Soyuz TMA-16

The Soyuz TMA-16 (Russian: Союз TMA-16) was a crewed flight to and from the International Space Station (ISS). It transported two members of the Expedition 21 crew[1] and a Canadian entrepreneur from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the ISS. TMA-16 was the 103rd flight of a Soyuz spacecraft, the first flight launching in 1967. The launch of Soyuz TMA-16 marked the first time since 1969 that three Soyuz craft were in orbit simultaneously.

Soyuz TMA-16
Mission typeISS crew rotation
OperatorRoskosmos
COSPAR ID2009-053A
SATCAT no.35940
Mission duration168 days
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftSoyuz No.226
Spacecraft typeSoyuz-TMA 11F732
ManufacturerRKK Energia
Crew
Crew size3 up
2 down
MembersMaksim Surayev
Jeffrey Williams
LaunchingGuy Laliberté
Start of mission
Launch dateSeptember 30, 2009, 07:14:45 (2009-09-30UTC07:14:45Z) UTC[1][2]
RocketSoyuz-FG
Launch siteBaikonur 1/5
End of mission
Landing dateMarch 18, 2010, 11:24 (2010-03-18UTC11:25Z) UTC[1]
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth
Perigee altitude340 kilometres (210 mi)
Apogee altitude351 kilometres (218 mi)
Inclination51.6 degrees
Period91.44 minutes
EpochOctober 7, 2009[3]
Docking with ISS
Docking portZvezda aft
Docking date2 October 2009
08:35 UTC
Undocking date21 January 2010
10:03 UTC
Time docked111d 1h 28m
Docking with ISS
(Relocation)
Docking portPoisk zenith
Docking date21 January 2010
10:24 UTC
Undocking date18 March 2010
08:03 UTC
Time docked55d 21h 39m

From left to right: Laliberté, Williams and Surayev
Soyuz programme
(Crewed missions)
 

Guy Laliberté, founder and CEO of Cirque du Soleil, was a spaceflight participant aboard TMA-16 during its flight to the ISS, paying approximately US$35 million for his seat through the American firm Space Adventures.[4] He returned on board the Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft left as an emergency vehicle during that previous flight. The Soyuz TMA-16 flight spacecraft flew back to Earth with only two crew members.

Crew
Position[4][5] Launching Crew Member Landing Crew Member
Commander Maksim Surayev
Expedition 21
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer Jeffrey Williams, NASA
Expedition 21
Third spaceflight
Spaceflight Participant Guy Laliberté, SA
Only spaceflight
Tourist		 None

Backup Crew
Position[6] Launching Crew Member Landing Crew Member
Commander Aleksandr Skvortsov
Flight Engineer Shannon Walker, NASA
Spaceflight Participant Barbara Barrett, SA
Tourist		 None

Mission highlights
Soyuz TMA-16 Lands
Soyuz TMA-16 lifts off
The Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft approaches the International Space Station
Soyuz TMA-16 during the relocation to the zenith-facing port of the Poisk module.

Soyuz TMA-16 was docked to the ISS at the aft port of the Zvezda module. On January 21, 2010, cosmonaut Suraev and Expedition 22 Commander Jeffrey Williams relocated the spacecraft to the zenith-facing port of the Poisk module.[7] The Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft undocked from the aft end of the Zvezda service module at 5:03 a.m. EST and backed away to a distance of about 100 feet from the space station. Undocking occurred as the station flew about 213 miles high off the southwest coast of Africa. Re-docking occurred at 5:24 a.m. EST after Suraev fired the Soyuz maneuvering thrusters to fly halfway around the orbiting space station and line up with the Poisk module.

Spaceflight participant Guy Laliberté landed aboard Soyuz TMA-14 after approximately 12 days in space while Surayev and Williams landed aboard TMA-16 in Kazakhstan on March 18, 2010.

Space tourism status

Soyuz TMA-16 could have been the final flight of a space tourist to the International Space Station for some time. With the imminent retirement of the Space Shuttle and the expansion of the station to six crew members, all Soyuz crew positions for the foreseeable future should be occupied by Expedition crew,[8] until another crewed spacecraft such as Dragon 2 is available to service the International Space Station.

References
  1. NASA Assigns Space Station Crews, Updates Expedition Numbering - NASA press release - 08-306 - Nov. 21, 2008
  2. NASA. "Consolidated Launch Manifest". NASA. Retrieved March 28, 2009.
  3. McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  4. Associated Press (October 1, 2009). "Circus tycoon Guy Laliberté becomes first clown in space". London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved October 1, 2009.
  5. NASA HQ (November 21, 2008). "NASA Assigns Space Station Crews, Updates Expedition Numbering". NASA. Retrieved November 21, 2008.
  6. Жена главы компании Intel готовится стать космонавтом Archived 2012-02-14 at the Wayback Machine
  7. Stephen Clark (January 21, 2010). "Crew shifts Soyuz capsule to new station docking port". Spaceflightnow.com. Retrieved January 21, 2010.
  8. AFP (November 13, 2008). "Russia sees end of road for space tourism". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved October 1, 2009.
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