Long-duration mission to the International Space Station
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[ 2] [ 3] [ 4] with Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen taking over the ISS command. It ended with the departure of Soyuz MS-24 on 6 April 2024.[ 5]
Background, Crew and Events
Initially, the expedition consisted of Andreas and his three SpaceX Crew-7 crewmates, Jasmin Moghbeli , Satoshi Furukawa , and Konstantin Borisov from America, Japan, and Russia respectively, as well as Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko (who later assumed the ISS command) and Nikolai Chub (both on a year long ISS mission), and another American astronaut Loral O'Hara , who launched aboard Soyuz MS-24 on September 15, 2023 and were transferred from Expedition 69 alongside the SpaceX Crew-7 astronauts.[ 6]
However, even after several months of outfitting EVAs and RTOd heat radiator installation, six months later on 9 October 2023, the Nauka RTOd radiator malfunctioned before active use of Nauka (the purpose of RTOd installation is to radiate heat from Nauka experiments). The malfunction, a leak, rendered the RTOd radiator unusable for Nauka. This is the third ISS radiator leak after Soyuz MS-22 and Progress MS-21 radiator leaks. If a spare RTOd is not available, Nauka experiments will have to rely on Nauka's main launch radiator and the module could never be utilized to its full capacity.[ 7] [ 8]
The crew was later replenished by subsequent crew rotation missions in the expedition, SpaceX Crew-8 , consisting of American astronauts Matthew Dominick , Michael Barratt , Jeanette Epps , and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin , and Soyuz MS-25 , consisting of Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky , Belarusian space tourist Marina Vasilevskaya , and American astronaut Tracy Caldwell-Dyson .[ 5] Originally, the Boeing Starliner Crewed Flight Test was supposed to dock during the expedition. Instead, it was again moved farther down the vehicle schedule to May during Expedition 71 .[ 9] The space station was also visited by a non-expedition crew, Axiom Mission 3 , consisting of former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría (who previously commanded the station during Expedition 14 ), Italian astronaut Walter Villadei , ESA Swedish Project astronaut Marcus Wandt , and Turkish astronaut Alper Gezeravcı .
Events manifest
Events involving crewed spacecraft are listed in bold.
Previous mission: Expedition 69
27 September 2023 – Soyuz MS-23 Undocking, official switch from Expedition 69
9 October 2023 – Nauka outfitting RtoD Add-on Heat Radiator Leak Event
25/26 October 2023 – EVA 1 (VKD-61) Kononenko/Chub: 7 hrs, 41 mins[ 10]
1 November 2023 – EVA 2 (US-89) Moghbeli/O'Hara: 6 hrs, 42 mins[ 11]
11 November 2023 – CRS SpX-29 Docking
29 November 2023 – Progress MS-23/84P Undocking
3 December 2023 – Progress MS-25/86P Docking
21 December 2023 – CRS SpX-29 Undocking
22 December 2023 – CRS NG-19 Unberthing & Release
20 January 2024 – Axiom Mission 3 Docking (Non-Expedition crew)
1 February 2024 – CRS Cygnus NG-20 Capture & Berthing
7 February 2024 – Axiom Mission 3 Undocking (Non-Expedition crew)
13 February 2024 – Progress MS-24/85P Undocking
17 February 2024 – Progress MS-26/87P Docking[ 12]
5 March 2024 – SpaceX Crew-8 Docking[ 13]
10 March 2024 – ISS Expedition 70 Change of Command Ceremony from Andreas Mogensen to Oleg Kononenko
11 March 2024 – SpaceX Crew-7 Undocking
23 March 2024 – CRS SpX-30 Docking
25 March 2024 – Soyuz MS-25 Docking (Expedition 70/71 & ISS EP-21 )
29 March 2024 – Kononenko and Chub's seat liner from Soyuz MS-24 swapped with Novitsky and Vasilevskaya's seat liner from Soyuz MS-25 for MS-24 landing[ 14]
6 April 2024 – Soyuz MS-24 Undocking, official switch to Expedition 71
Next: Expedition 71
Crew
Flight[ 5]
Astronaut
Increment 70a
Increment 70b
Increment 70c
Increment 70d
27 Sep 2023 - 5 Mar 2024
5 - 11 Mar 2024
11 - 25 Mar 2024
25 Mar - 6 Apr 2024
Soyuz MS-24
Oleg Kononenko , Roscosmos Fifth spaceflight
Flight Engineer
Commander[ 16]
Nikolai Chub , Roscosmos First spaceflight
Flight Engineer
Loral O'Hara , NASA First spaceflight
Flight Engineer
SpaceX Crew-7
Jasmin Moghbeli , NASA First spaceflight
Flight Engineer
Off Station
Andreas Mogensen , ESA Second spaceflight
Commander
Off Station
Satoshi Furukawa , JAXA Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer
Off Station
Konstantin Borisov , Roscosmos First spaceflight
Flight Engineer
Off Station
SpaceX Crew-8
Matthew Dominick , NASA First spaceflight
Off Station
Flight Engineer
Michael Barratt , NASA Third spaceflight
Off Station
Flight Engineer
Jeanette Epps , NASA First spaceflight
Off Station
Flight Engineer
Alexander Grebenkin , Roscosmos First spaceflight
Off Station
Flight Engineer
Soyuz MS-25
Tracy Caldwell-Dyson , NASA Third spaceflight
Off Station
Flight Engineer
