Expedition 31

Promotional Poster

Mission type| Long-duration expedition
Expedition
Space Station| International Space Station
Began| 27 April 2012, 08:15 (2012-04-27UTC08:15Z) UTC[1]
Ended| 1 July 2012, 04:48 (2012-07-01UTC04:49Z) UTC[2]
Arrived aboard| Soyuz TMA-03M
Soyuz TMA-04M
Departed aboard| Soyuz TMA-03M
Soyuz TMA-04M
Crew
Crew size| 6
Members| Expedition 30/31:
Oleg Kononenko
André Kuipers
Don Pettit

Expedition 31/32:
Joseph M. Acaba
Gennady Padalka
Sergei Revin

Expedition 31 mission patch

(l-r) Acaba, Padalka, Revin, Kuipers, Kononenko and Pettit

ISS expeditions

<- Expedition 30

Expedition 32 ->

Expedition 31 was the 31st long-duration expedition to the International Space Station (ISS). It began on 27 April 2012 with the departure from the ISS of the Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft, which returned the Expedition 30 crew to Earth.[1] The expedition ended on 1 July 2012, when crew members Oleg Kononenko, André Kuipers and Don Pettit departed from the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-03M, marking the beginning of Expedition 32.[2]

## Contents

* 1 Crew
* 2 Mission highlights
* 2.1 Soyuz TMA-22 departure
* 2.2 Soyuz TMA-04M arrival
* 2.3 SpaceX Dragon test mission
* 2.4 Soyuz TMA-03M departure
* 3 In popular culture
* 4 Gallery
* 5 References
* 6 External links

## Crew

Position  | First part
(April 2012 to May 2012) | Second part
(May 2012 to July 2012)

|
|

Commander  |  Oleg Kononenko, RSA
Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer 1  |  André Kuipers, ESA
Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer 2  |  Don Pettit, NASA
Third spaceflight
Flight Engineer 3  |  |  Joseph M. Acaba, NASA
Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer 4  |  |  Gennady Padalka, RSA
Fourth spaceflight
Flight Engineer 5  |  |  Sergei Revin, RSA
Only spaceflight

Source
NASA[3][4][5][6]

## Mission highlights

### Soyuz TMA-22 departure

Expedition 31 formally began on 27 April 2012, with the departure from the ISS of the Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft. Soyuz TMA-22 successfully returned Expedition 30 astronauts Dan Burbank, Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoli Ivanishin to Earth.[1] The ISS was left under the command of astronauts Kononenko, Kuipers and Pettit, who had arrived at the station aboard Soyuz TMA-03M on 23 December 2011.

### Soyuz TMA-04M arrival

The final three members of Expedition 31 - Acaba, Padalka and Revin - arrived at the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-04M, which launched on 15 May 2012,[7] and docked to the ISS on 17 May at 4:36 UTC.[8]

### SpaceX Dragon test mission

SpaceX's unmanned Dragon spacecraft conducted a test rendezvous with the ISS during Expedition 31, as part of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program; it was the first commercial spacecraft to rendezvous with the ISS. Following a series of delays,[9] Dragon launched on 22 May 2012, and berthed successfully with the ISS on 25 May, after conducting a series of orbital test manoeuvres.[10][11] Dragon carried around 460 kilograms (1,010 lb) of cargo to the ISS, including food, clothing, a laptop computer and 15 student experiments.[10] After being loaded with 660 kilograms (1,460 lb) of downmass cargo, including completed experiments and redundant equipment, it undocked from the station and returned to Earth on 31 May 2012.[12][13] Dragon landed intact in the Pacific Ocean and was successfully recovered, allowing SpaceX to begin regular cargo flights to the ISS.[14] The first such logistics mission, CRS SpX-1, launched successfully in October 2012.[15][16]

### Soyuz TMA-03M departure

Soyuz TMA-03M departed from the ISS on 1 July 2012, successfully returning Kononenko, Kuipers and Pettit to Earth. Their departure marked the formal end of Expedition 31, and the beginning of Expedition 32.[2]

## In popular culture

In the 2012 The Big Bang Theory episode "The Friendship Contraction", character Howard Wolowitz reveals that he will be a member of a fictionalized version of Expedition 31, alongside Dimitri Rezinov, a character created for the show, and Mike Massimino, playing a fictional version of himself.[17]

## Gallery

* Soyuz TMA-22 departs the ISS on 27 April 2012, marking the beginning of Expedition 31.

