ROSCOSMOS - Soyuz TMA-06M patch.
25/10/2012
The Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft closes in for a docking
According to the program of space flight on October 25 in 16 hours 29 minutes Moscow time carried out docking of manned spacecraft (TPC) Soyuz TMA-06M to the International Space Station (ISS).
The spacecraft docked with the small research module "Search". Convergence process was carried out in automatic mode under the supervision of specialists in the Mission Control Center (Korolev, Moscow Region.) And the ISS crew.
Soyuz TMA-06M Docks to ISS
Run TMC Soyuz TMA-06M was held on October 23 at 14:51 Moscow time from the launch complex of the platform 31 at Baikonur. On the ship to the International Space Station crew launched in the Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, Eugene Tarelkin and NASA astronaut Kevin Ford.
Prior to the opening of hatches and go to the ISS crew TPK Soyuz TMA-06M will control the ship watertight compartments, move into consumer compartment where withdraw and space suits and will equalize between the station and the ship.
Hatches between the International Space Station and the Soyuz will open in a couple of hours after pressure and leak checks.
Ford’s last mission was as a pilot aboard space shuttle Discovery in 2009 during the STS-128 flight to the space station. The two week mission delivered experiments and gear inside the Leonardo multi-purpose module and exchanged two Expedition 20 crew members.
This is the first spaceflight for both Novitskiy and Tarelkin.
ISS - Expedition 33 Crew portrait
Expedition 33 will be a six-member crew until Nov. 12 when Williams, Hoshide and Malenchenko undock from the Rassvet module and return home inside the Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft for a landing in Kazakhstan. When they undock Expedition 34 will officially begin as Ford becomes commander staying behind with Novitskiy and Tarelkin finally returning home in March 2013.
Back on Earth three more crew members are in Star City, Russia, training for their Dec. 5 launch to return the station to a six-member crew. Veteran astronauts Chris Hadfield and Tom Marshburn along with veteran cosmonaut Roman Romanenko will complete the Expedition 34 crew. They will start the Expedition 35 crew beginning in March.
Original text in Russian: http://www.federalspace.ru/main.php?id=2&nid=19639
For information on the International Space Station and the Expedition 33 crew, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station
Image, Video, Text, Credits: Press Service of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos PAO) / NASA / NASA TV / Translation: Orbiter.ch.
Greetings, Orbiter.ch
