Soyuz TM-31

Soyuz TM-31 is transported to the Launch Pad at the Baikonur complex, 29 October 2000

Soyuz TM-31 was the first Soyuz spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station (ISS).^[1] Launched near the end of 2000 the Soyuz-TM spacecraft brought to ISS Expedition 1, the first long-duration ISS crew. It was launched from Russia at 07:52 UT on October 31, 2000 by a Soyuz-U rocket.

The crew consisted of Russian cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, and American William Shepherd. Gidzenko was Commander of the flight up, but once aboard the station, Shepherd became Commander of the long-duration mission Expedition 1.^[2]

The spacecraft served as the crew's lifeboat while docked to the ISS. The Expedition 1 crew were returned to Earth via a Space Shuttle during STS-102 in March 2001, and the Soyuz TM-31 spacecraft stayed with the station for part of Expedition 2. In April 2001 another spacecraft, Soyuz TM-32, arrived at the station, and took over responsibilities as the station's lifeboat. The crew launched by Soyuz TM-32, which included the first paying space tourist Dennis Tito, were returned to Earth in May aboard Soyuz TM-31. The visiting mission of which Tito was apart is sometimes referred to as ISS EP-1.

Crew

Docking with ISS

• Docked to ISS: November 2, 2000, 09:21 UTC (to aft port of Zvezda)
• Undocked from ISS: February 24, 2001, 10:06 UTC (from aft port of Zvezda)
• Docked to ISS: February 24, 2001, 10:37 UTC (to nadir port of Zarya)
• Undocked from ISS: April 18, 2001, 12:40 UTC (from nadir port of Zarya)
• Docked to ISS: April 18, 2001, 13:01 UTC (to aft port of Zvezda)
• Undocked from ISS: May 6, 2001, 02:21 UTC (from aft port of Zvezda)

Mission highlights

The Soyuz carried a crew of three to dock it with the Zvezda module of the International Space Station (ISS) at about 09:21 UT on November 2. The Progress M1-3 cargo craft that was docked with Zvezda was released to make way for the Soyuz. The crew of two Russian and one American spent over three months on the ISS, and returned to Earth in an American shuttle (STS-102) in February 2001. In the initial days, the crew brought a variety of life support systems on-line, and created a lap-top computer network that helped run all systems in the ISS. The remaining months were allotted for exercise and space endurance practice. The crew was first group of a planned decade-long "permanent inhabitation" of the ISS.

References

Soyuz programme Main topics Soyuz (rocket family) Soyuz (spacecraft) Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 1/5 Site 31/6 List of Soviet manned space missions List of Russian manned space missions Uncrewed missions Soyuz 7K-OK Kosmos 133 Kosmos 140 Kosmos 186 Kosmos 188 Kosmos 212 Kosmos 213 Kosmos 238 Soyuz 2 Soyuz 7K-L1/L1S (Zond lunar programme) Kosmos 146 Kosmos 154 Zond 1967A Zond 1967B Zond 4 Zond 1968A Zond 1968B Zond 5 Zond 6 Zond 1969A Zond-M 1 Zond-M 2 Zond 7 Zond 8 Zond 9 Zond 10 Soyuz 7K-T Kosmos 496 Kosmos 573 Kosmos 613 Kosmos 656 Soyuz 32 (uncrewed landing) Soyuz 34 (uncrewed launch) Soyuz 7K-TM Kosmos 638 Kosmos 672 Soyuz 7K-S Kosmos 670 Kosmos 772 Kosmos 869 Soyuz 7K-T/A9 Soyuz 20 Soyuz-T ("Soyuz 7K-ST") Kosmos 1001 Kosmos 1074 Soyuz T-1 Soyuz-TM ("Soyuz 7K-STM") Soyuz TM-1 Crewed missions Past Soyuz 7K-OK (1967–1970) 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Soyuz 7K-OKS (1971) 10 11 Soyuz 7K-T (1973–1981) 12 13 14 15 17 18a 18 21 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 (crewed launch) 33 34 (crewed landing) 35 36 37 38 39 40 Soyuz 7K-TM (1974–1976) 16 19 22 Soyuz-T (1976–1986) T-2 T-3 T-4 T-5 T-6 T-7 T-8 T-9 T-10-1 T-10 T-11 T-12 T-13 T-14 T-15 Soyuz-TM (1986–2003) TM-2 TM-3 TM-4 TM-5 TM-6 TM-7 TM-8 TM-9 TM-10 TM-11 TM-12 TM-13 TM-14 TM-15 TM-16 TM-17 TM-18 TM-19 TM-20 TM-21 TM-22 TM-23 TM-24 TM-25 TM-26 TM-27 TM-28 TM-29 TM-30 TM-31 TM-32 TM-33 TM-34 Soyuz-TMA (2003–2012) TMA-1 TMA-2 TMA-3 TMA-4 TMA-5 TMA-6 TMA-7 TMA-8 TMA-9 TMA-10 TMA-11 TMA-12 TMA-13 TMA-14 TMA-15 TMA-16 TMA-17 TMA-18 TMA-19 TMA-20 TMA-21 TMA-22 Soyuz-TMA-M (2010–2013) TMA-01M TMA-02M TMA-03M TMA-04M TMA-05M TMA-06M TMA-07M TMA-08M TMA-09M TMA-10M TMA-11M TMA-12M TMA-13M TMA-14M TMA-15M TMA-16M Current Soyuz-TMA-M (2014–2015) TMA-17M TMA-18M Planned Soyuz-TMA-M (2015–2016) TMA-19M TMA-20M Soyuz-MS (2016– ) MS-01 MS-02 MS-03 MS-04 MS-05

Human spaceflights to the International Space Station 1998–2004 STS-88 STS-96 STS-101 STS-106 STS-92 Soyuz TM-31 STS-97 STS-98 STS-102 STS-100 Soyuz TM-32 STS-104 STS-105 Soyuz TM-33 STS-108 STS-110 Soyuz TM-34 STS-111 STS-112 Soyuz TMA-1 STS-113 Soyuz TMA-2 Soyuz TMA-3 Soyuz TMA-4 Soyuz TMA-5 2005–2009 Soyuz TMA-6 STS-114 Soyuz TMA-7 Soyuz TMA-8 STS-121 STS-115 Soyuz TMA-9 STS-116 Soyuz TMA-10 STS-117 STS-118 Soyuz TMA-11 STS-120 STS-122 STS-123 Soyuz TMA-12 STS-124 Soyuz TMA-13 STS-126 STS-119 Soyuz TMA-14 Soyuz TMA-15 STS-127 STS-128 Soyuz TMA-16 STS-129 Soyuz TMA-17 2010–2015 STS-130 Soyuz TMA-18 STS-131 STS-132 Soyuz TMA-19 Soyuz TMA-01M Soyuz TMA-20 STS-133 Soyuz TMA-21 STS-134 Soyuz TMA-02M STS-135 Soyuz TMA-22 Soyuz TMA-03M Soyuz TMA-04M Soyuz TMA-05M Soyuz TMA-06M Soyuz TMA-07M Soyuz TMA-08M Soyuz TMA-09M Soyuz TMA-10M Soyuz TMA-11M Soyuz TMA-12M Soyuz TMA-13M Soyuz TMA-14M Soyuz TMA-15M Soyuz TMA-16M Current Soyuz TMA-17M Soyuz TMA-18M Planned Soyuz TMA-19M Soyuz MS-01 Soyuz TMA-20M Soyuz MS-02 Soyuz MS-03 Soyuz MS-04 Soyuz MS-05