Besides the expedition crew, Crew Dragon visited the station, carrying Axiom Mission 3 , consisting of Michael López-Alegría of Axiom Space (formerly NASA ), Walter Villadei of the Italian Ministry of Defence , Alper Gezeravcı of the Turkish Space Agency , and Marcus Wandt of the Swedish National Space Agency .[ 17]
The Soyuz MS-25 vehicle carried expedition member Tracy Caldwell-Dyson and visitors Oleg Novitsky of Roscosmos and Marina Vasilevskaya , a flight attendant trained by the Belarus Space Agency for ISS EP-21 . One week after docking, Novitsky and Vasilevskaya returned with expedition member Loral O'Hara on the Soyuz MS-24 vehicle. Meanwhile, Kononenko and Chub, who launched on MS-24, will return on the MS-25 vehicle.[ 5]
Vehicle manifest
For the first time, during 25 March–6 April 2024, all seven currently active ports of ISS were occupied.[ 18]
Segment
US Orbital Segment
Russian Segment
Period
Harmony forward
Harmony zenith
Harmony nadir
Unity nadir
Rassvet nadir
Prichal nadir
Poisk zenith
Zvezda aft
27 Sep–11 Nov 2023
Vacant
SpaceX Crew-7
Vacant
CRS NG-19
Soyuz MS-24/70S
Vacant
Progress MS-23/84P
Progress MS-24/85P
11–29 Nov 2023
CRS SpX-29
29 Nov–3 Dec 2023
Vacant
3–21 Dec 2023
Progress MS-25/86P
21–22 Dec 2023
Vacant
22 Dec 2023–20 Jan 2024
Vacant
20 Jan–1 Feb 2024
Ax-3
1–7 Feb 2024
CRS NG-20
7–13 Feb 2024
Vacant
13–17 Feb 2024
Vacant
17 Feb–5 Mar 2024
Progress MS-26/87P
5–11 Mar 2024
SpaceX Crew-8
11–23 Mar 2024
Vacant
23–25 Mar 2024
CRS SpX-30
25 Mar–6 Apr 2024
Soyuz MS-25/71S
The Prichal aft, forward, starboard, and aft ports all have yet to be used since the module originally docked to the station and are not included in the table.
References
^ Graf, Abby (27 September 2023). "Crewed Soyuz Spacecraft Undocking Live on NASA TV" . blogs.nasa.gov . NASA . Archived from the original on 15 October 2023. Retrieved 27 September 2023 .
^ Dinner, Josh (23 August 2023). "SpaceX Crew-7 astronauts will handle over 200 science experiments on ISS" . Space.com . Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023 .
^ Evans, Ben (10 September 2023). "Better Late Than Never: New ISS Crew Prepares to Fly, All-Female EVAs Possible in October" . AmericaSpace.com . Archived from the original on 29 September 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023 .
^ Graf, Abby (27 September 2023). "Crewed Soyuz Spacecraft Undocking Live on NASA TV" . blogs.nasa.gov . NASA . Archived from the original on 15 October 2023. Retrieved 27 September 2023 .
^ a b c d e f "Complete ISS flight events" . NasaSpaceFlight.com Forum . 15 April 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2020 .
^ Shipkenov, Maxim. "Soyuz MS-24 preps continue days before launch" . ABS-CBN . Archived from the original on 29 September 2023.
^ Robinson-Smith, Will. "Russian space station laboratory module appears to spring coolant leak – Spaceflight Now" . Archived from the original on 14 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023 .
^ "Госкорпорация «Роскосмос»" . Telegram . Retrieved 2023-10-10 .
^ Sturm, Karin (20 November 2023). "Stars aligning for Boeing crew launch in April" . NASASpaceFlight.com . Archived from the original on 27 December 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023 .
^ Pearlman, Robert Z. (26 October 2023). "Cosmonauts on ISS spacewalk encounter coolant 'blob' while inspecting leaky radiator" . Space.com . Archived from the original on 23 December 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023 .
^ Pearlman, Robert Z. (1 November 2023). "NASA astronauts complete 4th-ever all-female spacewalk outside International Space Station" . Space.com . Archived from the original on 20 January 2024. Retrieved 23 December 2023 .
^ a b "Launch Schedule – Spaceflight Now" . Retrieved 2023-02-23 .
^ Finch, Joshua; Cheshier, Leah, eds. (17 January 2024). "NASA Sets Briefings for Crew-8, International Space Station Missions" (Press release). NASA . M24-006. Archived from the original on 19 January 2024. Retrieved 22 January 2024 .
^ "Preparations for landing Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft underway" . eng.belta.by . 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2024-03-30 .
^ "Microgravity Research Flights" . Glenn Research Center . NASA . 10 November 2020. Archived from the original on 18 July 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2020 .
^ Harwood, William (2024-03-11). "4 International Space Station crew members undock, head for Tuesday splashdown in Gulf of Mexico - CBS News" . www.cbsnews.com . Retrieved 2024-03-12 .
^ Howell, Elizabeth (13 December 2023). "SpaceX to launch 3rd private astronaut mission to the ISS for Axiom Space on Jan. 9" . Space.com . Archived from the original on 20 January 2024. Retrieved 27 December 2023 .
^ "Soyuz MS-25 Crew Hatch Opening and Welcome Remarks | C-SPAN.org" . www.c-span.org . Retrieved 2024-03-25 .
2000–2004 International Space Station Emblem 2005–2009 2010–2014 2015–2019 Since 2020 Related
Displayed and current expeditions are in underline
Future expeditions in italics
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