ROSCOSMOS - Soyuz TMA-12M Mission patch.
September 10, 2014
Three Expedition 39/40 crew members are on their way home now having undocked at 7:01 p.m. EDT from the Poisk mini-research module. They will land in less than 3 ½ hours when their Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft touches down in Kazakhstan.
Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Expedition 40 Commander Steve Swanson and Flight Engineer Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos closed the hatches to its Soyuz at 3:35 p.m. On Tuesday, Swanson handed over command of the International Space Station to cosmonaut Max Suraev during the traditional Change of Command Ceremony.
The homebound trio will orbit Earth twice before the Soyuz fires its deorbit engines at 9:30 p.m. sending the spacecraft on its way home. About 28 minutes later, the Soyuz spacecraft will separate into three sections with the descent module, sandwiched in between the orbital module and instrumentation/propulsion module, carrying the crew home.
Image above: The Expedition 40 trio waves goodbye to the Expedition 41 trio before closing the hatches to the Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft. Image Credit: NASA TV.
The descent module will enter the atmosphere about 3 minutes later. The other two modules will burn up in the atmosphere. Two pilot parachutes will deploy first extracting the drogue chute to begin slowing the Soyuz’ descent. The main chute will then deploy in stages ultimately covering an area of 1,000 meters. Finally, less than a meter above the ground, rockets will fire to soften the landing as the Soyuz touches down in the steppe of Kazakhstan.
U.S. and Russian recovery personnel will be at the landing site southeast of the remote Kazakh town of Dzhezkazgan to extract the crew from the Soyuz. Medical personnel will then examine the crew at the landing site before they are helicoptered to Karaganda for a welcoming ceremony. Swanson will then be flown aboard a NASA jet back to the United States. Skvortsov and Artemyev will return to Star City, Russia.
Image above: The Expedition 40 trio poses for a portrait in their Russian Sokol launch and entry suits. Image Credit: Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
Swanson, Skvortsov and Artemyev began their mission when they lifted off March 25 and docked to Poisk two days later. Their landing concludes 169 days in space during which Artemyev and Skvortsov conducted two spacewalks on June 19 and Aug. 18. Swanson was at the controls of the Canadarm2 and captured the Cygnus commercial cargo craft when it arrived July 16.
Station Trio Boards Soyuz for Trip Back to Earth
Swanson flew to the station twice previously as a space shuttle mission specialist. In June 2007, he conducted two spacewalks at the space station after arriving aboard space shuttle Atlantis during STS-117. Swanson visited the station again in March 2009 during STS-119 aboard space shuttle Discovery and conducted a pair of spacewalks to install the S6 truss and outfit the orbital laboratory.
This was Skvortsov’s second tour of duty aboard the station. His first mission was in 2010 when he served as an Expedition 23 Flight Engineer and Expedition 24 Commander. He saw the arrival of space shuttles Discovery and Atlantis during the STS-131 and STS-132 missions.
Artemyev has completed his first space station mission.
Waiting back on Earth to replace the homebound trio are Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev of the Roscosmos and Flight Engineers Barry Wilmore of NASA and Elena Serova of Roscosmos. They represent the Expedition 41/42 trio and are scheduled to liftoff Sept. 25 aboard the Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft.
Expedition 40 Crew On the Way Home
Steve Swanson, Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev undocked from the International Space Station's Poisk module at 7:01 p.m. EDT to begin their voyage home. The 4-minute, 40-second Soyuz TMA-12M deorbit burn completed at 9:35 p.m. EDT. The three Soyuz module sections separated at 9:58 p.m., atmospheric entry interface occurred at 10:01 p.m., parachutes have deployed and landing is targeted for 10:23 p.m. southeast of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan.
For more information about the International Space Station (ISS), visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Images (mentioned), Videos, Text, Credits: NASA / NASA TV.
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