Soyuz TMA-2 was a Soyuz (Russian Союз ТМА-2, ''Union TMA-2'') mission to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...

(ISS) launched by a Soyuz FG launch vehicle. The spacecraft docked with the ISS on April 28, 2003 and undocked on October 10, 2003. Soyuz TMA-2 was the second flight for the ''TMA'' modification of the

Soyuz spacecraft Soyuz () is a series of spacecraft which has been in service since the 1960s, having made more than 140 flights. It was designed for the Soviet space program by the Korolev Design Bureau (now Energia). The Soyuz succeeded the Voskhod spacecr ...

, and the 6th Soyuz to fly to the ISS. The commander was Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko (Russia), and the flight engineer was Edward Tsang Lu (USA). After docking with the ISS they exchanged with the resident crew on ISS and became the seventh station crew, called "ISS Expedition Seven". Alexander Kaleri and Michael Foale were assigned as the backup crew.

Crew

Original Crew

Mission parameters

*Mass: 7136 kg *Perigee: 200 km *Apogee: 250 km *Inclination: 51.7° *Period: 88.7 min

Docking with ISS

*Docked to ISS: April 28, 2003, 05:56 UTC (to nadir port of

Zarya Zarya may refer to: *Zorya, personification of dawn in Slavic mythology * Zarya (antenna), a type of medium-wave broadcasting antenna used in former Soviet Union *Zarya (ISS module) is a module of the International Space Station. * ''Zarya'' (magazi ...

) *Undocked from ISS: October 27, 2003, 23:17 UTC (from nadir port of

)

Mission highlights

Originally the Soyuz missions to the ISS were all planned to be only taxi mission to deliver a new Soyuz spacecraft as the station's lifeboat every six month with a visiting crew, but not for crew exchange. Until the

Space Shuttle Columbia disaster The Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster was a fatal accident in the United States space program that occurred on February 1, 2003. During the STS-107 mission, Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disintegrated as it reentered the atmosphere over Te ...

the same was planned for Soyuz TMA-2, a visiting crew consisting of commander

Gennady Padalka Gennady Ivanovich Padalka (russian: Гeннадий Иванович Падалка; born 21 June 1958 in Krasnodar, Soviet Union) is a Russian Air Force officer and a Roscosmos cosmonaut. Padalka currently holds the world record for the most ...

and ESA-astronaut

Pedro Duque Pedro Francisco Duque Duque, OF, OMSE (Madrid, 14 March 1963) is a Spanish astronaut and aeronautics engineer who served as Minister of Science of the Government of Spain from 2018 to 2021. He was also Member of the Congress of Deputies from ...

were to spend about one week at the station and then return with the previous Soyuz TMA-1 spacecraft. The third seat might have gone to the

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

an Klaus von Storch as a Chilean space agency (Agencia Chilena del Espacio) cosmonaut, but even before the Columbia disaster it looked like his flight would not happen, and the seat would go to the Russian

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

Oleg Kotov Oleg Valeriyevich Kotov (russian: Олег Валериевич Котов) was born on 27 October 1965 in Simferopol, Crimean oblast in the Ukrainian SSR. After a career as a physician assigned to the Soviet space program, he joined the Russia ...

or to deliver freight to the station. During his stay on the station, Malenchenko became the first person to get married in space. His bride was in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

where long distance marriages are legal. The spacecraft returned to Earth on October 28, with both the "Expedition 7" crew as well as

on board. Duque was launched with Soyuz TMA-3 and spent only one week on board of the ISS.

References

External links

RussianSpaceWeb.com: ''Soyuz TMA-2''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soyuz TMA-02 Crewed Soyuz missions Spacecraft launched in 2003 Spacecraft which reentered in 2003 Spacecraft launched by Soyuz-FG rockets