ISS Archive with missions by chronological order no earlier than Expedition 6 and until Expedition 31. Since Expedition 31, the format is different, with no summary but the ISS page's original text which is by inverted chronological order)
note! the crew specifications, between Expedition 15 and 24 may be subject to errors, due to the complicated rotation practiced then for the time that system stabilizes itself. The format of the archive, further, changed since the Expedition 20 and generally may be inhomogeneous. Inaccuracies, at last, generally, may exist in the account of missions
Expedition 6, ISS Assembly Flight 11A
- Launched: November, 23rd, 2002 (Cape Canaveral); vehicle: Space Shuttle Endeavour, flight STS-113; docked: November, 25th, 2002 / Undocked: May, 3rd, 2003 2243 GMT; vehicle: Soyuz TMA-1; landing: May, 4th, 2003 (in Kazakhstan), 0207 GMT / Mission Duration: 161 days 01:17
- Crew: Kenneth Bowersox (ISS Commander, USA), Donald Pettit (Flight Engineer, USA) and Nikolai Budarin ((Flight Engineer; Russia)
- Mission: ISS' assembly (first port truss segment, P1 Truss; Crew and Equipment Translation Aid Cart to be used for spacewalks to move along the truss; EVAs: 2)
- Remarks: it was the first time that US astronauts went back Earth aboard a Soyuz; a malfunction occurred aboard the Soyuz leading to a landing 285 miles short of the targeted area
Expedition 7 / Soyuz 6
- Launched: April, 26th 2003 (Baikonur); vehicle: Soyuz TMA-2; docked: April 28th 2003 / Undocked: October, 27th 2003, 5:20 p.m. CST; vehicle: Soyuz TMA-2; landing: October, 27th 2003, 8:36 p.m. CST / Mission Duration: 184 days 21h 47mn
- Crew: Yuri Malenchenko (ISS Commander, Russia), Ed Lu (Flight Engineer, NASA Science Officer, USA)
- Mission: Expedition 7 had maintenance tasks only as the ISS assembly work was interrupted due to the accident, in February 2003, of Shuttle Columbia. Some scientific experiments were performed however; EVAs: -
- Remarks: Ed Lu celebrated its 40th anniversary in space as Yuri Malenchenko married by proxy on August, 10th 2003, without the formal authorization of his superiors. As for the previous crew, return took place aboard a Soyuz but was fully successfull
Expedition 8 / Soyuz 7
- Launched: October, 18th 2003, 12:37 a.m. CDT (Baikonur, Kazakhstan); vehicle: Soyuz TMA-3; Docked: October, 20th, 07:26 GMT / Undocked: April 29th, 2004; landing: April 29th, 2004 (the crew used a Soyuz on its trip back) / Mission Duration: 194 days 18h 35mn
- Crew: Michael Foale (ISS commander and NASA Station Science Officer, USA), Alexander Kaleri (Soyuz commander, ISS Flight Engineer, Russia)
- Mission: Expedition 8 two crewmembers had no specific tasks and were mainly a maintenance crew due to the interruption of the Shuttle program. A spacewalk was performed however for maintenance work about the ISS. This EVA was a premiere, as both astronauts were outside with nobody left in the station
- Remarks: due to Michael Foale and Alexander Kaleri being veterans of long-duration space flights (Foale was scoring more than 178 days in space aboard Mir or the Shuttle), their stay brought them to honourable places in the long-duration flights hierarchy. Kaleri, fro example, raised to the fifth spot of astronauts with the most time in space
Expedition 9
- Launched: April, 19th 2004 (Baikonur, Kazakhstan); vehicle: Soyuz TMA-3; Docked: April, 21st 2004 / Undocked: October 23rd, 5:08 p.m; landing: October 23rd, 2004, 8:36 p.m. EDT in Kazakhstan (the crew used a Soyuz on its trip back) / Mission Duration: na
- Crew: Mike Fincke (ISS Flight Engineer, and NASA Station Science Officer, USA), Gennady Padalka (ISS commander, Russia)
- Mission: six months duration. Stress had been put on the fact that the two crewmembers were to conduct science experiments. EVAs: 2 (Aug 3, and Sept 3 2004. The tasks were repairing ISS' Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs) and the installation of a new equipment for the next European ESA ATV cargo spacecraft. Both spacewalks were performed using Russian Orlan spacesuits)
- Remarks: the first planned EVA (June 30th) was interrupted due to a malfunction in a Russian spacesuit. Fincke became the first U.S. astronaut ever to become father in space as a baby daughter was born to him on June, 18th. It was Fincke's first space journey as Padalka was a space veteran, with 198 days aboard the former Russian space station Mir (1999)
Expedition 10
- Launched: October 13th, 2004, about 11:06 a.m. EDT (Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan); vehicle: Soyuz TMA-5; Docked: October 16th, 12:16 a.m. EDT / Undocked: April 24th, 2005; landing: April 24th, 2005 (the crew used a Soyuz on its trip back) / Mission Duration: 192 Days 19h 02mn
- Crew: NASA Leroy Chiao (Commander and NASA ISS science officer), Russia Salizhan S. Sharipov (ISS Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander). Russian cosmonaut Yuri Shargin was part of the incoming flight and returned with the outgoing one
- Mission: Expedition 10 was a maintenance crew like previous missions. The mission lasted six months. EVAs: 2 (Jan. 26, 2005, March 28, 2005; duration: 5h 28mn and 4h 30mn respectively; the crew was wearing Russian Orlan spacesuits). Science was performed as the crew was in charge to use the Station's robotic arm, Canadarm2 to maintain proficiency. During a 24-minute maneuver, the crew moved (11/29/04) the docked Soyuz from Pirs Docking Compartment to the docking port at the Zarya module to make room for the spacewalks
- Remarks: Expedition 10 docking was marked by a failure of the Soyuz'sautomated Kurs rendezvous system. Soyuz Commander Sharipov had to guide the Soyuz to a manual docking. Commander Leroy Chiao Voted From Orbit for the U.S. presidential election of Nov. 2, 2004
Expedition 11
- Launched: April 14th, 2005, 8:46 p.m. EDT (Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan); vehicle: Soyuz TMA-6; Docked: April 16th, 10:20 p.m. EDT / Undocked: October 10, 2005, 01:49 UT; landing: October 10, 2005 05:09 UT (the crew used a Soyuz on his trip back) / Mission duration: 179 days, 23 minutes
- Crew: NASA John Phillips, Flight Engineer and NASA ISS Science Officer, Russia Sergei Krikalev, Station Commander and Soyuz Commander. ESA (European Space Agency) Roberto Vittori spent just a week aboard, as a visiting researcher, coming to the ISS with the crew and descending back with the outgoing Expedition 10
- Mission: Expedition 11 lasted six months. The crew welcomed the Space Shuttle "Return to Flight Mission", Jul.-Aug. 2005. Apart from testing the Shuttle' new safety procedures and techniques, the mission brought supplies, equipement and replacement parts to the ISS, and working to replace or improve some Station's gyroscopes. The mission received two automatic Progress cargo craft, one on June 18th (Cargo Progress Ship #18), one in September 10th (Cargo Progress Ship #19). 2 (?) spacewalks, one Soyuz moved from the Pirs docking compartment to the Zarya module
- Remarks: both crewmembers were seasoned astronauts. Phillips already sojourned at the ISS in 2001 (Shuttle mission STS-100, with two EVAs) as Krikalev was a member of Expedition 1, the first ISS crew (November 2nd, 2000-March 18th, 2001). With this mission Krikalev became the human with the most cumulative time in space, now reaching more than the old record, by cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev, of 748 days. He scored his new record through 6 space flights
Expedition 12
- Launched: September 30th, 2005, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan; vehicle: Soyuz; docked: October 3rd, 05:27 p.m. EDT / Undocked: Apr. 8th; landing: Apr. 8th, 23:48 GMT. Mission duration: 189 days, 19 hours and 53 minutes
- Crew: William S. McArthur, Jr. (USA, retired Army colonel), Expedition commander, Valery I. Tokarev (Russia, Russian Air Force colonel), flight engineer and Soyuz commander. Greg Olsen, the third private space tourist spent a week aboard the ISS under a contract with Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency, coming with the crew and descending back with Expedition 11
