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The Mission




Mission: Expedition 9
Spacecraft: Soyuz TMA-4
Launch: April 19, 2004
Time: 0318:47 GMT (11:18:47 p.m. EDT on 18th)
Site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
Satellite feed: AMC 9, Transponder 9, C-band

Launch events timeline

Flight Day 1 schedule

Flight Day 2 schedule

Flight Day 3 schedule

Expedition 9 science plan

European DELTA mission



The Crew




Russia's Gennady Padalka and NASA's Mike Fincke will live aboard the International Space Station for a half-year as Expedition 9 while Europe's Andre Kuipers will stay for a week before returning to Earth.

Exp. 9 commander Gennady Padalka

Exp. 9 science officer Mike Fincke

Visiting crewmember Andre Kuipers



The Launcher




The venerable Russian Soyuz rocket will deliver the Soyuz TMA-4 capsule into Earth orbit to dock with the International Space Station.

Rocket fact sheet

Soyuz spacecraft info



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Flight Day 3 schedule
NASA PRESS KIT
Posted: April 15, 2004

Orbit 28

Post sleep activity

  • A/G, R/T and Recorded TLM and Display TV downlink
  • Radar and radio transponder tracking

Orbit 29

Free time, report on HM/DM pressures

  • Read up of predicted post burn Form 23 and Form 14
  • A/G, R/T and Recorded TLM and Display TV downlink
  • Radar and radio transponder tracking

Orbit 30

Free time, read up of Form 2 "Globe Correction," lunch

  • Uplink of auto rendezvous command timeline
  • A/G, R/T and Recorded TLM and Display TV downlink
  • Radar and radio transponder tracking

Orbit 31

Don Sokol spacesuits, ingress DM, close DM/HM hatch

  • Active and passive vehicle state vector uplinks
  • A/G, R/T and Recorded TLM and Display TV downlink
  • Radio transponder tracking

Orbit 32

Terminate +Y solar rotation, reactivate MCS and establish LVLH attitude reference (auto maneuver sequence)

Begin auto rendezvous sequence

  • Crew monitoring of LVLH reference build and auto rendezvous timeline execution
  • A/G, R/T and Recorded TLM and Display TV downlink
  • Radio transponder tracking

Orbit 33

Auto Rendezvous sequence continues, flyaround and station keeping

  • Crew monitor
  • Comm relays via SM through Altair established
  • Form 23 and Form 14 updates
  • Fly around and station keeping initiated near end of orbit
  • A/G (gnd stations and Altair), R/T TLM (gnd stations), Display TV downlink (gnd stations and Altair)
  • Radio transponder tracking

Orbit 34

Final Approach and docking

  • Capture to "docking sequence complete" 20 minutes, typically
  • Monitor docking interface pressure seal
  • Transfer to HM, doff Sokol suits
  • A/G (gnd stations and Altair), R/T TLM (gnd stations), Display TV downlink (gnd stations and Altair)
  • Radio transponder tracking

Orbit 35

Station/Soyuz pressure equalization

  • Report all pressures
  • Open transfer hatch, ingress station
  • A/G, R/T and playback telemetry
  • Radio transponder tracking
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