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The Soyuz TMA-16 (No. 226) was scheduled for launch to the International Space Station, ISS, on September 30, 2009. The spacecraft would remain docked to the outpost until March 2010, in support of the Expedition 21 crew. In ISS nomenclature the mission was known as 20S and was often wrongly referred to in open NASA publications as Soyuz-20. Expedition 21 crewmembers: NASA officially named members of Expedition 21 on November 21, 2008:
Last tourist mission The Soyuz TMA-16 became the last Russian orbital launch with a seat available for a space tourist. After that flight, all seats onboard Soyuz would be needed to rotate six-member crews of the ISS. At various times, Kazakh cosmonaut Aidyn Aimbetov and a prominent member of the Russian Duma (parliament) Vladimir Gruzdev were named as candidates for the available seat onboard Soyuz TMA-16. However, both ultimately bowed out due to lack of cash. Only on May 29, 2009, just four months before a scheduled launch of the Soyuz TMA-16, Roskosmos announced that another candidate would be named at the beginning of June. According to the agency representative, the candidate for the mission was already in Russia undergoing medical checks necessary to qualify him for the flight and his name would be announced on June 4, 2009. On June 1, 2009, Space Adventures, the company which markets Soyuz seats to wealthy individuals, disclosed that a Canadian entrepreneur would take the third seat onboard Soyuz TMA-16. On June 4, Space Adventures announced that Guy Laliberté, founder of Cirque du Soleil, has begun training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City. Expedition 21/22 milestones (according to NASA, as of September 2009): Oct. 2: Soyuz TMA-16 to dock to the aft port of the Zvezda service module and its crew would join Expedition 20 for a total of nine crew members on the station for nine days. Oct. 11: Soyuz TMA-14 to undock from Pirs Docking Compartment with Padalka, Barratt and Laliberte onboard. Oct. 17: Progress cargo ship (Mission 35P) to dock to the Pirs Docking Compartment. Oct. 30: Japan's HTV cargo ship to undock from nadir docking port of the Harmony node module. Nov. 10: Mini-Reasearch Module-2 (MIM-2) to launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Nov. 12: Mini-Reasearch Module-2 (MIM-2) to dock to the zenith port of the Zvezda service module. Nov. 12: Space Shuttle Atlantis to start the STS-129/ULF3 mission with the launch from the Kennedy Space center. Nov. 14: Space Shuttle Atlantis to dock to the PMA-2 module. Nov. 21: Space Shuttle Atlantis to undock from the PMA-2 module. Nov. 23: Space Shuttle Atlantis to land at the end of the STS-129/ULF3 mission. Russia sends fresh crew to station Fulfilling its promise to support an increased crew of the International Space Station, ISS, Russia launched a third manned mission of 2009 Wednesday. It is the first time in many years, Russia sent more than two crews into space in a single year. The launch of the Soyuz rocket with the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft took place on Sept. 30, 2009, at 11:14:42 Moscow Summer Time from Baikonur Cosmodrome's Site 1. Onboard are Russian Commander Maksim Suraev, NASA flight engineer Jeffrey Williams and a space tourist from Canada Guy Laliberté. Russian mission control confirmed that the Soyuz-TMA-16 reached its intended orbit successfully and all its antennas and solar panels had deployed some ten minutes after the liftoff. The docking of the spacecraft with the sation was scheduled for Friday. One more manned launch was expected before the end of 2009. A total of four Russian launches per year would allow maintaining a six-man crew onboard the station virtually permanently with at least two three-seat Soyuz spacecraft, serving as a lifeboat, docked to the outpost at all times in six-month shifts. Docking After a two-day autonomous flight, the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft successfully docked to the aft port of the Zvezda service module on the International Space Station on Oct. 2, 2009 at 12:35:07 Moscow Time. Hatches between the spacecraft and the station were opened at 14:57 Moscow Time.
Page author: Anatoly Zak; Last update: October 2, 2009 All rights reserved |
The Soyuz TMA-16 crew. Left to right: NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams, Russian cosmonaut Jeffrey Williams, a space tourist Guy Laliberté. Click to enlarge. Credit: RKK Energia
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