Soyuz TMA-18M

Soyuz TMA-18M was a 2015 Soyuz spaceflight to the International Space Station. It provided the two twelve-months occupants (Scott Kelly and Mikhail Korniyenko) at the International Space Station with a fresh Soyuz capsule. TMA-18M was the 127th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft; the first having occurred in 1967. The ascent flight consisted of a Russian commander and two flight engineers from Denmark (ESA) and Kazakhstan respectively.[1] The flight launched in September 2015 and returned to Earth in March 2016.

Soyuz TMA-18M
Soyuz TMA-18M undocks from the ISS, 2 March 2016.
OperatorRoskosmos
COSPAR ID2015-043A
SATCAT no.40885
Mission duration181d 23h 48m
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft typeSoyuz-TMA 11F747 No.718
ManufacturerRKK Energia
Crew
Crew size3
MembersSergey Volkov
LaunchingAndreas Mogensen
Aydyn Aimbetov
LandingMikhail Korniyenko
Scott Kelly
CallsignEridan
Start of mission
Launch date2 September 2015
04:37:42 UTC
RocketSoyuz-FG
End of mission
Landing date2 March 2016
04:25:27 UTC
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth
Docking with ISS
Docking portPoisk
Docking date4 September 2015
07:42:00 UTC
Undocking date2 March 2016
01:02:30 UTC
Time docked179 days, 17 hours, 20 minutes

(l-r) Mogensen, Volkov and Aimbetov
Soyuz programme
(Crewed missions)
 

The Kazakh Aidyn Aimbetov is of the first Kazakh cosmonaut class, and the first to fly.[2] The ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen became the first Dane in space.[3]

The descent crew was the same Russian commander and the two twelve-months occupants in March 2016. Two of the ascent crew members returned to Earth with Soyuz TMA-16M in September 2015.

Crew
Position[4] Launching Crew Member Landing Crew Member
Commander Sergey Volkov, RSA
Expedition 45
Third and last spaceflight
Flight Engineer 1 Andreas Mogensen[5], ESA
IrISS[6]
First spaceflight		 Mikhail Korniyenko, RSA
Expedition 46
Second and last spaceflight
Flight Engineer 2 Aidyn Aimbetov[1], KazCosmos
N/A
First spaceflight		 Scott Kelly, NASA
Expedition 46
Fourth and last spaceflight

Backup crew
Position[7] Crew Member
Commander Oleg Skripochka, RSA
Flight Engineer 1 Thomas Pesquet, ESA
Flight Engineer 2 Sergey Prokopyev, RSA

Space tourist in the third seat

Originally the third member should have been the British singer Sarah Brightman as a space tourist, but on May 13, 2015, she announced she had withdrawn from training.[8]

Japanese entrepreneur Satoshi Takamatsu trained as Sarah Brightman's backup, but he withdrew from the flight as the art projects he had planned to carry out would not be ready by the September launch date. He stated he would try for a later flight when his projects were ready to fly.[2]

Russian businessman Filaret Galchev was offered the seat, but he realized that he didn't have the time to prepare himself for the flight.[1]

Roscosmos chose the Kazakh cosmonaut Aidyn Aimbetov as an alternative instead.[2]

Landing

The spacecraft successfully landed on 2 March 2016 04:26 UTC,[9] returning the ISS year long mission crew.

Later use

Today the spent Soyuz TMA-18M capsule is on display at the Danish Museum of Science & Technology in Elsinore.[10]

See also

References
  1. TASS (22 June 2015). "Kazakhstani cosmonaut to fly to ISS in September in place of British singer Brightman".
  2. Jeff Foust (22 June 2015). "Kazakh Cosmonaut To Take Brightman's Place On Soyuz Flight". Space News.
  3. "Soyuz TMA-18M launches on two day trip to ISS". 1 September 2015.
  4. Планируемые полёты (in Russian). astronaut.ru. Retrieved 2012-09-04.
  5. Andreas Mogensen set for Soyuz mission to Space Station in 2015
  6. ESA. "Andreas Mogensen's mission name links cosmos and Earth". Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  7. astronaut.ru (2013). "Орбитальные полёты".
  8. Singer Sarah Brightman calls off flight to space station 13 May 2015
  9. Gebhardt,Chris (2016-03-01). "Year In Space mission ends with Soyuz TMA-18M return". nasaspaceflight.com. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  10. "Historic space capsule 'touches down' in Denmark". 12 April 2018. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
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