![]() Soyuz MS-17 during launch | |
Mission type | Crewed mission to ISS |
---|---|
Operator | Roscosmos |
COSPAR ID | 2020-072A |
SATCAT no. | 46613![]() |
Mission duration | 103 days, 11 hours and 32 minutes (in progress) 185 days (planned) |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Soyuz MS |
Spacecraft type | Soyuz MS 11F747 |
Manufacturer | Energia |
Crew | |
Crew size | 3 |
Members | |
Callsign | Favor |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 14 October 2020, 05:45:04 UTC [1][2][3][4] |
Rocket | Soyuz-2.1a |
Launch site | Baikonur, Site 31 |
Contractor | Progress Rocket Space Centre |
End of mission | |
Landing date | 17 April 2021 (planned) |
Landing site | Kazakh Steppe (planned) |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Inclination | 51.66° |
Docking with ISS | |
Docking port | Rassvet nadir |
Docking date | 14 October 2020, 08:48:47 UTC [5][6] |
Undocking date | 10 March 2021 (planned)[7] |
Time docked | 103 days, 8 hours and 29 minutes |
Docking with ISS (Relocation) | |
Docking port | Poisk zenith |
Docking date | 10 March 2021 (planned) |
Undocking date | 16 April 2021 (planned)[7] |
Time docked | 37 days (planned) |
![]() Soyuz MS-17 mission patch ![]() Rubins, Ryzhikov, and Kud-Sverchkov Soyuz programme (Crewed missions) |
Soyuz MS-17 is a Soyuz spaceflight that was launched on 14 October 2020.[3][8] It transported three crew members of the Expedition 63/64 crew to the International Space Station. Soyuz MS-17 is the 145th crewed flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. The crew consists of a Russian commander and a Russian and American flight engineer.[9][10][11]
The mission marked the first use of a new "ultrafast" two-orbit rendezvous flight plan with the Soyuz, which saw Soyuz MS-17 arrive at the ISS within approximately three hours after the launch.[2][12][13][6]
Towards the end of the flight, the spacecraft will relocate from Rassvet to Poisk to make way for the arrival and docking of the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, currently set to launch on 1 April 2021 carrying cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky, Pyotr Dubrov and Andrei Borisenko to the ISS ahead of a six-month stay. The two spacecraft will have a nine-day handover period before Soyuz MS-17 departs. This is necessary to avoid de-crewing the Russian Segment (ROS) of the ISS since no Russian cosmonaut will be present aboard SpaceX Crew-1.[8] After this launch, the current schedules are unclear on whether any American astronaut will be aboard on later Soyuz launches.[14]
Position | Crew member | |
---|---|---|
Commander | ![]() Expedition 63/64 Second spaceflight | |
Flight Engineer 1 | ![]() Expedition 63/64 First spaceflight | |
Flight Engineer 2 | ![]() Expedition 63/64 Second spaceflight |
Position | Crew member | |
---|---|---|
Commander | ![]() | |
Flight Engineer 1 | ![]() | |
Flight Engineer 2 | ![]() |
Position | Crew member | |
---|---|---|
Commander | ![]() | |
Flight Engineer 1 | ![]() |
Early planning had listed Russian cosmonaut Nikolai Chub as the mission's Flight Engineer 2, pending a NASA decision on whether they would purchase more seats on the Soyuz. In May 2020, NASA purchased a Soyuz seat and assigned NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins to the Flight Engineer 2 position, backed up by astronaut Mark T. Vande Hei.[15][18]
Originally Russian cosmonauts Anatoli Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner were set to fly as Commander and Flight Engineer 1 respectively. In February 2020, however, the two cosmonauts were moved to the Soyuz MS-16 flight due to medical issues with the commander of Soyuz MS-16, Nikolai Tikhonov. Ivanishin and Vagner were replaced by Ryzhikov and Kud-Sverchkov. Babkin may fly on Soyuz MS-18, but Tikhonov has retired from Roscosmos' astronaut corps.
Reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic, Roscosmos implemented a two-cosmonaut reserve crew to ensure the flight could go on with no delays, in the unlikely event both the prime and backup crews fall ill. It was not confirmed whether NASA planned to add an astronaut of their own to the reserve crew.[19]