Expedition 65

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ISS Expedition 65
Mission typeLong-duration mission to the ISS
OperatorNASA / Roscosmos
Mission duration155 days, 11 hours and 32 minutes (currently in progress)
Expedition
Space StationInternational Space Station
Began17 April 2021, 19:45:00 UTC
EndedOctober 2021 (planned)
Arrived aboardSpaceX Crew-1
Soyuz MS-18
SpaceX Crew-2
Crew
Crew size7-11
Members
EVAs≥4 (planned)[2][3]
5[4]
EVA duration35 hours 41 minutes[4]
ISS Expedition 65 Patch.png
ISS Expedition 65 Patch
Expedition 65 crew portrait.jpg
Expedition 65 crew portrait 

Expedition 65 is the 65th long duration expedition to the International Space Station. The mission began on 17 April 2021, with the departure of Soyuz MS-17,[5] and was initially commanded by NASA astronaut Shannon Walker serving as the third female ISS commander, who launched in November 2020 aboard SpaceX Crew-1 alongside NASA astronauts Michael S. Hopkins and Victor J. Glover,[6] as well as JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi. They were joined by the crew of Soyuz MS-18, which is made up of Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov, as well as NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei.[7]

In accordance with Crew Dragon Resilience's departure on May 2, 2021, Crew-1's crew was replaced by the crew of SpaceX Crew-2, which launched on April 23, 2021. JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide took Walker's place as station commander, making Walker the shortest-serving ISS commander - holding the position for just 11 days. The undocking of Soyuz MS-18 will mark the end of the expedition.

Visiting modules, vehicles, crews, and spacewalks[]

Expedition 65 is occurring during a very busy time in the ISS's schedule, with the Expedition expected to host two SpaceX Crew Dragon missions, Crew-1, Crew-2, as well as two Soyuz flights, Soyuz MS-18 and Soyuz MS-19.[citation needed]

When the Expedition began, with the undocking of Soyuz MS-17 in April 2021, two vehicles were present on the station, Crew Dragon Resilience, carrying the SpaceX Crew-1 crew, and the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft. Crew-1 mission specialist Shannon Walker initially commanded the station until she and her three crewmates, Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover and Soichi Noguchi, departed the station following the arrival of Crew Dragon Endeavour, carrying SpaceX Crew-2 in April 2021. Following the departure of Crew-1, Crew-2 mission specialist Akihiko Hoshide took over as station commander, making him the second Japanese citizen to command the ISS. In October 2021, Soyuz MS-19 will launch, carrying Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, film director Klim Shipenko and actress Yulia Peresild. The latter two will spend 12 days onboard the station as part of a movie project. They will be part of Expedition 66.[8]

Three spacewalks were conducted by Thomas Pesquet and Shane Kimbrough on 16, 20, and 25 June from the US Orbital Segment (USOS) of the space station to install the first two Roll Out Solar Arrays (iROSA) for the station.[3][9] They were delivered by SpaceX CRS-22 on 3 June 2021.[10] The June 16 spacewalk to place an array on the 2B power channel and mast can of the P6 truss[11] was successful until three hours into the task, when Kimbrough's suit encountered a computer problem and the spacewalkers had to return to the Quest airlock. The iROSA also encountered technical problems with deployment, resulting in the spacewalk being cut short early, having lasted 7 hours and 15 minutes.[12][4]

The 20 June spacewalk, begun at 11:42 UTC and lasting 6 hours and 28 minutes, saw the first iROSA's successful deployment and connection to the station's power system.[13][14][4] The 25 June spacewalk, begun at 11:52 UTC and lasting 6 hours and 45 minutes, saw the astronauts successfully install and deploy the second iROSA on the 4B mast can opposite the first iROSA.[15][4]

One more spacewalk, comprising a plasma measuring instrument replacement and a bracket installation on the P4 Truss for the next iROSA pair, was planned for 24 August, to be conducted by Akihiko Hoshide and Mark Vande Hei.[16] It was postponed to 12 September after Vande Hei encountered "minor medical issues".[17] He was replaced by Thomas Pesquet. The spacewalk began at 13:15 UTC and lasted six hours and 45 minutes.[18]

At least eleven spacewalks by Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov are planned from the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) to facilitate the installation of Nauka with the European Robotic Arm aboard the station, as well as prepare the new module for the arrival of the Prichal docking node, which is scheduled to arrive during Expedition 66.[19] One spacewalk was conducted on 2 June beginning at 5:53 UTC and lasted 7 hours and 19 minutes.[20][4] Two more were conducted on 3 and 9 September, the former beginning at 14:41 UTC and lasting 7 hours and 54 minutes, and the latter beginning at 14:51 UTC and lasting 7 hours and 25 minutes.[16][19]

