News

May 29, 2013.
Soyuz TMA-09M docked with the ISS 5 hours 39 minutes after the launch!

Approach to the space station, its fly-around, stationkeeping and docking were performed normally, in automatic mode.

The initial contact with the docking port on the research module MRM1 Rassvet of the Russian segment of the ISS occurred at 06:10 Moscow Time.

The mission control and the monitoring of the spacecraft systems status during rendezvous and docking were provided by the Lead Operations Control Team working at the Mission Control Center near Moscow (MCC-M). The Flight Director is the RSC Energia First Deputy General Designer V.A.Soloviev.

The final flight operations in the course of the spacecraft rendezvous and docking with the space station were supervised by the State Commission for manned systems flight tests and the Technical Manager for flight tests of manned space systems, the RSC Energia President and General Designer V.A. Lopota.

After a leak test of the spacecraft compartments and the docking unit, and equalization of pressure between the space station and the spacecraft, the transfer hatches were opened. The spacecraft crew transferred to the Russian segment of the ISS.

A joint international crew of the 36-th Expedition (ISS-36) began its work on-board the space station: cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov, Alexander Misurkin, Fyodor Yurchikhin (Roskosmos), astronauts Christopher Cassidy, Karen Nyberg (NASA), Luka Parmitano (European Space Agency).

On-board systems of the ISS, and spacecraft Progress M-18M, Progress M-19M, Soyuz TMA-08M, Soyuz TMA-09M operate normally.

Present at MCC-M during the final operations of the spacecraft rendezvous and docking with ISS were representatives of Roscosmos, and foreign space agencies.

 

For information:

1. RSC Energia is the prime organization for developing and operating the ISS Russian segment, its modules and spacecraft Soyuz TMA and Progress M.
2. Working at present within ISS are 5 Russian-made modules (Zarya, Zvezda, Pirs, Poisk, Rassvet) and 4 Russian transportation spacecraft.
3. This is the second docking of the manned spacecraft Soyuz TMA-M using the so-called quick rendezvous and docking profile, where the crew arrives at the station within the first six hours after launch.