Expedition 56

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ISS Expedition 56
Expedition 56 crew poster.jpg
Promotional Poster
Mission typeISS Expedition
Mission duration124d 13h 30m (Change Of Command to Soyuz MS-08 Undocking)
122d 22h 41m (Official)
Expedition
Space station International Space Station
BeganJune 1, 2018 (Change of Command)
June 3, 2018 (Official) UTC
EndedOctober 4, 2018, UTC
Arrived aboard Soyuz MS-08
Soyuz MS-09
Departed aboard Soyuz MS-08
Soyuz MS-09
Crew
Crew size6
MembersExpedition 55/56:
Andrew Feustel
Oleg Artemyev
Richard R. Arnold
Expedition 56/57:
Alexander Gerst
Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor
Sergey Prokopyev
EVAs 2
ISS Expedition 56 Patch.svg
Expedition 56 mission patch
Expedition 56 crew portrait.jpg
(l-r) Artemyev, Feustel, Arnold, Prokopyev, Gerst, and Auñón-Chancellor 

Expedition 56 was the 56th expedition to the International Space Station, which began on June 3, 2018, upon the departure of Soyuz MS-07. Andrew Feustel, Oleg Artemyev, and Richard R. Arnold were transferred from Expedition 55, with Andrew Feustel taking the commander role. Alexander Gerst, Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor, and Sergey Prokopyev launched aboard Soyuz MS-09, on June 6, 2018. [1] [2] Expedition 56 ended with the departure of Soyuz MS-08 on October 4, 2018.

Contents

Crew

PositionFirst part

(June 3 – 6, 2018)

Second part

(June 6 – October 4, 2018)

Commander Flag of the United States.svg Andrew Feustel, NASA
Third spaceflight [3]
Flight Engineer 1 Flag of Russia.svg Oleg Artemyev, RSA
Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer 2 Flag of the United States.svg Richard R. Arnold, NASA
Second spaceflight [4]
Flight Engineer 3 Flag of Russia.svg Sergey Prokopyev, RSA
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer 4 Flag of Germany.svg Alexander Gerst, ESA
Second spaceflight [5]
Flight Engineer 5 Flag of the United States.svg Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor, NASA
First spaceflight [6]

Originally NASA Astronaut Jeanette Epps was assigned as flight engineer for Expeditions 56 and 57, becoming the first African American space station crew member [7] and the 15th African American to fly in space, but on January 16, 2018, NASA announced that Epps had been replaced by her backup Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor with no announced explanation as to why. [8] [9]

Spacewalks

EVA #SpacewalkersStart (UTC)End (UTC)Duration
Expedition 56
EVA 1
Flag of the United States.svg Andrew J. Feustel

Flag of the United States.svg Richard R. Arnold

June 14, 2018,

12:06

June 14, 2018,

18:55

6 hours 49 minutes
Feustel and Arnold installed new high-definition cameras near IDA 2 mated to the front end of the station's Harmony module. The additions will provide enhanced views during the final phase of approach and docking of the SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing CST 100 Starliner commercial crew spacecraft that will soon begin launching from American soil.

The astronauts also swapped out a camera assembly on the starboard truss of the station used to film NASA TV and closed an aperture door on the CATS experiment outside the Japanese Kibo module in preparation for disposal on SpaceX CRS 15 and replacement by its successor, ECOSTRESS. Get aheads involved relocating an adjustable grapple bar to the S1 Truss and securing the Flex Hose Rotary Coupler in preparation for replacement on the next spacewalk. During the spacewalk Feustel beat Jerry Ross, his STS 125 crewmate Dr. John Grunsfeld, Fyoder Yurchikhin, and Peggy Whitson to become third on the list of all time space walkers. [10]

Expedition 56
EVA 2*
Flag of Russia.svg Oleg Artemyev

Flag of Russia.svg Sergey Prokopyev

August 15, 2018,

16:17

August 15, 2018,

00:03

7 hours 46 minutes
The cosmonauts launched four cubesats and installed the Icarus experiment. Spacewalk fell behind schedule when Icarus failed to seat properly putting the spacewalk 90 minutes behind schedule and calling for an hour extension. The cosmonauts finished the spacewalk by retrieving experiments from the Pirs docking compartment and Poisk module [11]

*denotes spacewalks performed from the Pirs docking compartment in Russian Orlan suits.
All other spacewalks were performed from the Quest airlock.

Uncrewed spaceflights to the ISS

Resupply missions that visited the International Space Station during Expedition 56:

Spacecraft
- ISS flight number
CountryMissionLauncherLaunch
(UTC)
Docked/Berthed
(UTC)
Undocked/Unberthed
(UTC)
Duration (Docked)Deorbit
SpaceX CRS-15
- CRS SpX-15
Flag of the United States.svg  United States LogisticsFalcon 9June 29, 2018, 09:42July 2, 2018, 13:50August 3, 2018, 16:3832d 2h 48mAugust 3, 2018, 22:17
Progress MS-09
- ISS 70P
Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Logistics Soyuz-2.1aJuly 9, 2018, 21:51:34July 10, 2018, 01:30:48January 25, 2019, 12:55199d 11h 24mJanuary 25, 2019, 16:50
Kounotori 7
- HTV-7
Flag of Japan.svg  Japan LogisticsH-IIBSeptember 22, 2018, 17:52:27September 27, 2018, 14:09November 6, 2018, 23:3240d 9h 23mNovember 10, 2018, 21:14

Leak

On August 29, 2018, a small leak was detected through a drop in air pressure by the flight controllers. After learning about the leak upon waking up, the astronauts discovered a 2 mm hole in the orbital module of the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft. The hole was initially repaired with tape, followed by a permanent repair with gauze and epoxy. [12] [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew J. Feustel</span> American-Canadian NASA astronaut and geophysicist

Andrew Jay "Drew" Feustel is a former American/Canadian NASA astronaut and geophysicist. Following several years working as a geophysicist, Feustel was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in July 2000. He is the veteran of 3 space flights with NASA. His first spaceflight in May 2009, STS-125, lasted just under 13 days. This was a mission with six other astronauts to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis. Feustel performed three spacewalks during the mission. His second spaceflight was STS-134, which launched on May 16, 2011, and landed on June 1, 2011. STS-134 was the penultimate Space Shuttle flight. Feustel returned to space on March 21, 2018, on Soyuz MS-08 with Expedition 55/56. For expedition 56, he commanded the International Space Station, before handing over to Alexander Gerst on October 3, 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Marshburn</span> American physician and NASA astronaut

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">STS-134</span> 2011 American crewed spaceflight to the ISS and final flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour

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Alexander Gerst is a German European Space Agency astronaut and geophysicist, who was selected in 2009 to take part in space training. He was part of the International Space Station Expedition 40 and 41 from May to November 2014. Gerst returned to space on 6 June 2018, as part of Expedition 56/57. He was the Commander of the International Space Station. He returned to Earth on 20 December 2018. After the end of his second mission and before being surpassed by Luca Parmitano in 2020, he held the record for most time in space of any active ESA astronaut, succeeding Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli, and German ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter, who formally held the record for the longest time in space for any active or retired ESA astronaut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeanette Epps</span> American aerospace engineer and NASA astronaut

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Expedition 57</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Expedition 65</span> 65th Long-duration mission to the International Space Station

Expedition 65 was the 65th long duration expedition to the International Space Station. The mission began on 17 April 2021, with the departure of Soyuz MS-17, 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, 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Expedition 64</span> Long-duration mission to the International Space Station

Expedition 64 was the 64th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), that began on 21 October 2020 with the undocking and departure of Soyuz MS-16. The Expedition started with the three crew members launched onboard Soyuz MS-17 and reached its full complement with the arrival of SpaceX Crew-1, the first operational flight of NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP). As Crew-1 consists of a crew of four instead of three like the Soyuz, Expedition 64 marks the beginning of operations for crews of seven on the ISS. In the final week of the mission, Soyuz MS-18 and its three cosmonaut crew joined the mission. The expedition ended on 17 April 2021 with the departure of Soyuz MS-17.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Expedition 68</span> Long-duration mission to the International Space Station

Expedition 68 was the 68th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station. The expedition began upon the departure of Soyuz MS-21 on 29 September 2022, with ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti taking over as ISS commander, and ended upon the departure of the uncrewed Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft on 28 March.

References

  1. "Future Expeditions". NASA. March 8, 2018. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  2. "Expedition 55 Mission Summary" (PDF). NASA. 2018. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  3. "Andrew J. Feustel (PH.D.) NASA Astronaut". NASA. August 3, 2017. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  4. "Richard R. Arnold II NASA Astronaut". NASA. March 6, 2018. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  5. "Alexander Gerst". ESA. February 9, 2018. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  6. "Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor (M.D.) NASA Astronaut". NASA. August 3, 2017. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  7. Karen Northon (January 4, 2017). "NASA Assigns Upcoming Space Station Crew Members". NASA press release 17-001. Retrieved January 21, 2017.
  8. Karen Northon (January 18, 2018). "NASA Announces Updated Crew Assignments for Space Station Missions". NASA press release 18-004. Retrieved January 21, 2017.
  9. "NASA removes astronaut Jeanette Epps, Syracuse high school grad, from flight crew". syracuse.com. Retrieved January 21, 2018.
  10. Garcia, Mark (June 14, 2018). "Spacewalkers Complete HD Camera Installation Work". NASA.
  11. Richardson, Derek (August 16, 2018). "Russian spacewalk runs into overtime during 'Icarus' experiment installation". Orbital Velocity.
  12. Garcia, Mark (August 30, 2018). "International Space Station Status". Blogs. NASA. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
  13. Foust, Jeff (August 30, 2018). "ISS leak highlights concerns about orbital debris and station operations". SpaceNews . Retrieved October 24, 2018.