Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Soyuz TMA-17 launched 2009

L-R: Tim Creamer, Oleg Kotov, Soichi Noguchi

Mission patch


Soyuz TMA-17, the 104th flight of the Soyuz program, launched three crew members of Expedition 22 to the International Space Station, December 20, 2009.  On board were Commander Oleg Kotov (Roscosmos), Flight Engineer Timothy Creamer (NASA) and Soichi Noguchi (JAXA).

Soichi Noguchi is the second Japanese astronaut, but the first from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).  Toyohiro Akiyama, the first Japanese in space, went up in 1990-1991.  JAXA was founded in 2003.

Soyuz TMA-17 returned to Earth, landing on May 26, 2010.

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