30th long-duration mission to the International Space Station
Expedition 30
was the 30th long-duration mission to the
International Space Station
(ISS). The expedition's first three crew members –
Dan Burbank
,
Anton Shkaplerov
and
Anatoli Ivanishin
– arrived on the ISS aboard
Soyuz TMA-22
on 16 November 2011,
[3]
during the last phase of
Expedition 29
. Expedition 30 formally began on 21 November 2011, with the departure from the ISS of the
Soyuz TMA-02M
spacecraft. The expedition ended on 27 April 2012, as Burbank, Shkaplerov and Ivanishin departed from the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-22, marking the beginning of
Expedition 31
.
[2]
Crew
[
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- Source
- NASA, ESA
[4]
[5]
Mission highlights
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Soyuz TMA-02M departure
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Expedition 30 began with the departure of the
Expedition 28
/
29
crew on board the
Soyuz TMA-02M
spacecraft, on 21 November 2011 at 23:00
UTC
.
[1]
This left the Expedition 29/30 crew, who had docked with the ISS in the
Soyuz TMA-22
spacecraft on 16 November 2011 at 05:24 UTC,
[6]
on board the station. Soyuz TMA-22 launched on 14 November 2011 at 04:14 UTC, from
Baikonur Cosmodrome
in
Kazakhstan
.
[7]
Comet Lovejoy
, as seen from the ISS on 21 December 2011.
Soyuz TMA-03M arrival
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The ISS was crewed by the first three Expedition 30 crewmembers for approximately five and a half weeks. They were joined on 23 December 2011 by the Expedition 30/
31
crew,
[8]
who were carried to the ISS by the
Soyuz TMA-03M
spacecraft. Soyuz TMA-03M was launched on 21 December 2011 at 13:16 UTC
[9]
and docked on 23 December at 15:19 UTC.
[10]
Comet Lovejoy observation
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On 21 December 2011, Expedition 30 commander
Dan Burbank
observed a pass of the comet
C/2011 W3 Lovejoy
. The comet was initially thought to be in a destructive orbit around the Sun, and passed within 140,000 km (87,000 mi) of the Sun's surface.
[11]
However, the comet ultimately survived its encounter with the Sun.
Spacewalk
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On 16 February 2012, Russian crew members
Oleg Kononenko
and
Anton Shkaplerov
performed the first
spacewalk
of 2012, moving one of the station's
Strela
cranes from the
Pirs
module to the
Poisk
module. The astronauts also installed new debris shields and materials experiments on the exterior of the ISS.
[12]
Fiftieth anniversary of
Friendship 7
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On 20 February 2012, the ISS crew commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of
John Glenn
's first orbital flight in the
Project Mercury
spacecraft
Friendship 7
. The crew surprised the 90-year-old Glenn by speaking to him via video link while he was on-stage with
NASA Administrator
Charlie Bolden
at
Ohio State University
.
[13]
Edoardo Amaldi
ATV docking
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The
European Space Agency
's third
Automated Transfer Vehicle
(ATV),
Edoardo Amaldi
, was launched on 23 March 2012, and docked successfully with the ISS on 28 March. The robotic ATV carried around 6,595 kilograms (14,539 lb) of propellants, water and dry cargo to the Expedition 30 crew, and also helped boost the station's altitude with its thrusters.
[14]
The ATV ultimately remained docked until September 2012, whereafter it deorbited and burned up in Earth's atmosphere as planned.
[15]
Progress M-15M docking
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Progress M-15M
, a Russian unmanned resupply spacecraft, was launched to the ISS from
Baikonur Cosmodrome
on 20 April 2012. It successfully docked with the station on 22 April.
[16]
In preparation for the spacecraft's arrival, its predecessor,
Progress M-14M
, undocked from the ISS on 19 April, having been docked since 28 January.
[17]
Soyuz TMA-22 departure
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Expedition 30 ended on 27 April 2012 with the departure of Soyuz TMA-22 from the ISS, carrying astronauts Burbank, Shkaplerov and Ivanishin. The three astronauts landed safely in
Kazakhstan
at 11:45 AM (GMT), while Kononenko, Kuipers and Pettit remained aboard the station to begin
Expedition 31
.
[2]
References
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This article incorporates
public domain material
from websites or documents of the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
.
External links
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