- Mission: the crew focused on ISS assembly preparations, maintenance, and science in microgravity. The crew was scheduled to welcome the Shuttle in March 2006
- Remarks: this flight saw the five-year anniversary of the human presence aboard the ISS, as the Expedition 1 had arrived at the Station on Nov. 2. The stay saw too the ISS featured with three craft anchored, two Progress and one Soyuz, as the Progress which is usually undocked prior the arrival of the following one, was exceptionnally undocked after the arrival of it only
Expedition 13
- Launched: March 29th, 2006, 14:30 GMT, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan; vehicle: Soyuz (ISS Soyuz 12, TMA-8); docked: April 1st, 2006, 4:19 GMT / Undocked: September 29th, 2006, at 9:53 GMT; vehicle: Soyuz; landing: September 29th, 2006, at 13:13 GMT/ Mission Duration: about 6 months
- Crew: Jeffrey Williams (USA; flight engineer and NASA science officer; U.S. Army colonel) Pavel Vinogradov (Russia; Expedition 13 commander). Brazilian astronaut Marcos Pontes, under a contract with Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency, launched with Expedition 13, spent a week aboard and returned Earth with Expedition 12, as the first female space tourist, an Iran-born American, came up with Expedition 14 and returned Earth with Expedition 13
- Mission: Expedition 13 performed station assembly preparations, maintenance and science in microgravity. With the mission, many experiments began to gather information about the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body to help with planning future exploration missions to the moon or Mars. Two Progress Cargo craft reached the ISS during Expedition 13 shift, as the crewmembers performed two spacewalks. The main events at the outpost however were the visit of the Space Shuttle Second Return to Flight Mission in July 2006 as the Space Shuttle STS-115 mission arrived there in September. The STS-115 mission resumed the construction of the Station, adding a truss, with its solar arrays
- Remarks: ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter came along with the Space Shuttle Second Return to Flight Mission, joining the crew. He staid up there with Expedition 14. Since his arrival, he became the first ever non-American and non-Russian long duration crewmember, as, at the same time, he brought the ISS crew to more than two for the first time since May 2003
Expedition 14
- Launched: September 18th, 2006, 16:09 GMT, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan; vehicle: Soyuz (ISS Soyuz 13, TMA-9); docked: September 20th, 2006, 5:24 GMT / Undocked: na; vehicle: Soyuz; landing: April 21st, 2006, at 13:31 GMT/ Mission Duration: 215 days, 8 hours and 23 minutes
- Crew: Michael Lopez-Alegria (Expedition 14 commander, NASA station science officer), Mikhail Tyurin (Russia; flight engineer and Soyuz commander), Thomas Reiter (ESA; he already was at the outpost since July 2006 when he had come with the Space Shuttle Second Return to Flight Mission; he will return Earth via the Space Shuttle of mission STS-116 in December 2006), then Sunita Williams (USA; flight engineer; she came up with the STS-116 Space Shuttle mission in December 2006)
- Mission: the Expedition 14 shift had the Space Shuttle STS-116 mission spent ten days (Dec. 9-19, 2006) at the ISS, bringing the P5 truss segment and re-arranging the solar arrays, and power. The crewmembers of Expedition 14 performed several spacewalks independently.
The crewmembers moved, as part of usual procedures, Soyuz from a port to another as the second move was meant to prepare for the arrival of Expedition 15. The arrival of a Progress cargo had some trouble with an antenna, which was checked during a spacewalk
- Remarks: na
Expedition 15
- Launched: the scheme for the ferrying, to and back, the ISS had been modified for this new crew and complicated of sort as three Americans were tosuccede each other aboard -all of them ferrying through Space Shuttle missions (arrivals scheduled in Dec. 2006, June 2007, na, respectively), as two Russians had ferried through a Soyuz in March 2007 and staid at the ISS during 6 months; docked: na / Undocked: Oct. 21, 2007; vehicle: Soyuz; landing: October 21st, 2007 / Mission Duration: 6 months, as far as the two Russian crewmembers are concerned
- Crew: all the 3 American astronauts who were to be successively part of Expedition 15, were to serve like flight engineers (Williams; Clayton Anderson; Daniel Tani) as Russian Fyodor Yurchikhin served like Expedition 15 commander and Russian Dr. Oleg Kotov like a flight engineer and the Soyuz commander
- Mission: the Expedition 15 received the visit of two Space Shuttle flights, the STS-117 mission (beginning Jun. 10th, 2007 and installing the S3/S4 truss and reorganizing the solar arrays) and the STS-118 mission (Aug. 10-21, 2007, installing the S5 truss and a new, external stowage platform-3 (ESP-3) The STS-118 mission, on the other hand, successfully tested the 'Station-to-Shuttle Power Transfer System' (SSPTS) procedure -a procedure which transfers power from the ISS to the Space Shuttle allowing for longer stays). A space tourist, Charles Simonyi, had flewn to the ISS during the shift of Expedition 15, as he came back Earth with Expedition 14 crewmembers
- Remarks: na
Expedition 16
- Launched: the rotation process at the ISS keeps being modified, with complicated rotations / Mission Duration: the mission was to last, as far as the two astronauts jumped aboard in October 2007 are concerned, until in spring 2008, with a total duration of about 6 months; Docked: na / Undocked: major undocking in mid-April 2008 with Commander Peggy Whitson and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko returning Earth ; vehicle: Soyuz; landing: April 19th, 2008 in the steppes of Kazakhstan
- Crew: Crew: NASA astronaut Peggy A. Whitson, commander; cosmonaut and Russian Air Force Col. Yuri I. Malenchenko, ESA astronaut and French Air Force Brig. Gen. Leopold Eyharts, NASA astronaut Garrett E. Reisman, flight engineers. Daniel Tani
- Mission: the Expedition 16 received the visit of two Space Shuttle flights, the STS-120 (Oct. 25th-Nov. 5th, 2008), the STS-122 (Feb. 7th-18th, 2008), and the STS-123 missions (March 13th-24th, 2008), both continuing the construction of the ISS. The STS-120 mission brought the U.S. Harmony module and relocated the P6 truss, with a solar array to its permanent location, as the STS-122 attached to the previously installed Harmony module, the ESA Columbus module, and the STS-123 installing the pressurized section of the Kibo Japanese Experiment Logistics Module and the new Canadian Dextre robotics system. The ISS, during Expedition 16 shift, saw too the first flight of the European Space Agency (ESA) Jules Verne automated resupply spaceship, which launched Mar. 8th, 2008 for 4 weeks of intensive training about the ISS. The Expedition 16 crewmembers, at last, performed various re-location at the ISS with the PMA-2 docking adapter to the newly installed Harmony module, and the module itself relocated from the Unity Node to the forward end of the Destiny laboratory
- Remarks: a Malaysian astronaut, who was flying under contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency, went to the ISS in October 11th, 2007, when commander Peggy whitson and flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko arrived to the Station, and descended back with the returning Expedition 15
Expedition 17
- Launched: the rotation process at the ISS kept being modified, with complicated rotations / Mission Duration: the mission lasted until October 2008, with a duration of about 6 months; Docked: na / Undocked: major undocking on October 24th, 2008 aboard the Soyuz TMA-12, bringing Volkov and Kononenko back Earth ; vehicle: Soyuz TMA-12; landing: October 24th, 2008 in the steppes of Kazakhstan /
