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Expedition 27 was the 27th long-duration expedition to the
International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...
(ISS), starting on 16 March 2011. Expedition 27 saw numerous notable events, including the undocking of the Progress M-09M and Kounotori 2 spacecraft, the arrival of the Soyuz TMA-21 and Progress M-10M spacecraft, and the final rendezvous with the ISS of
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
's Space Shuttle ''Endeavour, on its last mission,
STS-134 STS-134 (ISS assembly sequence, ISS assembly flight ULF6) was the penultimate mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the 25th and last spaceflight of . This flight delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and an ExPRESS Logistics Carrier ...
. The expedition ended on 23 May 2011 with the departure of the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft, although command of the station was ceremonially handed over to the crew of Expedition 28 on 22 May.


Crew

;Source: NASA


Mission highlights


Kounotori 2 undocking

After an extended two-month stay, Kounotori 2 was detached from the nadir docking port of the ''Harmony'' module by the Canadarm 2 robotic arm at 15:29 UTC on 28 March 2011, and released at 15:46 UTC. Launched in January 2011 to resupply the ISS, Kounotori 2 (also known as HTV-2) was the second Japanese
H-II Transfer Vehicle The H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV), also called , is an Expendable launch system, expendable Japanese Cargo spacecraft, automated cargo spacecraft designed for International Space Station (ISS) resupply missions, particularly the Kibo (ISS module ...
. It reentered Earth's atmosphere at around 03:09 UTC on 30 March.


Soyuz TMA-21 docking

The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft launched from
Baikonur Cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport operated by Russia within Kazakhstan. Located in the Kazakh city of Baikonur, it is the largest operational space launch facility in terms of area. All Russian Human spaceflight, crewed spaceflights are l ...
on 4 April 2011, carrying Expedition 27 crew members Aleksandr Samokutyayev, Andrei Borisenko and Ronald Garan. It docked with the space station on 6 April at 23:09 UTC. The docking to the ''Poisk'' module occurred as the two spacecraft were orbiting over the
Andes Mountains The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...
in Chile. The hatches between Soyuz TMA-21 and the ISS were opened at 2:13 UTC on 7 April. The three Soyuz crew members were welcomed aboard for a crew greeting ceremony and a mandatory safety orientation by Expedition 27 Commander Dmitri Kondratyev and Flight Engineers Catherine Coleman and Paolo Nespoli.


50th anniversary of first spaceflight

On 12 April 2011, the Expedition 27 crew recorded a special video message aboard the ISS in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first crewed spaceflight, which was conducted by
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
cosmonaut
Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who, aboard the first successful Human spaceflight, crewed sp ...
in 1961. The crew recorded their greeting in Russian, English, and Italian while wearing black Gagarin T-shirts.


Progress M-09M undocking

The Progress M-09M cargo spacecraft was undocked from the station's ''Pirs'' module at 11:41 UTC on 22 April 2011. After departing the space station, the spacecraft was used for the Radar-Progress scientific experiment to investigate a reflection feature of the plasma generated by operations of the Progress propulsion system. Upon the completion of this experiment, the spacecraft was deorbited, and reentered over the " spacecraft cemetery" in the South Pacific Ocean. Progress M-09M had been launched on a resupply mission to the ISS on 28 January 2011. It carried of cargo to the space station, consisting of of dry cargo, of propellant, of
oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...
and of water.


Progress M-10M docking

Flying two days autonomously after liftoff from the Baikonour Cosmodrome, the Progress M-10M cargo spacecraft arrived at the ISS on 29 April 2011, successfully docking at 14:19 UTC to the nadir port of the '' Pirs'' module, which had been vacated by Progress M-09M. The docking occurred as the two spacecraft were traveling over western
Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...
. The linkup happened just over five hours before NASA's first launch attempt of the Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'' on the
STS-134 STS-134 (ISS assembly sequence, ISS assembly flight ULF6) was the penultimate mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the 25th and last spaceflight of . This flight delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and an ExPRESS Logistics Carrier ...
mission. The shuttle launch was scrubbed because of the failure of two heaters on one of ''Endeavours auxiliary power units. ''Endeavour'' finally launched successfully on 16 May 2011.


