Expedition 30 was the 30th long-duration mission 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). The expedition's first three crew members – Dan Burbank, Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoli Ivanishin – arrived on the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-22 on 16 November 2011, during the last phase of Expedition 29. Expedition 30 formally began on 21 November 2011, with the departure from the ISS of the Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft. The expedition ended on 27 April 2012, as Burbank, Shkaplerov and Ivanishin departed from the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-22, marking the beginning of Expedition 31.

Crew

;Source: NASA, ESA"ESA astronaut André Kuipers to spend six months on the ISS starting in 2011"
ESA, 5 August 2009. Retrieved 2011-10-20.

Mission highlights

Soyuz TMA-02M departure

Expedition 30 began with the departure of the Expedition 28/ 29 crew on board the Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft, on 21 November 2011 at 23:00

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 ...

. This left the Expedition 29/30 crew, who had docked with the ISS in the Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft on 16 November 2011 at 05:24 UTC, on board the station. Soyuz TMA-22 launched on 14 November 2011 at 04:14 UTC, 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 ...

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 ...

Soyuz TMA-03M arrival

The ISS was crewed by the first three Expedition 30 crewmembers for approximately five and a half weeks. They were joined on 23 December 2011 by the Expedition 30/ 31 crew, who were carried to the ISS by the

Soyuz TMA-03M Soyuz TMA-03M was a spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS). It launched on 21 December 2011 from Site One at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, carrying three members of Expedition 30 to the ISS. TMA-03M was the 112th flight of ...

spacecraft. Soyuz TMA-03M was launched on 21 December 2011 at 13:16 UTC and docked on 23 December at 15:19 UTC.

Comet Lovejoy observation

On 21 December 2011, Expedition 30 commander Dan Burbank observed a pass of the comet C/2011 W3 Lovejoy. The comet was initially thought to be in a destructive orbit around the Sun, and passed within of the Sun's surface. However, the comet ultimately survived its encounter with the Sun.

Spacewalk

On 16 February 2012, Russian crew members Oleg Kononenko and Anton Shkaplerov performed the first

spacewalk Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable atmosphere of Earth, Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environme ...

of 2012, moving one of the station's

Strela Strela (, ''arrow'') may refer to: Russian/Soviet technology Anti-aircraft missiles * 9K31 Strela-1, a.k.a. SA-9 Gaskin * 9K32 Strela-2, a.k.a. SA-7 Grail * 9K34 Strela-3, a.k.a. SA-14 Gremlin * 9K35 Strela-10, a.k.a. SA-13 Gopher Other * Strela ...

cranes from the ''Pirs'' module to the ''Poisk'' module. The astronauts also installed new debris shields and materials experiments on the exterior of the ISS.

Fiftieth anniversary of ''Friendship 7''

On 20 February 2012, the ISS crew commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of

John Glenn John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was an American Marine Corps aviator, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the third American in space and the first to orbit the Earth, circling it three times in 1 ...

's first orbital flight in the

Project Mercury Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Un ...

spacecraft ''

Friendship 7 Mercury-Atlas 6 (MA-6) was the first crewed American orbital spaceflight, which took place on February 20, 1962. Piloted by astronaut John Glenn and operated by NASA as part of Project Mercury, it was the fifth human spaceflight, preceded by Sov ...

''. The crew surprised the 90-year-old Glenn by speaking to him via video link while he was on-stage with

NASA Administrator The administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the highest-ranking official of NASA, the national List of space agencies, space agency of the United States. The administrator is NASA's chief decision maker, responsible ...

Charlie Bolden at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

''Edoardo Amaldi'' ATV docking

The

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

's third

Automated Transfer Vehicle The Automated Transfer Vehicle, originally Ariane Transfer Vehicle or ATV, was an expendable automated cargo spacecraft, cargo spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), used for space cargo transport in 2008–2015. The ATV desi ...

(ATV), ''Edoardo Amaldi'', was launched on 23 March 2012, and docked successfully with the ISS on 28 March. The robotic ATV carried around of propellants, water and dry cargo to the Expedition 30 crew, and also helped boost the station's altitude with its thrusters. The ATV ultimately remained docked until September 2012, whereafter it deorbited and burned up in Earth's atmosphere as planned.

Progress M-15M docking

Progress M-15M, a Russian unmanned resupply spacecraft, was launched to the ISS from

on 20 April 2012. It successfully docked with the station on 22 April. In preparation for the spacecraft's arrival, its predecessor, Progress M-14M, undocked from the ISS on 19 April, having been docked since 28 January."Progress M-14M bids farewell to ISS as M-15M launches"
NASASpaceflight.com, 19 April 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-22.

Soyuz TMA-22 departure

Expedition 30 ended on 27 April 2012 with the departure of Soyuz TMA-22 from the ISS, carrying astronauts Burbank, Shkaplerov and Ivanishin. The three astronauts landed safely in

at 11:45 AM (GMT), while Kononenko, Kuipers and Pettit remained aboard the station to begin Expedition 31.

References

External links

NASA's Space Station Expeditions pageExpedition 29/30 – Change of Command Ceremony videoExpedition 30/31 – Change of Command Ceremony videoEnd of Expedition 30/Beginning of Expedition 31 video
R. Jay GaBany
Astronomy Picture of the Day: NGC 3521
(15 September 2011) {{ISS expeditions Expeditions to the International Space Station 2011 in spaceflight 2012 in spaceflight