Soyuz MS-07

Soyuz MS-07
	The launch of Soyuz MS-07
Mission type	ISS resupply
Operator	Roscosmos
COSPAR ID	2017-081A
SATCAT no.	43063
Mission duration	168 days 5 hours 18 minutes
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Soyuz MS
Spacecraft type	Soyuz-MS 11F747
Manufacturer	Energia
Launch mass	7290 kg
Crew
Crew size	3
Members	Anton Shkaplerov; Scott D. Tingle; Norishige Kanai
Callsign	Astraeus
Start of mission
Launch date	17 December 2017, 07:21 UTC
Rocket	Soyuz-FG
Launch site	Baikonur, Site 1/5
Contractor	RKTs Progress
End of mission
Landing date	3 June 2018, 12:39 UTC
Landing site	Steppes of the Kazakhstan
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Inclination	51.66°
Docking with ISS
Docking port	Rassvet nadir
Docking date	19 December 2017, 08:39 UTC
Undocking date	3 June 2018, 09:16 UTC
Time docked	166 days 0 hour 37 minutes
	; From left to right: Tingle, Shkaplerov and Kanai Soyuz programme (crewed) ← Soyuz MS-06 Soyuz MS-08 →

Soyuz MS-07 was a Soyuz spaceflight launched on 17 December 2017 at 07:21 UTC.^[1] It transported three members of the Expedition 54 crew to the International Space Station. Soyuz MS-07 was the 136th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. The crew consisted of a Russian commander, Japanese doctor, and an American flight engineer.^[3]

Crew


Position	Crew member
Commander	Anton Shkaplerov, Roscosmos Expedition 54 Third spaceflight
Flight Engineer 1	Scott D. Tingle, NASA Expedition 54 First spaceflight
Flight Engineer 2	Norishige Kanai, JAXA Expedition 54 First spaceflight

Backup crew


Position	Crew member ^[4]
Commander	Sergey Prokopyev, Roscosmos
Flight Engineer 1	Alexander Gerst, ESA
Flight Engineer 2	Jeanette Epps, NASA

Crew notes

Originally Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Skvortsov was to have commanded the mission, although he was removed from the flight crew and pushed back to Soyuz MS-13 due to a temporary medical issue, Shkaplerov was brought off the backup crew and replaced him as Soyuz commander and ISS commander for Expedition 55.^[5]

Mission

Media related to Soyuz MS-07 at Wikimedia Commons

The Soyuz spacecraft was carrying Scott Tingle of NASA, Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The arrival of Tingle, Shkaplerov, and Kanai restored the station's crew complement to six. They have joined Expedition 54 Commander Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos and his crewmates, Mark T. Vande Hei and Joe Acaba of NASA. The crew members spent more than four months conducting approximately 250 science investigations in fields such as biology, Earth science, human research, physical sciences, and technology development. Vande Hei, Acaba, and Misurkin are remain aboard the station until February 2018, and Tingle, Shkaplerov, and Kanai have returned to Earth in June 2018.^[6]

This crew continues the long-term increase in crew size on the U.S. segment from three to four, allowing NASA to maximize time dedicated to research on the space station. Highlights of upcoming investigations include the benefits of manufacturing fiber optic filaments in a microgravity environment, a new study looking at structures that are vital to the design of advanced optical materials and electronic devices, and examining a drug compound and drug delivery system designed to combat muscular breakdown in space or during other prolonged periods of disuse, such as extended bed rest on Earth. For more than 17 years, humans have lived and worked continuously aboard the station, advancing scientific knowledge and demonstrating new technologies, making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth that will enable long-duration human and robotic exploration into deep space. A global endeavor, more than 200 people from 18 countries have visited the unique microgravity laboratory that has hosted more than 2,100 research investigations from researchers in more than 95 countries.^[6]