Space Station Trio Prepares for Wednesday Departure
The Soyuz TMA-12M 40th Expedition Landing (Photo)
Hatches Closed Between Soyuz TMA-12M & ISS As Crew Depart for Earth (Video)
NASA astronaut Steve Swanson handed over command of the International Space Station to Max Suraev Tuesday at 5:15 p.m. EDT.
Expedition 40/41 Change of Command Aboard Station
Three International Space Station crew members are set to return to Earth this week after living and working in space for nearly half a year. The journey home will begin for Aleksandr Skvortsov, Oleg Artemyev and Steve Swanson on Wednesday when their Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft undocks from the Poisk module of the Space Station. Undocking is planned at 23:01 UTC followed by one and a half orbits of free flight to set up for the deorbit burn leading up to a parachute assisted landing in the steppe of Kazakhstan at 2:23 UTC on Thursday.
Landing Profile
UTC | Undock +/- | Landing +/- | Event |
Soyuz Loading Complete | |||
Communication Reconfig for Undock | |||
Comm Checks | |||
Soyuz Activation | |||
19:40:00 | -03:21:30 | Hatch Closure | |
22:21:00 | -00:50:00 | ISS hands to RS Control | |
22:26:00 | -00:45:00 | ISS Maneuver to Undocking Attitude | |
22:59:00 | -00:02:30 | ISS Control to Free Drift Mode | |
23:00:00 | -00:01:30 | Command Undocking Sequence | |
23:01:30 | 00:00:00 | Physical Separation | |
22:03:10 | +00:01:40 | LVLH Snap&Hold | |
23:04:30 | +00:03:00 | Range: 20 Meters; Sep. Burn #1 | |
23:10:00 | +00:08:30 | ISS Maneuver to nominal Attitude | |
00:00:00 | +00:58:30 | ISS to USOS Control | |
01:00:00 | +01:58:30 | Sunrise at Landing Site | |
01:30:36 | +02:29:06 | -0:53:03 | Deorbit Burn Duration: 4:41, dV: 128.0m/s |
01:35:16 | +02:33:46 | -0:48:23 | End Deorbit Burn (423.0km, 7.23km/s) |
01:50:18 | +02:48:48 | -0:33:21 | Equator Crossing |
01:58:00 | +02:56:30 | -0:25:39 | Entering Daylight |
01:58:21 | +02:56:51 | -0:25:16 | Module Separation (139.8km, 7.57km/s) |
02:01:15 | +02:59:45 | -0:22:24 | Entry Interface (99.5km, 7.62km/s) |
02:02:47 | +03:01:17 | -0:20:52 | Entry Guidance enabled (80.2km, 7.62km/s) |
02:08:13 | +03:06:43 | -0:15:26 | Peak G Load – 3.84G (35.7km, 2.36km/s) |
02:09:38 | +03:08:08 | -0:14:01 | Parachute Opening Command (10.7km, 218m/s) |
02:23:37 | +03:22:07 | -0:00:02 | Soft Landing Engine Ignition |
02:23:39 | +03:22:09 | 00:00:00 | TOUCHDOWN |
04:23:00 | ~+05:22 | ~+02:00 | Crew departs Landing Site |
Landing on-line:
Oleg Artemyev’s blog: /en/mks/mks-online/
Roskosmos: http://www.federalspace.ru/316/
NASA TV: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/
TV Russia 24: http://www.vesti.ru/
TikTok: tiktok.com/@olegmks
ВКонтакте: vk.com/olegmks
YouTube: youtube.com/c/OlegMKS
Яндекс.Дзен: zen.yandex.ru/olegmks
RuTube: rutube.ru/channel/23320330/