ISS: Expedition 7

Launch, orbit & landing data: Launch date - time  26 Apr 2003 - 03:53:52 UT Launch spacecraft  Soyuz TMA-2 Flight Crew  Malenchenko, Yuri (CDR - Russia)  Lu, Edward (FE - USA) Docked  28 Apr 2003 - 06:56:20 UT Mission parameters:    - Perigee / Apogee  384 / 396 km    - Inclination  51.6°    - Period  92 min Undocked  27 Oct 2003 - 22:17:09 UT Time Docked  182 days, 16 h, 20 min, 49 s Landing date - time  28 Oct 2003 - 02:40:20 UT Landing spacecraft  Soyuz TMA-2 Flight Duration (d:hr:min)  184 days, 22 h, 46 min, 28 s Nbr orbits  2895 Distance traveled  ~123,133,253 km

Crew

3 August 2003: "View down the length of the interior of the Zvezda Service module from the forward section to the aft end, as photographed by one of the Expedition 7 crewmembers." A sweeping view along Zvezda towards the Station's forward end, leading to Zarya. Laptops can be seen at the Command Post, providing an interface for the Russian segment's systems. - Credit: NASA.

Expedition Report

Mission details:

• Soyuz TMA-2 was launched on April 26, 2003 carrying the new Expedition 7 crew of Yuriy Malenchenko and Edward Lu.
• Soyuz Soyuz TMA-2 docked with the nadir port on the Zarya module at 0556 UTC on Apr 28, 2003 with hatches open to the station at 0727 UTC. The Expedition 7 crew of Malenchenko and Lu has replaced Expedition 6 aboard the Space Station.
• The Ex-6 crew of Bowersox, Budarin and Pettit boarded Soyuz TMA-1 on May 3, 2003 and undocked from the Pirs nadir port at 2243 UTC.
• Soyuz TMA-2 is docked to the nadir Zarya port and acts as the crew return vehicle. Progress vehicle 247 (M-47, flight ISS-10P) is docked at Zvezda's rear port. Progress vehicle 259 was launched on Jun 8, 2003 on flight ISS-11P and became Progress M1-10. It docked with the nadir port on Pirs at 1115 UTC on Jun 11.
• The Progress M47 cargo ship undocked from Zvezda on Aug 27, 2003 and de-orbited later the same day.
• Progress 248 (M-48) was launched on Aug 29, 2003 and docked with Zvezda on Aug 31. The Progress ferries are automated versions of the Soyuz spaceship and are used to bring supplies to the Station.
• Progress 259 (M1-10) undocked from the Pirs module on Sep 4, 2003 and will remain on orbit to carry out remote sensing of the Earth with its onboard TV camera system.
• Soyuz TMA-3 docked with the Pirs module at 0716 UTC on Oct 20, 2003, carrying the Expedition 8 crew of Mike Foale and Aleksandr Kaleri and the EP-5 (Cervantes) mission crewmember Pedro Duque.
• Once they relieve the Ex-7 crew on the station, the roles switch and Foale becomes ISS Commander with Kaleri being ISS Flight Engineer. Duque is a 'visiting crew' member, he constitutes the 5th Soyuz visiting crew, will carry out a set of European Space Agency and Spanish experiments dubbed 'Cervantes', and will return to Earth a week later with the Ex-7 crew.
• Soyuz TMA-2 undocked from the Zarya module at 2317 UTC on Oct 27, 2003 with Yuriy Malenchenko, Ed Lu and Pedro Duque aboard. It fired its deorbit engines at 0147 UTC on Oct 28 and landed near Arkalyk in Kazakhstan at about 0240 UTC. Happily, there was no repetition of the reentry anomaly which caused Soyuz TMA-1 to land off course. Aboard the Station, the Expedition 8 crew of Mike Foale and Aleksandr Kaleri are settling in to their vigil on orbit.

External links:

• Wikipedia: Exp. descriptions
• Spacefacts: Exp. description

Astrophilately covers:

Cosmic Mail: Cover with bleu extagonal ISS cancel, special red Soyuz TMA2 docking cancel, signed by the crew.