Soyuz TM-32


Soyuz TM-32 was a crewed Russian spacecraft which was launched on April 28, 2001, and docked with the International Space Station two days later. It launched the crew of the visiting mission ISS EP-1, which included the first paying space tourist Dennis Tito, as well as two Russian cosmonauts. The Soyuz TM-32 remained docked to the station until October; during this time it served as the lifeboat for the crew of Expedition 2 and later for the crew of Expedition 3. In October it landed the crew of ISS EP-2, who had been launched by Soyuz TM-33.

Crew

Docking with ISS

TM-32 carried a three-man crew to the International Space Station, ISS. It docked automatically with the ISS at 07:57 UT on April 30, 2001, just a few hours after the space shuttle Endeavour on mission STS-100 undocked. The launched crew stayed for a week and returned in Soyuz TM-31, which had been docked to the station since November 2000 functioning as "lifeboat" for the onboard crew.
As the new lifeboat for Expedition 2 and later Expedition 3, TM-32 stayed docked at the station for six months and finally, on October 31, brought home two cosmonauts and an ESA astronaut who had arrived a week earlier in Soyuz TM-33.