Soyuz MS-13, also designated ISS flight 59S, was a crewed Soyuz mission launched on 20 July 2019 – the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing[2] carrying three members of the Expedition 60 crew to the International Space Station: a Russian commander, an American flight engineer, and a European flight engineer. Soyuz MS-13 was the 142nd flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. It was at one point the last Soyuz flight contracted by NASA in the expectation that subsequent astronaut transport would be provided by the Commercial Crew Program,[5] but in early 2019, NASA sought to purchase two additional Soyuz seats to provide greater certainty given delays in that program.[6]

Soyuz MS-13
The Soyuz MS-13 approaches the ISS
Mission typeISS crew transport
OperatorRoscosmos
COSPAR ID2019-041A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.44437
Mission duration200d 16h 44m
Orbits completed3,216 [1]
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftSoyuz-MS
Spacecraft typeSoyuz-MS 11F747 No. 746
ManufacturerEnergia
Crew
Crew size3
MembersAleksandr Skvortsov
Luca Parmitano
LaunchingAndrew R. Morgan
LandingChristina Koch
CallsignCliff
Start of mission
Launch date20 July 2019, 16:28:21 UTC[2]
RocketSoyuz-FG
Launch siteBaikonur, Site 1/5
End of mission
Landing date6 February 2020,
09:12:45 UTC[3][1]
Landing siteSteppes of Kazakhstan.
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth
Inclination51.6°
Docking with ISS
Docking portZvezda aft
Docking date20 July 2019, 22:47:50 UTC[1]
Undocking date26 August 2019,
03:35 UTC[4]
Time docked36 days, 4 hours and 48 minutes
Docking with ISS
(Relocation)
Docking portPoisk zenith
Docking date26 August 2019, 03:59 UTC[4]
Undocking date6 February 2020,
05:50:28 UTC[1]
Time docked164d 1h 51m

(l-r) Morgan, Skvortsov and Parmitano

Crew

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Position Launching Crew member Landing Crew member
Commander   Aleksandr Skvortsov, Roscosmos
Expedition 60/61
Third and last spaceflight
Flight Engineer 1   Luca Parmitano, ESA
Expedition 60/61
Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer 2   Andrew R. Morgan, NASA
Expedition 60/61/62
First spaceflight
  Christina Koch, NASA
Expedition 59/60/61
First spaceflight

[7]

Backup crew

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Position Crew member[1]
Commander   Sergey Ryzhikov, Roscosmos
Flight Engineer 1   Thomas Marshburn, NASA
Flight Engineer 2   Soichi Noguchi, JAXA

Relocation

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The Soyuz crew relocated the MS-13 spacecraft from the aft port of the Zvezda module and performed a manual docking on the Poisk module on 26 August 2019.[4] This cleared the way for Soyuz MS-14 to perform an automatic docking on Zvezda, after a faulty signal amplifier on Poisk caused MS-14's first docking attempt to abort on 24 August 2019.[8] The last time a Soyuz spacecraft was relocated was in August 2015 during the Soyuz TMA-16M mission.[9]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Spaceflight mission report Soyuz MS-13". spacefacts.de.
  2. ^ a b "Запуск "Союза" к МКС перенесли по просьбе НАСА" [Soyuz launch to ISS was postponed upon NASA's request] (in Russian). RIA Novosti. 12 April 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  3. ^ Return
  4. ^ a b c Relocates Russian Soyuz Spacecraft to Different Port
  5. ^ Harwood, William (31 August 2018). "Station crew faces busy schedule as commercial crew schedule ramps up". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  6. ^ "PROCUREMENT OF CREW TRANSPORTATION AND RESCUE SERVICES FROM ROSCOSMOS – Federal Business Opportunities: Opportunities". fbo.gov.
  7. ^ Pelo, Para Que Sirve Ponerse Aceite De Oliva En El (8 March 2019). "On International Women's Day, NASA Looks Forward to First All-Female EVA in Late March; Koch Tapped for Longer ISS Stay". AmericaSpace.
  8. ^ Clark, Stephen (24 August 2019). "Station crew to clear new port for second Soyuz docking attempt – Spaceflight Now".
  9. ^ Tariq, Malik (26 August 2019). "Space Station Crew Takes Soyuz Capsule for 'Sunday Drive' to Swap Parking Spots". Space.com.