Soyuz TMA-14M

Soyuz TMA-14M was a 2014 flight to the International Space Station. It transported three members of the Expedition 41 crew to the International Space Station. TMA-14M is the 123rd flight of a Soyuz spacecraft, the first flight launching in 1967. The Soyuz remained docked to the space station for the Expedition 42 increment to serve as an emergency escape vehicle until undocking and landing as scheduled in March 2015.

Soyuz TMA-14M
Soyuz TMA-14M approaches the ISS with port solar array retracted, 26 September 2014
OperatorRoscosmos
COSPAR ID2014-057A
SATCAT no.40246
Mission duration167 days, 5 hours, 43 minutes
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftSoyuz 11F732A47 No.714
Spacecraft typeSoyuz-TMA 11F747
ManufacturerRKK Energia
Crew
Crew size3
MembersAleksandr Samokutyayev
Yelena Serova
Barry E. Wilmore
Start of mission
Launch date25 September 2014, 20:25:00 (2014-09-25UTC20:25Z) UTC
RocketSoyuz-FG
Launch siteBaikonur 1/5, Kazakhstan
End of mission
Landing date12 March 2015, 02:07 (2015-03-12UTC02:08Z) UTC
Landing siteKazakh Steppe, Kazakhstan
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth
Perigee altitude176 kilometres (109 mi)[1]
Apogee altitude335 kilometres (208 mi)[1]
Inclination52.06 degrees[1]
Period89.48 minutes[1]
Epoch25 September 2014, 20:13:36 UTC[1]
Docking with ISS
Docking portPoisk zenith
Docking date26 September 2014
02:11 UTC
Undocking date11 March 2015
22:44 UTC
Time docked166 days, 20 hours, 33 minutes

(l-r) Samokutyayev, Wilmore and Serova
Soyuz programme
(Crewed missions)
 

Crew

Position[2] Crew Member
Commander Aleksandr Samokutyayev, RSA
Expedition 41
Second and last spaceflight
Flight Engineer 1 Yelena Serova, RSA
Expedition 41
Only spaceflight
Flight Engineer 2 Barry E. Wilmore, NASA
Expedition 41
Second spaceflight

Backup crew

Position[3] Crew Member
Commander Gennady Padalka, RSA
Flight Engineer 1 Mikhail Korniyenko, RSA
Flight Engineer 2 Scott Kelly, NASA

Mission highlights

Launch, rendezvous and docking

Soyuz TMA-14M successfully launched aboard a Soyuz-FG rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 20:25 UTC on Thursday, 25 September 2014 (2:25 AM Friday 26 September local time).[4] The spacecraft reached low Earth orbit approximately nine minutes after lift-off.[5] After reaching orbit, the Soyuz spacecraft's port solar array failed to deploy, but eventually did deploy after docking with the ISS. According to NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency, the solar array does not pose a threat to the success of the mission.[6]

Following a four-orbit rendezvous, the spacecraft docked with the Poisk module of the International Space Station just under six hours after launch, at 02:11 UTC on Friday, 26 September. Hatches between the two spacecraft were opened at 04:06 UTC. At this time, the crew of TMA-14M joined the crew of Expedition 41, where they were scheduled to remain until the crew of Soyuz TMA-13M departed in November 2014. Samokutyayev, Serova and Wilmore transferred to the crew of Expedition 42 at that time.[4][6]

Undocking and return to Earth

TMA-14M remained docked to the ISS—serving as an emergency escape vehicle—until March 11, 2015, when it departed and returned Samokutyayev, Serova and Wilmore to Earth. After undocking from the ISS at 22:44 UTC on 11 March, the spacecraft deorbited and its descent module along with the mission crew landed safely just over three hours later, at 02:07 UTC on 12 March.

In media

  • In the 2014 film Gravity, STS-157 Mission Specialist Dr. Ryan Stone pilots the damaged Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft in her travel from the ISS to the Chinese Tiangong-1 station and is able to hack the computer to separate the modules and activate the landing retrorockets in space as the capsule is out of fuel.

References

  1. Peat, Chris (25 September 2014). "SOYUZ-TMA 14M - Orbit". Heavens-Above. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  2. Планируемые полёты (in Russian). astronaut.ru. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  3. astronaut.ru (2013). "Орбитальные полёты".
  4. Harwood, William (25 September 2014). "Two Russians, one American set for Soyuz launch". CBS News. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  5. Clark, Stephen. "Mission Status Center". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  6. "Expedition 41 Welcomes New Trio Aboard Station". NASA. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
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