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The Soyuz spacecraft has been the primary crew vehicle for the Soviet Union, now the Russian Federation, since its first (and fatal) flight in 1967. It has flown well over 100 missions, from rendezvous/docking trials to support flights, and has participated in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project and the Salyut, Mir, and International Space Station (ISS) space station programs. Each Soyuz is designed for a single flight.
The Descent Module is the middle of three modules that make up the Soyuz spacecraft. It seats up to three cosmonauts or astronauts during launch and landing and is the only part designed to survive atmospheric reentry. It is recovered on land, generally in central Asia, and is equipped with a large parachute and solid fuel retro-rocket package that fires at a height of 1.5 meters immediately before touchdown.
The Museum’s Soyuz is a fourth-generation version modified to meet NASA requirements, primarily related to crew size, for servicing the ISS. This Soyuz variant received the designation TMA, which stands for Transportnyi Modifitsirovannyi Antropometricheskii. (Transportation Modified Anthropometric). The Soyuz TMA first flew in October 2002.
This Soyuz, TMA-14, carried members of ISS Expedition 19/20 to the station. This marked the first expansion of the standard ISS crew from three people to six. Expedition Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Michael Barratt were accompanied by Charles Simonyi, a private spaceflight participant. The mission launched on March 26, 2009 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. Seven months later, the module returned to Earth with Padalka, Barratt, and Guy Laliberté--another private spaceflight participant. (Simonyi returned earlier on another Soyuz.) The Soyuz TMA-14 Descent Module was later acquired by Mr. Simonyi and donated to The Museum of Flight in 2012.
The Soyuz spacecraft has been the primary crew vehicle for the Soviet Union, now the Russian Federation, since its first (and fatal) flight in 1967. It has flown well over 100 missions, from rendezvous/docking trials to support flights, and has participated in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project and the Salyut, Mir, and International Space Station (ISS) space station programs. Each Soyuz is designed for a single flight.
The Descent Module is the middle of three modules that make up the Soyuz spacecraft. It seats up to three cosmonauts or astronauts during launch and landing and is the only part designed to survive atmospheric reentry. It is recovered on land, generally in central Asia, and is equipped with a large parachute and solid fuel retro-rocket package that fires at a height of 1.5 meters immediately before touchdown.
The Museum’s Soyuz is a fourth-generation version modified to meet NASA requirements, primarily related to crew size, for servicing the ISS. This Soyuz variant received the designation TMA, which stands for Transportnyi Modifitsirovannyi Antropometricheskii. (Transportation Modified Anthropometric). The Soyuz TMA first flew in October 2002.
This Soyuz, TMA-14, carried members of ISS Expedition 19/20 to the station. This marked the first expansion of the standard ISS crew from three people to six. Expedition Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Michael Barratt were accompanied by Charles Simonyi, a private spaceflight participant. The mission launched on March 26, 2009 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. Seven months later, the module returned to Earth with Padalka, Barratt, and Guy Laliberté--another private spaceflight participant. (Simonyi returned earlier on another Soyuz.) The Soyuz TMA-14 Descent Module was later acquired by Mr. Simonyi and donated to The Museum of Flight in 2012.
