Soyuz TMA-5 - Mission Highlights

Mission Highlights

25th manned flight to ISS.

Soyuz TMA-5 is a Soyuz spacecraft that was launched on October 14, 2004 by a Soyuz-FG rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome.

The Expedition 10 crew, Leroy Chiao of the U.S.A. and Salizhan Sharipov of Russia replaced the Expedition 9 crew, Gennady Padalka - Cdr. Russia and Edward Fincke U.S.A.

The launch of Expedition 10 was delayed beyond its scheduled October 9, 2004 launch date. During preflight testing, an explosive bolt was accidentally activated on the Soyuz TMA-5 spacecraft. The resulting damage was repaired prior to launch.

The docking maneuver had to be done manually, as the approach by the automatic system was too fast.

The undocking was done manually as well, as a cautionary measure to save power on a faulty battery.

After 193 days in the station the Expedition 10 crew returned to a soft landing in Kazakhstan together with Italian Roberto Vittori who had flown up with the Expedition 11 crew on Soyuz TMA-6.