Crew[]

Position 17 April – 24 April 2021 24 April – 2 May 2021 2 May – 4 October 2021
Commander United States Shannon Walker, NASA
Second spaceflight 		Japan Akihiko Hoshide, JAXA
Third spaceflight
Flight Engineer 1 United States Michael S. Hopkins, NASA
Second spaceflight 		United States Shane Kimbrough, NASA
Third spaceflight
Flight Engineer 2 United States Victor J. Glover, NASA
First spaceflight 		United States Megan McArthur, NASA
Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer 3 Japan Soichi Noguchi, JAXA
Third spaceflight 		France Thomas Pesquet, ESA
Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer 4 Russia Oleg Novitsky, Roscosmos
Third spaceflight
Flight Engineer 5 Russia Pyotr Dubrov, Roscosmos
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer 6 United States Mark Vande Hei, NASA
Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer 7 United States Shane Kimbrough, NASA
Third spaceflight
Flight Engineer 8 United States Megan McArthur, NASA
Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer 9 Japan Akihiko Hoshide, JAXA
Third spaceflight
Flight Engineer 10 France Thomas Pesquet, ESA
Second spaceflight

Notes[]

  1. ^ Current ISS commander
  2. ^ The European portion of SpaceX Crew-2 is called Alpha, and is headed by Thomas Pesquet.
  3. ^ Alongside the 3 other crew members, Megan McArthur is using the same seat of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour in this mission which her husband, Bob Behnken, used in SpaceX Demo-2 mission, the first mission of the Endeavour capsule.[1]

References[]

  1. ^ "Megan to reuse Bob's demo-2 seat in crew-2 mission". aljazeera.com. 20 April 2020.
  2. ^ "Russia's 2021 expedition crew to practice spacewalk in lab conditions". tass.com. TASS. 19 June 2020.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b "New solar arrays ready to upgrade International Space Station's power grid". Spaceflight Now. 2 June 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "ISS Expedition 65". 4 September 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  5. ^ "Expedition 64 Trio Undocks, Ends Station Mission". NASA. 16 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  6. ^ Smith, Yvette (16 October 2017). "NASA Television Upcoming Events". NASA. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  7. ^ "NASA Assigns Astronaut Mark Vande Hei to International Space Station Crew". 9 March 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  8. ^ "Roscosmos appointed ISS crews until 2023". 19 May 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2021. Participants of the joint project of Roscosmos and Channel One Klim Shipenko and Yulia Peresild have been included in the ISS-66 expedition prime crew...
  9. ^ "Current and Future Operations and Challenges with International Space Station" (PDF). ISS Program Office. NASA. 15 October 2020. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  10. ^ Clark, Stephen (3 June 2021). "SpaceX cargo ship launches on mission to upgrade space station electrical grid". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  11. ^ Garcia, Mark (16 June 2021). "Spacewalk to Install First New Solar Array Concluded". NASA. Retrieved 17 June 2021.Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  12. ^ "Hardware, Spacesuit Difficulties Stall Ambitious ISS Spacewalk". Aviation Week. Informa Markets. 17 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  13. ^ Guardian, AP and AFP staff (20 June 2021). "ISS astronauts complete six-hour spacewalk to install solar panels". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Ltd. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  14. ^ Pearlman, Robert Z. (20 June 2021). "Astronauts on spacewalk deploy first roll-out solar array to boost power for station". Space.com. Future US Inc. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  15. ^ Pearlman, Robert Z. (25 June 2021). "Spacewalking astronauts deploy second new solar array for space station". Space.com. Future US Inc. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  16. ^ Jump up to: a b "Upcoming NASA Live Events". NASA. 23 August 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  17. ^ staff, Associated Press of New York (24 August 2021). "NASA delays ISS spacewalk due to astronaut's medical issue". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Ltd. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  18. ^ Harwood, William (12 September 2021). "Spacewalkers carry out space station power upgrades". CBS News. ViacomCBS. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  19. ^ Jump up to: a b Strickland, Ashley (9 September 2021). "Russian cosmonauts conduct spacewalk despite smoke, alarm on space station". CNN. WarnerMedia. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  20. ^ "Новости. Экипажи корабля "Союз МС-18" ответили на вопросы".
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