Soyuz TMA-2 Heat Shield Fragment
Heat Shield Fragment – Flown fragment of the heat shield from Soyuz Mission TMA-2 to the International Space Station (ISS). Launched April 26, 2003, and return landed October 28, 2003. Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and NASA Astronaut Ed Lu were originally been slated to be on the Space Shuttle Atlantis flight scheduled for March 1, 2003. However, in the wake of the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy, the shuttle fleet was grounded and Malenchenko and Lu were reassigned to Soyuz TMA-2 spacecraft to transport them to the ISS as the “Expedition 7” crew of the ISS.
The TMA-2 spacecraft returned to Earth with Spanish Astronaut Pedro Duque on board. Duque was launched with Soyuz TMA-3 and spent only one week on board the ISS.
The TMA-2 spacecraft returned to Earth with Spanish Astronaut Pedro Duque on board. Duque was launched with Soyuz TMA-3 and spent only one week on board the ISS.
Specimen owned is encased in acrylic with pertinent identifying information etched on the display.