Soyuz TMA-15
Mission typeISS crew rotation
OperatorRoskosmos
COSPAR ID2009-030A
SATCAT no.35010
Mission duration6 months and 4 days
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft typeSoyuz-TMA 11F732
ManufacturerRKK Energia
Crew
Crew size3
MembersRoman Romanenko
Frank De Winne
Robert Brent Thirsk
CallsignТаймыр (Taymyr)[1] or
Парус (Parus, meaning Sail)[1]
Start of mission
Launch date27 May 2009, 10:34:53 (2009-05-27UTC10:34:53Z) UTC[2][3]
RocketSoyuz-FG
Launch siteBaikonur 1/5
End of mission
Landing date1 December 2009, 07:17 (2009-12-01UTC07:18Z) UTC[4]
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth
Perigee altitude151 kilometres (94 mi)
Apogee altitude414 kilometres (257 mi)
Inclination51.6 degrees
Period90.16 minutes
Epoch28 May 2009[5]
Docking with ISS
Docking portZarya nadir
Docking date29 May 2009
12:34 UTC
Undocking date1 December 2009
03:56 UTC[6]
Time docked185d 15h 22m

From left to right; Thirsk, Romanenko and De Winne
Soyuz programme
(Crewed missions)
 

Soyuz TMA-15 was a crewed spaceflight to the International Space Station. Part of the Soyuz programme, it transported three members of the Expedition 20 crew to the space station. TMA-15 was the 102nd crewed flight of a Soyuz spacecraft, since Soyuz 1 in 1967. The Soyuz spacecraft remained docked to the space station during Expedition 20 and Expedition 21 as an emergency escape vehicle. The mission marked the start of six-person crew operations on the ISS.

Crew

Position[7][8] Crew Member
Commander Russia Roman Romanenko
Expedition 20
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer 1 Belgium Frank De Winne, ESA
Expedition 20
Second and last spaceflight
Flight Engineer 2 Canada Robert Thirsk, CSA
Expedition 20
Second and last spaceflight

Backup crew

Position Cosmonaut
Commander Russia Dmitrij Kondratiyev
Flight Engineer 1 Netherlands André Kuipers, ESA
Flight Engineer 2 Canada Chris Hadfield, CSA

Mission highlights

The rollout of Soyuz TMA-15 on 25 May, with an American flag painted on the capsule

Soyuz TMA-15 was launched successfully by a Soyuz-FG carrier rocket from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, at 10:34 UTC on 27 May 2009. It docked with the ISS at 12:34 UTC on 29 May 2009.

Roman Romanenko was the third second-generation space traveller. He was reported to have chosen Taymyr (Russian: Таймыр) as the mission callsign because it was the callsign on his father's first flight, Soyuz 26;[1] however, the callsign Parus (Russian: Парус meaning Sail) was used for communications with the spacecraft.[1] Robert Thirsk became the first Canadian to fly on a Soyuz; all previous Canadians in space had flown aboard Space Shuttles. Frank De Winne became the first European to be in command of the ISS.

The craft and crew returned to earth 1 December 2009.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 NASA TV coverage of the launch of Soyuz TMA-15, 2009-05-27
  2. ↑ CSA (2008). "Canadian astronauts Julie Payette and Robert Thirsk to go on space missions in 2009". CSA. Archived from the original on 14 February 2009. Retrieved 27 February 2008.
  3. ↑ NASA. "Consolidated Launch Manifest". NASA. Retrieved 28 March 2009.
  4. ↑ NASA (24 November 2009). "NASA TV to Broadcast Space Station Crew Soyuz Landing Events". NASA. Retrieved 1 December 2009.
  5. ↑ McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
  6. ↑ Zak, Anatoly. "Mission of Soyuz TMA-15". RussianSpaceWeb. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
  7. ↑ NASA (11 February 2008). "NASA Assigns Crews for STS-127 and Expedition 19 Missions". NASA. Retrieved 11 February 2008.
  8. ↑ ESA (2008). "Frank De Winne prepares for new mission". ESA. Retrieved 3 November 2008.
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