Soyuz TMA-18 begins Expedition 23 by carrying 3 astronauts and cosmonauts to the International Space Station. Russian Commander, cosmonaut Aleksandr Skvortsov alongside Flight Engineers,Mikhail Korniyenko (RSA) & Tracy Caldwell Dyson (NASA) will launch aboard the Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and then rendezvous with the station. It landed on 25 September 2010, 05:23 UTC
Low Earth OrbitGlonass-M, also known as Uragan-M, are the second generation of Uragan satellite design used for GLONASS satellite navigation system. GLONASS is a Russian space-based navigation system comparable to the similar GPS and Galileo systems. This generation improves on accuracy, power consumption and design life. Each satellite weighs 1415 kg, is equipped with 12 L-band antennas, and has an operational lifetime of 7 years.
Medium Earth OrbitThe Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is a NASA mission which is observing the Sun. SDO is a three-axis stabilized spacecraft, with two solar arrays, and two high-gain antennas, in an inclined geosynchronous orbit around Earth.
Enhanced Geostationary Transfer OrbitSTS-130 was an ISS assembly flight with the primary payloads being the Tranquility module and the Cupola observatory. The mission began on February 8th 2010 at 09:14 UTC launching Commander George D. Zamka, Pilot Terry Virts, Mission Specialist 1 Kathryn P. Hire, Mission Specialist 2 Stephen K. Robinson, Mission Specialist 3 Nicholas Patrick & Mission Specialist 4 Robert L. Behnken to orbit. They docked with the ISS 2 days after launch. During the mission 3 spacewalks were conducted to install the Tranquility module. On day 6, the wake-up song played to the ISS crew was "The Ballad of Serenity" by Sonny Rhodes, the theme for science fiction show Firefly, and was played for Robert Behnken. The mission concluded after 13 days & 18 hours on February 22nd 2010 at 03:22:10 UTC.
Low Earth Orbit