Expedition 28 was the 28th 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 ...
, and began on 23 May 2011 with the departure of the members of
Expedition 27
Expedition 27 was the 27th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station (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 a ...
. The first three members of Expedition 28 arrived on the ISS aboard the
Soyuz TMA-21
Soyuz TMA-21 ("Gagarin") was a Soyuz flight to the International Space Station (ISS). It transported three members of the Expedition 27 crew to the ISS, and docked at the station on April 6, 2011. TMA-21 is the 109th flight of a Soyuz spacecra ...
spacecraft on 4 April 2011, and were joined on 9 June 2011 by the three other crew members, who arrived aboard
Soyuz TMA-02M
Soyuz TMA-02M was a space mission that transported three members of the Expedition 28 crew to the International Space Station. TMA-02M was the 110th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft (first launched 1967) and the second flight of the improved Soyuz- ...
.
The expedition saw a number of significant events, including the final
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...
mission,
STS-135
STS-135 ( ISS assembly flight ULF7) was the 135th and final mission of the American Space Shuttle program. It used the orbiter '' Atlantis'' and hardware originally processed for the STS-335 contingency mission, which was not flown. STS-135 ...
, which took place in July 2011. Expedition 28 was superseded by
Expedition 29
Expedition 29 was the 29th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station (ISS). The expedition formally began on 16 September 2011, with the departure from the ISS of the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft. Astronauts Satoshi Furukawa, Mi ...
on 16 September 2011.
Crew
;Source: NASA
Mission highlights
Soyuz TMA-20 undocking

Expedition 28 began with the undocking and departure of the crew of
Expedition 27
Expedition 27 was the 27th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station (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 a ...
on 23 May 2011 at 21:35
UTC
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...
. The crew of
Soyuz TMA-20 landed safely with Expedition 27 crew members
Dmitri Kondratyev
Dmitri Yuryevich Kondratyev (, born on 25 May 1969 in Irkutsk, Russia) is a retired Russian cosmonaut. He served as a crew member on the International Space Station long duration mission Expedition 27 as Commander, having also served as a Flight E ...
,
Catherine Coleman
Catherine Grace "Cady" Coleman (born December 14, 1960) is an American chemist, engineer, former United States Air Force colonel, and retired NASA astronaut. She is a veteran of two Space Shuttle missions, and departed the International Space St ...
and
Paolo Nespoli
Major Paolo Angelo Nespoli (born 6 April 1957) is an Italian astronaut and engineer of the European Space Agency (ESA). In 2007, he first traveled into space aboard the Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' as a mission specialist of STS-120. In December ...
aboard at 2:27 UTC on 24 May.
Before departing the vicinity of the International Space Station, the crew of TMA-20 photographed the exterior of the station during a fly-around, capturing photos of the Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'' docked with the ISS on its final 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 ...
.[
]
STS-134
At the time Expedition 28 began, Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'' was docked to the ISS on her final 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 ...
. During this mission, the crew of ''Endeavour'' installed on the station's exterior the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) is a particle physics experiment module that is mounted on the International Space Station (ISS).Kristine Rainey (April 2, 2013)Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS): How It Works NASA. Retrieved June 2, 20 ...
and several spare parts to aid in station operations after the retirement of the Space Shuttle
The retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle fleet took place from March to July 2011. ''Discovery'' was the first of the three active Space Shuttles to be retired, completing its final mission on March 9, 2011; '' Endeavour'' did so on June 1. The ...
. STS-134 was the 36th Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station.
''Endeavour'' and her crew, consisting of Mark Kelly
Mark Edward Kelly (born February 21, 1964) is an American politician, retired astronaut, and former United States Navy, naval officer serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from Arizona, a seat he ha ...
, Gregory Johnson, Michael Fincke
Edward Michael "Mike" Fincke (born March 14, 1967) is an American astronaut and retired United States Air Force colonel. He formerly held the American record for the most time in space (382 days) until it was broken by Scott Kelly on October 16 ...
, Roberto Vittori, Andrew Feustel, and Gregory Chamitoff
Gregory Errol Chamitoff (born 6 August 1962) is a Canadian-born American engineer and former NASA astronaut. He has been to space twice, spending 6 months aboard the ISS across Expedition 17 and 18 in 2008, and another 15 days as part of STS-13 ...
, returned to Earth on 1 June 2011, at 6:34 UTC. STS-134 was the second-to-last mission of the Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...
.
Soyuz TMA-02M docking
The remainder of the Expedition 28 crew ( Sergey Volkov, Michael E. Fossum
Michael Edward Fossum (born December 19, 1957, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota) is a former American astronaut, engineer, and the Chief Operating Officer of Texas A&M University at Galveston. He flew into space on board the NASA Space Shuttle mission ...
, and Satoshi Furukawa
is a Japanese surgeon and JAXA astronaut. Furukawa was assigned to the International Space Station as a flight engineer on long-duration missions Expedition 28/ 29 (2011) and Expedition 69/ 70 (2023-2024).
Medical career
Furakawa graduated fro ...
) launched aboard Soyuz TMA-02M from the 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 ...
in Kazakhstan at 20:12 UTC on 7 June 2011. Originally scheduled to dock to the ISS on 9 June at approximately 21:22 UTC, the Soyuz did so several minutes early at 21:18.[
]
''Johannes Kepler'' ATV undocking
On 20 June 2011, the European Space Agency's robotic cargo ship ''Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler (27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, Natural philosophy, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best know ...
