Soyuz TM-31

Soyuz TM-31

Operator	Rosaviakosmos
COSPAR ID	2000-070A
SATCAT no.	26603
Mission duration	186 days, 21 hours, 48 minutes, 41 seconds
Orbits completed	~3,040
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Soyuz-TM
Manufacturer	RKK Energia
Crew
Crew size	3
Launching	Yuri Gidzenko Sergei Krikalev William Shepherd
Landing	Talgat Musabayev Yuri Baturin Dennis Tito
Callsign	Uran
Start of mission
Launch date	October 31, 2000, 07:52:47 (2000-10-31UTC07:52:47Z) UTC
Rocket	Soyuz-U
End of mission
Landing date	May 6, 2001, 05:41:28 (2001-05-06UTC05:41:29Z) UTC
Landing site	90 kilometres (56 mi) NE of Arkalyk
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee	190 kilometres (120 mi)
Apogee	249 kilometres (155 mi)
Inclination	51.6 degrees
Period	88.6 minutes
Docking with ISS
Soyuz programme (Manned missions)

Soyuz TM-31 is transported to the Launch Pad at the Baikonur complex, 29 October 2000

Soyuz TM-31 was the first Soyuz spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station (ISS).^[1] This Soyuz-TM spacecraft carried the members of Expedition 1, the first long-duration ISS crew. It was launched from Russia at 07:52 UT on October 31, 2000 by a Soyuz-U rocket.

The crew consisted of Russian cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, and American William Shepherd. Gidzenko was Commander of the flight up, but once aboard the station, Shepherd became Commander of the long-duration mission Expedition 1.^[2]

The spacecraft served as the crew's lifeboat while docked to the ISS. The Expedition 1 crew were returned to Earth via a Space Shuttle during STS-102 in March 2001, and the Soyuz TM-31 spacecraft stayed with the station for part of Expedition 2. In April 2001 another spacecraft, Soyuz TM-32, arrived at the station, and took over responsibilities as the station's lifeboat. The crew launched by Soyuz TM-32, which included the first paying space tourist Dennis Tito, were returned to Earth in May aboard Soyuz TM-31. The visiting mission of which Tito was a part is sometimes referred to as ISS EP-1.

Crew

Position	Launching crew	Landing crew
Commander	Yuri Gidzenko, RKA Expedition 1 Second spaceflight	Talgat Musabayev, RKA ISS EP-1 Third and last spaceflight
Flight Engineer	Sergei Krikalev, RKA Expedition 1 Fifth spaceflight	Yuri Baturin, RKA ISS EP-1 Second and last spaceflight
Flight Engineer/Spaceflight Participant	William Shepherd, NASA Expedition 1 Fourth and last spaceflight	Dennis Tito, SA ISS EP-1 Only spaceflight Tourist

Docking with ISS

• Docked to ISS: November 2, 2000, 09:21 UTC (to aft port of Zvezda)
• Undocked from ISS: February 24, 2001, 10:06 UTC (from aft port of Zvezda)
• Docked to ISS: February 24, 2001, 10:37 UTC (to nadir port of Zarya)
• Undocked from ISS: April 18, 2001, 12:40 UTC (from nadir port of Zarya)
• Docked to ISS: April 18, 2001, 13:01 UTC (to aft port of Zvezda)
• Undocked from ISS: May 6, 2001, 02:21 UTC (from aft port of Zvezda)

Mission highlights

The Soyuz carried a crew of three to dock it with the Zvezda module of the International Space Station (ISS) at about 09:21 UT on November 2. The Progress M1-3 cargo craft that was docked with Zvezda was released to make way for the Soyuz. The crew of two Russian and one American spent over three months on the ISS, and returned to Earth in an American shuttle (STS-102) in February 2001. In the initial days, the crew brought a variety of life support systems on-line, and created a laptop computer network that helped run all systems in the ISS. The remaining months were allotted for exercise and space endurance practice. The crew was the group to launch the "permanent inhabitation" of the ISS. Since their launch, ISS and space are permanently occupied.

References