Expedition 28 was the 28th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station, and began on 23 May 2011 with the departure of the members of Expedition 27. The first three members of Expedition 28 arrived on the ISS aboard the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft on 4 April 2011, and were joined on 9 June 2011 by the three other crew members, who arrived aboard Soyuz TMA-02M.[1] The expedition saw a number of significant events, including the final Space Shuttle mission, STS-135, which took place in July 2011. Expedition 28 was superseded by Expedition 29 on 16 September 2011.[2]
Before departing the vicinity of the International Space Station, the crew of TMA-20 photographed the exterior of the station during a fly-around, capturing photos of the Space Shuttle Endeavour docked with the ISS on its final mission, STS-134.[6]
At the time Expedition 28 began, Space Shuttle Endeavour was docked to the ISS on her final mission, STS-134. During this mission, the crew of Endeavour installed on the station's exterior the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and several spare parts to aid in station operations after the retirement of the Space Shuttle. STS-134 was the 36th Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station.[7]
The remainder of the Expedition 28 crew (Sergey Volkov, Michael E. Fossum, and Satoshi Furukawa) launched aboard Soyuz TMA-02M from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 20:12 UTC on 7 June 2011.[9] Originally scheduled to dock to the ISS on 9 June at approximately 21:22 UTC,[10] the Soyuz did so several minutes early at 21:18.[1]
On 20 June 2011, the European Space Agency's robotic cargo ship Johannes Kepler disengaged from the ISS, having been docked since February 2011.[11] On 21 June 2011, the ATV was deorbited, burning up in the atmosphere over the southern Pacific Ocean at around 22:44 CET.[12]
A Russian Progress cargo ship, designated M-11M (Progress 42 or 42P by NASA) was launched on 21 June 2011 to resupply and deliver equipment to the International Space Station.[13] Progress M-11M transferred more than 2.5 tons of cargo to the Space Station, including food, water, scientific hardware, propellant, and cargo. The cargo ship docked with the Zvezda service module of the Space Station at 16:37 UTC on 23 June 2011. The docking occurred 245 miles above eastern Kazakhstan.
The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft departed from the International Space Station on 16 September 2011 at 00:38 UTC.[15] Soyuz Commander Aleksandr Samokutyayev and Flight Engineers Andrei Borisenko and Ronald Garan returned to Earth on 16 September at 03:59 UTC, landing safely in central Kazakhstan.[16] Their landing marked the beginning of Expedition 29.
The Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft launches on 8 June 2011.
Video of the aurora australis taken 17 September 2011 from 17:22:27 to 17:45:12 GMT, on an ascending pass from south of Madagascar to just north of Australia over the Indian Ocean
Furukawa aboard the ISS.
Photograph taken by the departing Expedition 27 crew of Endeavour docked to the ISS for the final time.
^After 162 days aboard, @Astro_Ron & Expedition 28 crew undocked from space station at 8:38pmET to begin their voyage home. "Twitter". NASA. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