'' disengaged from the ISS, having been docked since February 2011. On 21 June 2011, the ATV was deorbited, burning up in the atmosphere over the southern Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
at around 22:44 CET
CET or cet may refer to:
Places
* Cet, Albania
* Cet, standard astronomical abbreviation for the constellation Cetus
* Colchester Town railway station (National Rail code CET), in Colchester, England
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Comcast En ...
.ESA ATV blog
Retrieved 21 June 2011.
Progress M-11M docking
A Russian Progress
Progress is movement towards a perceived refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. It is central to the philosophy of progressivism, which interprets progress as the set of advancements in technology, science, and social organization effic ...
cargo ship, designated M-11M (Progress 42 or 42P by NASA) was launched on 21 June 2011 to resupply and deliver equipment to the International Space Station. Progress M-11M transferred more than 2.5 tons of cargo to the Space Station, including food, water, scientific hardware, propellant, and cargo. The cargo ship docked with the Zvezda service module of the Space Station at 16:37 UTC
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...
on 23 June 2011. The docking occurred 245 miles above eastern Kazakhstan.
STS-135—final space shuttle mission
On 8 July 2011, Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' launched on the STS-135 mission, the final mission in NASA's 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 ...
. ''Atlantis'' docked to the ISS on 10 July 2011 at 15:07 UTC. The mission was crewed by NASA astronauts Christopher Ferguson
Christopher J. "Fergy" Ferguson (born September 1, 1961) is a Boeing commercial astronaut and a retired United States Navy captain and NASA astronaut. He was the pilot of Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' on his first mission to space, STS-115, which l ...
, Douglas Hurley
Douglas Gerald Hurley (born October 21, 1966) is an American engineer, former Marine Corps pilot, and former NASA astronaut. He piloted Space Shuttle missions STS-127 (July 2009) and STS-135 (July 2011), the final flight of the Space Shuttle prog ...
, Sandra Magnus
Sandra Hall Magnus (born October 30, 1964) is an American engineer and a former NASA astronaut. She flew to space three times, as mission specialist on STS-112, as ISS crewmember during Expedition 18 and as mission specialist on STS-135. She is al ...
, and Rex Walheim, and departed from the ISS on 19 July 2011. The purpose of the mission was to deliver the ''Raffaello'' MPLM, stocked with supplies, to the space station.
Soyuz TMA-21 undocking
The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft departed from the International Space Station on 16 September 2011 at 00:38 UTC.[After 162 days aboard, @Astro_Ron & Expedition 28 crew undocked from space station at 8:38pmET to begin their voyage home. ] Soyuz Commander Aleksandr Samokutyayev and Flight Engineers Andrei Borisenko and Ronald Garan returned to Earth on 16 September at 03:59 UTC, landing 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 ...
. Their landing marked the beginning of Expedition 29.
Spacewalks
Gallery
Image:Expedition 28 Fossum EMU NBL.jpg, Fossum in a training version of his spacesuit
A space suit (or spacesuit) is an environmental suit used for protection from the harsh Space environment, environment of outer space, mainly from its Vacuum (outer space), vacuum as a highly specialized pressure suit, but also its temperatu ...
, during a training session in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory
The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) is an astronaut training facility and neutral buoyancy pool operated by NASA and located at the Sonny Carter Training Facility, near the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The NBL's main feature is a ...
near NASA's Johnson Space Center
The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight in Houston, Texas (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight controller, flight control are conducted. ...
.
Image:Expedition 28 Crew Departs Star City.jpg, Furukawa (left) (Volkov (center), and Fossum answer reporters' questions during a press conference held on the grounds of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center
The Yuri A. Gagarin State Scientific Research-and-Testing Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC; Russian: Центр подготовки космонавтов имени Ю. А. Гагарина) is a Russian training facility responsible for trai ...
, in Star City, Russia
Star City () is an area in Zvyozdny gorodok (urban-type settlement), Zvyozdny gorodok, Moscow Oblast, Russia, which has since the 1960s been home to the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC). Officially, the area was known as "closed ...
.
Image:Soyuz TMA-02M Launch Expedition 28.jpg, The Soyuz TMA-02M
Soyuz TMA-02M was a space mission that transported three members of the Expedition 28 crew to the International Space Station. TMA-02M was the 110th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft (first launched 1967) and the second flight of the improved Soyuz- ...
spacecraft launches on 8 June 2011.
File:Aurora Australis from ISS 2011 - 1.ogv, Video of the aurora
An aurora ( aurorae or auroras),
also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...
australis taken 17 September 2011 from 17:22:27 to 17:45:12 GMT, on an ascending pass from south of Madagascar
Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
to just north of Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
over the Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...
Image:Furukawa Expedition 28.jpg, Furukawa aboard the ISS.
Image:ISS and Endeavour seen from the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft 07.jpg, Photograph taken by the departing Expedition 27 crew of ''Endeavour'' docked to the ISS for the final time.
Image:Volkov Expedition 28 Russian EVA 29.jpg, Volkov conducts a spacewalk.
Image:Garan Sunrise.jpg, Image of an orbital sunrise
Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon.
Terminology
Although the S ...
taken by Garan.
Image:Expedition 28 Lands.jpg, Expedition 28 lands.
References
*
External links
NASA's Space Station Expeditions page
{{Use British English, date=August 2010
Expeditions to the International Space Station
2011 in spaceflight
Articles containing video clips