- Crew: Russian Air Force Lt. Col. Sergei Volkov, commander; cosmonaut Oleg D. Kononenko and NASA astronaut Sandra H. Magnus, flight engineers. Russia's Gregory Chamitoff, mission specialist (he traded places with flight engineer Garrett Reisman). The Expedition 17 should too join NASA's Garrett Reisman who was aboard the ISS since March 12, 2008
- Mission: the Expedition 17 received the visit of the Space Shuttle STS-124 mission (June 2nd-11th, 2008), with the construction of the ISS (installation of the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module - Pressurized Module (JEM-PM) and the Japanese Remote Manipulator System (JEM-RMS)). Expedition 17 crewmembers performed two spacewalks in July 2008, one of them unscheduled and aiming to remove an explosive bolt at the Soyuz docked at the ISS)
- Remarks: one space tourist went up to the Station during a shift, as did a South Korean contractant too
Expedition 18
- Launched: same remarks for the rotations than for the previous missions (Sharipov is to get to the ISS along with Fincke in October 2008 aboard a Soyuz ship as they will be back Earth in the spring of 2009. Wakata will fly to the orbital station with the Space Shuttle STS-126 mission (as Magnus will go back with that flight). Chamitoff is to arrive to the ISS aboard the Space Shuttle STS-127 mission (in winter 2008?). Wakata is to leave with that flight as Chamitoff is to be back Earth with a further mission of the Space Shuttle, or aboard a Soyuz flight; Docked: na / Undocked: major undocking on April 8th aboard a Soyuz, bringing Fincke and Lonchakov back Earth ; vehicle: Soyuz; landing: April 2009 in the steppes of Kazakhstan /
- Crew: NASA astronaut Air Force Lt. Col. E. Michael Fincke, commander; cosmonaut Russian Air Force Col. Salizhan S. Sharipov, JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata, flight engineer (will be returned Earth by the Space Shuttle STS-127 mission and replaced by Army Col. Timothy L. Kopra like a flight engineer and science officer)
- Mission: the construction of the ISS kept on under that shift with the visit of the Space Shuttle STS-126 (Nov. 14-30, 2008) and STS-119 (Mar. 15-27, 2009) missions which brought to 6 the capacity of the orbital outpost and the last set of solar arrays, giving the ISS its main definitive shape, respectively. The ISS Expedition 18 crew, by themselves, performed two spacewalks (in December 2008 and March 2009). The crew received two Progress cargo-craft, of them one being the first upgraded such craft, in November 2008
- Remarks: strong shakes affected the ISS during a routine raising maneuver in February 2009, due to erroneous orders given by the Russian flight controlers as the most important space debris scare alert to date, occurred too, in March 2009, forcing the crew into the emergency Soyuz craft, as two other alerts were triggered before and during the STS-119 mission!
Expedition 19
- Launched: same remarks for the rotations than for the previous missions (the crews arrived and departed according to varied shifts and craft (see, below, at Crew). Docked: na / Undocked: major undocking on April 8th, 2009; vehicle: Soyuz; landing: in the steppes of Kazakhstan
- Crew: Russian Air Force Col. Gennady Padalka, commander; NASA astronaut Michael R. Barratt (with Padalka, he will have arrived aboard a Soyuz in March 2009), NASA astronaut Nicole P. Stott (she will have arrived aboard via the Space Shuttle mission STS-128 and have begun her shift in replacement of Timothy Kopra like a flight engineer for Expedition 18). Arriving aboard a Soyuz in May 2009, Air Force Lt. Col. Yuri Lonchakov, ESA astronaut Frank De Winne of Belgium, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert B. Thirsk (all three flight engineers and Thirsk returning aboard the STS-129 Space Shuttle mission) will join (Lonchakow, De Winne, and Stott will return together aboard a Soyuz). This will expand the number of crewmembers at the ISS to six for the first time
- Mission: the construction of the ISS kept on under that shift with the visit of Space Shuttle missions as the ISS eventually reached most of its definitive shape and was upgraded to be able to accomodate a crew of six. The crew welcomed a Progress cargo shift on May 12th, 2009, which launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on May, 7th
- Remarks: a space tourist joined the crew during one rotation
Expedition 20
- Rotations, Crew: the crewmembers kept arriving and departing according to some complicated shift, as the mission lasted from May 2009 to October 2009. The crew was composed of Russian Air Force Col. Gennady Padalka, commander; NASA astronaut Michael R. Barratt, NASA astronaut Nicole P. Stott. Air Force Lt. Col. Yuri Lonchakov, ESA astronaut Frank De Winne of Belgium, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert B. Thirsk (all three flight engineers)
- Mission: the Expedition 20 was the first mission to be manned with a six-person crew, since May 29th, 2009. With any visit from the Space Shuttle, the crew of the ISS could be temporarily heightened to 13 (that first in the history of the human presence in Earth's orbit occurred in July 2009, with the sojourn of the Space Shuttle STS-127 mission!) The ISS slowly is transitionning from the time of its building to the time of it like an international science facility. The ISS crew now is able, further, to consume water recycled from their own waste.
A new, Japanese cargo craft, the H-2 Transfer Vehicle 1 (HTV-1), successfully performed it first flight to the ISS between September 17th and October 31st, 2009, as the Expedition 21 received two Space Shuttle missions, the STS-127, from July 18th to July 28th, 2009, bringing a new element to the Japanese Kibo element. The STS-128, between August 28th and September 8th, 2009, bringing supplies to the ISS, and installing a fresh tank of ammonia coolant, new antennas and cabling for Tranquility, a next living quarter to come by the station by the beginning of 2010. Two spacewalks occurred in June allowing for the installation of a set of antennas in preparation of a new, Russian module and docking port to come in November and to change a cover on a port of the Zvezda module for that same new port (that second spacewalk was shorter). The cargo Progress 33 was to used to test, on July 12th 2009, new automated rendezvous equipment mounted on the Zvezda service module
- Remarks: a space tourist ferried to and back aboard a Soyuz bringing a new crewmember by the end of September and the beginning of October
Expedition 21
- Rotations, Crew: Russian Roman Romanenko, ESA Frank De Winne (the first ESA commander of the ISS), CSA Robert Thirsk were present at the Station since May 2009 through the Soyuz TMA-15 and landed by December 1st, 2009, as through the Soyuz TMA-16, NASA Jeff Williams, Russian Maxim Suraev, Guy Laliberté arrived in October 2009 with a landing scheduled next March 18, 2010
- Mission: the Expedition 21 mostly received the Russian Mini-Research Module 2 (MRM2), or 'Poisk' (which means 'to explore' in Russian), on Nov. 12, 2009. Poisk is a new module for the Russian segment which launched two days before and will serve both like more research space, an extra, fourth Russian docking spot, and an airlock for Russian spacewalks. The ISS now has five docking port, one for the Space Shuttle and Japanese cargo craft, and four for the Soyuz, and unmanned cargo ships. The Poisk module will have now to be fit to a full use as another such docking port, the 'Mini-Research Module 1' will launch by may 2010. The Russian Pirs compartment, on the other hand, is scheduled to be discarded by 2011 and replace by the much larger 'Multipurpose Laboratory Module' or MLM
- Remarks: -
Expedition 22
- Rotations, Crew: Commander NASA Jeffrey N. Williams, Flight Engineer Russia Maxim Suraev, Flight Engineer Russia Oleg Kotov, Flight Engineer JAXA Soichi Noguchi, Flight Engineer NASA Timothy J. (T.J.) Creamer. Expedition 22 began with the Soyuz TMA-15 undocking on Nov. 30, 2009. Expedition 22 ended with the Soyuz TMA-16 undocking on March 18, 2010. Three
new crew members arrived at the station on the Soyuz TMA-17 on Dec. 22, 2009.
