Soyuz TMA-4

Crew

Gennady Padalka

Commander

Status: Retired
6/21/1958 -
Nationality: Russian
Type: Government
First Flight: 8/13/1998
Last Flight: 3/27/2015

Gennady Ivanovich Padalka (Russian: Гeннадий Иванович Падалка; born 21 June 1958 in Krasnodar, Russia) is a Russian Air Force officer and an RKA cosmonaut. Padalka currently has the world record for the most time spent in space, having spent 879 days in space, more than any other person. He worked on both Mir and the International Space Station.

André Kuipers

Flight Engineer

Status: Retired
10/5/1958 -
Nationality: Dutch
Type: Government
First Flight: 4/19/2004
Last Flight: 12/21/2011

André Kuipers is a Dutch physician and ESA astronaut. He became the second Dutch citizen, third Dutch-born and fifth Dutch-speaking astronaut upon launch of Soyuz TMA-4 on 19 April 2004. Kuipers returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-3 11 days later.

Kuipers is the first Dutch astronaut to return to space. On 5 August 2009, Dutch minister of economic affairs Maria van der Hoeven, announced Kuipers was selected as an astronaut for International Space Station (ISS) Expeditions 30 and 31. He was launched to space on 21 December 2011 and returned to Earth on 1 July 2012.

Michael Fincke

Flight Engineer

Status: Active
3/14/1967 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 4/19/2004
Last Flight: 5/16/2011

Edward Michael "Mike"/"Spanky" Fincke is an American astronaut who formerly held the American record for the most time in space (381.6 days). His record was broken by Scott Kelly on October 16, 2015. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but considers its suburb Emsworth to be his hometown. He is a United States Air Force officer and a NASA astronaut, and served two tours aboard the International Space Station as a flight engineer and commander. He flew on one Space Shuttle mission, STS-134 as a Mission Specialist.

Mission

Soyuz TMA-4

Type: Human Exploration

Soyuz TMA-4 begins Expedition 9 by carrying 3 astronauts and cosmonauts to the International Space Station. Russian Commander, cosmonaut Gennady Padalka alongside Flight Engineers, Michael Fincke (NASA) & André Kuipers (ESA) will launch aboard the Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and then rendezvous with the station. It landed on October 24, 2004, 00:35:00 UTC

Location

1/5

Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

469 rockets have launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan.

Rocket

Soyuz

Length: 49.5 meters
Diameter: 3 meters
First Launch: May 20, 2001

The Soyuz FG rocket is an expendable launch vehicle most commonly known for carrying humans to the International Space Station today.

The Soyuz rocket has been launched a total of 60 times with 59 successful and 1 failed launches.

Agency

Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS)

Type: Government
Abbreviation: RFSA
Administration: Administrator: Dmitry Rogozin
Founded: 1992
Launchers: Soyuz
Spacecraft: Soyuz
Country: RUS

The Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities, commonly known as Roscosmos, is the governmental body responsible for the space science program of the Russian Federation and general aerospace research. Soyuz has many launch locations the Russian sites are Baikonur, Plesetsk and Vostochny however Ariane also purchases the vehicle and launches it from French Guiana.