SOYUZ TMA-19

2010-029A

June 16, 2010 (Moscow time)

Pad 1, Site 5, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of

Kazakhstan

November 26, 2010

52 miles northeast of Arkalyk, Republic of Kazakhstan Soyuz-FG (serial number Ы5000-032),

Soyuz TMA-19 (serial number 229)

163 da 7h 10 min 47 s Olympus

ISS-24/25 resident crew transport (23S)

Flight Crew

YURCHIKHIN, Fyodor Nikolayevich, 51, civilian, RSA, Soyuz commander,

ISS flight engineer, third mission

Previous missions: STS-112 (2002), TMA-10 (2007)

WALKER, Shannon, 45, civilian, NASA, Soyuz/ISS flight engineer WHEELOCK, Douglas Harry, 50, NASA, Soyuz/ISS flight engineer, second mission

Previous mission: STS-120 (2007)

Flight log

On arrival at the station on TMA-19 on June 17, this crew served as flight engineers on ISS-24 before taking over as the prime core crew of ISS-25 on September 22, when Douglas Wheelock assumed ISS command from the outgoing Skvortsov. Under the ISS-25 residency, the crew continued the extensive scientific program as a three-person crew until early October, when the TMA-01M trio arrived to complete the ISS-25 complement. During their 163-day space odyssey, the TMA-19 crew would spend approximately 160 days aboard the station, 97 of them as members of the ISS-24 crew and then a further 63 in prime command of ISS-25.

The TMA-19 crew relocated their spacecraft at the station very early in the residency. The docking at the aft port of Zvezda on June 17 was followed just nine days later by the relocation of their Soyuz to the Rassvet module, allowing future arrivals to use the aft Service Module port. The 25 min operation was delayed by 75 minutes due to difficulties feathering the P4 truss solar wings to allow the smooth passage of the Soyuz. Following the docking, the crew inspected the docking cone of Rassvet to document any scuff marks as a result of the linkup. This was the first time a Soyuz had docked with the Rassvet module.

Soyuz TMA-19 docks with the Rassvet MRM-1.

When the second half of the ISS-25 crew arrived in the first TMA-M vehicle, the science program returned to its full potential. As with all new crews arriving on the station, formalities and zero-g adaptation took a few days, but the science work had to continue, as did preparations for receiving the next Shuttle mission (STS-133). On October 18, the Russian members of the international crew took part in an all-Russian census, confirming they were Russian nationals. Yurchikhin, who had participated, during 2002, in a previous census from orbit, revealed that he also had Greek roots.

On October 20, the Progress M-07M engine fired for a 3 min 49 s burn to raise the orbital altitude of the complex by just 890 m (2920 ft), a small but essential alteration to assist with the upcoming docking of Progress M-08M and STS-133. Five days later, on October 25, Progress M-05M was undocked from the Pirs port and placed in a parking orbit until it reentered on November 15. On October 30, a new resupply craft, Progress M-08M, docked at Pirs. Aboard the new craft were 6,3201b (1,293.07 kg) of supplies and a few treats for the upcoming Halloween holiday.

On October 31, the 10th anniversary of the launch of the first resident crew to the station (ISS-1 aboard Soyuz TM-31) was observed, followed on November 2 by the anniversary of the docking and transfer of the first expedition into the station to start continuous occupation. In 10 years of successive crew exchanges, 24 resident crews comprising 196 crew members had logged 1.5 billion miles (2.415 billion km) or 57,361 manned orbits of Earth. NASA Administrator and former

Shuttle astronaut Charles Bolden Ukened the achievement to a modern day Star Trek.

With the news that Shuttle mission STS-133 had been delayed to the end of November at the earliest, the crew focused on preparing for a Russian section EVA, as well as maintaining the routine-but-necessary housekeeping and maintenance program that had kept the station operating successfully for 10 years.

On November 15, Yurchikhin and Skripochka conducted a 6h 27min EVA from the Pirs module wearing Orlan suits. A small workstation was installed on the starboard side of Zvezda and samples were taken from underneath the insula­tion covering on both Pirs and Zvezda for later analysis on Earth. A new materials experiment was deployed on Pirs and a robotic experiment was cleaned and removed for return inside the station. The cosmonauts found it difficult to remove some insulation on Rassvet that was blocking the installation of a TV camera, so the camera was returned to the station while the problem was evalu­ated. The day after the EVA saw the cosmonauts performing post-EVA maintenance on the suits, including drying them, performing systems checks, and discharging the suit batteries.

The return of the ISS-25 crew was scheduled four days earlier than planned due to an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) summit in Astana, Kazakhstan during the first two days in December. This would require clear air space in the vicinity, even from descending spacecraft! Anticipating their homecoming, Wheelock was looking forward to a shower not having had one since June. Walker was told, not very encouragingly, that a Soyuz landing was very similar to “a series of explosions followed by a car crash!” After conducting a “considerable amount of science” on their expedition, the TMA-19 crew’s stay on the station was coming to an end. Their Soyuz was checked over and Kelly officially took over command of the station on November 24, beginning the 26th expedition.

Late on November 25, the three returning crew members entered their Soyuz and closed the hatches. Undocking occurred on November 26 and they landed 3 hours 23 minutes later in Kazakhstan after a 163-day mission. In just over 10 years, a total of 25 expeditions had been completed successfully. Now, the first crew of the second decade of operations to occupy the station was on board, with several other crews in various stages of training across the globe.

Milestones

277th manned space ffight 112th Russian manned space flight 105th manned Soyuz flight 19th manned Soyuz TMA mission 23rd ISS Soyuz mission (23S)

24/25th ISS resident crew

100th launch dedicated to ISS operations since November 1998 Walker becomes first Houston, Texas, U. S.A. citizen in space First Soyuz docking with Rassvet module

First time two women were on main ISS resident crew (Walker and Caldwell Dyson)

Ten years of constant resident crew operations completed (November 2)