Soyuz TMA-16
(Crew: Jeff Williams, Maxim Suraev
Launch: Sept. 30, 2009
Docking: Oct. 2, 2009
Landing: March 18, 2010);
(Soyuz TMA-17
Crew: Oleg Kotov, Soichi Noguchi, T.J. Creamer
Launch: Dec. 20, 2009
Docking: Dec. 22, 2009
Landing: June 1, 2010)
- Mission: in January 2010, a spacewalk was performed at the effect of preparing the Mini-Research Module 2 (MRM2), known as Poisk, for future Russian vehicle dockings, and, on Jan. 21, two astronauts relocated their Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft from the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module to the new docking port. The Expedition 22 welcomed the Space Shuttle STS-130 mission which had launched on Feb. 8, 2010. The mission installed at the ISS the Node-3, or Tranquility module along with the Cupola they attached to it, a 7-windowed space which will allow for the recreation of the ISS crews or to monitor spacewalks and dockings
- Remarks: -
Expedition 23
- Rotations, Crew: Commander Russia Oleg Kotov, Flight Engineer JAXA Soichi Noguchi, Flight Engineer Russia Oleg Kotov, Flight Engineer NASA Timothy J. (T.J.) Creamer, Flight Engineer Russia Alexander Skvortsov, Flight Engineer NASA Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko. Expedition 23 began with the Soyuz TMA-16 undocking on March 18, 2010. Three
new crew members arrived shortly thereafter on Soyuz TMA-18. Expedition 23 ended with the Soyuz TMA-17 undocking in May 2010. Soyuz TMA-17
Crew: Oleg Kotov, Soichi Noguchi, T.J. Creamer
Launch:
› Dec. 20, 2009,
Docking:
› Dec. 22, 2009,
Landing:
› June 1, 2010,
Soyuz TMA-18
Crew: Alexander Skvortsov, Mikhail Kornienko, Tracy Caldwell Dyson
Launch:
› April 2, 2010,
Docking:
April 4, 2010,
Landing:
Sept. 2010
- Mission: (as we have no record of any other events specific to the ISS activity,) the crew welcomed the STS-131 Space Shuttle missions, April 5th-April 20th, 2010. With the launch of the mission 4 women were in flight space, a first in the history of space. The first women in space was the Soviet Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 as the first American woman-astronaut just get into orbit by 1983 only. Until now a total of 52 women flew in space. Another first of the mission is that two Japanese are in space for the first time ever. A Leonardo cargo module was transfered to the ISS and three spacewalks installed a replacement ammonia tank which is now considered a backup one for the orbital outpost. The old tank has been secured into the space shuttle's payload bay for return to Earth to be filled back with ammonia and flewn again to the ISS as NASA is trying to stockpile as many large spare parts than possible due to the impossibility then to have its own crew or cargo vehicles and as European, Russian or Japanese cargo ships have a lower payload capacity
- Remarks: -
Expedition 24
- Rotations, Crew: Commander Russia Alexander Skvortsov, Flight Engineer NASA Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Flight Engineer Russia Mikhail Kornienko, Flight Engineer NASA Shannon Walker, Flight Engineer US Army Colonel Douglas H. Wheelock, Flight Engineer Russia Fyodor Yurchikhin. Expedition 24 began with the Soyuz TMA-17 undocking in June 1, 2010. Three new
crew members arrived shortly thereafter on Soyuz TMA-19.
Soyuz TMA-18
Crew: Alexander Skvortsov, Mikhail Kornienko, Tracy Caldwell Dyson
Launch:
› April 2, 2010,
Docking:
April 4, 2010,
Landing:
Sept. 25, 2010,
Soyuz TMA-19
Crew: Fyodor Yurchikhin, Shannon Walker, Doug Wheelock
Launch:
› June 15, 2010,
Docking:
› June 17, 2010,
Landing:
Nov. 25, 2010,
- Mission: The astronauts have endured a dynamic sojourn! They welcomed the new Russian research
module MRM-1 Rassvet on the Earth-facing berth on the Russian Zarya control module as thereafter they had then had the visit of Space Shuttle STS-132 mission, May 14th-May 26th, 2010, installing a backup antenna, Russian Mini Research Module-1 (MRM-1) to the Russian Zarya module as replacing too 6 batteries. By the end of that flight, the ISS now is about complete in terms of living and working space, and huge to explore. The arrival of a Progress cargo craft in June 2010 was marred by the activation of a
transmitter for the manual rendezvous system, which overrode the automated
system and sent the Progress rotating uncontrollably as it neared the space
station, missing it by 1.9 miles (3 km), it was moved to about 180 miles away. The ISS then endured the loss of one of two cooling loops, beginning late July due to a shortcut forcing to shut some science or to backup others, being one of 14 major ISS failures for which NASA engineers have deviced emergency plans in advance. The fixing operations constituted one of the most difficult tasks of the last 12 years of existence of the ISS. The ammonia coolant is cooling the ISS electronics and prevent the ISS, generally, of overheating. The Expedition 24 took 3 spacewalks to be able to replace the failing pump by August. Another cargo ship arrived by September 2010, the Progress 39. The end of the mission endured issues too with a Poisk-side hatch sensor problem preventing hooks of the docking interface from opening as the cause of the malfunction has not been clearly established. The ISS' Poisk docking port is on the top of the orbiting
laboratory's Russian segment, allowing for visiting Russian spaceships
- Remarks: -
Expedition 25
- Rotations, Crew: Commander US Army Colonel Douglas H. Wheelock, Flight Engineer Russia Fyodor Yurchikhin, Flight Engineer NASA Shannon Walker, Flight Engineer Russia Alexander Kaleri, Flight Engineer US Navy Captain Scott J. Kelly, Flight Engineer Russia Oleg Skripochka.
Expedition 25 began with the Soyuz TMA-18 undocking in September 2010. Three
new crew members arrived October 2010 on Soyuz TMA-01M.
