Soyuz TMA-14M was a 2014 flight to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...

. It transported three members of the

Expedition 41 Expedition 41 was the 41st expedition to the International Space Station. It began on 10 September 2014 with the undocking of Soyuz TMA-12M, returning the crew of Expedition 40 Expedition 40 was the 40th expedition to the International Space St ...

crew to the International Space Station. TMA-14M is the 123rd flight of a Soyuz spacecraft, the first flight launching in 1967. The Soyuz remained docked to the space station for the Expedition 42 increment to serve as an emergency escape vehicle until undocking and landing as scheduled in March 2015.

Crew

Backup crew

Mission highlights

Launch, rendezvous and docking

Soyuz TMA-14M successfully launched aboard a

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 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome 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 20:25 UTC on Thursday, 25 September 2014 (2:25 AM Friday 26 September local time). The spacecraft reached

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

approximately nine minutes after lift-off. After reaching orbit, the Soyuz spacecraft's port

solar array A photovoltaic system, also PV system or solar power system, is an electric power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to absorb and ...

failed to deploy, but eventually did deploy after docking with the ISS. According to NASA and the

Russian Federal Space Agency The State Space Corporation "Roscosmos" (russian: Государственная корпорация по космической деятельности «Роскосмос»), commonly known simply as Roscosmos (russian: Роскосмос) ...

, the solar array does not pose a threat to the success of the mission. Following a four-orbit rendezvous, the spacecraft docked with the Poisk module of the

just under six hours after launch, at 02:11 UTC on Friday, 26 September. Hatches between the two spacecraft were opened at 04:06 UTC. At this time, the crew of TMA-14M joined the crew of

, where they were scheduled to remain until the crew of

Soyuz TMA-13M Soyuz TMA-13M was a 2014 flight to the International Space Station. It transported three members of the Expedition 40 crew to the International Space Station. TMA-13M was the 122nd flight of a Soyuz spacecraft since 1967, and the 39th Soyuz miss ...

departed in November 2014. Samokutyayev, Serova and Wilmore transferred to the crew of Expedition 42 at that time.

Undocking and return to Earth

TMA-14M remained docked to the ISS—serving as an emergency escape vehicle—until March 11, 2015, when it departed and returned Samokutyayev, Serova and Wilmore to Earth. After undocking from the ISS at 22:44 UTC on 11 March, the spacecraft deorbited and its descent module along with the mission crew landed safely just over three hours later, at 02:07 UTC on 12 March.

Gallery

File:Expedition 41 Rollout (201409230023HQ).jpg, The Soyuz rocket being rolled out to the launch pad. File:Expedition 41 Crew Wave (201409250001HQ).jpg, The crew waves to spectators before boarding the rocket. File:Expedition 41 Soyuz Launch (201409260002HQ).jpg, TMA-14M launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. File:Expedition 42 Soyuz TMA-14M Landing (201503120102HQ).jpg, Descent of the spacecraft on 12 March, 2015. File:Expedition 42 Soyuz TMA-14M Landing (201503120103HQ).jpg, TMA-14M descending towards landing.

In media

* In the 2014 film ''

Gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...

'', STS-157 Mission Specialist Dr. Ryan Stone pilots the damaged Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft in her travel from the ISS to the Chinese ''

Tiangong-1 Tiangong-1 () was China's first prototype space station. It orbited Earth from September 2011 to April 2018, serving as both a crewed laboratory and an experimental testbed to demonstrate orbital rendezvous and docking capabilities during its ...

'' station and is able to hack the computer to separate the modules and activate the landing

retrorockets A retrorocket (short for ''retrograde rocket'') is a rocket engine providing thrust opposing the motion of a vehicle, thereby causing it to decelerate. They have mostly been used in spacecraft, with more limited use in short-runway aircraft land ...

in space as the capsule is out of fuel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soyuz TMA-M14 Crewed Soyuz missions Spacecraft launched in 2014 2014 in Russia Spacecraft which reentered in 2015 Spacecraft launched by Soyuz-FG rockets