* An Orthodox priest blesses the Soyuz rocket on 14 May 2012.

* The Expedition 31 crew wave goodbye before the launch on 15 May 2012.

* The launch of Soyuz TMA-04M on 15 May 2012.

* SpaceX's unmanned Dragon spacecraft approaches the ISS on 25 May 2012.

* Expedition 31 posing inside the docked Dragon capsule on 29 May 2012.

## References

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Soyuz TMA-22 returns to Earth with three outbound ISS crewmembers". NASASpaceflight.com, 27 April 2012.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Harding, Pete (1 July 2012). "Soyuz TMA-03M undocks from ISS and returns to Earth". NASASpaceFlight (not associated with NASA). http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/07/soyuz-tma-03m-undocks-iss-return/.
3. ↑ NASA HQ (2009). "NASA and its International Partners Assign Space Station Crews". NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/oct/HQ_09-233_Space_Station_Crews.html.
4. ↑ NASA HQ (2010). "NASA And Partners Assign Crews For Upcoming Space Station Missions". NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jul/HQ_10-161_New_ISS_Crews.html.
5. ↑ ESA astronaut André Kuipers to spend six months on the ISS starting in 2011
6. ↑ "Expedition 31 crew page". NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition31/index.html.
7. ↑ "Three New Crew Members En Route to Station". Latest News. NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/living/index.html.
8. ↑ Harwood, William (17 May 2012). "Three-man crew docks at International Space Station". Spaceflight Now. http://www.spaceflightnow.com/station/exp31/120517dock/.
9. ↑ "SpaceX Dragon chokes at the last second". The Register. 19 May 2012. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/19/falcon_launch_aborted/.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Clara Moskowitz (22 May 2012). "SpaceX Launches Private Capsule on Historic Trip to Space Station". Space.com. http://www.space.com/15805-spacex-private-capsule-launches-space-station.html.
11. ↑ "Station grabs SpaceX Dragon ship". BBC. 25 May 2012. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18195772.
12. ↑ "SpaceX Dragon Capsule opens new era". 28 May 2012. http://businesstech.co.za/news/general/13755/spacex-dragon-capsule-opens-new-era/.
13. ↑ "Splashdown for SpaceX Dragon spacecraft". BBC. 31 May 2012. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18273811.
14. ↑ "Its First Mission Done, SpaceX Looks to More Private Flights". The New York Times. 31 May 2012. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/science/space/first-spacex-dragon-cargo-flight-ends-with-a-splash.html.
15. ↑ Bergin, Chris (31 August 2012). "SpaceX conduct successful WDR on their latest Falcon 9". NASASpaceFlight.com. http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/08/spacex-conduct-successful-wdr-falcon-9/.
16. ↑ "Liftoff! SpaceX Dragon Launches 1st Private Space Station Cargo Mission". Space.com. 8 October 2012. http://www.space.com/17943-spacex-dragon-capsule-space-cargo-launch.html.
17. ↑ "The Friendship Contraction". The Big Bang Theory. Season 5. Episode 15. 2 February 2012. 02:20 minutes in.

## External links

* NASA's Space Station Expeditions page
* End of Expedition 30/Beginning of Expedition 31 video
* Expedition 30/31 – Change of Command Ceremony video
* End of Expedition 31/Beginning of Expedition 32 video
* Expedition 31/32 – Change of Command Ceremony video
* Expedition 31 Photography

* v
* t
* e

Expeditions to the International Space Station

* See also: {{Crewed ISS flights}}
* {{Uncrewed ISS flights}}

2000–2004|

* Expedition 1
* 2
* 3
* 4
* 5
* 6
* 7
* 8
* 9
* 10

International Space Station Patch

2005–2009|

* Expedition 11
* 12
* 13
* 14
* 15
* 16
* 17
* 18
* 19
* 20
* 21
* 22

2010–2014|

* Expedition 23
* 24
* 25
* 26
* 27
* 28
* 29
* 30
* 31
* 32
* 33
* 34
* 35
* 36
* 37
* 38
* 39
* 40
* 41
* 42

2015–2019|

* Expedition 43
* 44
* 45
* 46
* 47
* 48
* 49
* 50
* 51
* 52
* 53
* 54
* 55
* 56
* 57
* 58
* 59
* 60
* 61

2020–|

* Expedition 62
* 63
* 64
* 65+

Related|

* List of spaceflights to the ISS
* List of ISS visitors
* crew

* Current expedition in bold
* Future expeditions in italics

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