Soyuz TMA-22 Союз ТМА-22
Mission insignia
Mission statistics
Mission name	Soyuz TMA-22 Союз ТМА-22
Crew size	3
Call sign	Astraeus
Launch date	14 November 2011[1] 04:14:03 GMT
Landing	16 March 2012 (planned)
Crew photo
From left to right: Daniel C. Burbank, Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoli Ivanishin
Related missions
Previous mission Subsequent mission  Soyuz TMA-02M  Soyuz TMA-03M

Soyuz TMA-22 is a current flight to the International Space Station (ISS). TMA-22 was the 111th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft, and transported three members of the Expedition 29 crew to the ISS. The spacecraft docked to the ISS on 16 November 2011, and will most likely remain docked throughout the Expedition 29 increment to serve as an emergency escape vehicle.

TMA-22 was the final flight of a Soyuz-TMA vehicle, following its replacement by the modernized TMA-M series.^[3] The launch of Soyuz TMA-22 was originally scheduled for 30 September 2011, but was delayed until 14 November following the launch failure of the Progress M-12M resupply vehicle on 24 August 2011.

Soyuz TMA-22 was the first manned mission to dock with the ISS since the retirement of the American Space Shuttle fleet at the end of the STS-135mission in July 2011.

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[edit]Mission profile

[edit]Rescheduling of launch

Soyuz TMA-22's launch was rescheduled from late September 2011 to 14 November, due to the failed launch of the Progress M-12M cargo spacecraft on 24 August 2011.^[6] The incident, caused by a blocked fuel line leading to the gas generator of the Soyuz-U booster’s third-stage RD-0110 engine, resulted in a suspension of all Russian crewed spaceflights, due to the similar third stage in use on the crewed Soyuz-FG booster.^[7] A Russian commission blamed the failure on a single human error, and put additional procedures in place to prevent the problem from recurring. On 30 October 2011, Russia successfully launched the Progress M-13M unmanned cargo ship atop the Soyuz-U booster, clearing the way for the Soyuz TMA-22 launch.