Soyuz TM-31

Soyuz TM-31 was the first Soyuz spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station (ISS).[1] This Soyuz-TM spacecraft carried the members of Expedition 1, the first long-duration ISS crew. It was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 07:52 UT on October 31, 2000 by a Soyuz-U rocket.

Soyuz TM-31
OperatorRosaviakosmos
COSPAR ID2000-070A
SATCAT no.26603
Mission duration186 days, 21 hours, 48 minutes, 41 seconds
Orbits completed~3,040
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft typeSoyuz-TM
ManufacturerRKK Energia
Crew
Crew size3
LaunchingYuri Gidzenko
Sergei Krikalev
William Shepherd
LandingTalgat Musabayev
Yuri Baturin
Dennis Tito
CallsignUran
Start of mission
Launch dateOctober 31, 2000, 07:52:47 (2000-10-31UTC07:52:47Z) UTC
RocketSoyuz-U
Launch siteGagarin's Start
End of mission
Landing dateMay 6, 2001, 05:41:28 (2001-05-06UTC05:41:29Z) UTC
Landing site90 kilometres (56 mi) NE of Arkalyk
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth
Perigee altitude190 kilometres (120 mi)
Apogee altitude249 kilometres (155 mi)
Inclination51.6 degrees
Period88.6 minutes
Docking with ISS
Docking portZvezda aft
Docking date2 November 2000
09:21 UTC
Undocking date24 February 2001
10:06 UTC
Time docked114d 45m
Docking with ISS
(Relocation)
Docking portZarya nadir
Docking date24 February 2001
10:37 UTC
Undocking date18 April 2001
12:40 UTC
Time docked53d 2h 3m
Docking with ISS
(Relocation)
Docking portZvezda aft
Docking date18 April 2001
13:01 UTC
Undocking date6 May 2001
02:21 UTC
Time docked17d 13h 20m
Soyuz programme
(Crewed missions)
 
Soyuz TM-31 is transported to the Launch Pad at the Baikonur complex, 29 October 2000

The crew consisted of Russian cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, and American William Shepherd. Gidzenko was Commander of the flight up, but once aboard the station, Shepherd became Commander of the long-duration mission Expedition 1.[2]

The spacecraft served as the crew's lifeboat while docked to the ISS. The Expedition 1 crew were returned to Earth via a Space Shuttle during STS-102 in March 2001, and the Soyuz TM-31 spacecraft stayed with the station for part of Expedition 2. In April 2001 another spacecraft, Soyuz TM-32, arrived at the station, and took over responsibilities as the station's lifeboat. The crew launched by Soyuz TM-32, which included the first paying space tourist Dennis Tito, were returned to Earth in May aboard Soyuz TM-31. The visiting mission of which Tito was a part is sometimes referred to as ISS EP-1.

Crew
Position Launching crew Landing crew
Commander Yuri Gidzenko, RKA
Expedition 1
Second spaceflight		 Talgat Musabayev, RKA
ISS EP-1
Third and last spaceflight
Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev, RKA
Expedition 1
Fifth spaceflight		 Yuri Baturin, RKA
ISS EP-1
Second and last spaceflight
Flight Engineer/Spaceflight Participant William Shepherd, NASA
Expedition 1
Fourth and last spaceflight		 Dennis Tito, SA
ISS EP-1
Only spaceflight
Tourist

Docking with ISS
  • Docked to ISS: November 2, 2000, 09:21 UTC (to aft port of Zvezda)
  • Undocked from ISS: February 24, 2001, 10:06 UTC (from aft port of Zvezda)
  • Docked to ISS: February 24, 2001, 10:37 UTC (to nadir port of Zarya)
  • Undocked from ISS: April 18, 2001, 12:40 UTC (from nadir port of Zarya)
  • Docked to ISS: April 18, 2001, 13:01 UTC (to aft port of Zvezda)
  • Undocked from ISS: May 6, 2001, 02:21 UTC (from aft port of Zvezda)

Mission highlights

The Soyuz carried a crew of three to dock it with the Zvezda module of the International Space Station (ISS) at about 09:21 UT on November 2. The Progress M1-3 cargo craft that was docked with Zvezda was released to make way for the Soyuz. The crew of two Russian and one American spent over three months on the ISS, and returned to Earth in an American shuttle (STS-102) in February 2001. In the initial days, the crew brought a variety of life support systems on-line, and created a laptop computer network that helped run all systems in the ISS. The remaining months were allotted for exercise and space endurance practice. The crew was the group to launch the "permanent inhabitation" of the ISS. Since their launch, ISS and space are permanently occupied. The International Space Station only has funding through 2025 and is set to de-orbit sometime in 2028.

References
  1. "Soyuz ISS Missions" (PDF). NASA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-12-02.
  2. "ISS: 10 Years of Human Space Mission". Russian Federal Space Agency. Archived from the original on 2012-03-01.
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