Soyuz TMA-21 Launches to the ISS

Yesterday, April 4, three space flyers launched to the International Space Station aboard a Russian space capsule. They will form the second half of the Expedition 27 crew, and their launch attempt progressed flawlessly.

This April holds a special significance in the history of spaceflight, because it marks the 50-year anniversary of the first manned spaceflight ever. On April 12, 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin blasted off to orbit, and became the first man in space.

The flight that the Russian Federal Space Agency (RosCosmos) launched yesterday was meant as a celebration of that event. It took off at around 6:18 pm EDT (4:18 am local time, on April 5).

The Soyuz capsule blasted off from the same Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad that Yuri Gagarin used half a century ago for his flight. The facility is located in the steppes of Kazakhstan.

Riding aboard the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft are cosmonauts Andrei Borisenko and Aleksandr Samokutyayev (RosCosmos) and NASA astronaut Ron Garan. After Expedition 27 concludes, they will form the backbone for Expedition 28, which begins around late May.

The manned capsule was decorated especially for this day, experts say. A big “50” was printed on its side, alongside a giant portrait of Gagarin, and his name written in bold. The Soyuz was also renamed in the cosmonaut's image.

“This is the first time that, that vehicle will be named after someone, and as soon as we learned that this would be the case, especially that Yuri Gagarin’s name will be used to name a Soyuz spacecraft, we were very happy,” said Samokutyayev.

“I believe this is a very important event and we are very proud of our country, as well as for our cosmonautics,” added the space flyer, who is the commander of the Soyuz TMA-21.

“It really is just an incredible honor to be a part of this anniversary. I truly believe that on April 12, 1961, humanity became a different species. I mean, humanity was no longer bounded […] to the confines of Earth on that day,” Garan added in a NASA interview.

NASA spokeswoman Kelly Humphries explains that the American space agency and RosCosmos are now partners, even if they were rivals at the time Yuri Gagarin flew to space. That is why NASA has no resentments in joining the Russian space agency in its celebration.

Additionally, the Americans have reasons to be happy as well. This April “also happens to be the 30th anniversary of the first [space] shuttle mission, so we'll of course be marking that,” Humphries says.

Already aboard the ISS – and waiting for the Soyuz TMA-21 crew members are Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev, NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman, and Paolo Nespoli, an astronaut from the European Space Agency (ESA), Space reports.