Soyuz TMA-19
Crew: Fyodor Yurchikhin, Shannon Walker, Doug Wheelock
Launch:
› June 15, 2010,
Docking:
› June 17, 2010,
Landing:
Nov. 25, 2010,
Soyuz TMA-01M
Crew: Alexander Kaleri, Scott Kelly, Oleg Skripochka
Launch:
› Oct. 7, 2010,
Docking:
› Oct. 9, 2010,
Landing: March 2011
- Mission: crewmembers completed a successful six-hour, 27-minute spacewalk on November 15th, 2010, installing a S-band ISS-Earth spare antenna structure on the Z1 segment of the ISS situated on the main truss of it. as Dextre, the Canadian Space
Agency’s robotic handyman aboard the ISS
undertook a series of tasks during December 2010 that will officially certify the robot for duty after a series of tests which began since it had been launched in 2008. Dextre’s first official task will be when
it will unload the External Pallet from Japan’s HTV-2 spacecraft in early February 2011
- Remarks: -
Expedition 26
- Rotations, Crew: Commander US Navy Captain Scott J. Kelly, Flight Engineer Russia Alexander Kaleri, Flight Engineer Russia Oleg Skripochka, Flight Engineer US Air Force Colonel Catherine Coleman, Flight Engineer Russia Dmitri Kondratyev, Flight Engineer ESA Paolo Nespoli. Expedition 26 began with the Soyuz TMA-19 undocking in December 2010. Three
new crew members will arrive shortly thereafter on Soyuz TMA-21
- Mission: two spacewalks were performed during that shift, with a one installing a new high-speed data transmission system. A spate of cargo ships reached to the ISS too with Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) on January 20th, 2011, launched aboard an H-IIB
rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan and bringing cargo, 41st Progress cargo-shift successfully on January 30th, 2011 after a launch on January 28th from the Baikonur cosmodrome, and ESA's ATV-2, second European ESA cargo craft by February 24th as it had launced atop a Ariane 5 rocket Wednesday, Feb. 16 from the Arianespace launch site in Kourou, French Guiana. The HTV successfully plunged and burnt into Earth's atmosphere by late March. A small and autonomous device called the Re-entry
Breakup Recorder, or REBR for short – recorded temperature, acceleration,
rotational rate and other data during the spacecraft's high dive into Earth’s
atmosphere and still transmitting while
floating in the ocean. The REBR is basically a satellite phone with a heat shield
to collect data during atmospheric reentries
of space hardware in order to help understand breakup and increase the safety of such reentries. A second test will be REBR’s
reentry aboard the European Autonomous Transfer Vehicle 2, called Johannes
Kepler, in early June. The ISS also received the visit of the STS-133 Space Shuttle mission, in February-March 2011 adding two extensions to the station’s mobile transporter track allowing the transporter to travel the entire track length and reach all of the worksites and they also attached a failed ammonia pump module to External Stowage Platform 2 which will remain there until it can be brought back to Earth. The Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) or former Leonardo module transformed into a permanent one was anchored on the underside of the International Space Station's Unity node, providing 2,472 cubic feet of additional pressurized volume. Hardware not required for long-duration use was removed to reduce weight and allow more storage area; the module’s interior was modified to make panels easier to open and close; and the outside of the module was armored with a micrometeroid mattress, which lies underneath the metallic shield. US President Barack Obama made a long-distance call on Mar. 4 to the members of the Discovery and ISS crews. Also installed were lens covers on ISS cameras to protect lenses from erosion that might be caused by visiting spacecraft thrusters. The R2 dexterous robot became a permanent crewmember at the ISS, as when unpacked, it will be operated inside the Destiny laboratory for testing, but over time both its territory and its applications could expand. R2’s current primary job is to demonstrate how dexterous robots behave in space. With upgrades, it could one day help spacewalkers make repairs or perform scientific work. R2, a collaboration between NASA and General Motors, is composed primarily of aluminum with steel and nonmetallics. It weighs 330 pounds and is 3 feet, 4 inches from waist to head
- Remarks: Expedition 26 crew and capsule landed safely in Kazakhstan on March 16, 2011 with expedition commander Scott Kelly and Russian flight engineers Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka, wrapping up a five-month stay aboard the ISS
Expedition 27
- Rotations, Crew: Dmitry Kondratyev, station commander
Catherine Coleman
Paolo Nespoli Soyuz 26
Alexander Samokutyaev
Andrey Borisenko
Ron Garan Soyuz 25
Expedition 27 began with with Soyuz 24 undocking and with a Soyuz docking on April 6th, 2011, joining three crewmembers already onboard since December 2010. 3 last members of Expedition 27 undocked then land on May 23rd, 2011 (it was the first time a Soyuz undocked from the Space Station as a space shuttle was docked there)
- Mission: the Progress cargo-craft Progress 42 reached to the ISS on April 29th, 2011 as he docked to the Pirs docking compartment. During Expedition 27 shift, the Space Shuttle STS-134 mission reached to the ISS on May 18th 2011 for a stay there, the penultimate mission of the Space Shuttle program with orbiter Endeavour. Docking allowed to test the advanced system called STORMM (Sensor Test for Orion Rel-nav Risk Mitigation) which gathered data during docking for a future automated docking system. Mission brought the Express Logistics Carrier-3 (ELC-3) and attached to the left side of the station’s truss structure, holding spare hardware for future station use. Installed too was the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS), a science tool to study antimatter, on the outside of the ISS' starboard side. 4 spacewalks allowed to miscellaneous tasks as a power and a grapple fixture was intalled to Zarya module, allowing the ISS robotic arm to 'walk' to the Russian segment, extending its reach by using that grapple fixture as a base. Endeavour Orbiter Boom Sensor System was stowed at the ISS like a permanent part of the station. For the first time in the history of the ISS, a Soyuz undocking occurred while a space shuttle was docked with thre Expedition 27 crew members leaving the ISS in their Soyuz TMA-20. When the Endeavour orbiter left the ISS on Monday, May 30th, 2011 some flight still used for further tests of the new STORRM system. In a unprecedented event, a pope called space as Pope Pope Benedict XVI called two Italian astronauts aboard the ISS and their 10 colleagues during a 20-minute call, on Saturday, May 21st, 2011, from the Vatican Library in Rome as he dialogued with the astronauts present at the station. The occasion of that event, as organized by ESA, was to the presence aboard of two Italian, ESA astronauts
- Remarks: na
Expedition 28
- Rotations, Crew: Expedition 28 was complete with the arrival of Flight
Engineers Mike Fossum, Sergei Volkov and Satoshi Furukawa on June 9th, 2011 aboard the Soyuz TMA-02M which docked at the station's Rassvet module joining to 3 members of Expedition 28 already on board. Fossum, Furukawa and Volkov, three members of Expedition 29 left the ISS and landed their Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft through which they had reached the Station in June 2011, in the steppes of Kazakhstan on Nov. 21
- Mission: The ESA ATV-2 reentered the Earth's atmosphere on June 21st, 2011, beaming a steady record of its fiery descent throught its Re-entry Breakup Recorder which jettisoned into the Pacific Ocean before the demise as the craft had undocked from the ISS the day before. Cargo-ship Progress 43 docked at the ISS on Jun. 23, 2011 automatically via the Kurs automated rendezvous system. The ISS crew welcomed the STS-135 Space Shuttle mission -and last of the Space Shuttle program- from July 8th to July 21st 2011. That last mission ever of a U.S. space shuttle to the ISS brought 9,403 pounds of spare parts, spare equipment, and other supplies as one spacewalk was performed. From then on, the ISS is to be supplied or have its crews ferried by non-US space vehicles only, Russian, European and Japanese cargo craft and Soyuz respectively. Two Expedition 28 astronauts performed a spacewalk Aug. 3, 2011 as it lasted 6 hours and 23 minutes, installing a experimental high-speed laser communications system, retrieving a rendezvous antenna that no longer is needed, and varied tasks. Robonaut R2A, the robotic crewmember of the ISS was turned on on Aug. 23, 2011 as it had been delivered last February. The test involved
sending power to all of Robonaut's systems as further commands will be sent a week later. The main computers which lie inside Robonaut's stomach woke up, as did
the more than 30 processors for controlling the arms' joints. R2A should be added with a pair of legs to be launched in 2013. The 44th Progress cargo-ship to the ISS failed to reached its planned orbit on Aug. 24, 2011 as it had launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan. According to the Russian space agency Roscosmos, the launcher's third stage failed a
few minutes into the launch as contact was lost with the vehicle with no control recovery after two subsequent orbits. Any new Russian cargo launch is now stopped until the Russians proved their Soyuz rockets to check what went wrong. The problem was due to a third stage engine
failure.
