 | |
| Mission type | ISS crew rotation |
|---|---|
| Operator | Roscosmos |
| COSPAR ID | 2009-053A |
| SATCATno. | 35940 |
| Mission duration | 168 days |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Soyuz No.226 |
| Spacecraft type | Soyuz-TMA 11F732 |
| Manufacturer | Energia |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 3 up 2 down |
| Members | Maksim Surayev Jeffrey Williams |
| Launching | Guy Laliberté |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | September 30, 2009, 07:14:45 (2009-09-30UTC07:14:45Z) UTC[1][2] |
| Rocket | Soyuz-FG |
| Launch site | Baikonur1/5 |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | March 18, 2010, 11:24 (2010-03-18UTC11:25Z) UTC[1] |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Perigee altitude | 340 kilometres (210 mi) |
| Apogee altitude | 351 kilometres (218 mi) |
| Inclination | 51.6 degrees |
| Period | 91.44 minutes |
| Epoch | October 7, 2009[3] |
| Docking withISS | |
| Docking port | Zvezda aft |
| Docking date | 2 October 2009 08:35 UTC |
| Undocking date | 21 January 2010 10:03 UTC |
| Time docked | 111d 1h 28m |
| Docking withISS (Relocation) | |
| Docking port | Poisk zenith |
| Docking date | 21 January 2010 10:24 UTC |
| Undocking date | 18 March 2010 08:03 UTC |
| Time docked | 55d 21h 39m |
 From left to right: Laliberté, Williams and Surayev Soyuz programme (Crewed missions) | |
TheSoyuz TMA-16 (Russian:Союз TMA-16) was a crewed flight to and from theInternational Space Station (ISS). It transported two members of theExpedition 21 crew[1] and a Canadian entrepreneur from theBaikonur Cosmodrome inKazakhstan to the ISS. TMA-16 was the 103rd flight of aSoyuz spacecraft, the first flight launching in 1967. The launch of Soyuz TMA-16 marked the first time since 1969 that three Soyuz craft were in orbit simultaneously.
Guy Laliberté, founder andCEO ofCirque du Soleil, was aSpace tourist aboard TMA-16 during its flight to the ISS, paying approximatelyUS$35 million for his seat through the American firmSpace Adventures.[4] He returned on board theSoyuz TMA-14 spacecraft left as an emergency vehicle during that previous flight. The Soyuz TMA-16 flight spacecraft flew back to Earth with only two crew members.
| Position[4][5] | Launching Crew Member | Landing Crew Member |
|---|---|---|
| Commander |  Maksim SurayevExpedition 21 First spaceflight | |
| Flight Engineer |  Jeffrey Williams,NASAExpedition 21 Third spaceflight | |
| Spaceflight Participant |  Guy Laliberté,SAOnly spaceflight Tourist | None |
| Position[6] | Launching Crew Member | Landing Crew Member |
|---|---|---|
| Commander | Aleksandr Skvortsov | |
| Flight Engineer | Shannon Walker,NASA | |
| Spaceflight Participant | Barbara Barrett,SA Tourist | None |
Soyuz TMA-16 was docked to the ISS at the aft port of theZvezda module. On January 21, 2010, cosmonaut Suraev andExpedition 22 CommanderJeffrey Williams relocated the spacecraft to the zenith-facing port of thePoisk module.[7] The Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft undocked from the aft end of theZvezda service module at 5:03 a.m. EST and backed away to a distance of about 100 feet from the space station. Undocking occurred as the station flew about 213 miles high off the southwest coast of Africa. Re-docking occurred at 5:24 a.m. EST after Suraev fired theSoyuz maneuvering thrusters to fly halfway around the orbiting space station and line up with thePoisk module.
Spaceflight participant Guy Laliberté landed aboardSoyuz TMA-14 after approximately 12 days in space while Surayev and Williams landed aboard TMA-16 inKazakhstan on March 18, 2010.
Soyuz TMA-16 was the final flight of aspace tourist to the International Space Station for more than a decade. With the imminent retirement of theSpace Shuttle and the expansion of the station to six crew members, all Soyuz crew positions for the foreseeable future were to be occupied byExpedition crew[8] until another crewed spacecraft such asDragon 2 orStarliner was available to service the International Space Station.
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Uncrewed missions are designated asKosmos instead ofSoyuz; exceptions are noted "(uncrewed)". The † sign designates failed missions.Italics designates cancelled missions. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
See also:ISS expeditions,Uncrewed ISS flights | ||
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