Soyuz TMA-8

Soyuz TMA-8
Operator	Roscosmos
COSPAR ID	2006-009A
SATCAT no.	28996
Mission duration	182 days
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Soyuz-TMA 11F732
Manufacturer	Energia
Launch mass	7,270 kilograms (16,030 lb)
Crew
Crew size	3
Members	Pavel Vinogradov ; Jeffrey Williams
Launching	Marcos Pontes
Landing	Anousheh Ansari
Callsign	Carat
Start of mission
Launch date	March 30, 2006, 02:30 UTC
Rocket	Soyuz-FG
Launch site	Baikonur 1/5
End of mission
Landing date	September 29, 2006, 01:13 UTC
Landing site	Kazakhstan
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee altitude	200 kilometres (120 mi)
Apogee altitude	241 kilometres (150 mi)
Inclination	51.67 degrees
Period	88.64 minutes
Docking with ISS
Docking port	Zarya nadir
Docking date	1 April 2006; 04:19 UTC
Undocking date	28 September 2006; 21:53 UTC
Time docked	180d 17h 34m
	; From top to bottom: Jeffrey Williams, Marcos Pontes and Pavel Vinogradov. Soyuz programme ; (Crewed missions) ← Soyuz TMA-7 Soyuz TMA-9 →

Last updated February 25, 2025

Soyuz TMA-8 was a Soyuz mission to the International Space Station (ISS) launched by a Soyuz FG launch vehicle.

Crew

Soyuz TMA-8 was a transport mission for portions of the International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 13 crew. The flight delivered ISS Commander Pavel Vinogradov and ISS Flight Engineer Jeffrey Williams to the station to replace Expedition 12 crew members. Flight Engineer Marcos Pontes joined the TMA-8 crew for the ascent and docking with ISS, spent approximately seven days aboard the ISS conducting experiments as part of the Missão Centenário, then returned to Earth with the outgoing members of Expedition 12 aboard Soyuz TMA-7. Vinogradov and Williams were joined on their return trip to Earth by Spaceflight Participant Anousheh Ansari who launched aboard Soyuz TMA-9 and spent approximately eight days aboard ISS conducting experiments for the European Space Agency.


Position	Launching crew	Landing crew
Commander	Pavel Vinogradov, Roscosmos ^[1] Expedition 13 Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer	Jeffrey Williams, NASA ^[1] Expedition 13 Second spaceflight
Spaceflight Participant	Marcos Pontes, AEB ^[1] Only spaceflight	/ Anousheh Ansari, SA Only spaceflight Tourist

Back-up crew


Position	Crew
Commander	Fyodor Yurchikhin, Roscosmos^[2]
Flight Engineer	Michael Fincke, NASA^[2]
Flight Engineer	Sergei Volkov, Roscosmos^[2]

Docking with ISS

Docked to ISS: April 1, 2006, 04:19 UTC (to nadir port of Zarya)^[3]
Undocked from ISS: September 28, 2006, 21:53 UTC (from nadir port of Zarya)

Mission highlights

29th crewed flight to ISS (Flight 12S)

Soyuz TMA-8 is a Soyuz spacecraft which was launched on March 30, 2006 by a Soyuz-FG rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Near the end of second stage burn, a communications blackout occurred at Moscow Mission Control. A satellite link was lost, but was restored about 10 minutes later. The crew was safe throughout the loss of communications.

The spacecraft carried two members of the Expedition 13 crew to the International Space Station, together with Marcos Pontes, the first Brazilian in space. The Brazilian government paid Russia approximately $20 million (USD) for Pontes' flight.^[4] They replaced the Expedition 12 crew, Commander William McArthur and Valery Ivanovich Tokarev. Together with the Expedition 12 crew, Marcos Pontes returned to Earth on board Soyuz TMA-7.

Soyuz TMA-8 returned to Earth, together with Expedition 13, the spaceflight participant launched with Soyuz TMA-9, Anousheh Ansari.^[5]

References

1 2 3 NASA (2006-03-29). "New Station Crew Launches From Baikonur". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Archived from the original on 2017-06-02. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
1 2 3 NASA (2006-01-05). "NASA Announces Next International Space Station Crew". NASA. Archived from the original on 2018-10-07. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
↑ NASA (2006-03-31). "New Crew Docks With Space Station". NASA. Archived from the original on 2021-01-21. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
↑ Delphine Thouvenot (2005). "Brazil's President In Moscow Signs Deal For Joint Space Mission". Space Daily. Retrieved October 30, 2007.
↑ NASA (2005-09-28). "Space Station Crew Back on Earth". NASA. Retrieved 2007-08-12.

External links

Expedition 13/Soyuz TMA-8

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[crew-1] 1 2 3 NASA (2006-03-29). "New Station Crew Launches From Baikonur". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Archived from the original on 2017-06-02. Retrieved 2007-08-12.

[Press_release:_06-002-2] 1 2 3 NASA (2006-01-05). "NASA Announces Next International Space Station Crew". NASA. Archived from the original on 2018-10-07. Retrieved 2007-08-12.

[3] NASA (2006-03-31). "New Crew Docks With Space Station". NASA. Archived from the original on 2021-01-21. Retrieved 2007-08-12.

