Mission type | Long-duration expedition |
---|---|
Operator | NASA / Roscosmos |
Mission duration | 6 days, 12 hours and 44 minutes (in progress) |
Expedition | |
Space station | International Space Station |
Began | 23 September 2024 |
Ended | March 2025 |
Arrived aboard | |
Departed aboard | |
Crew | |
Crew size | 7–11 |
Members |
|
Expedition 72 mission patch Left to right, top row: Ovchinin, Williams, Wilmore Middle row: Vagner, Pettit Bottom row: Gorbunov, Hague |
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. [1]
Expedition 72 will continue the extensive scientific research conducted aboard the ISS, focusing on various fields, including biology, human physiology, physics, and materials science. The crew members will also maintain and upgrade the space station systems.
Initially, the expedition consists of Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, and Aleksandr Gorbunov, and NASA astronauts Barry E. Wilmore, Sunita Williams, Donald Pettit, and Nick Hague.
Wilmore and Williams arrived at the station on 6 June 2024 for what was expected to be a brief visit as part of the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. However, their spacecraft experienced technical issues and returned to Earth uncrewed, and Wilmore and Williams were added to the Expedition 71/72 crew. [2]
Ovchinin, Vagner, and Pettit arrived at the station on 11 September aboard Soyuz MS-26. [3] [4] Hague and Gorbunov are expected to arrive to the station on 26 September aboard SpaceX Crew-9. [5] After a brief handover period, SpaceX Crew-8 is expected to depart on 7 October.
In February 2025, SpaceX Crew-10 is expected to arrive, transporting NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. [6]
Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, along with NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, are expected to arrive at the station aboard Soyuz MS-27 in March 2025. [7]
Expedition 72 will come to a close in March 2025 when Hague, Wilmore, Williams, and Gorbunov depart on Crew-9 and Ovchinin, Vagner, and Pettit depart on Soyuz MS-26.
Flight | Crew member | Increment 72a | Increment 72b | Increment 72c | Increment 72d | Increment 72e | Increment 72f |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
23-29 Sep 2024 | 29 Sep-7 Oct 2024 (planned) | 7 Oct 2024-Feb 2025 (planned) | Feb-Feb 2025 (planned) | Feb-Mar 2025 (planned) | Mar-Mar 2025 (planned) | ||
Soyuz MS-26 | Aleksey Ovchinin, Roscosmos Third [lower-alpha 1] spaceflight | Flight Engineer | |||||
Ivan Vagner, Roscosmos Second spaceflight | Flight Engineer | ||||||
Donald Pettit, NASA Fourth spaceflight | Flight Engineer | ||||||
SpaceX Crew-8 | Matthew Dominick, NASA First spaceflight | Flight Engineer | Off Station | ||||
Michael Barratt, NASA Third spaceflight | Flight Engineer | Off Station | |||||
Jeanette Epps, NASA First spaceflight | Flight Engineer | Off Station | |||||
Alexander Grebenkin, Roscosmos First spaceflight | Flight Engineer | Off Station | |||||
Boeing Crew Flight Test | Barry E. Wilmore, NASA Third spaceflight | Flight Engineer | Off Station | ||||
Sunita Williams, NASA Third spaceflight | Commander | Off Station | |||||
SpaceX Crew-9 | Nick Hague, NASA Second [lower-alpha 1] spaceflight | Off Station | Flight Engineer | Off Station | |||
Aleksandr Gorbunov, Roscosmos First spaceflight | Off Station | Flight Engineer | Off Station | ||||
SpaceX Crew-10 (planned) | Anne McClain, NASA Second spaceflight | Off Station | Flight Engineer | ||||
Nichole Ayers, NASA First spaceflight | Off Station | Flight Engineer | |||||
Takuya Onishi, JAXA Second spaceflight | Off Station | Flight Engineer | |||||
Kirill Peskov, Roscosmos First spaceflight | Off Station | Flight Engineer | |||||
Soyuz MS-27 (planned) | Sergey Ryzhikov, Roscosmos Third spaceflight | Off Station | Flight Engineer | ||||
Alexey Zubritsky, Roscosmos First spaceflight | Off Station | Flight Engineer | |||||
Jonny Kim, NASA First spaceflight | Off Station | Flight Engineer |
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.
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