Soyuz TMA-8

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Soyuz TMA-8
Союз ТМА-8
Mission insignia
Soyuz TMA-8 logo.jpg
Mission statistics
Mission name Soyuz TMA-8
Союз ТМА-8
Spacecraft mass 7,270 kg
Crew size 3
Call sign Carat
Launch pad LC-1, Baikonur Cosmodrome
Launch date March 30, 2006
02:30 UTC
Landing September 29, 2006
01:13 UTC
Kazakhstan
Mission duration 182 days
Apogee 241 km
Perigee 200 km
Orbital period 88.64 minutes
Orbital inclination 51.67°
Crew photo
Soyuz TMA-8 crew.jpg
From left to right: Marcos Pontes, Jeffrey Williams, Pavel Vinogradov
Related missions
Previous mission Subsequent mission
Soyuz TMA-7 Soyuz TMA-7 Soyuz TMA-9 Soyuz TMA-9

Soyuz TMA-8 was a Soyuz mission to the International Space Station (ISS) launched by a Soyuz FG launch vehicle.

Contents

[edit] Crew

Soyuz TMA-8 was a transport mission for portions of the International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 13 crew. The flight delivered ISS Commander Pavel Vinogradov and ISS Flight Engineer Jeffrey Williams to the station to replace Expedition 12 crew members. Flight Engineer Marcos Pontes joined the TMA-8 crew for the ascent and docking with ISS, spent approximately seven days aboard the ISS conducting experiments, then returned to Earth with the outgoing members of Expedition 12 aboard Soyuz TMA-7. Vinogradov and Williams were joined on their return trip to Earth by Spaceflight Participant Anousheh Ansari who launched aboard Soyuz TMA-9 and spent approximately eight days aboard ISS conducting experiments for the European Space Agency.

Position Launching Crew Landing Crew
Commander Pavel Vinogradov, RKA[1]
Expedition 13
Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer Jeffrey Williams, NASA[1]
Expedition 13
Second spaceflight
Spaceflight Participant Marcos Pontes, AEB[1]
First spaceflight
Anousheh Ansari, SA
First spaceflight
Tourist

[edit] Back-up crew

Position Crew
Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, RKA[2]
Flight Engineer Michael Fincke, NASA[2]
Flight Engineer Sergei Volkov, RKA[2]

[edit] Docking with ISS

  • Docked to ISS: April 1, 2006, 04:19 UTC (to nadir port of Zarya)[3]
  • Undocked from ISS: September 28, 2006, 21:53 UTC (from nadir port of Zarya)

[edit] Mission highlights

The Soyuz TMA-8 launch on 30 March 2006.
Jeffrey Williams inside the Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft

29th manned flight to ISS (Flight 12S)

Soyuz TMA-8 is a Soyuz spacecraft which was launched on March 30, 2006 by a Soyuz-FG rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Near the end of second stage burn, a communications blackout occurred at Moscow Mission Control. A satellite link was lost, but was restored about 10 minutes later. The crew was safe throughout the loss of communications.

The spacecraft carried two members of the Expedition 13 crew to the International Space Station, together with Marcos Pontes, the first Brazilian in space. The Brazilian government paid Russia approximately $20 million (USD) for Pontes' flight.[4] They replaced the Expedition 12 crew, Commander William McArthur and Valery Ivanovich Tokarev. Together with the Expedition 12 crew, Marcos Pontes returned to Earth on board Soyuz TMA-7.

Soyuz TMA-8 returned to Earth, together with Expedition 13, the spaceflight participant launched with Soyuz TMA-9, Anousheh Ansari.[5]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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