SOYUZ TMA-06M

2012-058A October 23, 2012

Pad 31, Site 6, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

March 15, 2013 (planned)

North Kazakhstan landing zone (planned near to the town of Arkalyk)

Soyuz-FG (R-7) (serial number Л15000-044),

Soyuz TMA-06M (serial number 707)

144 da (planned)

Kazbek

ISS resident crew transport (ISS 33/34), ISS Soyuz 32S

Flight crew

NOVITSKIY, Oleg Victorovich, 42, Russian Federation Air Force, RSA Soyuz TMA-M commander, Soyuz 33/34 flight engineer

TARELKIN, Evgeny Igorevich, 37, Russian Federation Air Force (Retd.),

RSA Soyuz TMA-M flight engineer, ISS 33/34 flight engineer

FORD, Kevin Antony, 52, USAF (Retd.), NASA Soyuz TMA flight engineer,

ISS-33 flight mgineer, ISS-34 commander, second mission

Previous mission: STS-128 (2009)

Flight log

The next crew to launch to the space station created a small footnote to history by using a launchpad not utilized for manned missions since July 1984 (for the Soyuz T12 mission). The majority of manned launches from Baikonur have occurred from Pad 1 on Site 5. This is known as “Gagarin’s Start” in recognition of the historic 1961 mission and is steeped in cosmonautics history and tradition, but was in need of significant overhaul since its previous upgrade in 1983. It was even more important to improve the facilities at Pad 1 once the Shuttle had retired, as this became the only operational launchpad for manned missions to the Inter­national Space Station. The upgrades had already been completed at Pad 31, Site 6 and used for an unmanned launch earlier in the summer. When the work is completed at Pad 1 it will once again be used to support future manned launches.

Docking with the station occurred on October 25 at the Poisk module two days after launch to join the Expedition 33 crew as flight engineers. Following the return of the Agat trio in November the Kazbek team assumed command of the station as Expedition 34 until their return to Earth in March 2013. In December

Not exactly the usual way to fit-check a Sokol suit. From left to right Oleg Novitsky, Yevgeni Tarelkin and Kevin Ford, hoist their suits above their heads during preparations for the launch day dress rehearsal two weeks prior to lift olf. Photo credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

they were joined by the Soyuz TMA-7 trio who will return the residency to six and take over as Expedition 35 continuing the occupancy of station into 2013.

For Expedition 33/34 their five months on the station will include a number of visits by unmanned resupply craft. They will assist in the very first arrival at the ISS of the Orbital Sciences Corporation’s commercial cargo vehicle Cygnus. In addition this expedition is expected to host two further commercial SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, as well as four Russian Progress resupply vehicles. There are no space walks planned by this crew but they will be kept busy (in a “hive of activity” according to the press kit) as they continue the program of experiments conducted on previous expeditions and, during the Expedition 34 phase, initiate several new experiments on the station.

Soyuz TMA-06M became the 129th mission to the space station and the 84th Russian (RSA) mission including the failed Progress launch in August 2011. Since the launch of Zarya, the first element of the ISS in November 1998 there had been 37 U. S. (NASA) missions, three European (ESA) ATV missions, three Japanese HTY missions, and two U. S. commercial (SpaceX missions), an impressive total over a 14yr period.

As the new crew members settled on board, the NASA ISS On-Orbit Status Report for October 25, 2012 stated that effective as of 04:00 edt that day, the ISS was orbiting at 264.0 miles (424.9 km) x 249.8 miles (402.3 km) inclined at 51.65 degrees, with a period of 92.84 minutes, meaning that it was completing 15.51 orbits every 24 h Earth day.

Since its launch in November 1998 the Functional Cargo Block Zarya had logged 79,823 revolutions of Earth and accumulated 5,088 days in space, or 13 years 11 month 5 days of orbital operations. The total cumulative resident crew time, from docking with the ISS-1 aboard Soyuz TM-31 on November 2, 2000, was 4,375 days or 11 years 11 months 23 days.

With new missions on the manifest the story continues…

Milestones

290th manned space flight 121st Russian manned space flight 115th manned Soyuz 32nd ISS Soyuz mission (32S)

6th Soyuz TMA-M flight 33/34th ISS resident crew

First manned launch from Pad 31/Site 6 since Soyuz T12 in July 1984