Soyuz TMA-06M

Manned
Oleg Novitskiy, Evgeny Tarelkin, Kevin Anthony Ford
Soyuz FG
Kazakhstan, Baikonur Cosmodrome 45°57′54″N 63°18′18″E
23 October 2012
10:51:11 UTC
Launch
The main goal of the expedition was to continue research on how life in space affects human organisms, studies on fish and their sensation of gravity and to monitor the impacts of solar radiation on Earth’s climate. Maintenance work was also undertaken on the ISS.

The Soyuz rocket is rolled out to the launch pad by train
Stages

46 – 85 km
1.58 min
5'616 km/h

~169 km
4.48 min
13'680 km/h

207 km
8.49 min
26'964 km/h
On board ISS
Sunita Williams and Akihiko Hoshide disembarked the ISS for 6 hours and 38 minutes on 1st November to carry out technical repairs.
During their expedition in space, the crew managed to successfully control a Lego robot on Earth.
Recovery
For our second visit to Kazakhstan, we succeeded – after six months of negotiation – in persuading the suppliers that we were not, in fact, spies. Materials exported included aluminium bars (parts of the rocket’s outer shell that had been melted down on site) and deconstructed steel steam turbines. The heavy goods vehicle carrying the cargo from Soyuz TMA 06 arrived to Switzerland in January 2013, the same month the company was founded. Just a few months later, in autumn 2013, we were able to present our very first aluminium rocket watch.

Material recovery plant