[pontos-4] Delphine Thouvenot (2005). "Brazil's President In Moscow Signs Deal For Joint Space Mission". Space Daily. Retrieved October 30, 2007.

[5] NASA (2005-09-28). "Space Station Crew Back on Earth". NASA. Retrieved 2007-08-12.

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v t e Human spaceflights to the International Space Station
See also: ISS expeditions, Uncrewed ISS flights
1998–2004	1998 STS-88 1999 STS-96 2000 STS-101 106 92 Soyuz TM-31 STS-97 2001 STS-98 102 100 Soyuz TM-32 STS-104 105 Soyuz TM-33 STS-108 2002 STS-110 Soyuz TM-34 STS-111 112 Soyuz TMA-1 STS-113 2003 Soyuz TMA-2 TMA-3 2004 Soyuz TMA-4 TMA-5	International Space Station Emblem
2005–2009	2005 Soyuz TMA-6 STS-114 Soyuz TMA-7 2006 Soyuz TMA-8 STS-121 115 Soyuz TMA-9 STS-116 2007 Soyuz TMA-10 STS-117 118 Soyuz TMA-11 STS-120 2008 STS-122 123 Soyuz TMA-12 STS-124 Soyuz TMA-13 STS-126 2009 STS-119 Soyuz TMA-14 TMA-15 STS-127 128 Soyuz TMA-16 STS-129 Soyuz TMA-17
2010–2014	2010 STS-130 Soyuz TMA-18 STS-131 132 Soyuz TMA-19 TMA-01M TMA-20 2011 STS-133 Soyuz TMA-21 STS-134 Soyuz TMA-02M STS-135 Soyuz TMA-22 TMA-03M 2012 Soyuz TMA-04M TMA-05M TMA-06M TMA-07M 2013 Soyuz TMA-08M TMA-09M TMA-10M TMA-11M 2014 Soyuz TMA-12M TMA-13M TMA-14M TMA-15M
2015–2019	2015 Soyuz TMA-16M TMA-17M TMA-18M TMA-19M 2016 Soyuz TMA-20M MS-01 MS-02 MS-03 2017 Soyuz MS-04 MS-05 MS-06 MS-07 2018 Soyuz MS-08 MS-09 MS-10† MS-11 2019 Soyuz MS-12 MS-13 MS-15
Since 2020	2020 Soyuz MS-16 SpaceX Demo-2 Soyuz MS-17 SpaceX Crew-1 2021 Soyuz MS-18 SpaceX Crew-2 Soyuz MS-19 SpaceX Crew-3 Soyuz MS-20 2022 Soyuz MS-21 Axiom-1 SpaceX Crew-4 Soyuz MS-22 SpaceX Crew-5 2023 Soyuz MS-23 SpaceX Crew-6 Axiom-2 SpaceX Crew-7 Soyuz MS-24 2024 Axiom-3 SpaceX Crew-8 Soyuz MS-25 Boeing CFT Soyuz MS-26 SpaceX Crew-9
Future	2025 SpaceX Crew-10 Soyuz MS-27 Axiom-4 Boeing Starliner-1
Individuals	List of ISS visitors crew
Vehicles	Past Space Shuttle Present Boeing Starliner Crew Dragon Soyuz Future Orel
Ongoing spaceflights are in underline † - mission failed to reach ISS

v t e ← 2005 Orbital launches in 2006 2007 →
January	New Horizons Daichi
February	EchoStar X MTSAT-2 Akari, CUTE-1.7 + APD Arabsat-4A
March	Spainsat, Hot Bird 7A ST-5 FalconSAT-2 Soyuz TMA-8
April	JCSAT-5A COSMIC Astra 1KR Progress M-56 EROS-B Yaogan 1 CALIPSO, CloudSat
May	Kosmos 2420 GOES 13 / EWS-G1 Satmex 6, Thaicom 5
June	Resurs-DK No.1 KazSat-1 Galaxy 16 USA-187, USA-188, USA-189 Progress M-57 Kosmos 2421 USA-184
July	STS-121 (MPLM) INSAT-4C Genesis I Kosmos 2422 BelKA, Baumanets, PicPot, SACRED, ION, Rincon 1, ICECube-1, KUTESat Pathfinder, SEEDS, nCube, HAUSAT-1, MEROPE, CP-2, AeroCube-1, CP-1, Mea Huaka'i, ICECube-2 Arirang-2
August	Hot Bird 8 JCSAT-3A, Syracuse 3B Koreasat 5
September	Shijian 8 STS-115 (ITS P3/4) IGS-3A Chinasat-22A Kosmos 2423 Soyuz TMA-9 Hinode, HIT-SAT, SSSAT USA-190
October	DirecTV-9S, Optus D1, LDREX MetOp-A Progress M-58 Shijian 6C, Shijian 6D STEREO Sinosat-2 XM-4
November	USA-191 Badr-4 USA-192
December	Fengyun 2-05 WildBlue 1, AMC-18 STS-116 (ITS P5, SpaceHab LSM, ANDE-MAA, ANDE-FACL, RAFT1, MARScom, MEPSI-2) MEASAT-3 USA-193 TacSat-2, GeneSat Kiku 8 SAR-Lupe 1 Meridian 1 Kosmos 2424, Kosmos 2425, Kosmos 2426 CoRoT
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).