STS-134

STS-134 STS-134 (ISS assembly sequence, ISS assembly flight ULF6) was the penultimate mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the 25th and last spaceflight of . This flight delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and an ExPRESS Logistics Carrier ...
, the second-to-the-last mission of the
Space Shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its ...
, was launched from
Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...
on 16 May 2011 at 12:56 UTC. Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'' docked to the ISS on 18 May at 10:14 UTC, and delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer 2 (AMS-2) and an
Express Logistics Carrier An EXpedite the PRocessing of Experiments to Space Station (ExPRESS) Logistics Carrier (ELC) is an International Space Station#Unpressurised elements, unpressurized attached payload platform for the International Space Station (ISS) that provides ...
to the station, completing the assembly of the
US Orbital Segment The US Orbital Segment (USOS) is the name given to the components of the International Space Station (ISS) constructed and operated by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), European Space Agency (ESA), Canadian ...
of the ISS. On 22 May, while ''Endeavour'' was docked, the members of Expedition 27 formally handed over command of the station to the members of Expedition 28. The following day, on 23 May, the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft departed from the ISS, returning Expedition 27 crew members Paolo Nespoli, Catherine Coleman and Dmitri Kondratyev to Earth. Soyuz TMA-20 landed safely in central
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
at 02:27 UTC on 24 May 2011, having taken photographs of the shuttle docked at the ISS prior to re-entry.http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2011/05/soyuz-tma-20-historic-photographic-event-landing/ NASA Spaceflight.com, 23 May 2011


Gallery

Image:Expedition 27 Waves Farewell.jpg, Borisenko, Garan, and Samokutyaev wave farewell from the bottom of the Soyuz rocket prior to their launch. Image:Expedition 27 Prepares to Launch.jpg, The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft on its launchpad. Image:Expedition 27 Kondratyev Nespoli & Coleman Origami HTV2.jpg, In honour of those affected by the
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami On 11 March 2011, at 14:46:24 Japan Standard Time, JST (05:46:24 UTC), a  9.0–9.1 Submarine earthquake, undersea megathrust earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region. It lasted approx ...
in Japan, Kondratyev (center), Nespoli & Coleman are pictured with
origami ) is the Japanese art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word "origami" is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of paper into a ...
cranes, which they folded to be placed in the HTV-2.
Image:ISS-27 crew in the Zvezda Service Module in honor of Yuri Gagarin.jpg, Expedition 27 crew members pose for a photo near the galley in the ''Zvezda'' Service Module of the ISS in honor of the 50th anniversary of the
spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly objects, usually spacecraft, into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such ...
of
Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who, aboard the first successful Human spaceflight, crewed sp ...
, the first human launched in space, on 12 April 1961. Image:Endeavour docked to ISS.jpg, Photo of the ISS and ''Endeavour'' taken from Soyuz TMA-20. Image:ISS and Endeavour seen from the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft 07.jpg, Photo of the ISS and ''Endeavour'' taken from Soyuz TMA-20. Image:ISS and Endeavour seen from the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft 11.jpg, Photo of the ISS and ''Endeavour'' taken from Soyuz TMA-20. Image:ISS and Endeavour seen from the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft 29.jpg, Photo of the ISS and ''Endeavour'' taken from Soyuz TMA-20. Image:Iss027e036656-commented-20110608.svg, A photo of the ISS and ''Endeavour'' as seen from Soyuz TMA-20, with all components tagged. Image:STS-134_International_Space_Station_after_undocking.jpg, ISS, taken by a crew member on ''Endeavour'' after undocking. File:Soyuz TMA-20 landing.ogv, Video of Soyuz TMA-20 landing. Image:Soyuz TMA-20 landing.jpg, Soyuz TMA-20 lands.


References


External links


NASA's Space Station Expeditions pageExpedition 27 Mission Overview (video)Additional photos of Expedition 27 and STS-134 from Wikimedia Commons
{{ISS expeditions Expeditions to the International Space Station 2011 in spaceflight Articles containing video clips