Soyuz MS-04 was a Soyuz spaceflight that launched on 20 April 2017 to the ISS.[1] It transported two members of the Expedition 52 crew to the International Space Station. Soyuz MS-04 was the 133rd flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. The crew consisted of a Russian commander and an American flight engineer. It was the first of the Soyuz MS series to rendezvous with the Station in approximately 6 hours, instead of the 2 day orbital rendezvous used for the previous launches. It was also the first Soyuz to launch with only 2 crew members since Soyuz TMA-2.

Soyuz MS-04
Soyuz MS-04 prior to launch
Mission typeISS crew transport
OperatorRoscosmos
COSPAR ID2017-020A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.42682Edit this on Wikidata
Mission duration136 days
Distance travelled92.5 million kilometres
Orbits completed2176
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftSoyuz MS
Spacecraft typeSoyuz MS 11F732A48
ManufacturerEnergia
Launch mass7080 kg
Crew
Crew size2 (launching)
3 (landing)
MembersFyodor Yurchikhin
Jack D. Fischer
LandingPeggy Whitson
CallsignOlimp (Olympus)
Start of mission
Launch date20 April 2017, 07:13:44 UTC
RocketSoyuz-FG
Launch siteBaikonur, Site 1
ContractorProgress
End of mission
Landing date3 September 2017, 01:22 UTC
Landing siteSteppes of the Kazakhstan
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric orbit
RegimeLow Earth orbit
Inclination51.66°
Docking with ISS
Docking portPoisk zenith
Docking date20 April 2017, 13:18 UTC
Undocking date2 September 2017, 21:58 UTC
Time docked135 days

Yurchikhin and Fischer in front of their spacecraft

Crew

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Position[2] Launching Crew Member Landing Crew Member
Commander   Fyodor Yurchikhin, Roscosmos
Expedition 51
Fifth and last spaceflight
Flight Engineer 1   Jack D. Fischer, NASA
Expedition 51
Only spaceflight
Flight Engineer 2 N/A   Peggy Whitson, NASA[3]
Expedition 50/51/52
Third (last NASA) [4] spaceflight

Backup crew

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Position[2] Crew Member
Commander   Sergey Ryazansky, Roscosmos
Flight Engineer 1   Randolph Bresnik, NASA

Due to a decision to cut down the number of participating Russian astronauts in 2017, only two astronauts were launched on Soyuz MS-04.[5] Originally set to include 3 people, the crew assignments were changed in November 2016 by NASA and Roscosmos.

Original crew

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Position Crew member
Commander   Alexander Misurkin, Roscosmos
Expedition 51
Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer 1   Nikolai Tikhonov, Roscosmos
Expedition 51
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer 2   Mark T. Vande Hei, NASA
Expedition 51
First spaceflight

Alexander Misurkin and Mark T. Vande Hei were reassigned to Soyuz MS-06 and served as part of Expedition 53/54,[6] Nikolai Tikhonov was reassigned to Soyuz MS-10 to serve as part of Expedition 57/58 although was also pulled of that mission due to the same budget cuts.[7]

References

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  1. ^ Pietrobon, Steven (5 February 2017). "Russian Launch Manifest". Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Manned Spaceflight Launch and Landing Schedule". spacefacts. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  3. ^ Harwood, William. "Whitson's station expedition extended three months". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  4. ^ Potter, Sean (15 June 2018). "Record-Setting NASA Astronaut Peggy Whitson Retires". NASA. Retrieved 24 June 2018.   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. ^ Irene Klotz (16 November 2016). "NASA, Russia Set Flights for Trimmed-Down Space Station Crew". space.com. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  6. ^ "Soyuz MS-06 arrives at ISS".
  7. ^ "No U.S. Crew Will Command the International Space Station in 2019". 30 May 2018.
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