Soyuz TMA-21

Launch, orbit & landing data: Designation  37382 / 11012A Launch date - time  04 Apr 2011 - 22:18 UT Launch site  Baikonur, LC1/5 Launch vehicle Soyuz-FG (#xx) Soyuz designation 11F732 n°231 Launch Mass (kg)  up to 7220 kg Launch Mass (kg)  ~2900 kg Docking date - time  06 Apr 2011 - 23:09 UT Target spacecraft/port  ISS/Poisk module Earth orbit on Apr 7.51:    - Perigee / Apogee  348 x 352 km    - Eccentricity  0.0002    - Inclination  51.65°    - Period  91.53 min Undocking date - time  16 Sep 2011 - 00:38 UT Deorbit burn date - time   Landing date - time  16 Sep 2011 - 03:59 UT Landing location  47°19'11.6" N, 69°30'06.8" E Flight Duration (d:hr:min)  164d 05h 41m (164.073 days) Nbr orbits  2576 Landing crew  launch crew

Launched Crew

Soyuz crew

Soyuz backup-crew

Backup Crew

Mission Report:

• ISS Expedition 27.
• Launch delayed from 30 Mar until 10 April 2011.
• Soyuz TMA-21 (spacecraft No. 231) was launched on Apr 4, 2011 carrying astronauts Aleksandr Samokutyaev (Roskosmos, commander), Andrey Borisenko (Roskosmos, flight engineer 1), and Ron Garan (NASA, flight engineer 2). Samokutyaev is a Russian air force pilot, and Borisenko is a former RKK Energiya engineer; both are making their first flight. Garan previously flew on STS-124. Borisenko will become the Expedition 28 commander later in the mission.
• The launch took place one week shy of the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight, and the Soyuz rocket was decorated with Yuri Gagarin's name (photo).
• The spacecraft, which is an earlier 'non-digital' Soyuz version, docked on 6 April 2011 at 23h09 UT on the Poisk module, 9 minutes ahead of schedule.
  
  

  Soyuz-TMA21 docked to the station

  
  
• Return of Soyuz TMA-21 was delayed by eight days following the Progress M-12M launch failure.
• Soyuz TMA-21 undocked from the Poisk module at 0038 UTC on Sep 16, 2011 carrying Aleksandr Samokutyaev, Ron Garan and Andrey Borisenko. This was the end of Exp. 28.
• But just before module separation, Russian flight controllers lost communications with the spacecraft and the crew returned in an apparent radio blackout, with repeated calls from mission control near Moscow going unanswered. Recovery forces at the landing site in Kazakhstan regained communications just before touchdown, but mission control never did.
• Landing:

Astrophilately covers:

Space Mail: ISS bord cancel, special cancel 11.04.11.