as Pedro Duque on board. Duque was launched with Soyuz TMA-3 and spent only one week on board of the ISS.

[edit] References