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Expedition 7

Mission insignia
Call sign	Expedition 7
Number of crew	2
Launch	April 26, 2003 03:53:52 UTC
Launch craft	Soyuz TMA-2
Landing	October 28, 2003 02:40:20 UTC
Landing craft	Soyuz TMA-2
Landing site	near Arkalyk
Time docked	182 days 16:20:49
EVA duration	0 h 0 min
Mission duration	184 days 22:46:28
Number of orbits	2,895
Distance traveled	~123,133,253 km
Mass	187,016 kg
L-R: Yuri Malenchenko (Russia) and Ed Lu (U.S.A.)
Previous expedition Next expedition Expedition 6 Expedition 8

Expedition 7 was the seventh expedition to the International Space Station.

[edit] Crew

[edit] Mission parameters

• Perigee: 384 km
• Apogee: 396 km
• Inclination: 51.6°
• Period: 92 min

• Docked: April 28, 2003 - 05:56:20 UTC
• Undocked: October 27, 2003 - 22:17:09 UTC
• Time Docked: 182 days, 16 h, 20 min, 49 s

Soyuz TMA-2 spacecraft, docked to the functional cargo block (FGB) nadir port on the International Space Station. (NASA)

[edit] Mission objectives

The seventh crew of the International Space Station lifted off in Soyuz TMA-2 from the Russian Space Agency's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 25, 2003, at 10:54 p.m. CDT. The Soyuz docked on April 28, 2003 and took over command of the ISS. The Expedition Seven crew -- along with European Space Agency Astronaut Pedro Duque -- landed back on Earth on October 27, 2003 at Kazakhstan at 9:41 p.m. EST, after undocking from the International Space Station in their Soyuz spacecraft at 6:17 p.m. EST.

From Houston, ISS Spacecraft Communicator Mike Fossum informed Expedition 7 Commander Yuri Malenchenko and Science Officer Edward Lu on Wednesday, October 15 of the successful launch of the Long March rocket carrying the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft and Chinese astronaut Yáng Lìwěi. "It's really some exciting news to share. The world's spacefaring nations have been joined by a new member tonight: China."

"First off, we want to congratulate them," Lu replied. "The more people that go into space, the better off we all are. This is a great achievement and good for everyone in the long run."

In Chinese, he later added, "Welcome to space. Have a safe journey."

"I would also like to say I love to have somebody else in space instead of me and Ed," said Malenchenko. "I also know this is great for thousands and thousands of people from China. I congratulate all of them."

Malenchenko and Lu were previously crewmates on the STS-106 shuttle mission and did a spacewalk together during that flight.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• ISS Expedition 7 Crew site from Nasa.

v • d • e Expeditions to the International Space Station Completed: Expedition 1 • Expedition 2 • Expedition 3 • Expedition 4 • Expedition 5 • Expedition 6 • Expedition 7 • Expedition 8 • Expedition 9 • Expedition 10 • Expedition 11 • Expedition 12 • Expedition 13 • Expedition 14 • Expedition 15 • Expedition 16 • Expedition 17 • Expedition 18 • Expedition 19 • Expedition 20 • Expedition 21 Current: Expedition 22 Planned: Expedition 23 • Expedition 24 • Expedition 25 • Expedition 26 • Expedition 27 • Expedition 28 • Expedition 29 • Expedition 30 • Expedition 31 • Expedition 32 • Expedition 33