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'Expedition 12' (2005) was the 12th expedition to the International Space Station, launched from Kazakhstan using the Russian Soyuz TMA-7 spacecraft. The crew landed back in Kazakhstan on April 8, 2006 with the addition of the first Brazilian astronaut, Marcos Pontes.
American entrepreneur Gregory Olsen was launched in the Soyuz TMA-7 spacecraft and returned with Expedition 11 on Soyuz TMA-6 on 2005 October 11, thereby becoming the third space tourist. [1]

Contents

Crew

Mission parameters

Mission objectives

Spacewalks

EVA 1

EVA 2

Solar eclipse

External link

Crew

★ William McArthur (4) ISS Commander -

★ Valery Ivanovich Tokarev (2) ISS Flight Engineer -
(#) number of spaceflights each crew member has completed, including this mission.

Mission parameters

★ 'Perigee:'

★ 'Apogee:'

★ 'Inclination: '51.6 degrees

★ 'Orbital period:'

★ 'Docked': October 3, 2005 07:27 UTC

★ 'Undocked': April 08, 2006 20:28 UTC

★ 'Docked Duration': 186 Days, 13 Hours

Mission objectives

Station assembly preparations, maintenance and science in microgravity.

Spacewalks

There have been two spacewalks outside the ISS during Expedition 12. MacArthur and Tokarev participated in both of them.

EVA 1

The first EVA was on November 7, 2005 for 5 hours and 22 minutes. There were two main objectives, both of which were completed. The first was to install and setup a new camera on the P1 Truss which will be used in the installation of more truss segments. The second was to jettison the Floating Potential Probe which was a failed instrument, designed to measure the station's electrical potential and compare it to the surrounding plasma. [2]

EVA 2

The second spacewalk took place on February 3, 2006 and lasted 5 hours and 43 minutes. The astronauts jettisoned old Russian Orlan spacesuit, named SuitSat-1, that was equipped with a radio for broadcasts to students around the world. The suit reached the end of its operation life in 2004. They also retrieved the Biorisk experiment, photographed a sensor for a micrometeoroid experiment, and tied off the surviving umbilical of the mobile transporter. [3]

Solar eclipse

Main articles: Solar eclipse of 2006 March 29


On March 29, 2006 a total solar eclipse took place, and the picture to the right was taken by the Expedition 12 crew. It clearly shows the shadow of the Moon being cast on the Earth.

External link

★ Expedition 12 NASA page