![]() Promotional Poster | |
Mission type | ISS Expedition |
---|---|
Expedition | |
Space station | International Space Station |
Began | 27 April 2012, 08:15 UTC [1] |
Ended | 1 July 2012, 04:48 UTC [2] |
Arrived aboard | Soyuz TMA-03M Soyuz TMA-04M |
Departed aboard | Soyuz TMA-03M Soyuz TMA-04M |
Crew | |
Crew size | 6 |
Members | Expedition 30/31: Oleg Kononenko André Kuipers Don Pettit Expedition 31/32: Joseph M. Acaba Gennady Padalka Sergei Revin |
![]() Expedition 31 mission patch ![]() (l-r) Acaba, Padalka, Revin, Kuipers, Kononenko and Pettit |
Expedition 31 was the 31st long-duration expedition to the International Space Station (ISS). It began on 27 April 2012 with the departure from the ISS of the Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft, which returned the Expedition 30 crew to Earth. [1] The expedition ended on 1 July 2012, when crew members Oleg Kononenko, André Kuipers and Don Pettit departed from the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-03M, marking the beginning of Expedition 32. [2]
Position | First part (April 2012 to May 2012) | Second part (May 2012 to July 2012) |
---|---|---|
Commander | ![]() Second spaceflight | |
Flight Engineer 1 | ![]() Second spaceflight | |
Flight Engineer 2 | ![]() Third spaceflight | |
Flight Engineer 3 | ![]() Second spaceflight | |
Flight Engineer 4 | ![]() Fourth spaceflight | |
Flight Engineer 5 | ![]() Only spaceflight | |
Expedition 31 formally began on 27 April 2012, with the departure from the ISS of the Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft. Soyuz TMA-22 successfully returned Expedition 30 astronauts Dan Burbank, Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoli Ivanishin to Earth. [1] The ISS was left under the command of astronauts Kononenko, Kuipers and Pettit, who had arrived at the station aboard Soyuz TMA-03M on 23 December 2011.
The final three members of Expedition 31 – Acaba, Padalka and Revin – arrived at the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-04M, which launched on 15 May 2012, [7] and docked to the ISS on 17 May at 4:36 UTC. [8]
SpaceX's unmanned Dragon spacecraft conducted a test rendezvous with the ISS during Expedition 31, as part of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program; it was the first commercial spacecraft to rendezvous with the ISS. Following a series of delays, [9] Dragon launched on 22 May 2012, and berthed successfully with the ISS on 25 May, after conducting a series of orbital test manoeuvres. [10] [11] Dragon carried around 460 kilograms (1,010 lb) of cargo to the ISS, including food, clothing, a laptop computer and 15 student experiments. [10] After being loaded with 660 kilograms (1,460 lb) of downmass cargo, including completed experiments and redundant equipment, it undocked from the station and returned to Earth on 31 May 2012. [12] [13] Dragon landed intact in the Pacific Ocean and was successfully recovered, allowing SpaceX to begin regular cargo flights to the ISS. [14] The first such logistics mission, CRS SpX-1, launched successfully in October 2012. [15] [16]
Soyuz TMA-03M departed from the ISS on 1 July 2012, successfully returning Kononenko, Kuipers and Pettit to Earth. Their departure marked the formal end of Expedition 31, and the beginning of Expedition 32. [2]
In the 2012 The Big Bang Theory episode "The Friendship Contraction", character Howard Wolowitz revealed that he would be a member of a fictionalised Expedition 31. [17] Which flew Dimitri Rezinov, Mike Massimino (as a fictionalised version of himself) and Howard Wolowitz.
Donald Roy Pettit is an American astronaut and chemical engineer best known for his orbital astrophotography and in-space inventions such as the microgravity coffee cup, which received the first ever patent for an object invented in space. He is a veteran of two long-duration stays aboard the International Space Station, one Space Shuttle mission and a six-week expedition to find meteorites in Antarctica. As of 2023, at age 68, he is NASA's oldest active astronaut.
André Kuipers 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 aboard Soyuz TMA-3 11 days later.
Scott Joseph Kelly is an American engineer, retired astronaut, and naval aviator. A veteran of four space flights, Kelly commanded the International Space Station (ISS) on Expeditions 26, 45, and 46.
