Soyuz TM-31 was the first

Soyuz Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз (Russian language, Russian and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Soviet Union, Union of Soviet Socialist Republi ...

spaceflight to dock with 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 spacecraft carried the members of Expedition 1, the first long-duration ISS crew. It was 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 ...

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 07:52 UT on October 31, 2000, by a

Soyuz-U Soyuz-U ( GRAU index: 11A511U) was a Soviet and later Russian expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed by the TsSKB design bureau and constructed at the Progress factory in Samara, Russia. The ''U'' designation stands for ''unified' ...

rocket. The crew consisted of Russian cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and

Sergei Krikalev Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev (, also transliterated as Sergei Krikalyov; born 27 August 1958) is a Russian mechanical engineer and former cosmonaut and head of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. As a prominent rocket scientist, he ...

, and American William Shepherd. Gidzenko was commander of the flight up, but once aboard the station, Shepherd became commander of the long-duration mission Expedition 1. It is notable for beginning the continuous occupation of space from October 31, 2000 to the present.

Crew

References

{{Orbital launches in 2000 Crewed Soyuz missions Spacecraft launched in 2000 Orbital space tourism flights Spacecraft which reentered in 2001 Spacecraft launched by Soyuz-U rockets Dennis Tito