The Soyuz TM 33 carrying the crew of the French-Russian Andromde mission (CNES Ð
Rosaviacosmos Ð RKK Energia) was successfully launched Sunday 21 October 2001 at 10:59
(Paris time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. ESA astronaut and French flight
engineer Claudie HaignerŽ, and Russian flight commander Viktor Afanassiev and mission
specialist Konstantin Kozeev are now en route for their rendezvous with the International
Space Station, where they are scheduled to dock on Tuesday 23 October 2001.
The SoyuzÕs solar panels and antennas all deployed as planned on its first orbital revolution.
Orbit corrections will commence on the third orbit. The Soyuz is scheduled to dock with the
International Space Station Tuesday 23 October 2001. The exact docking time may vary according
to orbit correction operations.
Andromde, the eighth French-Russian or French-Soviet mission, is an initiative of FranceÕs research
minister Roger-GŽrard Schwartzenberg. It is being pursued under agreements between CNES, the
Russian space agency Rosaviacosmos and RKK-Energia.
French astronaut Claudie HaignerŽ, assigned to CNES for the Andromde mission by the European
Space Agency (ESA), will be making her second spaceflight, five years after the French-Russian
CassiopŽe mission from 17 August to 2 September 1996.
The eight-day science and technology programme on this mission will cover microgravity research
into Earth observation, ionospheric studies, life sciences, material sciences and technology, with the
Cardioscience, LSO, Imedias, Cogni, Aquarius, GCF, PKE, Spica-S and Mirsupio experiments. An
experiment will also be devoted to ATV Control Centre operations.
For further information, call the CNES Press Relations Office on
+33 (0)1 44 76 76 87.
Keep up with the missionÕs progress at http://www.cnes.fr and
cnes-tv.fr.
