Soyuz TMA-12M crew (L-R): Steve Swanson, Aleksandr Skvortsov, Oleg Artemyev
Mission patch
Soyuz TMA-12M, launched March 25, 2014, carried part of the crew of Expedition 39 to the International Space Station. Its crew consisted of Commander Aleksandr Skvortsov (Roscosmos), Oleg Artemyev (Roscosmos) and Steve Swanson (NASA).
In May, they transferred to the crew of Expedition 40 upon the departure of Soyuz TMA-11M. They remained on board until they returned to Earth in September 2014.
Richard "Rick" Mastracchio, born February 11, 1960 in Waterbury, Connecticut, is a veteran of three space shuttle flights and one trip on a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station.
His first flight into space was aboard Atlantis (STS-106) as mission specialist in September 2000 to the ISS. He operated the Canadarm to move fellow astronauts Ed Lu and Yuri Malenchenko as they performed assembly work on the station.
His second flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-118) as mission specialist in August 2007 to the International Space Station. During the mission he conducted three EVAs, totaling over 18 hours.
Mastracchio's third flight was aboard Discovery (STS-131) as mission specialist in April 2010 to the ISS. He conducted 3 EVAs with fellow astronaut Clayton Anderson totaling around 20 1/2 hours.
His fourth and final flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-11M which launched in November 2013 as part of Expeditions 38 and 39. He performed three EVAs (must be his lucky number!) and returned to Earth in May 2014.
The Soyuz TMA-11M mission, launched November 7, 2013, was the 120th flight of the Soyuz spacecraft. When Soyuz reached the International Space Station, the Olympic torch was passed for the first time in outer space! It returned to Earth 5 days later on Soyuz TMA-09M.
TMA-11M's crew consisted of Commander Mikhail Tyurin (Russian), Flight Engineer Richard Mastracchio (Connecticut) and Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata (Japanese).
Koichi Wakata, born August 1, 1963 in Japan, is the first Japanese commander of the International Space Station. He trained as an astronaut for the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and has flown on four space shuttle missions and one Soyuz mission, spending almost a year total in space.
He traveled to the ISS on Soyuz TMA-11M, November 2013 as part of Expedition 38. He became commander of the ISS (the 3rd non-American, non-Russian commander) when Expedition 39 started in March 2014. He returned to Earth in May 2014.
