Soyuz TMA-07M

Soyuz TMA-07M

COSPAR ID	2012-074A
SATCAT no.	39032
Start of mission
Launch date	19 December 2012, 12:12:36 (2012-12-19UTC12:12:36Z) UTC
File:Soyuz-TMA-07M-Mission-Patch.png

Soyuz TMA-07M is a current 2012 spaceflight to the International Space Station; transporting three members of the Expedition 34 crew to the station. The Soyuz is scheduled to remain docked to the space station for the Expedition 35 increment to serve as an emergency escape vehicle.

Crew

The Soyuz TMA-07M crew members conduct their ceremonial tour of Red Square on 29 November 2012.

Position	Crew Member
Commander	Roman Romanenko, RSA Expedition 34 Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer 1	Chris Hadfield, CSA Expedition 34 Third spaceflight
Flight Engineer 2	Thomas Marshburn, NASA Expedition 34 Second spaceflight

Backup crew

Position	Crew Member
Commander	Fyodor Yurchikhin, RSA
Flight Engineer 1	Luca Parmitano, ESA
Flight Engineer 2	Karen L. Nyberg, NASA

Launch

The spacecraft being transported to the launch site on 17 December 2012.

The TMA-07M spacecraft launches to the ISS on 19 December 2012.

The Soyuz FG rocket was rolled out to Launch Pad 1/5 (Gagarin’s Start) on December 17. The pre-dawn rollout was done under freezing conditions with temperatures dropping as low as –30°C. After that launch preparations were completed during the two days leading up to the launch. The Soyuz TMA-07M launch was the first to take place from Gagarin’s Start after modifications were completed. The Soyuz TMA-06M launch before that took place from Site 31/6.

The countdown operations started early on December 19 about eight hours before the planned launch time. The crew enjoyed their final breakfast and participated in the traditional pre-flight blessing by a Russian Orthodox Priest. Later, Romanenko, Hadfield and Marshburn departed the cosmonaut hotel to head to Site 254 where they began operations to don their Sokol Launch and Entry Suits at T-4:20. The crew arrived at the launch site at about T-2 hours 33 minutes. The Soyuz Commander, Romanenko occupied the center seat while Hadfield and Marshburn were strapped into the left and right seat.

The Soyuz FG rocket carrying Soyuz TMA-07M was launched on December 19, 2012 at 12:12:35 GMT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome again in freezing weather conditions. After 2-minutes and 35 seconds, the launch escape tower and payload shroud were jettisoned. The core stage continued to burn until it was shut down at 4-minute 45-second mark. The third stage ignited two seconds later and continued to burn another 3-minute 57-seconds to propel the Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft into orbit. The Soyuz targeted a 200 km by 242 km orbit with an inclination of 51.67 degrees. Upon reaching the orbit, the spacecraft deployed its solar arrays and communication antennas.

Docking

Soyuz TMA-07M docked to the Rassvet Module of the ISS.

The Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft approaches the ISS on 21 December 2012.

After the successful orbit insertion, Soyuz TMA-07M followed the 34 orbit rendezvous profile to catch up with the International Space Station (ISS). The spacecraft performed a number of orbit adjustments through a set of burns. The first two burns took place on Flight Day 1. A third minor phasing maneuver was performed on the next day. The first three burns changed the spacecraft's velocity by 29, 25 and 2 meters per second, respectively.

The docking sequence began at 11:51 GMT on December 21. Fifteen minutes after the docking sequence started, a fourth large Rendezvous burn (Δv = 23.8 meters per second) was performed to further increase the orbital altitude of the Soyuz Spacecraft. The ISS also performed its maneuver to the proper docking attitude. The activation of the KURS-A Navigation System on the ISS and the KURS-P System on the Soyuz TMA-07M occurred at 12:37 GMT and 12:39 GMT respectively to provide accurate range and velocity data for the spacecraft's on-board computers. The rendezvous and docking sequence was fully automated, however, Romanenko and Russian Mission Controllers were monitoring the systems to take control in case of an anomaly.

At 13:50 GMT Soyuz reached a distance of 400 meters, and the crew received a GO for the Flyaround maneuver which took the spacecraft on a slow lap around the ISS to align itself with the Rassvet docking port. When the seven minute Flyaround was complete, Soyuz TMA-07M initiated a short period of Stationkeeping at a distance of 190 meters. While holding at that range, mission controllers assessed the systems of the vehicle and checked its alignment with the Rassvet docking target. The final approach was initiated at 13:58 GMT and the Soyuz started to close in on the ISS.

Docking of Soyuz TMA-07M to the Space Station occurred at 14:09 GMT while the two were flying over northern Kazakhstan. Docking was three minutes early due to the shortened Stationkeeping.

Gallery

• 
  Crew members during a suited "fit check" of the Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
• 
  The spacecraft during pre-launch processing on 12 December 2012.
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  The TMA-07M crew wave to spectators before launch on 19 December 2012.
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  The joined Expedition 34 crew.