Soyuz TMA-4 was a

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 ...

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) launched by a

Soyuz FG The Soyuz-FG was an improved variant of the Soyuz-U launch vehicle from the 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 RD-108A, respective ...

launch vehicle. It was launched on 19 April 2004 (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 ...

Gennady Padalka Gennady Ivanovich Padalka (; born 21 June 1958 in Krasnodar, Soviet Union) is a Russian Air Force officer and Roscosmos cosmonaut. Padalka is the only person to have served as commander of the International Space Station (ISS) four times. He previ ...

from Russia,

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 ...

from the US and

André Kuipers André Kuipers (; born 5 October 1958) is a Dutch physician and ESA astronaut. He became the second Dutch citizen, third Dutch-born and fifth Dutch-speaking astronaut upon launch of Soyuz TMA-4 on 19 April 2004. Kuipers returned to Earth ab ...

from the Netherlands were flown to the

. Kuipers returned to Earth 9 days later together with ISS crew 8 with the

re-entry Atmospheric entry (sometimes listed as Vimpact or Ventry) is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. Atmospheric entry may be ''uncontrolled entry ...

module of the

Soyuz TMA-3 Soyuz TMA-3 was a Soyuz spacecraft, Soyuz (Russian Союз ТМА-3, ''Union TMA-3'') mission to the International Space Station (ISS) launched by a Soyuz FG launch vehicle which was the third flight for the ''TMA'' modification of the Soyuz sp ...

, the other two stayed as ISS crew 9. The craft landed 24 October 2004 with Padalka, Fincke and

Yuri Shargin Yuri Georgiyevich Shargin () is a retired cosmonaut of the Russian Space Forces. Biography He was born March 20, 1960, in Engels, Saratov Oblast, Russian SFSR. His father was Jewish. He is divorced and has two children. Shargin graduated in 198 ...

aboard.

Crew

Original Crew

Mission parameters

*Mass: ? kg *Perigee: 200 km *Apogee: 252 km *Inclination: 51.7° *Period: 88.7 minutes

Docking with ISS

*Docked to ISS: 21 April 2004, 05:01 UTC (to nadir port of Zarya) *Undocked from ISS: 23 October 2004, 21:08 UTC (from nadir port of Zarya)

Mission highlights

Soyuz TMA-4 is a Russian passenger spacecraft that was launched by a Soyuz-FG rocket from Baikonur at 03:19 UT on 19 April 2004. It carried three astronauts (a Russian, an American and a Dutchman) to the International Space Station (ISS) and docked with the Zarya module of the ISS automatically on 21 April at 05:01 UT. Two of its astronauts remained in the ISS for about six months, while the Dutch astronaut and the two astronauts who had inhabited the ISS for several months left the ISS on 29 April in the TMA-3 that had remained docked with the ISS, soft landing in Kazakhstan at 00:11 on 30 April. The

Expedition 10 Expedition 10 (2004–2005) was the tenth expedition to the International Space Station, using the Soyuz TMA-5, which stayed during the expedition for emergency evacuation. Crew Mission parameters *Perigee: 384 km *Apogee: 396 ...

crew,

Leroy Chiao Leroy Russel Chiao (; born August 28, 1960) is an American chemical engineer, retired NASA astronaut, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and engineering consultant. Chiao flew on three Space Shuttle flights, and was the commander of Expedition ...

-Cdr U.S.A. and

Salizhan Sharipov Salizhan Shakirovich Sharipov (born 24 August 1964) is a retired Kyrgyz astronaut, cosmonaut of Uzbek descent. Sharipov is a co-author and investigator for the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity project. He has been to space twice (lau ...

-Russia replaced the

Expedition 9 crew Expedition may refer to: * An exploration, journey, or voyage undertaken by a group of people especially for discovery and scientific research Places * Expedition Island, a park in Green River, Wyoming, US * Expedition Range, a mountain range in ...

-Cdr Russia and

-Flight Engineer-U.S.A. on 16 October 2004.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soyuz TMA-04 Crewed Soyuz missions Spacecraft launched in 2004 Spacecraft which reentered in 2004 Spacecraft launched by Soyuz-FG rockets