The 45th Progress cargo-ship successfully reached the ISS on Nov. 2, 2011 through the Pirs docking compartment. The Soyuz rocket launcher eventually has been cleared by Russians for new launches, of manned capsules included
- Remarks: na
Expedition 29
(it might that we did not keep a sufficient record for Expedition 29, with the following data only available
The Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Dan
Burbank and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin, all flight engineers, docked to
the International Space Station’s Poisk mini-research module on November 16th, 2011 heralding the transition between Expedition 29 and Expedition 30 as Fossum, Furukawa and Volkov, three members of Expedition 29 left the ISS and landed their Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft through which they had reached the Station in June 2011, in the steppes of Kazakhstan on Nov. 21
Expedition 30
- Rotations, Crew: Expedition 30 was complete with the arrival of NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit, Russian Soyuz Commander Oleg Kononenko and
ESA Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers of the Netherlands docked to the space station on Friday, December 24th, 2011 through the Rasvet module, joining to 3 members of Expedition 28 already on board, ASA astronaut Dan
Burbank and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin, all flight engineers. Burbank is the new Expedition commander
- Mission: a Progress 46 cargo-craf successfully docked to the station’s Pirs Docking Compartment on Jan. 27, 2012. A six-hour, 15-minute spacewalk by February 2012 used the Strela-2 robotic arm to move the Strela-1 crane from the Pirs docking compartment
to begin preparing the Pirs for its replacement next year with a new laboratory
and docking module. By March 2012, the Canadian Dextre robotic arm performed important milestones in satellite-servicing technology as it demonstrated parts of the tasks of the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM), a system aiming to refuel, service and orbit change of satellites in orbit. The RRM had been launched to the ISS by July 2011. The Expedition 30 crew then has welcome the 'Edoardo Amaldi' ESA Automated Transfer Vehicle-3 (ATV-3) by that same month of March, on March 28th, which docked automatically to the aft port of
the Zvezda service module as the crew monitored the approach and
docking along with ATV flight controllers at the Automated Transfer Vehicle Control Center in Toulouse, France. The ATV-3 had launched 5 and a half days ago from the European space port in Kourou, French Guiana atop a Ariane 5 launcher. Cupola’s shutters were closed to
protect the windows from possible exhaust plumes from the ATV-3. The ATV-3 is expected to remain at the outpost through early September, when it will undock and be commanded to deorbit and burn up upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. The spacecraft was named in honor of the 20th-century
Italian physicist who is regarded as one of the fathers of European spaceflight. Six Expedition 30 astronauts had then to seek shelter in two escape Soyuz capsules when a space debris -a discarded chunk of a Russian rocket- missed the ISS. NASA says the space junk was barely close enough to be a threat. Had it hit, however, the station could have been dangerous. The debris had not been noticed until when it was too late to move the space station out of the way. This is the third time in 12 years that ISS astronauts have had to seek shelter from space junk. The ISS Progress 47 cargo craft reached the ISS by April 2012 as the ISS Progress 46 was to undock and Russian flight controllers to command the resupply ship to leave the station for several days of tests, then send it to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. Expedition 30 ended when the Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft
carrying Expedition 30 Commander Dan Burbank and Flight Engineers Anton
Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin left the ISS, ending Expedition 30
- Remarks: na
Expeditions Since Expedition 31 (by inverted chronological order)
2014
.Robonaut 2 was fitted with a set of legs by late August
.Two Expedition 40 Russian crew wrapped up a
5-hour, 11-minute spacewalk on Aug. 18, 2014 deploying a
small science satellite, and performing other tasks. U.S. spacewalks planned for Aug. 21 and 29 were delayed until the new Long Life
Batteries to be delivered aboard the SpaceX-4 cargo ship by fall
.Orbital Sciences Cygnus commercial cargo craft completed a month-long delivery
mission as it undocked from the ISS on August 15, 2014
.ESA’s fifth and final
ATV, Georges Lemaître, docked with the ISS on August 12th, 2014 for a six-month resupply and reboost mission. The European cargo ship docked after a period of tests for future ESA's ships
.Russia’s Progress 55 cargo craft finished its mission in space on July 31st, 2014 after 10
days in orbit of engineering tests
.The European Space Agency’s (ESA) fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle
(ATV-5) after a launch atop an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana on Jul. 29, 2014, is to journey during two weeks to reached the ISS on next Aug. 12. The ATV-5 will pass 3.9 miles beneath the ISS on Aug. 8 to test new rendezvous sensors. That ATV was named from Belgian physicist and astronomer, abbot Georges Lemaitre, who applied Albert Einstein’s
theory of general relativity to cosmology
.The ISS Progress 56 resupply spacecraft successfully automatically docked to the International Space Station’s Pirs docking
compartment on Jul. 23,2014 less than six hours after its launch
from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and a expedited, 4-orbit trek to the station
.The Expedition 40 crew welcomed Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus cargo spacecraft on Jul. 16, 2014 as the remotely operated from Houston, Texas, Canadarm 2 robotic arm guided the
cargo craft to its berthing port on the Earth-facing side of the Harmony module. The cargo ship had launched atop a Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket July 13, 2014, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia
.A seven hour and 23
minute spacewalk was performed on Jun. 19, 2014 installing a radar antenna and
telemetry system for a technology demonstration
.A unpiloted Russian Progress cargo spacecraft undocked from the ISS on Jun. 9, 2014
.NASA successfully beamed a high-definition video from the
International Space Station to Earth on Jun. 5, 2014 through laser energy, a demonstration to improve the speed of space transmissions
.A six-and-a-half hour spacewalk at a underminated date, by two
Russian International Space Station crew members installed new communications equipment on the Zvezda
service module
.New Expedition 40 crew members were welcomed aboard the ISS on May 28th, 2014 may after a launch from Baikonur less than 6 hours before
.SpaceX Dragon spacecraft departed from the ISS on May 18th, 2014 as unberthed before release, through commands sent by robotic ground controllers at
mission control in Houston operating the Canadarm 2 robotic arm. Three thruster firings were to be performed to move the craft away and then, at a safe distance, a deorbit burn for a splash down a hour later in the the Pacific Ocean 300 miles West of Baja California, returning cargo. A boat was to carry the Dragon spacecraft to a port near Los Angeles, where it
will be prepared for a return journey to SpaceX's test facility in McGregor,
Texas, for processing
.Three members of Expedition 39 returned Earth on May 13th, 2014, landed on the steppe of Kazakhstan. That marked the end
of Expedition 39 and the start of Expedition 40 under the command of NASA
astronaut Steve Swanson. Two
weeks will occur until the arrival of three new crew members
.The ISS Progress 53 resupply ship redocked on Apr. 25, 2014 to the International Space Station’s
Zvezda service module after a 48-hour venture away from
the complex to enable Russian flight controllers to test its upgraded Kurs
automated rendezvous system
.Spacewalking astronauts easily replaced a dead computer on Apr. 23, 2014 outside the International Space Station and got their orbiting home
back up to full strength
.After questions about whether the launch should occur during the failure of one of the ISS' backup computer, and that a helium leak occurred on the Falcon 9 rocket, the third SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule eventually launched to the ISS on April 18, 2014 as the flight is bringing varied cargo to the ISS, among which high-tech legs for Robonaut 2 (R2) which will ease the motion and work of the robot at the station. The craft arrived at the Station on Apr. 20 and was grappled the Canadarm2 robotic arm
