| 👁 Image Promotional poster | |
| Mission type | Long-duration expedition |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA / Roscosmos |
| Mission duration | 164 days, 6 hours and 7 minutes |
| Expedition | |
| Space station | International Space Station |
| Began | 17 October 2021, 01:14 UTC[1] |
| Ended | 30 March 2022, 07:21:03[1] |
| Arrived aboard | Soyuz MS-18 SpaceX Crew-2 Soyuz MS-19 SpaceX Crew-3 Soyuz MS-21 |
| Departed aboard | SpaceX Crew-2 Soyuz MS-19 |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 3-10 |
| Members |
|
| EVAs | 4 |
| EVA duration | 25 hours, 31 minutes |
| 👁 Image Expedition 66 mission patch, resembling that of U.S. Route 66 👁 Image Expedition 66 crew portrait | |
Expedition 66 was the 66th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station. The mission began after the departure of Soyuz MS-18 on 17 October 2021.[2] It was commanded by European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, the fourth European astronaut and first French astronaut to command the ISS[3] until 8 November 2021 when Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, who arrived aboard Soyuz MS-19, took over his command.[4]
Pesquet was transported to the ISS on SpaceX Crew-2 in April 2021, joined by NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide.[5] Crew-2 from Expedition 65 extended their tour of duty on the ISS to become part of Expedition 66,[6] along with Russian cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who both launched on Soyuz MS-18 and returned to Earth on Soyuz MS-19, following their extended mission. Russian cosmonaut Shkaplerov launched on Soyuz MS-19, along with two participants in the joint film project between Roscosmos and Channel One, The Challenge: film director Klim Shipenko and actress Yulia Peresild.
SpaceX Crew-3, launched 10 November 2021, carried NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, and Kayla Barron and ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer to the ISS.[7] At the end of Expedition 66, they remained on the ISS as part of Expedition 67 while Dubrov and Vande Hei returned to Earth aboard Soyuz MS-19.[8] However, continued international collaboration has been thrown into doubt by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and related sanctions on Russia.[9]
Crew
[edit]| Flight | Astronaut | First part (17October – 8November 2021) |
Second part (8–11November 2021)[10] |
Third part (11November 2021 – 18March 2022) |
Fourth part (18 – 30March 2022) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soyuz MS-19 | 👁 Russia Anton Shkaplerov, Roscosmos Fourth and last spaceflight |
Flight engineer | Commander | ||
| 👁 Russia Pyotr Dubrov, Roscosmos First spaceflight |
Flight engineer | ||||
| 👁 United States Mark T. Vande Hei, NASA Second spaceflight |
Flight engineer | ||||
| SpaceX Crew-2 | 👁 United States Shane Kimbrough, NASA Third and last spaceflight |
Flight engineer | Off station | ||
| 👁 United States Megan McArthur, NASA Second and last spaceflight |
Flight engineer | Off station | |||
| 👁 Japan Akihiko Hoshide, JAXA Third spaceflight |
Flight engineer | Off station | |||
| 👁 France Thomas Pesquet, ESA Second spaceflight |
Commander | Off station | |||
| SpaceX Crew-3 | 👁 United States Raja Chari, NASA First spaceflight |
Off station | Flight engineer | ||
| 👁 United States Thomas Marshburn, NASA Third and last spaceflight |
Off station | Flight engineer | |||
| 👁 Germany Matthias Maurer, ESA First spaceflight |
Off station | Flight engineer | |||
| 👁 United States Kayla Barron, NASA First spaceflight |
Off station | Flight engineer | |||
| Soyuz MS-21 | 👁 Russia Oleg Artemyev, Roscosmos Third spaceflight |
Off station | Flight engineer | ||
| 👁 Russia Denis Matveev, Roscosmos Only spaceflight |
Off station | Flight engineer | |||
| 👁 Russia Sergey Korsakov, Roscosmos First spaceflight |
Off station | Flight engineer | |||
References
[edit]- ^ a b "ISS Expedition 66". spacefacts.de. 6 November 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
- ^ "NASA Television Upcoming Events". 16 October 2017. Archived from the original on 2021-09-24. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
- ^ York, Joanna (2021-03-19). "French astronaut next International Space Station commander". www.connexionfrance.com. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
- ^ "Space Launch Now - ISS Expedition 66 change of command ceremony".
- ^ Gohd, Chelsea (23 April 2021). "SpaceX's Crew-2 launch lights up the predawn sky with a spectacular show (photos)". Space.com. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
- ^ "Alpha 2021" (PDF). esamultimedia.esa.int. European Space Agency. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
- ^ "NASA, SpaceX Adjust Crew-2 Station Departure Date". 8 November 2021.
- ^ "Soyuz MS-19 to send a "movie crew" to ISS". www.russianspaceweb.com. Retrieved 2021-10-04.
- ^ Witze, Alexandra (11 March 2022). "Russia's invasion of Ukraine is redrawing the geopolitics of space". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-022-00727-x. PMID 35277688. S2CID 247407886. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
- ^ "NASA SpaceX Crew-2 to Discuss Station Mission, Upcoming Splashdown". NASA. 4 November 2021. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
