Expedition 66

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ISS Expedition 66
Promotional poster
Mission typeLong-duration mission to the ISS
OperatorNASA / Roscosmos
Mission duration164 days, 6 hours and 7 minutes
Expedition
Space stationInternational Space Station
Began17 October 2021, 01:14 UTC[1]
Ended30 March 2022, 07:21:03[1]
Arrived aboardSpaceX Crew-2
Soyuz MS-19
SpaceX Crew-3
Soyuz MS-21
Departed aboardSpaceX Crew-2
Soyuz MS-19
Crew
Crew size7-10
Members
EVAs4
EVA duration25 hours 31 minutes

Expedition 66 mission patch, resembling that of U.S. Route 66

Expedition 66 crew portrait 
The crews from Expedition 66 crew (2nd and 3rd row) with non-expedition Soyuz MS-20 crew (1st row).

Expedition 66 was the 66th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station. The mission began after the departure of Soyuz MS-18 on 17 October 2021.[2] It was commanded by European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, the fourth European astronaut to command the ISS and first French astronaut to command the orbital laboratory[3] until 8 November 2021 when Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, who arrived aboard Soyuz MS-19 and took over his command.[4]

Pesquet was transported to the ISS on SpaceX Crew-2 in April 2021, joined by NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide.[5] Crew-2 from Expedition 65 extended their tour of duty on the ISS to become part of Expedition 66,[6] along with Russian cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who both launched on Soyuz MS-18 and returned to Earth on Soyuz MS-19, following their extended mission. Russian cosmonaut Shkaplerov launched on Soyuz MS-19, along with two participants in the joint film project between Roscosmos and Channel One, The Challenge: film director Klim Shipenko and actress Yulia Peresild.

SpaceX Crew-3, launched 10 November 2021, carried NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, and Kayla Barron and ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer to the ISS.[7] At the end of Expedition 66, they remained on the ISS as part of Expedition 67 while Dubrov and Vande Hei returned to Earth aboard Soyuz MS-19.[8] However, continued international collaboration has been thrown into doubt by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and related sanctions on Russia.[9]

Crew[edit]

Flight Astronaut First part
(17 October – 8 November 2021) 		Second part
(8–11 November 2021)[10] 		Third part
(11 November 2021 – 18 March 2022) 		Fourth part
(18 March – 30 March 2022)
Soyuz MS-19 Russia Anton Shkaplerov, Roscosmos
Fourth and last spaceflight 		Flight Engineer Commander
Russia Pyotr Dubrov, Roscosmos
First spaceflight 		Flight Engineer
United States Mark T. Vande Hei, NASA
Second spaceflight 		Flight Engineer
SpaceX Crew-2 United States Shane Kimbrough, NASA
Third and last spaceflight 		Flight Engineer Off Station
United States Megan McArthur, NASA
Second spaceflight 		Flight Engineer Off Station
Japan Akihiko Hoshide, JAXA
Third spaceflight 		Flight Engineer Off Station
France Thomas Pesquet, ESA
Second spaceflight 		Commander Off Station
SpaceX Crew-3 United States Raja Chari, NASA
First spaceflight 		Off Station Flight Engineer
United States Thomas Marshburn, NASA
Third spaceflight 		Off Station Flight Engineer
Germany Matthias Maurer, ESA
First spaceflight 		Off Station Flight Engineer
United States Kayla Barron, NASA
First spaceflight 		Off Station Flight Engineer
Soyuz MS-21 Russia Oleg Artemyev, Roscosmos
Third spaceflight 		Off Station Flight Engineer
Russia Denis Matveev, Roscosmos
First spaceflight 		Off Station Flight Engineer
Russia Sergey Korsakov, Roscosmos
First spaceflight 		Off Station Flight Engineer

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ The European portion of SpaceX Crew-2 is called Alpha and is headed by Thomas Pesquet.
  2. ^ The European portion of SpaceX Crew-3 is called Cosmic Kiss, which is headed by Matthias Maurer.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "ISS Expedition 66". spacefacts.de. 6 November 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  2. ^ "NASA Television Upcoming Events". 16 October 2017. Archived from the original on 2021-09-24. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
  3. ^ York, Joanna (2021-03-19). "French astronaut next International Space Station commander". www.connexionfrance.com. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  4. ^ "Space Launch Now - ISS Expedition 66 Change of Command Ceremony".
  5. ^ Gohd, Chelsea (23 April 2021). "SpaceX's Crew-2 launch lights up the predawn sky with a spectacular show (photos)". Space.com. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
  6. ^ "Alpha 2021" (PDF). esamultimedia.esa.int. European Space Agency. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  7. ^ "NASA, SpaceX Adjust Crew-2 Station Departure Date". 8 November 2021.
  8. ^ "Soyuz MS-19 to send a "movie crew" to ISS". www.russianspaceweb.com. Retrieved 2021-10-04.
  9. ^ Witze, Alexandra (11 March 2022). "Russia's invasion of Ukraine is redrawing the geopolitics of space". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-022-00727-x. PMID 35277688. S2CID 247407886. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  10. ^ "NASA SpaceX Crew-2 to Discuss Station Mission, Upcoming Splashdown". NASA. 4 November 2021. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
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