Soyuz MS-16

Soyuz MS-16

Irkut approaches the ISS
Mission type	ISS crew transport
Operator	Roscosmos
COSPAR ID	2020-023A
SATCAT no.	45465
Mission duration	195 days, 18 hours and 49 minutes
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Soyuz MS No.745 Irkut [1][2]
Manufacturer	RSC Energia
Launch mass	7,280 kg (16,050 lb)
Crew
Members	Anatoli Ivanishin Ivan Vagner Christopher Cassidy
Start of mission
Launch date	9 April 2020, 08:05:06 UTC[3]
Rocket	Soyuz-2.1a (B15000-042) [1]
Launch site	Baikonur Site 31
Contractor	RSC Progress
End of mission
Landing date	22 October 2020, 02:54:12 UTC [4]
Landing site	Kazakh Steppe, 150 km (93 mi) southeast of Zhezkazgan
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit[5]
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Inclination	51.66°
Docking with ISS
Docking port	Poisk zenith
Docking date	9 April 2020, 14:13:18 UTC [5]
Undocking date	21 October 2020, 23:31:41 UTC[5]
Time docked	195 days, 9 hours and 18 minutes
Cassidy, Ivanishin, Vagner Soyuz programme (crewed)

Soyuz MS-16 was a Soyuz spaceflight launched on 9 April 2020,^[3] which transported three members of the Expedition 62/63 crew to the International Space Station.^[6]

This flight was the first crewed launch using the Soyuz 2.1a launch vehicle, and the first crewed Russian mission not to launch from Gagarin's Start (which began modernization renovations after Soyuz MS-15) since Soyuz MS-02 in 2016.^[7]

This flight would have marked the first spaceflight for rookie cosmonaut Nikolai Tikhonov, who has been removed from several ISS flights due to delays to the Russian Nauka laboratory module starting with Soyuz MS-04. Tikhonov and Babkin were replaced by their backups, Ivanishin and Vagner, for medical reasons.^[8] Tikhonov, the original Soyuz commander, suffered an eye injury, and Russian officials opted to swap both Russian crew members with the back-up crew.^[9]

Tikhonov and Babkin were expected to fly on Soyuz MS-17, scheduled for October 2020 when Tikhonov's eye injury was set to have had healed, although the two were not assigned to this mission. Tikhonov has since retired from roscosmos,^[10] while Babkin remains an active cosmonaut, but he has not yet been assigned to a future spaceflight.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the crew's families and media representatives could not watch the launch in Baikonur, and the usual pre-launch traditions dating back to Yuri Gagarin's flight on Vostok 1 were canceled.^[9]

Soyuz MS-16 was launched on 9 April 2020 at 08:05:06 UTC. The Soyuz 2.1a booster's first and core stage engines ignited on time and lifted the rocket away from its firing stand at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, with cosmonaut Anatoli Ivanishin, joined by the rookie Ivan Vagner on the left and astronaut Chris Cassidy on the right. Like Ivanishin, Cassidy is making his third space flight. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted congratulations: "Chris Cassidy, Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner are safely in orbit, no virus is stronger than the human desire to explore. I'm grateful to the entire @NASA and @roscosmos teams for their dedication to making this launch a success".

The International Space Station passed directly over the launch site about three minutes before the launch and the booster climbed directly into the plane of its orbit. Six orbits after that, at 14:13:18 UTC, the Soyuz docked at the Poisk docking compartment.^[11]

The Soyuz capsule undocked from the International Space Station at approximately 23:32:00 UTC and landed in the steppes of Kazakhstan at 02:54:12 UTC.^[4][12][13]

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