Soyuz TMA-11 is a current human spaceflight mission using a Soyuz-TMA spacecraft to transport personnel to and from the International Space Station (ISS). The mission began at 13:22 UTC on October 10, 2007 when the spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by a Soyuz FG launch vehicle. It brought to the station two members of ISS Expedition 16 crew, as well as Sheikh Muszaphar, the first Malaysian in space. TMA-11 will remain at the station as an escape craft, and is expected to return to Earth in April 2008, after it has been replaced by Soyuz TMA-12.
Mission statistics
Mission name: Soyuz TMA-11
Number of crew members: 3
Launch pad: LC-1, Baikonur Cosmodrome
Launch: October 10, 2007 13:22:39 UTC
Landing: April 19, 2008 TBD UTC
Duration: ~197 days
Orbit inclination: 51.6 distance =
Mission highlights
The launch, which took place at at 13:22 UTC (05:22 p.m. Moscow time) on October 10, 2007, "Went off successfully and without a hitch" according to a Russian official. In Malaysia, crowds in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur cheered as they watched the live launch broadcast on 14” television sets in Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square). The giant screen originally set up for this purpose failed to function properly.
The Soyuz TMA-11 docking to the ISS occurred at 14:50 UTC on October 12, 2007.
left to right: Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, Yuri Malenchenko, Peggy Whitson
Crew Notes
Sheikh Muszaphar is flying as a guest of the Russian government through the Angkasawan program. Under this program, in exchange for the multi-billion purchase of fighter jets by Malaysia, the Russian Federation bore the cost of training two Malaysians for space travel and for sending one to the ISS.
