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Soyuz TMA-21 ("Gagarin") was a
Soyuz Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз ( Russian and Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалис ...
flight to the
International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...
(ISS). It transported three members of the
Expedition 27 Expedition 27 was the 27th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), starting on 16 March 2011. Expedition 27 saw numerous notable events, including the undocking of the Progress M-09M and Kounotori 2 spacecraft, the arri ...
crew to the ISS, and docked at the station on April 6, 2011. TMA-21 is the 109th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft, the first of which launched in 1967. The Soyuz remained attached to the space station as a lifeboat, throughout the remainder of Expedition 27 and through the end of
Expedition 28 Expedition 28 was the 28th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station, and began on 23 May 2011 with the departure of the members of Expedition 27. The first three members of Expedition 28 arrived on the ISS aboard the Soyuz TM ...
, and returned to Earth on September 16, 2011. The launch of Soyuz TMA-21 was devoted to the 50th anniversary of the first crewed space mission, which was conducted by
Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space. T ...
on April 12, 1961. The COSPAR International ID of Soyuz TMA-21 is 2011-012A.


Crew


Backup crew


Mission insignia

In December 2010, the Head of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Anatoly Perminov approved the patch of the Soyuz TMA-21 mission. The patch was designed based on a drawing by young artist Marciel Santos Kayle, a 12-year-old from
French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label= French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic coast of South America in the Guianas ...
. According to a Roscosmos news release, Marciel's sketch was chosen for the crew patch, since it depicts Gagarin and his crew vehicle Vostok. The spacecraft will fly a drawing of Gagarin, and, apart from being called Gagarin, it will also be written on the spacecraft.


Kvant-V equipment glitch

During the launch processing in March 2011, the Technical Management on Human Space System Flight Testing reported an operational glitch of the Kvant-V equipment. The Kvant-V system resides in the Instrumentation Propulsion Module – one of the three modules that make the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft. On March 13, Roscosmos Board held a meeting to discuss the issue and delayed the launch from March 30, 2011. The glitch was traced back to a faulty part (capacitor) in the equipment. Russian Space Agency Roscosmos established a working group with representatives from RSC-Energia and TSNIImash, the manufacturers and developers of the Soyuz systems. Proposals of the working group were considered during an additional General Designers’ Review led by RSC-Energia president Vitaly Lopota. After analyzing the submitted data by the Review, Roscosmos decided to set April 4 as the new launch date.


Pre-launch processing

The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft arrived at Baikonur Cosmodrome on February 9, 2011. On the same day, the RSC-Energia technicians, tested the spacecraft's Kurs system.


Crew training

Roscosmos' Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC) hosted a two-day exam session for the prime and backup crews of Soyuz TMA-21 on March 4–5. On March 4, the prime crew of Samokutyayev, Borisenko and Garan were tested through integrated training in the ISS simulator and their backup crew of Shkaplerov, Ivanishin and Burbank were tested in the Soyuz mockup. On the next day, the crews were swapped and examined. The two groups of crews passed the exams after solving all the tasks for which they were examined. Anatoly Perminov, the head of Roscosmos hosted the traditional tea-party with Soyuz TMA-21 prime and backup crews on March 11. On March 17, cosmonauts and astronauts left GCTC for Baikonur. On March 19, Roscosmos Board gave its final approval of the crews to go through training at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.


Launch

The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft launched on schedule from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome ''Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy'' rus, Космодром Байконур''Kosmodrom Baykonur'' , image = Baikonur Cosmodrome Soyuz launch pad.jpg , caption = The Baikonur Cosmodrome's "Gagarin's Start" Soyuz ...
's
Gagarin's Start Gagarin's Start (russian: Гагаринский старт, ''Gagarinskiy start''), also known as Baikonur Site 1 or Site 1/5 is a launch site at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan that was used for the Soviet space program and is now manag ...
launch pad in
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
, at 23:18:20 UTC on April 4, 2011. Souyz Commander Samokutyaev was launched from the Soyuz's center seat with flight engineer Borisenko strapped in to his left and NASA astronaut Ronald Garan on his right. The
Soyuz-FG The Soyuz-FG launch vehicle was an improved version of the Soyuz-U from the R-7 family of rockets, designed and constructed by TsSKB-Progress in Samara, Russia. Guidance, navigation, and control system was developed and manufactured by "Polis ...
rocket followed a nominal ascent, and successfully inserted the
spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, ...
into orbit 8 minutes and 45 seconds after liftoff. In orbit, the spacecraft deployed its two solar panels and communications antennas as planned. Samokutyayev, carried a small stuffed dog given to him by his daughter. Hanging in front of the crew, live NASA TV launch footage showed that the dog begun to float as the spacecraft soared skywards, an indication of the weightlessness of space. "Launch was great, and we are in orbit and we are doing great," said Samokutyaev after the launch. Replying back the Moscow Mission Control said "This is a great anniversary flight, and have a great one".


