Soyuz MS-06

Soyuz MS-06 was a Soyuz spaceflight which launched on 13 September 2017.^[1] It transported three members of the Expedition 53 crew to the International Space Station. Soyuz MS-06 was the 135th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. The crew consisted of a Russian commander, and two American flight engineers.^[3] It returned to Earth on 28 February 2018 after 168 days in orbit.^[2]

Soyuz MS-06

Soyuz MS-06 night launch to the ISS
Mission type	ISS crew transport
Operator	Roscosmos
COSPAR ID	2017-054A
SATCAT no.	42937
Mission duration	168 days 5 hours 13 minutes 58 seconds
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Soyuz MS
Spacecraft type	Soyuz-MS 11F747
Manufacturer	Energia
Launch mass	7080 kg
Crew
Crew size	3
Members	Alexander Misurkin Mark T. Vande Hei Joseph M. Acaba
Start of mission
Launch date	12 September 2017, 21:17:02 UTC[1]
Rocket	Soyuz-FG
Launch site	Baikonur, Site 1/5
Contractor	RKTs Progress
End of mission
Landing date	28 February 2018 02:31 UTC[2]
Landing site	Steppes of Kazakhstan
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Inclination	51.66°
Docking with ISS
Docking port	Poisk zenith
Docking date	13 September 2017, 02:55 UTC
Undocking date	27 February 2018, 23:08 UTC
Time docked	167 days 20 hours 13 minutes
(l-r) Acaba, Misurkin and Vande Hei Soyuz programme (crewed) ← Soyuz MS-05 Soyuz MS-07 →

Crew

Position	Crew member
Commander	Alexander Misurkin, Roscosmos Expedition 53/54 Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer 1	Mark T. Vande Hei, NASA Expedition 53/54 First spaceflight
Flight Engineer 2	Joseph M. Acaba, NASA Expedition 53/54 Third spaceflight

Backup crew

Position[4]	Crew member
Commander	Anton Shkaplerov, Roscosmos
Flight Engineer 1	Scott D. Tingle, NASA
Flight Engineer 2	Shannon Walker, NASA

External videos
Soyuz MS-06 and ISS over Moscow on 13 September 2017.

Due to a decision to cut down the number of participating Russian astronauts in 2017, changes were made in crew assignments to the ISS.^[5] Originally set to be on Soyuz MS-04, Alexander Misurkin and Mark T. Vande Hei have been assigned to Soyuz MS-06 instead.^[3]