.A backup computer on the exterior of the ISS called a Multiplexer-Demultiplexer (MDM), located on one exterior truss, stopped responding to
commands since Apr. 11, 2014
.The ISS Progress 55 cargo craft was to launch from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 9th, 2014 on a expedited
six-hour journey to the orbital outpost after just four orbits
.The ISS Progress 54P cargo ship, which had arrived at the ISS in
February, undocked on April 7th, 2014 as it will orbit Earth during 11 days for engineering tests before deorbiting
.ISS flight controllers conducted a Pre-Determined Debris
Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM) by early April 2014 to raise the altitude of the International
Space Station by a half-mile and provide an extra margin of clearance from the
orbital path of a spent payload deployment mechanism from an old European Ariane
5 rocket
.SpaceX 2nd Dragon commercial cargo craft arrived at the ISS on March 3rd, 2014 for its capture by the station’s
robotic arm, Canadarm2
.Three additional crewmembers of Expedition 39 flew to the ISS aboard a Soyuz craft and as launched on March 25, 2014 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, as thruster issues on the
spacecraft turned what should be a express mission to the ISS into a two-day flight and delayed docking to the ISS until March 27th
.On March 16th, 2014, a debris avoidance maneuver was performed (a Pre-Determined Debris
Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM)), to provide a healthy
margin of clearance from the projected path of a piece of Russian METEOR 2-5
satellite debris. The maneuver was performed during that the crew was asleep and lasted 7 minutes and 9 seconds via the Progress 54 thrusters. Further experimentations have been performed about autonomous refueling and repair of satellites too
.On March 10th, 2014, three crewmembers ended a stay aboard the ISS and landed in Kazakhstan with their Soyuz TMA-10 after a five-and-a-half months stay. The departure left room to Expedition 39, with Japanese Koichi Wakata like the commander, and first Japanese commander of the ISS
.The Orbital Sciences' Cygnus cargo spacecraft was to complete its month-long mission to the orbiting
laboratory on Feb. 18, 2014
.The Progress 54 cargo was to launch Feb. 5, 2014 from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on an
expedited, six-hour journey to the space station, as the previous cargo craft was to be undocked. The Progress 54 is to spend about 2 months at the ISS
.The ISS Progress 52 cargo craft that had arrived at the outpost by last July 2013 was undocked on Feb. 3, 2014 to begin several days of tests to study thermal effects of space on its attitude control system before a destructive re-entry in the atmosphere on Feb. 11. The move let room at the Pirs module for the arrival of the Progress 54 cargo to launch Feb. 5, 2014 from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan
.The ISS welcomed the Cygnus, or the first commercial flight by Orbital Sciences Corporation in January 2014. The capsule was docked at the Harmony node as it will be released by mid-February to burn during re-entry in the atmosphere
.A spacewalk occurred on Jan. 27, 2014 as two Russian astronauts completed a camera job left undone in December. Connectivity issues look like they were fixed
.A spacewalk occurred on Dec. 27 to install photographic and scientific equipment
on the hull of the space station. The task however was aborted after a Russian flight control team outside of
Moscow was unable to receive telemetry data from the video camera which was aiming to broadcast views as seen from the ISS to the general public. The reason
for that failure wasn't immediately clear
2013
.On Dec. 24, 2013, the second of two spacewalks spread over a four-day period occurred to change out a degraded pump module on the exterior of the ISS. The ISS had had to be partially shut down since Dec. 11
.A Russian Progress cargo-craft reached to the station on Nov. 29, 2013 as along a 4-day journey, it also flew by the ISS to test an enhanced rendezvous and docking system for future Russian
spacecraft
.ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano, Russian commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA
astronaut Karen Nyberg returned Earth Nov. 11, 2013 aboard the same Soyuz
TMA-09M spacecraft that flew them to the International Space Station on 29
May
.Nine astronauts were aboard the ISS after the Soyuz TMA-11M docked with Expedition 38 crew members Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin, Koichi Wakata
and Rick Mastracchio on Nov. 7, 2013. They also brought with them the Olympic Torch of the next 2014 Winter Olympics. Yurchikhin, Nyberg and Parmitano make returned home on Nov. 10, 2013, marking the end of Expedition 37 and the beginning of Expedition 38 under the command of Kotov. The Olympic Torch was also returned home on that flight
.The Expedition 37 crew was to welcome a Progress cargo craft and they performed a spacewalk
.Expedition 36 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineers Chris Cassidy and Alexander
Misurkin used the Soyuz TMA-08M to leave the station on Sep. 10, 2013 and land in Kazakhstan as a handover had been performed to Expedition 37 at the ISS as three astronauts staid behind
.Two Russian cosmonauts performed two spacewalks on Aug. 16, and Aug. 22 accomplishing varied tasks
.The 4th Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency H-II Transfer
Vehicle, or HTV-4 was installed on its berthing port on the Earth-facing side of
the International Space Station’s Harmony node on August 9th, 2013. The craft departed on Sep. 4, 2013 after a month's stay
.Expedition 36 astronauts performed two spacewalks on July 9 and July 16, 2013 as, among varied tasks they prepared the ISS for a new Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module scheduled to arrive at the
station later this year
.On Wednesday 5 June 2013, Ariane 5 VA213 lifted off atop a Ariane-5 rocket from Europe's Spaceport in
French Guiana with ESA's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle, Albert Einstein, en
route to the International Space Station. The craft was discarded in the Earth's atmosphere on Nov. 2, 2013 after a 5-month stay
.The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-09M spaceship ferried a new crew to the International Space Station from the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on May 28th, 2013 as the docking occurred less than six hours after liftoff, after four Earth orbits. Three astronauts have joined the Expedtion 36, namely NASA's Karen Nyberg, Russia's Fyodor
Yurchikhin and Italy's Luca Parmitano
.Three members of the ISS Expedition 35 crew undocked from the orbiting laboratory and returned safely to Earth Monday, May 13, 2013, Canadian Chris Hadfield, Russian Roman Romanenko and NASA Tom Marshburn aboard the Soyuz TMA-07M and they landed safely in Kazakhstan. That departure marks the beginning of Expedition 36, witt Russian Pavel Vinogradov of Roscosmos is in command. NASA Chris Cassidy and Russian Alexander Misurkin are also aboard as three additional crew are to join later
.Two astronauts made on on May 11, 2013 a hastily planned -which is a rare occurrence- spacewalk to fix a serious ammonia leak outside the ISS which had occurred two days ealier, as a pump was changed. ISS Astronaut Chris Hadfield, on a other hand, sang David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' with a guitar in the first music video made in space, in May 2013
.Expedition 34 Russian Evgeny Tarelkin and Oleg Novitskiy (like Soyuz Commander) and Kevin Ford of NASA, returned Earth through a Soyuz TMA-06M in Kazakhstan on Mar. 18, 2013 after serving aboard the ISS as members of the Expedition 33 and 34 crews. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, turned station commander, NASA's Tom Marshburn and Russian Roman Romanenko remained at the ISS and began their turn as Expedition 35 as they will be joined by a new trio of Expedition 35 crew mates on Mar. 28, with Russian Pavel Vinogradov, Alexander Misurkin and NASA's Chris Cassidy scheduled. Those were also scheduled to become the first station crew members to
make an expedited trip to the orbiting laboratory. Instead of taking the
standard two days to rendezvous and dock with the station, they will need only
four orbits and 6 hours to reach the station as the flight will employ rendezvous
techniques used recently with three unpiloted Russian Progress cargo spacecraft
. The ISS welcomed
its second contracted cargo delivery flight on Mar. 2, 2013 with the arrival of the
SpaceX Dragon carrying a treasure trove of cargo, hardware and supplies
