science

Soyuz MS-16

Soyuz MS-16 is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Soyuz MS-16 rather than just read about it. In short: Soyuz MS-16 was a Soyuz spaceflight launched on 9 April 2020, which transported three members of the Expedition 62/63 crew to the International Space Station. This flight was the first crewed launch using the Soyuz 2.1a launch vehicle, and the first crewed Russian mission not to launch from Gagarin's Start since Soyuz MS-02 in 2016.

Key takeaways

Soyuz MS-16 belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Soyuz MS-16 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Soyuz MS-16 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Soyuz MS-16 was a Soyuz spaceflight launched on 9 April 2020, which transported three members of the Expedition 62/63 crew to the International Space Station. This flight was the first crewed launch using the Soyuz 2.1a launch vehicle, and the first crewed Russian mission not to launch from Gagarin's Start since Soyuz MS-02 in 2016.

Crew

Backup crew

Crew notes This flight would have marked the first spaceflight for rookie cosmonaut Nikolai Tikhonov, who has been removed from several ISS flights due to delays to the Russian Nauka laboratory module starting with Soyuz MS-04. Tikhonov and Babkin were replaced by their backups, Ivanishin and Vagner, for medical reasons. Tikhonov, the original Soyuz commander, suffered an eye injury, and Russian officials opted to swap both Russian crew members with the back-up crew. Tikhonov and Babkin were expected to fly on Soyuz MS-17, scheduled for October 2020 when Tikhonov's eye injury was set to have had healed, although the two were not assigned to this mission. Tikhonov has since retired from roscosmos, while Babkin remains an active cosmonaut, but he has not yet been assigned to a future spaceflight. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the crew's families and media representatives could not watch the launch in Baikonur, and the usual pre-launch traditions dating back to Yuri Gagarin's flight on Vostok 1 were canceled.

Mission Soyuz MS-16 was launched on 9 April 2020 at 08:05:06 UTC. The Soyuz 2.1a booster's first and core stage engines ignited on time and lifted the rocket away from its firing stand at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, with cosmonaut Anatoli Ivanishin, joined by the rookie Ivan Vagner on the left and astronaut Chris Cassidy on the right. Like Ivanishin, Cassidy is making his third space flight. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted congratulations: "Chris Cassidy, Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner are safely in orbit, no virus is stronger than the human desire to explore. I'm grateful to the entire @NASA and @roscosmos teams for their dedication to making this launch a success". The International Space Station passed directly over the launch site about three minutes before the launch and the booster climbed directly into the plane of its orbit. Six orbits after that, at 14:13:18 UTC, the Soyuz docked at the Poisk docking compartment.

Return The Soyuz capsule undocked from the International Space Station at approximately 23:32:00 UTC and landed in the steppes of Kazakhstan at 02:54:12 UTC.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Soyuz MS-16

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Soyuz MS-16 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Soyuz MS-16 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Soyuz MS-16 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Soyuz MS-16

In research: Soyuz MS-16 appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Soyuz MS-16 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Soyuz MS-16 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2020 in Russia, Crewed Soyuz missions, Human spaceflights to the International Space Station, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Soyuz MS-16 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Soyuz MS-16 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Soyuz MS-16 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Soyuz MS-16 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Soyuz MS-16 in simple terms?

Why does Soyuz MS-16 matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Soyuz MS-16?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Soyuz MS-16.