![]() Promotional Poster | |
Mission type | Long-duration expedition |
---|---|
Mission duration | 101 days, 22 hours, 24 minutes |
Expedition | |
Space station | International Space Station |
Began | 15 March 2019, 01:01 UTC [1] |
Ended | 24 June 2019, 23:25 UTC [2] |
Arrived aboard | Soyuz MS-11 Soyuz MS-12 |
Departed aboard | Soyuz MS-11 |
Crew | |
Crew size | 6 |
Members |
|
EVAs | 4 |
EVA duration | 25 hours, 55 minutes |
![]() Expedition 59 mission patch ![]() From left: Saint-Jacques, McClain, Kononenko, Ovchinin, Hague and Koch |
Expedition 59 was the 59th Expedition to the International Space Station. It started with the arrival of the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft carrying Aleksey Ovchinin, Nick Hague and Christina Koch, [3] joining Oleg Kononenko, David Saint-Jacques and Anne McClain who transferred from Expedition 58. The expedition formally began on March 15, 2019 (March 14 in the Americas). [1] Ovchinin and Hague were originally meant to fly to the ISS aboard Soyuz MS-10, but returned to Earth minutes after takeoff due to a contingency abort. [4] The expedition formally ended with the undocking of the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft carrying Kononenko, Saint-Jacques and McClain on 24 June 2019; Ovchinin, Hague and Koch transferred to Expedition 60. [2]
Position | Crew member | |
---|---|---|
Commander | ![]() Fourth spaceflight | |
Flight Engineer | ![]() First spaceflight | |
Flight Engineer | ![]() First spaceflight | |
Flight Engineer | ![]() Second [a] spaceflight | |
Flight Engineer | ![]() First [a] spaceflight | |
Flight Engineer | ![]() First spaceflight |
EVA # | Spacewalkers | Start (UTC) | End (UTC) | Duration |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() ![]() | 22 March 2019, 12:01 | 22 March 2019, 18:40 | 6 hours, 39 minutes |
McClain and Hague installed adapter plates while Dextre swaps the batteries between spacewalks. Get aheads included removing debris from the Unity Module in preparation for the arrival of Cygnus NG-11 in April, stowing tools for the repair of the flex hose rotary coupler, and securing tiebacks on the solar array blanket boxes. This spacewalk was originally going to be carried out by European astronaut Alexander Gerst and Hague as part of Expedition 57, although it was delayed due to the Soyuz MS-10 launch abort. [5] | ||||
2 | ![]() ![]() | 29 March 2019, 11:42 | 29 March 2019, 18:27 | 6 hours, 45 minutes |
Hague and Koch finished the work of the first spacewalk and installed the final three adapter plates on the other side of the P4 Truss. The crew also transferred some tools and installed a grapple bar on the flex hose rotary coupler. Between spacewalks, Dextre will change the batteries and the exposed pallet will be loaded onto HTV-8 to be jettisoned into space where it will burn up. One of the batteries malfunctioned and will be removed by Dextre and discarded. Dextre will also replace a Battery Discharge Unit and will bring the failed unit which was damaged by the short inside where it will be returned to earth on SpaceX CRS-17. Until it is repaired P4 will use the old batteries left on the station as spares. Get aheads included installing gap spanners and breaking torque on the P6 batteries in preparation for their replacement by Expedition 62 crew members this summer. Hague also inspected sockets on P6 so the foot restraints could be attached. This spacewalk was supposed to be done by Anne McClain and Christina Koch as an all female spacewalk but because of problems with Christina's suit and the spare suit not ready or properly sized Anne McClain will have to sit this spacewalk out and will have to go out with David on the next spacewalk. [6] This spacewalk became the first for Koch who became the 14th woman to walk in space. [7] | ||||
3 | ![]() ![]() | 8 April 2019, 11:31 | 8 April 2019, 18:00 | 6 hours, 30 minutes |
McClain and Saint Jacques routed cables to be used as a redundant power supply for Canadarm2. The crew installed studs on the Columbus Module in preparation for the installation of an exposed facility. The crew removed an adapter plate and reinstalled an old set of batteries as spares to replace a failed battery that malfunctioned on the last spacewalk. Saint Jacques became the first Canadian crew member to walk in space and the fourth Canadian to do a spacewalk since Chris Hadfield [8] | ||||
4 | ![]() ![]() | 29 May 2019, 15:42 | 29 May 2019, 21:43 | 6 hours, 1 minute |