Shannon Walker is an American physicist and a NASA astronaut selected in 2004. She launched on her first mission into space on June 25, 2010, onboard Soyuz TMA-19 and spent over 163 days in space.
Akihiko Hoshide is a Japanese engineer, JAXA astronaut, and former commander of the International Space Station. On August 30, 2012, Hoshide became the third Japanese astronaut to walk in space.
Oleg Dmitriyevich Kononenko is a Russian cosmonaut. He has flown to the International Space Station five times as a flight engineer for Expedition 17 aboard Soyuz TMA-12, as a flight engineer on Expedition 30 and commander of Expedition 31 aboard Soyuz TMA-03M, as a flight engineer on Expedition 44 and Expedition 45 aboard Soyuz TMA-17M, and as commander of Expedition 58 and Expedition 59 aboard Soyuz MS-11 and Expedition 70 and Expedition 71 aboard Soyuz MS-24/MS-25.
Expedition 26 was the 26th long-duration mission to the International Space Station. The expedition's first three crew members – one US astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts – arrived at the station on board Soyuz TMA-01M on 10 October 2010. Expedition 26 officially began the following month on 26 November, when half of the crew of the previous mission, Expedition 25, returned to Earth on board Soyuz TMA-19. The rest of the Expedition 26 crew – one US astronaut, one Russian cosmonaut and one ESA astronaut – joined the trio already on board when their spacecraft, Soyuz TMA-20, docked with the station on 17 December 2010.
Kimiya Yui is a Japanese astronaut from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). He was selected for the agency in 2009.
Expedition 29 was the 29th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station (ISS). The expedition formally began on 16 September 2011, with the departure from the ISS of the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft. Astronauts Satoshi Furukawa, Michael Fossum and Sergey Volkov, who had arrived at the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-02M in June 2011, began their Expedition 29 service at this time.
Soyuz TMA-02M was a space mission that transported three members of the Expedition 28 crew to the International Space Station. TMA-02M was the 110th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft and the second flight of the improved Soyuz-TMA-M series. The Soyuz remained docked to the space station for the Expedition 28 increment to serve as a potential emergency escape vehicle.
Kjell Norwood Lindgren is an American astronaut who was selected in June 2009 as a member of the NASA Astronaut Group 20. He launched to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of Expedition 44/45 on July 22, 2015.
Soyuz TMA-22 was a crewed spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS). TMA-22 was the 111th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft, and transported three members of the Expedition 29 crew to the ISS. The spacecraft docked to the ISS on 16 November 2011, and remained docked to serve as an emergency escape vehicle until its undocking on 27 April 2012. Soyuz TMA-22 successfully landed in Kazakhstan on 27 April 2012 11:45 GMT.
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 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.
Expedition 30 was the 30th long-duration mission to the International Space Station (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.
Soyuz TMA-04M was a spaceflight to Low Earth orbit that transported three members of the Expedition 31 crew to the International Space Station (ISS), which was launched on 15 May 2012 and landed on 17 September 2012. TMA-04M was the Soyuz spacecraft's 113th flight since its initial launch in 1967, and the fourth launch of the improved Soyuz TMA-M series. As per the mission plan, the spacecraft remained docked to the space station to serve as an emergency escape vehicle during Expedition 31.
Expedition 32 was the 32nd long-duration expedition to the International Space Station (ISS). It began on 1 July 2012 with the departure from the ISS of the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft, which returned the Expedition 31 crew to Earth, and concluded on 16 September 2012 with the departure of Soyuz TMA-04M. The Soyuz craft returned to Earth on 17 September 2012 at 6:53am Moscow Standard Time when touchdown was officially recorded by the Russian Federal Space Agency.
Expedition 33 was the 33rd long-duration expedition to the International Space Station (ISS). It began on 16 September 2012 with the departure from the ISS of the Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft, which returned the Expedition 32 crew to Earth.
Progress M-04M, identified by NASA as Progress 36P, was a Russian Progress spacecraft launched in February 2010 to resupply the International Space Station. It was docked with the aft port of the Zvezda module of the station.
Anatoli Alekseyevich Ivanishin is a former Russian cosmonaut. His first visit to space was to the International Space Station on board the Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft as an Expedition 29 / Expedition 30 crew member, launching in November 2011 and returning in April 2012. Ivanishin was the Commander of the International Space Station for Expedition 49.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration .