astronomy

Soyuz TMA-14

Soyuz TMA-14 is a astronomy 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 TMA-14 rather than just read about it. In short: The Soyuz TMA-14 (Russian: Союз ТМА-14, Union TMA-14) was a Soyuz flight to the International Space Station, which launched on 26 March 2009. It transported two members of the Expedition 19 crew as well as spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi on his second self-funded flight to the space station.

Key takeaways

Soyuz TMA-14 belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Soyuz TMA-14 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Soyuz TMA-14 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Soyuz TMA-14 (Russian: Союз ТМА-14, Union TMA-14) was a Soyuz flight to the International Space Station, which launched on 26 March 2009. It transported two members of the Expedition 19 crew as well as spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi on his second self-funded flight to the space station. TMA-14 was the 101st crewed flight of a Soyuz spacecraft, including launch failures; however, it was the 100th to launch and land crewed, as Soyuz 34 was launched uncrewed to replace Soyuz 32, which landed empty.

Crew

Backup crew

Mission highlights Soyuz TMA-14 was docked to the space station for the remainder of the Expedition 20 increment to serve as an emergency escape vehicle. The spacecraft swapped its docking ports at the International Space Station from Zvezda SM aft port to Pirs DC nadir port on 2 July 2009. This allowed Progress 34P to dock at the SM aft port on 29 July 2009. Soyuz TMA-14 undocked and landed safely on 11 October 2009. On board for the return flight was the space tourist Guy Laliberté. Laliberté was launched with Expedition 21 on Soyuz TMA-16. He is the first Canadian space tourist.

Logo contest

Roscosmos, in cooperation with other nations' space programs, invited children ages 6 to 15 to design and submit a patch for Soyuz TMA-14 from October 25, 2008 through December 25, 2008. On December 29, 2008, Roscosmos hosted a ceremony to announce the winners. Anna Chibiskova, 12, from Moscow was chosen for first place and her artwork was incorporated into the design of the official Soyuz TMA-14 crew patch. Kaitlin Riley, 12, from New York, U.S., and Stanislav Pyatkin, 11, from Uglegorsk, Russia, were selected as the second and third-place winners respectively by TMA-14 crew mates Gennady Padalka and Michael Barrett. A fourth winner, Roma Kuznetsov, 7, from Kazakhstan, was further selected by Roscosmos director Anatoly Perimov. All four were invited to the launch of Soyuz TMA-14 with expenses paid by the Russian Insurance Center.

Spacecraft location The descent capsule is on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Soyuz TMA-14

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Soyuz TMA-14 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, 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 TMA-14 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 TMA-14 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 TMA-14

In research: Soyuz TMA-14 appears in astronomy 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 TMA-14 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 TMA-14 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Crewed Soyuz missions, Human spaceflights to the International Space Station, Orbital space tourism flights, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Soyuz TMA-14 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 TMA-14 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Soyuz TMA-14 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 TMA-14 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Soyuz TMA-14 in simple terms?

Why does Soyuz TMA-14 matter?

Because it connects several astronomy 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 TMA-14?

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 TMA-14.