Kononenko and Ovichinin removed experiments from the Pirs docking compartment and cleaned the windows. They also installed a handrail to connect Zarya to Poisk and re-positioned the Plume Measuring Unit. The crew then moved to the Zvesda Service Module and removed and jettisoned the Plasma Monitoring Units. Before they closed the hatch they sent a video of themselves and sang happy birthday in Russian to Alexei Leonov who was the first spacewalker and was celebrating his 85th birthday. [9] |
Resupply missions that visited the International Space Station during Expedition 59:
Spacecraft - ISS flight number | Country | Mission | Launcher | Launch (UTC) | Docked/Berthed (UTC) † | Undocked/Unberthed (UTC) | Duration (Docked) | Deorbit |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Progress MS-11 - ISS 72P | ![]() | Logistics | Soyuz-2.1a | 4 Apr 2019, 11:01:35 | 4 Apr 2019, 14:22 | 29 Jul 2019, 10:44 | 115d 20h 22m | 29 Jul 2019, 13:50 |
Cygnus NG-11 - CRS NG-11 | ![]() | Logistics | Antares 230 | 17 Apr 2019, 20:46:07 | 19 Apr 2019, 09:28 | 6 Aug 2019, 16:15 | 109d 6h 47m | 6 Dec 2019, 15:28 |
SpaceX CRS-17 - SpX-17 | ![]() | Logistics | Falcon 9 | 4 May 2019, 06:48 | 6 May 2019, 13:33 | 3 Jun 2019, 16:01 | 28d 2h 28m | 3 Jun 2019, 20:56 |
Researchers on Expedition 59 will conduct experimentation on tissue chips since the microgravity environment can replicate the effects of aging and disease. The expedition will also conduct experiments on regolith simulants, Earth's atmospheric carbon cycle, and Astrobee robots designed to conduct routine chores aboard the ISS. [10]
Sergey Nikolayevich Ryzhikov, lieutenant colonel of Russian Air Force, is a Russian cosmonaut, selected in 2006. He is a veteran of two long duration space flights to the ISS.
Aleksey Nikolayevich Ovchinin is a Russian Air Force Major and cosmonaut, who was selected in 2006. Ovchinin made his first spaceflight in 2016 on Soyuz TMA-20M where he also served as commander.
Oleg Dmitriyevich Kononenko is a Russian cosmonaut. He has flown to the International Space Station five times as a flight engineer for Expedition 17 aboard Soyuz TMA-12, as a flight engineer on Expedition 30 and commander of Expedition 31 aboard Soyuz TMA-03M, as a flight engineer on Expedition 44 and Expedition 45 aboard Soyuz TMA-17M, as a flight engineer on Expedition 57 and commander of Expedition 58 and Expedition 59 aboard Soyuz MS-11, and as a flight engineer on Expedition 69 and Expedition 70 and commander of Expedition 71 aboard Soyuz MS-24/Soyuz MS-25.
Sergey Aleksandrovich Volkov is a retired Russian cosmonaut and engineer. He was a member of three missions to the International Space Station, spending more than a year in total in space. During his missions he did four spacewalks lasting more than 23 hours in total. Volkov retired from the Cosmonaut group in February 2017.
Expedition 30 was the 30th long-duration mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The expedition's first three crew members – Dan Burbank, Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoli Ivanishin – arrived on the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-22 on 16 November 2011, during the last phase of Expedition 29. Expedition 30 formally began on 21 November 2011, with the departure from the ISS of the Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft. The expedition ended on 27 April 2012, as Burbank, Shkaplerov and Ivanishin departed from the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-22, marking the beginning of Expedition 31.
Anatoli Alekseyevich Ivanishin is a former Russian cosmonaut. His first visit to space was to the International Space Station on board the Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft as an Expedition 29/Expedition 30 crew member, launching in November 2011 and returning in April 2012. Ivanishin was the commander of the International Space Station for Expedition 49.
In 2011 NASA opened applications for Astronaut Group 21. The team was announced in June 2013 after a year and a half long search. With four men and four women, the class of 2013 had the highest percentage of female finalists. According to NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins, "it's… a reflection of how many really talented women are in science and engineering these days." NASA received a total of over 6,300 applications, which made it the second highest number received at the time.
Tyler Nicklaus "Nick" Hague is a United States Space Force colonel and a NASA astronaut of the class of 2013. Selected to be a flight engineer on the International Space Station, his first launch was on Soyuz MS-10, which aborted shortly after take-off on 11 October 2018. His second launch, on 14 March 2019, was successful, taking him and his fellow Soyuz MS-12 crew members to join ISS Expedition 59/60.
