| Mission type | Long-duration expedition |
|---|---|
| Expedition | |
| Space station | International Space Station |
| Began | 21 November 2011, 23:00 (2011-11-21UTC23Z) UTC[1] |
| Ended | 27 April 2012, 08:15 (2012-04-27UTC08:16Z) UTC[2] |
| Arrived aboard | Soyuz TMA-22 Soyuz TMA-03M |
| Departed aboard | Soyuz TMA-22 Soyuz TMA-03M |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 6 |
| Members | Expedition 29/30: Dan Burbank Anton Shkaplerov Anatoli Ivanishin Expedition 30/31: Oleg Kononenko André Kuipers Don Pettit |
 Expedition 30 mission patch  (l-r) Shkaplerov, Burbank, Ivanishin, Kuipers, Kononenko and Pettit | |
Expedition 30 was the 30th long-duration mission to theInternational Space Station (ISS). The expedition's first three crew members –Dan Burbank,Anton Shkaplerov andAnatoli Ivanishin – arrived on the ISS aboardSoyuz TMA-22 on 16 November 2011,[3] during the last phase ofExpedition 29. Expedition 30 formally began on 21 November 2011, with the departure from the ISS of theSoyuz 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 ofExpedition 31.[2]
| Position | First part (November 2011 to December 2011) | Second part (December 2011 to April 2012) |
|---|---|---|
| Commander |  Dan Burbank,NASAThird and last spaceflight | |
| Flight Engineer 1 |  Anton Shkaplerov,RSAFirst spaceflight | |
| Flight Engineer 2 | Anatoli Ivanishin,RSA First spaceflight | |
| Flight Engineer 3 | Oleg Kononenko,RSA Second spaceflight | |
| Flight Engineer 4 |  André Kuipers,ESASecond spaceflight | |
| Flight Engineer 5 | Don Pettit,NASA Third spaceflight | |
Expedition 30 began with the departure of theExpedition 28/29 crew on board theSoyuz TMA-02M spacecraft, on 21 November 2011 at 23:00UTC.[1] This left the Expedition 29/30 crew, who had docked with the ISS in theSoyuz 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, fromBaikonur Cosmodrome inKazakhstan.[7]
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 theSoyuz 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]
On 21 December 2011, Expedition 30 commanderDan Burbank observed a pass of the cometC/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.
On 16 February 2012, Russian crew membersOleg Kononenko andAnton Shkaplerov performed the firstspacewalk of 2012, moving one of the station'sStrela cranes from thePirs module to thePoisk module. The astronauts also installed new debris shields and materials experiments on the exterior of the ISS.[12]
On 20 February 2012, the ISS crew commemorated the fiftieth anniversary ofJohn Glenn's first orbital flight in theProject Mercury spacecraftFriendship 7. The crew surprised the 90-year-old Glenn by speaking to him via video link while he was on-stage withNASA AdministratorCharlie Bolden atOhio State University.[13]
TheEuropean Space Agency's thirdAutomated 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, a Russian unmanned resupply spacecraft, was launched to the ISS fromBaikonur 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]
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 inKazakhstan at 11:45 AM (GMT), while Kononenko, Kuipers and Pettit remained aboard the station to beginExpedition 31.[2]
This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration.
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| Since 2020 | ||
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