Engineering:Soyuz TMA-14M

Short description: 2014 Russian crewed spaceflight to the ISS

Soyuz TMA-14M

Soyuz TMA-14M approaches the ISS with port solar array retracted, 26 September 2014
Operator	Roscosmos
COSPAR ID	2014-057A
SATCAT no.	40246
Mission duration	167 days, 5 hours, 43 minutes
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Soyuz 11F732A47 No.714
Spacecraft type	Soyuz-TMA 11F747
Manufacturer	RKK Energia
Crew
Crew size	3
Members	Aleksandr Samokutyayev Yelena Serova Barry E. Wilmore
Start of mission
Launch date	25 September 2014, 20:25:00 (2014-09-25UTC20:25Z) UTC
Rocket	Soyuz-FG
Launch site	Baikonur 1/5, Kazakhstan
End of mission
Landing date	12 March 2015, 02:07 (2015-03-12UTC02:08Z) UTC
Landing site	Kazakh Steppe, Kazakhstan
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee altitude	176 kilometres (109 mi)
Apogee altitude	335 kilometres (208 mi)
Inclination	52.06 degrees
Period	89.48 minutes
Epoch	25 September 2014, 20:13:36 UTC
Docking with ISS
Docking port	Poisk zenith
Docking date	26 September 2014 02:11 UTC
Undocking date	11 March 2015 22:44 UTC
Time docked	166 days, 20 hours, 33 minutes
(l-r) Samokutyayev, Wilmore and Serova Soyuz programme (Crewed missions)

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.

Crew

Position	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	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). The spacecraft reached low Earth orbit approximately nine minutes after lift-off. 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.

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.

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.

Gallery

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  The Soyuz rocket being rolled out to the launch pad.

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  The crew waves to spectators before boarding the rocket.

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  TMA-14M launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

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  Descent of the spacecraft on 12 March, 2015.

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  TMA-14M descending towards landing.

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.