Loading AI tools
Long-duration mission to the International Space Station From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
![]() Promotional poster | |
Mission type | Long-duration mission to the ISS |
---|---|
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 | SpaceX Crew-2 Soyuz MS-19 SpaceX Crew-3 Soyuz MS-21 |
Departed aboard | SpaceX Crew-2 Soyuz MS-19 |
Crew | |
Crew size | 7-10 |
Members | |
EVAs | 4 |
EVA duration | 25 hours 31 minutes |
![]() Expedition 66 mission patch, resembling that of U.S. Route 66 ![]() Expedition 66 crew portrait |
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]
Flight | Astronaut | First part (17 October – 8 November 2021) |
Second part (8–11 November 2021)[10] |
Third part (11 November 2021 – 18 March 2022) |
Fourth part (18 – 30 March 2022) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Soyuz MS-19 | ![]() Fourth and last spaceflight |
Flight Engineer | Commander | ||
![]() First spaceflight |
Flight Engineer | ||||
![]() Second spaceflight |
Flight Engineer | ||||
SpaceX Crew-2 | ![]() Third and last spaceflight |
Flight Engineer | Off Station | ||
![]() Second spaceflight |
Flight Engineer | Off Station | |||
![]() Third spaceflight |
Flight Engineer | Off Station | |||
![]() Second spaceflight |
Commander | Off Station | |||
SpaceX Crew-3 | ![]() First spaceflight |
Off Station | Flight Engineer | ||
![]() Third and last spaceflight |
Off Station | Flight Engineer | |||
![]() First spaceflight |
Off Station | Flight Engineer | |||
![]() First spaceflight |
Off Station | Flight Engineer | |||
Soyuz MS-21 | ![]() Third spaceflight |
Off Station | Flight Engineer | ||
![]() Only spaceflight |
Off Station | Flight Engineer | |||
![]() First spaceflight |
Off Station | Flight Engineer |