Engineering:Soyuz TMA-17

Short description: 2009 Russian crewed spaceflight to the ISS

Soyuz TMA-17

Launch of TMA-17
Mission type	Crewed mission to ISS
Operator	Roscosmos
COSPAR ID	2009-074A
SATCAT no.	36129
Mission duration	164 days
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Soyuz-TMA 11F732
Manufacturer	RKK Energia
Crew
Crew size	3
Members	Oleg Kotov Timothy Creamer Soichi Noguchi
Callsign	Pulsar
Start of mission
Launch date	20 December 2009, 21:52 UTC
Rocket	Soyuz-FG
Launch site	Baikonur, site 1/5
End of mission
Landing date	2 June 2010, 03:25 UTC
Landing site	Steppes of Kazakhstan
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Inclination	51.66°
Docking with ISS
Docking port	Zarya nadir
Docking date	22 December 2009, 22:48 UTC
Undocking date	12 May 2010, 13:26 UTC
Time docked	140 days, 14 hours and 38 minutes
Docking with ISS (Relocation)
Docking port	Zvezda
Docking date	12 May 2010, 13:53 UTC
Undocking date	2 June 2010, 00:04 UTC
Time docked	20 days, 10 hours and 11 minutes
From left to right: Creamer, Kotov and Noguchi Soyuz programme (Crewed missions)

Soyuz TMA-17 was a human spaceflight mission to the International Space Station (ISS). TMA-17 crew members participated in ISS Expedition 22 and Expedition 23. The mission ended when the Soyuz TMA-17 capsule landed on 2 June 2010.

Crew

Position	Crew Member
Commander	Oleg Kotov, Roscosmos Expedition 22 Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer 1	Soichi Noguchi, JAXA Expedition 22 Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer 2	Timothy Creamer, NASA Expedition 22 Only spaceflight

Crew notes

Noguchi is the first Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut and the second Japanese astronaut to fly on a Soyuz, after Toyohiro Akiyama.

Backup crew

Position	Crew Member
Commander	Anton Shkaplerov, Roscosmos
Flight Engineer 1	Satoshi Furukawa, JAXA
Flight Engineer 2	Douglas H. Wheelock, NASA

Launch and docking

Soyuz TMA-17 was launched on 20 December 2009 and transported three members of the ISS Expedition 22 crew to the station. Soyuz TMA-17 was the 104th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. The Soyuz remained docked to the space station for the remainder of the Expedition 22 increment serving as an emergency escape vehicle.

This mission marked the first Soyuz launch in the month of December for more than 19 years. The prior Soyuz launch in the month of December was Soyuz TM-11 on 2 December 1990.

This mission also included the last planned docking of a Soyuz at the nadir, or Earth-facing, port of the Zarya module. The Rassvet module was attached to Zarya's nadir port during the STS-132 mission.

Relocation

On 12 May 2010, the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft was relocated to the aft port of the Zvezda module. At 14:23 UTC, Kotov, Creamer and Noguchi temporarily undocked the spacecraft from the nadir port of Zarya and flew it to the aft port of the Zvezda service module. The docking occurred at 14:53 UTC. After hooks and latches were engaged, the crew conducted leak checks, opened hatches around 17:40 UTC and then re-entered the station through the service module.

Undocking and landing

Soyuz TMA-17 capsule lands on the steppes of Kazakhstan.

Soyuz TMA-17 firing its retro-rockets on landing.

On 26 May 2010, the orbital altitude of the International Space Station (ISS) was lowered by 1.5 kilometers to 345 kilometers to ensure perfect conditions for the re-entry of the Soyuz TMA-17 into the Earth's atmosphere. The orbit of the ISS was adjusted using the four engines on board the Progress M-05M spacecraft.

Expedition 23 commander Oleg Kotov was at the controls of the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft as it undocked at 00:04 UTC on 2 June 2010 from the space station's Zvezda module. The Soyuz TMA-17 crew capsule landed on the steppes of Kazakhstan at 03:25 UTC on 2 June 2010 wrapping up their stay aboard the space station.

External links

• Image of tower retraction.