Soyuz TMA-14M

Launch, orbit & landing data: Designation  40246 / 14057A Launch date - time  25 Sept 2014 - 20:25:00 UTC Launch site  Baikonur, LC1/5 Launch vehicle Soyuz-FG (#xx) Soyuz designation 11F732 nº Mass (kg)   kg Docking date - time  26 Sep 2014 - 02:11:29 UTC Target spacecraft/port  ISS/Poisk module Earth orbit on :    - Perigee / Apogee  406 x 416 km    - Inclination  51.65°    - Period  92.79 min Undocking date - time  11 Mar 2015 - 22:44:02 UTC Deorbit burn date - time  12 March 2015 - 0:16 UT Landing date - time  12 March 2015 - 02:07:40 UTC Landing location  Landing 145 km southeast of Dzheskasgan 47°21'07,98"N, 69°32'04,02"E Flight Duration (d:hr:min)  167d 05h 42m Nbr orbits  2599 Landing crew  launch crew

Launched Crew

Backup Crew

Soyuz TMA-14M crew

Soyuz TMA-14M backup

Description:

• Soyuz TMA-14M is a 2014 flight to the International Space Station. It transported three members of the Expedition 41 crew to the International Space Station. TMA-14M is the 123rd flight of a Soyuz spacecraft, the first flight launching in 1967. The Soyuz will most likely remain docked to the space station for the Expedition 42 increment to serve as an emergency escape vehicle until its scheduled departure in March 2015.

Mission Report:

• ISS Expedition 41/42.
  
  
  

  Cosmonaut Samokutyaev (bottom), Russian cosmonaut Serova (top), and NASA astr. Wilmore (center), wave during a farewell ceremony as they enter the spacecraft

  
  
• On Sep 25 at 2025 UTC the Soyuz TMA-14M ferry ship was launched from Baykonur with the remaining Ex-41 crewmembers FE-1 Aleksandr Samokutyaev, FE-2 Elena Serova and FE-3 Barry 'Butch' Wilmore. The port solar array failed to deploy after Soyuz separated from the launch vehicle third stage, but this did not impact the rendezvous. Soyuz TMA-14M docked with the Poisk module at 0211 UC Sep 26. Serova is the fourth Russian woman in space and the first since 1997. A little more than a half hour after docking, perhaps helped along by the slight jarring of impact, the stuck left-side solar array suddenly popped free.
  
  

  Soyuz TMA-14M arrival

  
  
• On Mar 11, 2015 at 22:44 UTC Soyuz TMA-14M undocked from the Poisk module with Expedition 42 crewmembers Aleksandr Samokutyaev, Barry Wilmore and Elena Serova.
• Soyuz TMA-14M performed its deorbit burn at 0116 UTC Mar 12, 2015.
• Four parachutes, deployed 15 minutes before landing, dramatically slowed the vehicle's rate of descent. Two pilot parachutes were the first to be released, and a drogue chute attached to the second one followed immediately after. The drogue, measuring 24 square meters (258 square feet) in area, slowed the rate of descent from 755 feet (230 meters) per second to 262 feet (80 meters) per second.
  The main parachute was the last to emerge. It is the largest chute, with a surface area of 10,764 square feet (1,000 square meters). Its harnesses shifted the vehicle's attitude to a 30-degree angle relative to the ground, dissipating heat, and then shifted it again to a straight vertical descent prior to landing.
  The main chute slowed the Soyuz to a descent rate of only 24 feet (7.3 meters) per second, which is still too fast for a comfortable landing. One second before touchdown, two sets of three small engines on the bottom of the vehicle fired, slowing the vehicle to soften the landing in Kazakhstan at around 0208 UTC.

Soyuz TMA-14M parachute deployed

Soyuz TMA-14M crewmen after landing.

External links:

• Spaceflight 101: Soyuz TMA-14M Mission
  

Astrophilately covers:

Launch cancel Baikonur 26.09.14, registered mail. Note: On 25.09 was the postoffice already closed.

Launch cancel Baikonur 26.09.14, signed by the crew. Credit: #402

Undocking & landing Soyuz TMA-14M, Houston cancel. Credit: #401