science

Soyuz TMA-16M

Soyuz TMA-16M 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 TMA-16M rather than just read about it. In short: Soyuz TMA-16M was a 2015 flight to the International Space Station. It transported three members of the Expedition 43 crew to the station.

Key takeaways

Soyuz TMA-16M 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 TMA-16M to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Soyuz TMA-16M from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Soyuz TMA-16M was a 2015 flight to the International Space Station. It transported three members of the Expedition 43 crew to the station. TMA-16M was the 125th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft, the first having launched in 1967. Scott Kelly and Mikhail Korniyenko performed the first one-year stay at the space station, returning on Soyuz TMA-18M.

Crew

Backup crew

Mission highlights

Launch, rendezvous and docking Soyuz TMA-16M was launched successfully aboard a Soyuz-FG rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 19:42 UTC on Friday, 27 March 2015. The spacecraft reached low Earth orbit approximately nine minutes after lift-off. After executing rendezvous maneuvers, the Soyuz docked with the zenith port of the International Space Station's Poisk module approximately six hours after launch, at 01:33 UTC on 28 March. The docking occurred over Colombia. Soyuz TMA-16M remained docked to the ISS—serving as an emergency escape vehicle–until 12 September 2015, when it departed and returned Padalka, Andreas Mogensen, and Aydyn Aimbetov to Earth. This vehicle was previously scheduled to carry Sarah Brightman as a space tourist, but Brightman's flight was announced to be cancelled in May 2015.

Relocation maneuver Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft was relocated from Poisk module to the orbiting laboratory's Zvezda module service module on 28 August 2015. This cleared the Poisk module for the arrival of Soyuz TMA-18M.

Undocking and return to Earth Soyuz TMA-16M undocked from the ISS at 21:29 UTC on 11 September 2015, containing Gennady Padalka of Roscosmos and visiting crew members Andreas Mogensen of ESA (European Space Agency) and Aidyn Aimbetov of the Kazakh Space Agency. Following a deorbit burn, the Soyuz spacecraft's descent module reentered the Earth's atmosphere. The crew landed safely in Kazakhstan at 00:51 UTC on 12 September 2015, just over three hours after departing the ISS.

Gallery

References

External links Media related to Soyuz TMA-16M at Wikimedia Commons

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Soyuz TMA-16M

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Soyuz TMA-16M 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 TMA-16M 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-16M 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-16M

In research: Soyuz TMA-16M 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 TMA-16M 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-16M is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2015 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 TMA-16M 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-16M in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Soyuz TMA-16M 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-16M out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Soyuz TMA-16M in simple terms?

Soyuz TMA-16M was a 2015 flight to the International Space Station. It transported three members of the Expedition 43 crew to the station.

Why does Soyuz TMA-16M 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 TMA-16M?

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-16M.