Mission insignia |
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| Number of crew | 6 | ||||
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| Launch site | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | ||||
| Launch craft | Soyuz TMA-21, Soyuz TMA-02M | ||||
| Start | 21:35, 23 May 2011 (UTC) | ||||
| End | 02:00, 16 September 2011 | ||||
(l-r) Furukawa, Fossum, Garan, Samokutyayev, Volkov and Borisenko |
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Expedition 28 was the 28th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station, and began on 23 May 2011 with the departure of the members of Expedition 27. The first three members of Expedition 28 arrived on the ISS aboard the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft on 4 April 2011, and were joined on 9 June 2011 by the three other crew members, who arrived aboard Soyuz TMA-02M.[1] The expedition saw a number of significant events, including the final Space Shuttle mission, STS-135, in July 2011. Expedition 28 was superseded by Expedition 29 on 16 September 2011.
Contents |
| Position | First Part (May 2011) |
Second Part (June 2011 to September 2011) |
|---|---|---|
| Commander | Andrei Borisenko, RSA First spaceflight |
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| Flight Engineer 1 | Aleksandr Samokutyayev, RSA First spaceflight |
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| Flight Engineer 2 | Ron Garan,[2] NASA Second spaceflight |
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| Flight Engineer 3 | Sergey Volkov, RSA Second spaceflight |
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| Flight Engineer 4 | Mike Fossum, NASA Third spaceflight |
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| Flight Engineer 5 | Satoshi Furukawa,[3] JAXA First spaceflight |
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Expedition 28 began with the undocking and departure of the crew of Expedition 27 on May 23, 2011 at 21:35 UTC. The crew of Soyuz TMA-20 landed safely with Expedition 27 crew members Dmitri Kondratyev, Catherine Coleman and Paolo Nespoli aboard at 2:27 UTC on May 24.[1][5]
Before departing the vicinity of the International Space Station, the crew of TMA-20 photographed the exterior of the station during a fly-around, capturing photos of the Space Shuttle Endeavour docked with the ISS on its final mission, STS-134.[5]
At the time Expedition 28 began, Space Shuttle Endeavour was docked to the ISS on her final mission, STS-134. During this mission, the crew of Endeavour installed on the station's exterior the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and several spare parts to aid in station operations after the retirement of the Space Shuttle. STS-134 was the 36th Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station.[6]
Endeavour and her crew, consisting of Mark Kelly, Gregory Johnson, Michael Fincke, Roberto Vittori, Andrew Feustel, and Gregory Chamitoff, returned to Earth on June 1, 2011, at 6:34 UTC. STS-134 was the second-to-last mission of the Space Shuttle.[6][7]
The remainder of the Expedition 28 crew (Sergey Volkov, Michael E. Fossum, and Satoshi Furukawa) launched aboard Soyuz TMA-02M from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 20:12 UTC on June 7, 2011.[8] Originally scheduled to dock to the ISS on June 9 at approximately 21:22 UTC,[9] the Soyuz did so several minutes early at 21:18.[1]
On 20 June 2011, European Space Agency's cargo ship Johannes Kepler (ATV-2) undocked from the ISS.[10] On 21 June 2011, the ATV was deorbited, burning up in the atmosphere over the South Pacific Ocean at around 22:44 CET.[11]
A Russian Progress cargo ship, designated M-11M (Progress 42 or 42P by NASA) was launched on 21 June 2011 to resupply and deliver equipment to the International Space Station.[12] Progress M-11M transferred more than 2.5 tons of cargo to the Space Station, including food, water, scientific hardware, propellant, and cargo. The cargo ship docked with the Zvezda service module of the Space Station at 16:37 GMT on 23 June 2011. The docking occurred 245 miles above eastern Kazakhstan.
On 8 July 2011, Space Shuttle Atlantis launched on the STS-135 mission, the final mission in NASA's Space Shuttle program. Atlantis docked to the ISS on 10 July 2011 at 15:07 UTC. The mission was crewed by NASA astronauts Christopher Ferguson, Douglas Hurley, Sandra Magnus, and Rex Walheim, and departed from the ISS on 19 July 2011. The purpose of the mission was to deliver the Raffaello MPLM, stocked with supplies, to the space station.[13]
The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft departed from the International Space Station on 16 September 2011 at 00:38 UTC.[14] Soyuz Commander Aleksandr Samokutyayev and Flight Engineers Andrei Borisenko and Ronald Garan returned to Earth on 16 September at 03:59 UTC, landing safely in central Kazakhstan.[15] Their landing marked the beginning of Expedition 29.
| Mission | Spacewalkers | Start (UTC) | End (UTC) | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expedition 28 EVA 1 |
Michael Fossum Ronald Garan |
12 July 2011 13:22 |
12 July 2011 19:53 |
6 hours and 31 minutes |
| Expedition 28 Russian EVA #29 |
Sergey Volkov Aleksandr Samokutyayev |
3 August 2011 14:50 |
3 August 2011 21:13 |
6 hours and 23 minutes |
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