Expedition 15

Expedition 15 was the 15th expedition to the International Space Station (ISS). Four crew members participated in the expedition, although for most of the expedition's duration only three were on the station at any one time. During Expedition 15, the ISS Integrated Truss Structure was expanded twice: STS-117 brought the S3/S4 truss, and STS-118 brought the S5 truss.

ISS Expedition 15
Mission typeISS Expedition
Mission duration6 months, 14 days (at ISS)
196 days, 17 hours, 17 minutes (launch to landing)
Expedition
Space StationInternational Space Station
Began7 April 2007 (2007-04-07)
Ended21 October 2007 (2007-10-22)
Arrived aboardSoyuz TMA-10
Williams: STS-116
Space Shuttle Discovery
Anderson: STS-117
Space Shuttle Atlantis
Departed aboardSoyuz TMA-10
Williams: STS-117
Space Shuttle Atlantis
Anderson: STS-120
Space Shuttle Discovery
Crew
Crew size3
MembersFyodor Yurchikhin
Oleg Kotov
Sunita Williams* (to June)
Clayton Anderson† (from June)
* - transferred from Expedition 14
† - transferred to Expedition 16
EVAs2
EVA duration11 hours, 2 minutes

Second part crew from left to right: Clayton Anderson, Fyodor Yurchikhin, Oleg Kotov
 

Crew
Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin (left) and Oleg Kotov, along with astronaut Clay Anderson (right) wearing yellow hard hats in a less serious moment.
Position[1] First Part
(April to June 2007)		 Second Part
(June to October 2007)
Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, RSA
Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer 1 Oleg Kotov, RSA
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer 2 Sunita Williams, NASA
First Spaceflight		 Clayton Anderson, NASA
First spaceflight

Crew Notes

Flight Engineer Sunita Williams was the first Expedition 15 crew member to arrive. She participated in Expedition 14, until Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin assumed command of the station. Williams arrived at the station on 11 December 2006, aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery flight STS-116. Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov arrived the station on 9 April 2007 aboard Soyuz TMA-10.

On 26 April 2007, NASA announced that Williams would return to Earth on STS-117, flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis, instead of STS-118 as originally planned.[2] Williams was replaced by Clayton Anderson, who arrived at the station aboard Atlantis, which docked on 10 June 2007.

Expedition 15 ended officially after Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson arrived at the station aboard Soyuz TMA-11, and the official change of command ceremony took place on 19 October 2007.

Backup crew

Mission details
  • Launch: 7 April 2007 17:31 UTC
  • Docking: 9 April 2007 07:10 UTC
  • Undocking: 21 October 2007 07:14 UTC
  • Landing: 21 October 2007 10:46 UTC
  • LandingSite: Ballistic Trajectory Landing Site northwest of Arkalyk

On 21 October 2007, after the separation of the Soyuz TMA-10 capsule, Moscow Mission Control reported that the Soyuz had entered into a ballistic trajectory, which resulted in a landing that was 340 kilometres (210 mi) short of the intended Kazakhstan landing site.[3][4] Landing occurred without incident, and by 10:55 UTC, all crew members were out of the capsule, and the vehicle was secured. Until then, the only other time a Soyuz landing had resulted in a ballistic trajectory was the landing of Soyuz TMA-1, for Expedition 6.[3] Another ballistic trajectory occurred with the landing of Soyuz TMA-11 on 19 April 2008 for Expedition 16.[5]

EVAs
See also: List of spacewalks and moonwalks, List of ISS spacewalks, and Extra-vehicular activity
Original second portion of Expedition 15 crew portrait, from left to right: Daniel Tani, Yurchikhin, Kotov. Due to a change in schedule, Tani joined Expedition 16 in October 2007.
  • EVA 1: 30 May 2007 – Yurchikhin/Kotov, 5 hours, 25 minutes.[6]
  • EVA 2: 6 June 2007 – Yurchikhin/Kotov, 5 hours, 37 minutes.[7]
  • EVA 3: 23 July 2007 – Yurchikhin/Anderson 7 hours, 41 minutes.[8][9]

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

  1. NASA (2006). "NASA Announces New International Space Station Crew". NASA. Retrieved 21 October 2007.
  2. NASA. "NASA to Rotate Station Astronauts on Next Shuttle Mission". NASA.
  3. William Harwood (2007). "Soyuz capsule makes 'ballistic' descent to Earth". CBS News – Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 21 October 2007.
  4. "Soyuz Craft Lands Safely in Kazakhstan". ABC News. Associated Press. 2007. Archived from the original on 8 June 2009. Retrieved 21 October 2007.
  5. William Harwood (2008). "Whitson describes rough Soyuz entry and landing". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 12 July 2008.
  6. NASA (2007). "Spacewalk Complete, Debris Panels Installed". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved 21 October 2007.
  7. NASA (2007). "Cosmonauts Wrap Up Debris-Panel Spacewalk". NASA. Retrieved 21 October 2007.
  8. NASA. "Station Crew Winds Up Ammonia Reservoir Jettison Spacewalk". NASA. Retrieved 23 July 2007.
  9. spaceflightnow.com (24 July 2007). "Expedition 15: EVA highlights".

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