Anne Charlotte McClain is a Colonel in the U.S. Army, engineer and a NASA astronaut. Her call sign, "Annimal", dates back to her rugby career; she also uses the call sign in her Twitter handle, AstroAnnimal. She was a Flight Engineer for Expedition 58/59 to the International Space Station.
Andrew Richard "Drew" Morgan is a NASA astronaut from the class of 2013.
Soyuz MS-10 was a crewed Soyuz MS spaceflight that aborted shortly after launch on 11 October 2018 due to a failure of the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle boosters. MS-10 was the 139th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. It was intended to transport two members of the Expedition 57 crew to the International Space Station. A few minutes after liftoff, the craft went into contingency abort due to a booster failure and had to return to Earth. By the time the contingency abort was declared, the launch escape system (LES) tower had already been ejected and the capsule was pulled away from the rocket using the solid rocket jettison motors on the capsule fairing. Both crew members, Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague, were recovered in good health. The MS-10 flight abort was the first instance of a Russian crewed booster accident in 35 years, since Soyuz T-10-1 exploded on the launch pad in September 1983. On 1 November 2018, Russian scientists released a video recording of the mission.
Soyuz MS-12 was a Soyuz spaceflight which launched on 14 March 2019, carrying three members of the Expedition 59 crew to the International Space Station. The mission ended on 3 October 2019, when Soyuz-MS-12 successfully landed.
Sergey Valeryevich Prokopyev is a Russian cosmonaut. On June 6, 2018, he launched on his first flight into space aboard Soyuz MS-09 and spent 197 days in space as a flight engineer on Expedition 56/57. On September 21, 2022, he launched aboard Soyuz MS-22 and returned onboard Soyuz MS-23 on September 27, 2023.
Expedition 57 was the 57th expedition to the International Space Station, which began on October 4, 2018, upon the departure of Soyuz MS-08.
Expedition 58 was the 58th expedition to the International Space Station, which began on December 20, 2018 with the departure of the Expedition 57 crew. It was commanded by cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, with astronauts Anne McClain and David Saint-Jacques as flight engineers; the trio launched on board Soyuz MS-11 on December 3, 2018, marking the 100th orbital launch of the year.
Hazzaa AlMansoori (Arabic: هَزَّاع ٱلْمَنْصُوْرِي, romanized: Hazzāʿ Al-Manṣūrī, surname also spelled "Al Mansoori", full name Hazzaa Ali Abdan Khalfan Al Mansoori is an Emirati najmonaut and the first person from the United Arab Emirates in space. In 2019, he embarked on the UAE's first scientific mission to the International Space Station. The mission carried the slogan 'Zayed's Ambition', making the UAE the 19th country worldwide, and the first country in the Arab region, to travel to the ISS. He also became the back-up astronaut for Sultan Al Neyadi for the UAE's second mission to the ISS, which is the longest Arab space mission. Previously, he was the UAE's youngest F-16 fighter pilot.
Expedition 60 was the 60th Expedition to the International Space Station, which began on 24 June 2019 with the undocking of the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft. The expedition was commanded by Aleksey Ovchinin, who transferred from Expedition 59 together with American flight engineers Nick Hague and Christina Koch. They were joined by Aleksandr Skvortsov, Luca Parmitano and Andrew Morgan, who arrived on Soyuz MS-13 on 20 July 2019. The expedition ended on 3 October 2019, when Soyuz MS-12 undocked from the station and Koch, Skvortsov, Parmitano and Morgan transferred to Expedition 61.
Expedition 61 was the 61st Expedition to the International Space Station, which began on 3 October 2019 with the undocking of the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft. The Expedition was commanded by ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano, who became the third European and first Italian astronaut to command the ISS. Parmitano, along with his Soyuz MS-13 colleagues Aleksandr Skvortsov and Andrew Morgan, and Christina Koch from Soyuz MS-12, transferred over from Expedition 60. They were joined by Oleg Skripochka and Jessica Meir, who launched on 25 September 2019 on board Soyuz MS-15.
Expedition 70 was the 70th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station. The expedition began with the departure of Soyuz MS-23 on 27 September 2023 with Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen taking over the ISS command. It ended with the departure of Soyuz MS-24 on 6 April 2024.
Expedition 72 is the 72nd long-duration expedition to the International Space Station (ISS). The expedition began with the departure of Soyuz MS-25 on 23 September 2024 and is led by Sunita Williams, her second time serving as commander of the ISS.
Hague and Ovchinin are getting a second chance after their original October 11 launch failed. Shortly after launch, there was an anomaly with the booster, and the launch ascent was aborted, resulting in a ballistic landing of the spacecraft, according to a NASA statement.