| Soyuz TMA-16M approaches the ISS, 28 March 2015. | |
| Operator | Roscosmos |
|---|---|
| COSPAR ID | 2015-016A |
| SATCAT no. | 40542 |
| Mission duration | 168d 5h 9m |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft type | Soyuz-TMA 11F732A47 No.716 |
| Manufacturer | Energia |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 3 |
| Members | Gennady Padalka |
| Launching | Mikhail Korniyenko Scott Kelly |
| Landing | Andreas Mogensen Aydyn Aimbetov |
| Callsign | Altair [1] |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 27 March 2015 19:42:57 UTC [2] |
| Rocket | Soyuz-FG |
| Launch site | Baikonur 1/5 |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | 12 September 2015 00:51 UTC |
| Landing site | Kazakhstan |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Docking with ISS | |
| Docking port | Poisk zenith |
| Docking date | 28 March 2015 01:33 UTC |
| Undocking date | 28 August 2015 03:12 UTC |
| Time docked | 153d 1h 39m |
| Docking with ISS (Relocation) | |
| Docking port | Zvezda aft |
| Docking date | 28 August 2015 03:30 UTC [3] |
| Undocking date | 11 September 2015 21:29 UTC |
| Time docked | 14d 17h 59m |
| (l-r) Kelly,Padalka,and Kornienko Soyuz programme (Crewed missions) | |
Soyuz TMA-16M was a 2015 flight to the International Space Station. [4] It transported three members of the Expedition 43 crew to the station. TMA-16M was the 125th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft,the first having launched in 1967.
Scott Kelly and Mikhail Korniyenko performed the first one-year stay at the space station, [4] returning on Soyuz TMA-18M.
| Position [5] | Launching Crew Member | Landing Crew Member |
|---|---|---|
| Commander | Expedition 43/44 Fifth and last spaceflight | |
| Flight Engineer 1 | Expedition 43/44/45/46 Second and last spaceflight | Iriss [6] First spaceflight |
| Flight Engineer 2 | Expedition 43/44/45/46 Fourth and last spaceflight | Visiting Only spaceflight |
| Position [8] | Crew Member | |
|---|---|---|
| Commander | | |
| Flight Engineer 1 | | |
| Flight Engineer 2 | | |
Soyuz TMA-16M was launched successfully aboard a Soyuz-FG rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 19:42 UTC on Friday,27 March 2015. The spacecraft reached low Earth orbit approximately nine minutes after lift-off. After executing rendezvous maneuvers,the Soyuz docked with the zenith port of the International Space Station's Poisk module approximately six hours after launch,at 01:33 UTC on 28 March. The docking occurred over Colombia. [9] [10]
Soyuz TMA-16M remained docked to the ISS—serving as an emergency escape vehicle–until 12 September 2015,when it departed and returned Padalka,Andreas Mogensen,and Aydyn Aimbetov to Earth. [7] This vehicle was previously scheduled to carry Sarah Brightman as a space tourist,but Brightman's flight was announced to be cancelled in May 2015. [11]
Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft was relocated from Poisk module to the orbiting laboratory's Zvezda module service module on 28 August 2015. [3] This cleared the Poisk module for the arrival of Soyuz TMA-18M.
Soyuz TMA-16M undocked from the ISS at 21:29 UTC on 11 September 2015,containing Gennady Padalka of Roscosmos and visiting crew members Andreas Mogensen of ESA (European Space Agency) and Aidyn Aimbetov of the Kazakh Space Agency. Following a deorbit burn,the Soyuz spacecraft's descent module reentered the Earth's atmosphere. The crew landed safely in Kazakhstan at 00:51 UTC on 12 September 2015,just over three hours after departing the ISS. [12]