Soyuz TMA-15

Crew

Backup crew

Mission highlights

Soyuz TMA-15 was launched successfully by a Soyuz-FG carrier rocket from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, at 10:34 UTC on 27 May 2009. It docked with the ISS at 12:34 UTC on 29 May 2009.

Roman Romanenko was the third second-generation space traveller. He was reported to have chosen Taymyr () as the mission callsign because it was the callsign on his father's first flight, Soyuz 26; however, the callsign Parus ( meaning Sail) was used for communications with the spacecraft. Robert Thirsk became the first Canadian to fly on a Soyuz; all previous Canadians in space had flown aboard Space Shuttles. Frank De Winne became the first European to be in command of the ISS.

The craft and crew returned to earth 1 December 2009.

References

References

1. CSA. (2008). "Canadian astronauts Julie Payette and Robert Thirsk to go on space missions in 2009". CSA.
2. NASA. "Consolidated Launch Manifest". NASA.
3. NASA. (24 November 2009). "NASA TV to Broadcast Space Station Crew Soyuz Landing Events". NASA.
4. NASA TV coverage of the launch of Soyuz TMA-15, 2009-05-27
5. McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Page.
6. Zak, Anatoly. "Mission of Soyuz TMA-15". RussianSpaceWeb.
7. NASA. (11 February 2008). "NASA Assigns Crews for STS-127 and Expedition 19 Missions". NASA.
8. ESA. (2008). "Frank De Winne prepares for new mission". ESA.