Soyuz TMA-15M was a 2014 flight 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 ...

. It transported three members of the

Expedition 42 Expedition 42 was the 42nd expedition to the International Space Station. It began on 10 November 2014 with the undocking of Soyuz TMA-13M, returning the crew of Expedition 41 to Earth and ended with the undocking of Soyuz TMA-14M on 11 March 2 ...

crew to the International Space Station. TMA-15M was the 124th flight of a

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 spacecraf ...

, the first flight launching in 1967. The Soyuz remained docked to the space station for the Expedition 43 increment, serving as an emergency escape vehicle until departing and returning to Earth as scheduled in June 2015.

Crew

Backup crew

Mission highlights

Launch, rendezvous and docking

Soyuz TMA-15M launched successfully aboard a

Soyuz-FG The Soyuz-FG was an improved variant of the Soyuz-U launch vehicle from the R-7 (rocket family), R-7 rocket family, developed by the Progress Rocket Space Centre in Samara, Russia. It featured upgraded first and second stage engines, RD-107A and ...

rocket 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 ...

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 21:01 UTC on Sunday, 23 November 2014. The spacecraft reached

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...

approximately nine minutes after lift-off. After executing rendezvous maneuvers, the Soyuz docked with the International Space Station at 02:49 UTC on 24 November, with hatch opening occurring at 05:00 UTC. Soyuz TMA-15M was scheduled to remain docked to the ISS—serving as an emergency escape vehicle, planned to be on-board until May 2015. The landing was delayed until June 2015, when it was set to depart and return Shkaplerov, Cristoforetti and Virts to Earth. Cristoforetti commemorated the spaceflight by gifting three

Lego Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...

minifigures of herself, Virts and Shkaplerov to the other members of the Expedition 42 crew. They had been commissioned by ESA and built by a British custom Lego kitmaker.

Undocking and return to Earth

Soyuz TMA-15M accidentally fired its engines one day before undocking. The one minute burn slightly shifted ISS position. Soyuz TMA-15M undocked from the ISS at 10:20 UTC on 11 June 2015, containing Shkaplerov, Cristoforetti, and Virts. Following a deorbit burn, the Soyuz spacecraft's descent module reentered the Earth's atmosphere. The crew landed safely in

at 13:44 UTC on 11 June, just over three hours after departing the ISS.

Gallery

File:Expedition 42 Soyuz Rollout (201411210014HQ).jpg, Rollout of Soyuz TMA-15M rocket. File:Expedition 42 Soyuz Preparation (201411240005HQ).jpg, Soyuz TMA-15M on the launch pad after rollout. File:Expedition 42 Crew Wave (201411240004HQ).jpg, Crew of Soyuz TMA-15M wave to spectators before launch. File:Expedition 42 Launch (201411240001HQ).jpg, Soyuz TMA-15M launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. File:Expedition 43 Soyuz TMA-15M Landing (201506110001HQ).jpg, TMA-15M lands in Kazakhstan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soyuz TMA-M15 Crewed Soyuz missions Spacecraft launched in 2014 2014 in Russia Spacecraft which reentered in 2015 Spacecraft launched by Soyuz-FG rockets