Topic summary

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 to the ISS. TMA-03M was the 112th flight of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, since the first in 1967, and the third flight of the modernised Soyuz-TMA-M version.

The docking with the International Space Station took place at 19:19 Moscow Time on 23 December, three minutes ahead of schedule. The Soyuz remained aboard the space station for the Expedition 30 increment to serve as an emergency escape vehicle if needed.

The crew were Oleg Kononenko (Russia, commander), André Kuipers (the Netherlands) and Donald Pettit (United States). The European segment of the mission was called "PromISSe". The capsule used in the mission can be seen at the Space Expo visitors centre at the European Space Research and Technology Centre in Noordwijk, Netherlands.