Soyuz TMA-18M

Soyuz TMA-18M
Soyuz TMA-18M undocks from the ISS, 2 March 2016.
OperatorRoskosmos
COSPAR ID2015-043A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.40885
Mission duration181d 23h 48m
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft typeSoyuz-TMA 11F747 No.718
ManufacturerRKK Energia
Crew
Crew size3
MembersSergey Volkov
LaunchingAndreas Mogensen
Aydyn Aimbetov
LandingMikhail Korniyenko
Scott Kelly
CallsignEridan
Start of mission
Launch date2 September 2015
04:37:42 UTC
RocketSoyuz-FG
End of mission
Landing date2 March 2016
04:25:27 UTC
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth
Docking with ISS
Docking portPoisk
Docking date4 September 2015
07:42:00 UTC
Undocking date2 March 2016
01:02:30 UTC
Time docked179 days, 17 hours, 20 minutes

(l-r) Mogensen, Volkov and Aimbetov
Soyuz programme
(Crewed missions)

Soyuz TMA-18M was a 2015 Soyuz spaceflight to the International Space Station. It provided the two twelve-months occupants (Scott Kelly and Mikhail Korniyenko) at the International Space Station with a fresh Soyuz capsule. TMA-18M was the 127th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft; the first having occurred in 1967. The ascent flight consisted of a Russian commander and two flight engineers from Denmark (ESA) and Kazakhstan respectively.[1] The flight launched in September 2015 and returned to Earth in March 2016.

The Kazakh Aidyn Aimbetov is of the first Kazakh cosmonaut class, and the first to fly.[2] The ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen became the first Dane in space.[3]

The descent crew was the same Russian commander and the two twelve-months occupants in March 2016. Two of the ascent crew members returned to Earth with Soyuz TMA-16M in September 2015.

  1. ^ TASS (22 June 2015). "Kazakhstani cosmonaut to fly to ISS in September in place of British singer Brightman". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference SpaceNews-2015-06-22 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Soyuz TMA-18M launches on two day trip to ISS". 1 September 2015.