Soyuz TMA-13M

Launch, orbit & landing data: Designation  39775 / 14031A Launch date - time  28 May 2014 - 19:57:41 UTC Launch site  Baikonur, LC1/5 Launch vehicle Soyuz-FG (#xx) Soyuz designation 11F732 nº Mass (kg)   kg Docking date - time  29 May 2014 - 01:44:02 UTC Target spacecraft/port  ISS/Rassvet Earth orbit on :    - Perigee / Apogee   km    - Inclination  °    - Period   min Undocking date - time  10 Nov 2014 - 00:31:29 UTC Deorbit burn date - time  10 Nov 2014 - 03:05 UT Landing date - time  10 Nov 2014 - 03:58:50 UTC Landing location  82 km northeast of Arkalyk 51°03'18,12"N 67°18'13,8"E Flight Duration (d:hr:min)  165d 08h 01m Nbr orbits  2566 Landing crew  launch crew

Launched Crew

Backup Crew

Soyuz TMA-13M crew

Soyuz TMA-13M backup

Mission Report:

• ISS Expedition 40.
• On May 28, 2014 Soyuz TMA-13M was launched with Maksim Suraev, Reid Wiseman and Alexander Gerst; the spaceship docked with the Rassvet module at 0144 UTC May 29 and their crew joined commander Steve Swanson and FEs Arteme'v and Skvortsov already aboard.
  

  Shortly before their departure, Soyuz TMA-13M crew Alexander Gerst, Max Surayev, and Reid Wiseman, clad in their Sokol (“Falcon“) launch and entry suits, shared a selfie with the Exp 42 crew of Yelena Serova, Aleksandr Samokutyayev, and Barry Wilmore. Photo Credit: NASA

  Soyuz-TMA13M undocking

  
  
• Following the traditional ISS change-of-command ceremony, in which Surayev relinquished control of the station to Wilmore on Saturday, 09 November 2014, the outgoing crew was able to concentrate fully on preparing their suits, their Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft, and themselves for a punishing return to terrestrial gravity. The three men bade farewell to crewmates Wilmore and Russian cosmonauts Aleksandr Samokutyayev and Yelena Serova, closed the hatches between the station’s Earth-facing (or “nadir“) Rassvet module and Soyuz TMA-13M at 4:27 p.m. EST Sunday. Soyuz TMA-13M undocked from Rassvet at 0031 UTC Nov 10. The deorbit burn at 0305 UTC reduced velocity by 128 m/s, dipping perigee into the atmosphere, to begin their 3.5-hour return journey to Earth.
• As planned, Soyuz TMA-13M executed a deorbit “burn“, lasting four minutes and 41 seconds, which got underway at 10:09 p.m., slowing the velocity of the spacecraft sufficiently to permit entry into the “sensible“ atmosphere. Shortly afterwards, they discarded their spherical orbital module and cylindrical instrument module, leaving only the beehive-shaped descent module to sustain them during the perilous hypersonic descent. “Entry Interface,“ at an altitude of approximately 400,000 feet (76 miles, or 122 km), occurred at 10:35 p.m., after which friction with the steadily thickening atmosphere rapidly heated the vehicle’s outer surfaces.
  
  

  Soyuz TMA-13M crew inflight

  Soyuz TMA-13M crewmen (from left) Alexander Gerst, Max Surayev, and Reid Wiseman sit in reclining chairs at the landing site, following their return from 165 days in space. Photo Credit: NASA

  
  
• Eight minutes later, Soyuz TMA-13M steaked, meteor-like, through the night sky at a velocity in excess of 515 mph (830 km/h), heading for a touchdown point to the northeast of the large mining city of Arkalyk in north-central Kazakhstan. During this period, the spacecraft underwent rapid deceleration, thanks chiefly to the deployment of four parachutes, beginning about 15 minutes before it hit the ground. Two “pilot“ chutes were released, followed by a 258-square-foot (24-square-meter) drogue, which arrested Soyuz TMA-13M’s rate of descent to about 180 mph (290 km/h). Finally, the main canopy—with a fully unfurled surface area of 10,764 square feet (1,000 square meters)—was itself deployed, shifting the spacecraft’s attitude to a 30-degree angle, relative to the ground, dissipating heat, then shifting it back to a straight-vertical descent profile. The main canopy slowed Soyuz TMA-13M to a stately 16.4 mph (26.4 km/h), although this was still too fast for a safe landing. Finally, two seconds before touchdown, solid-fueled rockets in the descent module’s base ignited to cushion the impact.
• Max Surayev, Reid Wiseman, and Alexander Gerst hit terra firma at 03:58 UT Nov 10, 2014 (9:58 a.m. local time Monday, 10 November), concluding a mission of 165 days, eight hours, and one minute. The precise location was some 51 miles (82 km) northeast of Arkalyk. During their lengthy and eventful voyage, their circled Earth no fewer than 2,566 times and traveled more than 70 million miles (112 million km). Surayev ended the second mission of his cosmonaut career, having previously flown for 169 days during Expedition 21/22 between September 2009 and March 2010, and has now accrued a total of more than 334 days in space. Wiseman and Gerst both completed their first missions. All three participated in EVAs during the course of their expedition, with Wiseman performing two spacewalks and Surayev and Gerst one apiece.
• Recovery forces, including helicopters and all-terrain vehicles, were on the scene within minutes of touchdown and after establishing radio communications with the crew and receiving assurance that all was well, the process got underway to extract humanity’s most recent trio of space explorers from the vehicle. Surayev, in the central commander’s seat, was removed first, followed by a broadly grinning Gerst from the right-side “Flight Engineer-2 position, and lastly a high-spirited Wiseman, from the left-side “Flight Engineer-1“ post. Following normal post-landing protocol, the crew was seated in reclining chairs for initial acclimatization, before being moved from the freezing steppe into a nearby medical tent to remove their Sokol (“Falcon“) launch and entry suits and undergo comprehensive checks.

External links:

• Spaceflight 101: Soyuz TMA-13M Mission
  

Astrophilately covers:

Launch cancel Baikonur 29.05.14, registered mail. Note: On 28.05 was the postoffice already closed.

Launch, docking and ISS board cancel, signed by the crew

Docking cancel.

Landing cancel Houston.