Docking

The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft docked with the
International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...
(ISS) on April 6 at 23:09 UTC. The docking to the ''Poisk'' module occurred as the two spacecraft were orbiting over the Andes Mountains in Chile. Hatches between the Soyuz TMA-21 and the ISS were opened at 2:13 UTC on April 7. The three Soyuz crew members floated into the ISS. They were welcomed aboard for a crew greeting ceremony and a mandatory safety orientation by Expedition 27 Commander Dmitry Kondratyev and Flight Engineers Catherine Coleman and Paolo Nespoli.


Return to Earth

The Soyuz TMA-21 crew had been due to come back on September 8 but its return was delayed due to the crash of the
Progress M-12M Progress M-12M (russian: Прогресс М-12М, italic=yes), identified by NASA as Progress 44P, was an uncrewed Progress spacecraft that was lost in a launch failure on 24 August 2011, at the start of a mission to resupply the Internationa ...
on August 24. The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station on September 16, 2011 at 00:38 UTC.After 162 days aboard, @Astro_Ron & Expedition 28 crew undocked from space station at 8:38pmET to begin their voyage home. Due to an apparent communications malfunction, voice communications from the crew were lost shortly after the deorbit burn, prompting some tense moments on the ground, but otherwise the reentry and descent went perfectly. There was no immediate explanation for the communications drop out. Soyuz Commander Aleksandr Samokutyayev and Flight Engineers Andrei Borisenko and Ronald Garan returned to Earth on September 16, 2011 at 03:59 UTC, landing on target in central Kazakhstan. Russian search and rescue teams, along with NASA flight surgeons and space station program managers, were standing by to help the Soyuz crew. Three Antonov airplanes, 14
Mil Mi-8 The Mil Mi-8 (russian: Ми-8, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s and introduced into the Soviet Air Force in 1968. It is now produced by Russia. In addition to ...
helicopters, and seven rescue vehicles took part in the search for the capsule. Samokutyayev was the first to be extracted out of the Soyuz descent module, followed by Garan and Borisenko. All three appeared relaxed and in good health as they rested in recliners near the descent module. After quick medical examinations inside a nearby erected tent, the crew were flown to
Karaganda Karaganda or Qaraghandy ( kk, Қарағанды/Qarağandy, ; russian: Караганда, ) is the capital of Karaganda Region in the Republic of Kazakhstan. It is the fourth most populous city in Kazakhstan, behind Almaty (Alma-Ata), Astan ...
for an official welcome home ceremony. From there Samokutyaev and Borisenko flew to Star City near Moscow while Garan boarded a NASA jet to fly back to the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Image:Soyuz TMA-21 capsule descends toward landing.jpg, The Soyuz TMA-21 capsule descends toward landing. Image:Soyuz TMA-21 landing.jpg, The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft lands in central Kazakhstan. Image:Soyuz TMA-21 crew after landing.jpg, The Soyuz crew is pictured shortly after landing.


Call sign

The crew of Soyuz TMA-21 selected ''Tarkhany'' as their call sign of respect for
Mikhail Lermontov Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (; russian: Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjurʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲɛrməntəf; – ) was a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucas ...
's work. Lermontov grew up in the village of Tarkhany (in the
Penza Penza ( rus, Пе́нза, p=ˈpʲɛnzə) is the largest city and administrative center of Penza Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Sura River, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Census, Penza had a population of 517,311, making it the 38th-la ...
Governorate), which now preserves his remains. Year 2011 also marks the 170th anniversary of his fatal duel with fellow army officer
Nikolai Martynov Nikolai Solomonovich Martynov (russian: link=no, Николай Соломонович Мартынов) (1815–1875) was the Russian army officer who fatally shot the poet Mikhail Lermontov in a cliff-edge duel A duel is an arranged enga ...
in 1841.


References

{{Orbital launches in 2011 Crewed Soyuz missions Spacecraft launched in 2011 Spacecraft which reentered in 2011 Spacecraft launched by Soyuz-FG rockets Monuments and memorials to Yuri Gagarin