Mission type | Long-duration expedition |
---|---|
Operator | NASA / Roscosmos |
Mission duration | 87 days, 6 hours and 54 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] It 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 arrived to the station on 29 September aboard SpaceX Crew-9. [5] After a handover period, SpaceX Crew-8 departed on 23 October.
In March 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 with the departure of Ovchinin, Vagner, and Pettit depart on Soyuz MS-26. [8]
Flight | Crew member | Increment 72a | Increment 72b | Increment 72c | Increment 72d |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
23-29 Sep 2024 | 29 Sep-23 Oct 2024 | 23 Oct 2024-Mar 2025 (in progress) | Mar-Mar 2025 (planned) | ||
Soyuz MS-26 | Aleksey Ovchinin, Roscosmos Third [a] 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 | |||
Sunita Williams, NASA Third spaceflight | Commander | ||||
SpaceX Crew-9 | Nick Hague, NASA Second [a] spaceflight | Off Station | Flight Engineer | ||
Aleksandr Gorbunov, 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 |
Donald Roy Pettit is an American astronaut and chemical engineer best known for his orbital astrophotography and in-space inventions such as the Zero G Coffee Cup, which received the first ever patent for an object invented in space. He is a veteran of two long-duration stays aboard the International Space Station, one Space Shuttle mission, and a six-week expedition to find meteorites in Antarctica. As of 2024, at age 69, he is NASA's oldest active astronaut.
Sunita Lyn "Suni" Williams is an American astronaut, retired U.S. Navy officer, and former record holder for most spacewalks by a woman (seven) and most spacewalk time for a woman. Williams was assigned to the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 14 and Expedition 15. In 2012, she served as a flight engineer on Expedition 32 and then commander of Expedition 33. In 2024, she returned to the ISS on the Boeing Crew Flight Test, the first crewed mission of the Boeing Starliner; her return to Earth has been delayed until February 2025. As such, from August 2024 until March 2025, Williams and fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore are pivoting ahead to undertake various scientific experiments and maintenance tasks aboard the International Space Station.
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.
Soyuz TMA-03M was a spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS). It launched on 21 December 2011 from Site One at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, carrying three members of Expedition 30 to the ISS. TMA-03M was the 112th flight of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, since the first in 1967, and the third flight of the modernised Soyuz-TMA-M version. The docking with the International Space Station took place at 19:19 Moscow Time on 23 December, three minutes ahead of schedule.
Tracy Caldwell Dyson is an American chemist and NASA astronaut. She was a mission specialist on Space Shuttle Endeavour flight STS-118 in August 2007 and has participated in two long-duration missions to the International Space Station, Expedition 23 and 24 from April to September 2010 and Expedition 70 and 71 from March to September 2024. She has completed four spacewalks, logging nearly 24 hours of extravehicular activity.
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.
Andrew Richard "Drew" Morgan is a NASA astronaut from the class of 2013.
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.
Soyuz MS-17 was a Soyuz spaceflight that was launched on 14 October 2020. It transported three crew members of the Expedition 63/64 crew to the International Space Station. Soyuz MS-17 was the 145th crewed flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. The crew consisted of a Russian commander and a Russian and American flight engineer.
Boeing Starliner-1, also called Post Certification Mission-1 (PCM-1), is the name of the first operational crewed mission of the Boeing Starliner to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Commercial Crew Program. It was originally planned as the first Starliner mission following the Starliner Crewed flight test (CFT). The CFT was not a complete success, and as of November 2024, the launch date and name for the next Starliner mission is not known.
Ivan Viktorovich Vagner is a Russian engineer and cosmonaut who was selected in October 2010. He graduated from the Baltic State Technical University in 2008, before working as an engineer for RKK Energia.
Expedition 67 was the 67th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station. The expedition began upon the departure of Soyuz MS-19 on 30 March 2022 with NASA astronaut Thomas Marshburn taking over as ISS commander. Initially, the expedition consisted of Marshburn and his three SpaceX Crew-3 crewmates Raja Chari, Kayla Barron, and Matthias Maurer, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev, and Sergey Korsakov, who launched aboard Soyuz MS-21 on March 18, 2022 and transferred from Expedition 66 alongside the Crew-3 astronauts. However, continued international collaboration has been thrown into doubt by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and related sanctions on Russia.
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 uncrewed departure of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft on 28 March 2023.
SpaceX Crew-5 was the fifth operational NASA Commercial Crew Program flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft, and the eighth overall crewed orbital flight. The mission was successfully launched on 5 October 2022 with the aim of transporting four crew members to the International Space Station (ISS). The Crew Dragon spacecraft docked at the ISS on 6 October 2022 at 21:01 UTC.
Expedition 71 was the 71st long-duration expedition to the International Space Station. The expedition began with the departure of Soyuz MS-24 on 6 April 2024 with Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko continuing his ISS command from Expedition 70. It ended with his departure on Soyuz MS-25 with crewmates from MS-24 and MS-25 on 23 September 2024.
SpaceX Crew-9 is the ninth operational NASA Commercial Crew Program flight and the 15th crewed orbital flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft. Originally scheduled to launch a crew of four to the International Space Station (ISS) in mid-August 2024, the mission was delayed by more than a month due to technical issues with the Boeing Starliner Calypso spacecraft that was docked at the ISS for the Boeing Crew Flight Test. NASA ultimately decided to send the Starliner back to Earth uncrewed, launch Crew-9 with two crew members, and return with four crew members, including the two crew members of the Boeing Crew Flight Test. After that delay and other delays largely due to weather, Crew-9 launched on 28 September at 17:17:21 UTC.
Soyuz MS-26, Russian production No. 757 and identified by NASA as Soyuz 72S, is a Russian crewed Soyuz spaceflight launched from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 11 September 2024 to the International Space Station. The mission transported three crew members, Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, along with NASA astronaut Donald Pettit.
Aleksandr Vladimirovich Gorbunov is a Russian cosmonaut and aerospace engineer. A native of Zheleznogorsk, he graduated with a degree in engineering from the Moscow Aviation Institute.