Soyuz TMA-16M

Launch, orbit & landing data: Designation  40540 / 15016A Launch date - time  27 March 2015 - 19:42:58 UTC Launch site  Baikonur, LC1/5 Launch vehicle Soyuz-FG (#xx) Soyuz designation 11F732 nº Mass (kg)   kg Docking date - time  28 March 2015 - 01:33:37 UTC Target spacecraft/port  ISS/Poisk module Earth orbit on :    - Perigee / Apogee  198 x 213 km    - Inclination  51.6°    - Period   min Undocking date - time  28 Aug 2015 - 07:12 UT Docking date - time  28 Aug 2015 - 07:30 UT Target spacecraft/port  ISS/Zvezda module Undocking date - time  11 Sep 2015 - 21:29:10 UTC Deorbit burn date - time   Landing date - time  12 Sep 2015 - 00:51:34 UTC Landing location  47°21'46"N, 69°38'36"E Flight Duration (d:hr:min)  168d 05h 08m 36s Nbr orbits  2619 Landing crew  Padalka (16M)  Mogensen & Aimbetov (18M)

Launched Crew

Soyuz TMA-16M crew, from left: Kelly, Padalka and Korniyenko. Photo credit: NASA

Back-up crew

Backup Crew Nr. Name Job 1  Ovchinin, Aleksei (CIS)  Commander 2  Volkov, Sergei (CIS)  Flight Engineer 3  Williams, Jeffrey (US)  Flight engineer

Mikhail Kornienko (top), Scott Kelly (middle) and Gennady Padalka (bottom) wave to well-wishers as they board the Soyuz rocket before liftoff. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Mission Report:

• ISS Expedition 43/44.
• Starting One Year Crew mission with Kelly Scott and Korniyenko Mikhail for a marathon 342-day mission, the longest flight ever attempted by an American.

  Kelly and Korniyenko One Year path

  Kelly and Korniyenko

  
  
  
• With spacecraft commander Gennady Padalka strapped into the command module´s center seat, flanked on the left by flight engineer Kornienko and on the right by Kelly, the Soyuz TMA-16M rocket´s main engines ignited with a roar at 3:42:57 p.m. EDT (GMT-4; 1:43 a.m. local time) on 27 March 2015, pushing the booster away from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
• The International Space Station passed 260 miles above the launch site just a few moments earlier and after a smooth eight-minute 45-second climb to orbit, the Soyuz spacecraft was released from its upper stage booster, solar wings and navigation antennas deployed and the crew set off after its quarry. Following an only six hours solo flight Soyuz TMA-16M docked to ISS on March 28, 2015. Gennadi Padalka, Mikhail Korniyenko and Scott Kelly became the ISS Expedition 43 (together with ISS Expedition 42 crew members Anton Shkaplerov, Samantha Cristoforetti and Terry Virts).
• On Aug 28, 2015 Padalka, Kelly and Kornienko flew Soyuz TMA-16M from the Poisk to Zvezda docking ports. Undocking from Poisk was at 0712 UTC and docking with Zvezda was at 0730 UTC. This freed the Poisk port for the TMA-18M arrival, and will free Zvezda for a refuelling ship once TMA-16M returns to Earth.
• Exp. 44 concluded with the undocking of Soyuz TMA-16M from the Zvezda aft port at 2129 UTC Sep 11, 2015 carrying Exp. 44 commander Padalka and EP-18 visiting crew members Mogensen and Aimbetov. Soyuz TMA-16M landed in Kazakhstan at 0051:36 UTC Sep 12.
• Mikhail Korniyenko and Scott Kelly landed on March 02, 2016 at 04:25:50.5 UTC with Soyuz TMA-18M.

Soyuz TMA-16M crewmen after landing.

Mogensen after landing

External links:

• Spaceflight 101: Soyuz TMA-16M Mission
  

Astrophilately covers:

Launch cancel Baikonur 28.03.15, registered mail. Note: On 27.03 was the postoffice already closed.

Launch cancel Baikonur 28.03.15, long duration flight

Cosmic Mail: Bleu ISS boardcancel and special Mir-date cancel, Soyuz TMA-16M docking cancel, signed by the crew. 1e Liechtenstein post to the ISS. - Credit: #417

09 Oct 2015: welcome event in Star City, signed by the crew.