Soyuz TMA-17 was a human spaceflight

Human spaceflight

Human spaceflight is spaceflight with humans on the spacecraft. When a spacecraft is manned, it can be piloted directly, as opposed to machine or robotic space probes and remotely-controlled satellites....

 mission to the International Space Station

International Space Station

The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...

 (ISS). TMA-17 crew members participated in ISS Expedition 22

Expedition 22

Expedition 22 was the 22nd long duration crew flight to the International Space Station . This expedition began in November 2009 when the Expedition 21 crew departed. For a period of 3 weeks, there were only 2 crew members; it was the first time that had happened since STS-114 had delivered a third...

 and Expedition 23

Expedition 23

Expedition 23 was the twenty-third long-duration mission to the International Space Station . Expedition 23 began with the Soyuz TMA-16 undocking on 18 March 2010. Shortly thereafter cosmonauts Aleksandr Skvortsov and Mikhail Korniyenko and astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson arrived at the Space...

. The mission ended when the Soyuz TMA-17 capsule landed on June 2, 2010.

Crew

Crew notes

Noguchi is the first JAXA

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

The , or JAXA, is Japan's national aerospace agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on October 1, 2003, as an Independent Administrative Institution administered by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the...

 astronaut and the second Japanese astronaut to fly on a Soyuz, after Toyohiro Akiyama

Toyohiro Akiyama

is a Japanese TV journalist best known for his flight to the Mir space station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in 1990. Akiyama is the first person of Japanese descent to have flown in space. He was known as the "Space Journalist"　in Japan....

.

Backup crew

Launch and docking

Soyuz TMA-17 was launched on December 20, 2009 and transported three members of the ISS Expedition 22

Expedition 22

Expedition 22 was the 22nd long duration crew flight to the International Space Station . This expedition began in November 2009 when the Expedition 21 crew departed. For a period of 3 weeks, there were only 2 crew members; it was the first time that had happened since STS-114 had delivered a third...

 crew to the station. TMA-17 is the 104th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. The Soyuz will most likely remain on board the space station for the remainder of the Expedition 22 increment to serve as an emergency escape vehicle.

This mission marked the first Soyuz launch in the month of December for almost 19 years. The prior Soyuz launch in the month of December was Soyuz TM-11

Soyuz TM-11

-Mission highlights:Soyuz TM-11 was launched the same day as STS-35.11th expedition to Mir. Toyohiro Akiyama was a reporter/space tourist for a Japanese television network....

 on December 2, 1990.

This mission also included the last planned docking of a Soyuz at the nadir, or Earth-facing, port of the Zarya

Zarya

Zarya , also known as the Functional Cargo Block or FGB , was the first module of the International Space Station to be launched. The FGB provided electrical power, storage, propulsion, and guidance to the ISS during the initial stage of assembly...

 module. The Rassvet

Rassvet (ISS module)

Rassvet , also known as the Mini-Research Module 1 and formerly known as the Docking Cargo Module , is a component of the International Space Station . The module's design is similar to the Mir Docking Module launched on STS-74 in 1995. Rassvet is primarily used for cargo storage and as a docking...

module was attached to Zarya's nadir port during the STS-132

STS-132

STS-132 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission, during which Space Shuttle Atlantis docked with the International Space Station on 16 May 2010. STS-132 was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on 14 May 2010. The primary payload was the Russian Rassvet Mini-Research Module, along with an Integrated...

 mission.

Relocation

On May 12, 2010, the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft was relocated to the aft port of the Zvezda module. At 9:23 a.m EDT, Kotov, Creamer and Noguchi temporarily undocked the spacecraft from the nadir port of Zarya and flew it to the aft port of the Zvezda service module. The docking occurred at 9:53 a.m EDT. After hooks and latches were engaged, the crew conducted leak checks, opened hatches around 12:40 p.m EDT and then re-entered the station through the service module.

Undocking and landing

Expedition 23 commander Oleg Kotov was at the controls of the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft as it undocked at 0:04 UTC on June 2, 2010 from the space station's Zvezda module.

The Soyuz TMA-17 crew capsule landed on the steppes of Kazakhstan at 3:25 UTC on 2 June, 2010 wrapping up their stay aboard the space station.

Prior to the landing on May 26, 2010, the orbital altitude of the ISS was lowered by 1.5 kilometers to 345 kilometers to ensure perfect conditions for the re-entry of the Soyuz TMA-17 into the Earth's atmosphere. The orbit of the ISS was adjusted using the four engines on board the Progress M-05M

Progress M-05M

Progress M-05M, identified by NASA as Progress 37P, is a Progress spacecraft launched by the Russian Federal Space Agency in April 2010 to resupply the International Space Station . The spacecraft carried fresh food and supplies for the ISS crew...

spacecraft.