for the Expedition 34 crew. The Dragon is scheduled to stay more than three weeks at the ISS and then released to splash into the Pacific Ocean as it had launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center on the previous day. The rendezvous with the station was delayed a day in the wake of a
temporary loss of three of four banks of thrusters after Dragon separated from
the Falcon 9 rocket
. NASA Robotic Refueling Mission, or RRM, successfully occurred January 14-25, 2013 aboard the ISS despite some troubles which did not affect any of the tasks however. The RRM tests demonstrated remotely controlled robots using current-day technology could
refuel satellites not designed to be serviced. The tests culminated with the first-of-its-kind robotic fluid
transfer. NASA also hopes that RRM technologies may help boost the commercial
satellite-servicing industry in both near
and distant orbits. The Satellite Servicing Capabilities
Office, or SSCO, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. is the manager of the concept. Other tasks-tests are now to follow
2012
. Varied activities keep on the ISS, of which the main are testing Robonaut 2, the first humanoid robot in space, and performing the second test-phase of the Robotics Refueling Mission (RRM) experiment. U.S. and Canadian ground controllers worked in tandem but the test was stalled due to a glitch at the Canadarm2 robotic arm
. Canadian Hadfield, American Marshburn and Russian Romanenko arrived on Dec. 21, 2012 to spend Christmas with
their orbiting crewmates, Ford, Novitskiy and Tarelkin and continue the Expedition 34
. Expedition 33 commander turned control of the ISS to Expedition 34 on Nov. 17, 2012. NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Expedition 33 commander with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Aki Hoshide
and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko returned to
Earth on Nov. 18, 2012 EST, aboard a Soyuz TMA-05M, making a rare nighttime landing in the steppes of Kazakhstan in Central Asia, the fourth time in the 12-year history of Soyuz flights to the ISS. Expedition 34 is currently composed of Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy
and Evgeny Tarelkin, and NASA Kevin Ford, who arrived at the station late October. Arrival of three new crewmembers is awaited in
mid-December with NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn, Canadian astronaut
Chris Hadfield and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko launching Dec. 19
. Two astronauts performed a 6-hour, 38-minute spacewalk outside the International Space Station on November 1st, 2012 to configure a solar array power chanel and support ground-based troubleshooting of a ammonia leak
. The ISS Progress 49 cargo craft docked with the station’s Zvezda
service module at on Oct. 31, 2012 following its successful launch from
the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan
. The TMA-06M Soyuz ferrying three members of Expedition 33, as it had launched on Oct. 23, 2012 successfully docked to the ISS on Oct. 25, 2012. Crewmembers were Russian, Soyuz commander Oleg Novitskiy, Russe, NASA flight engineer Kevin Ford and Russian flight engineer Evgeny Tarelkin
. The SpaceX Dragon cargo-craft returned safely Earth on Oct. 10th, 2012, parachuting into the Pacific Ocean and completing the first official shipment under a contract with NASA. SpaceX company successfully guided the Dragon down from
orbit to a splashdown 250 miles off the Baja California coast. The ship brought back nearly 2,000 pounds of science experiments and old
station equipment
. The Commercial Resupply Services,' or CRS-1 mission by a SpaceX cargo-capsule successfully was grasped at the ISS by the robotic arm on October 10th, 2012 after a launch 3 days before. It is scheduled to stay at the outpost during 3 weeks before returning Earth and bring back cargo and experiments
. ESA's third ATV cargo reentered the atmosphere on Oct. 3 after a six-month stay at the ISS. It performed 9 reboosts of the Station
. Expedition 33 is now en cours at the ISS since Sep. 16, 2012 as Commander Gennady
Padalka and Flight Engineers Joe Acaba and Sergei Revin landed safely in
Kazakhstan. Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineers
Aki Hoshide and Yuri Malenchenko continue their stay until Nov. 12 as a newest trio is expected to launch next Oct. 23
. A third spacewalk on Sep. 5, 2012 solved the question of the pair of bolts which had occurred during the second spacewalk of Expedition 32
. 2 spacewalks have been performed. The first spacewalk, on August 20th, 2012 moved the
Strela-2 cargo boom from the Pirs docking compartment to the Zarya module to prepare Pirs for its eventual undocking to make room for the docking of the new Russian multipurpose laboratory
module to the Zvezda nadir port. A
micrometeoroid debris shields on the exterior of the Zvezda service module was also installed. A
suspected leaky valve on the International Space Station delayed by one hour the spacewalk. The second spacewalk on August 30th
replaced a faulty power relay unit on the
station's truss, rig power cables for the arrival late next year of a Russian
laboratory module but astronauts had difficulties driving the bolts to secure the replacement unit
. Russian Progress 48 docked at the ISS through the Pirs docking compartment on August 1st, 2012 after just 4 orbits instead of 34 or two days, a exercise designed to test a
shortened transit plan to the station for possible use on future crew-ferrying Soyuz
. Japan's Kounotori3 cargo craft (or 'White Stork 3') docked to the ISS on July 27, 2012. It brought among others a
remote-controlled Earth-observing camera system called the International Space
Station SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System, or ISERV. Once
installed, the system will be directed by researchers on the ground to acquire
imagery of specific areas of the world for disaster analysis and environmental
studies. That HTV3 is scheduled to remain docked until in September
. Russian cargo spacecraft Progress 47 undocked from the ISS for a
demonstration of a new docking system on July 22, 2012 to be used by both Progress and Soyuz. The new
automated rendezvous system, known as Kurs-NA, will use a single antenna, which
will allow four others to be removed. The Kurs-NA-enabled Progress and Soyuz
spacecraft will have only three antennas, half as many as the current versions.
Kurs-NA also will use less power. The re-docking was postponed however due to an apparent failure in the new Kurs-NA
rendezvous system
. Three members of the Expedition 31 crew
undocked from the ISS and returned safely to Earth
Sunday, July 1, 2012. Command of Expedition 32 was passed to Russian Gennady Padalka, who remains aboard the
station with NASA Joe Acaba and Russian Sergei Revin. NASA Sunita Williams, Russian Yuri Malenchenko and Japanese Akihiko Hoshide joined the outpost on July 17 after a launch July 14 from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz TMA-05M. They docked to the Rassvet module
. By June 2012, the ISS crew has further advanced the practibility of robotically repairing and refueling satellites in orbit,
especially those not built with servicing in mind and allowing to extend their lifespan. Supporting the assembly of large structures on
orbit, and mitigate orbital debris, are among other benefits. Flight controllers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Johnson Space Center, Marshall Space Flight
Center, and the Canadian Space Agency’s control center in St. Hubert, Quebec are involved in such remotely controlled operations. The astronauts controlled Dextre to retrieve the RRM Multifunction Tool
. The 3 last members of the Expedition 31 have reached the ISS on May 17th, 2012, with Gennady Padalka, Joe
Acaba and Sergei Revin welcomed aboard the space station after a two-day journey from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan aboard a TMA-04M Soyuz. That crew composition is to last unter next July 1st, 2012
. The Expedition 31 has begun its shift at the ISS since late April 2012 when the Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft
carrying Expedition 30 Commander Dan Burbank and Flight Engineers Anton
Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin left the ISS, ending Expedition 30. Expedition 31 Commander Oleg Kononenko and Flight Engineers Don Pettit and Andre are scheduled to be joined in mid-May by Flight Engineers Gennady Padalka, Joe
Acaba and Sergei Revin who will launch and arrive in the Soyuz TMA-04M
spacecraft. First three said above will continue their stay aboard the orbital laboratory until July 1, 2012
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