Expedition 66

Expedition 66 is 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 to command the ISS and first French astronaut to command the orbital laboratory,[3] until 8 November 2021, when Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, who arrived aboard Soyuz MS-19, took over his command.

ISS Expedition 66
Mission typeLong-duration mission to the ISS
OperatorNASA / Roscosmos
Mission duration54 days, 20 hours and 38 minutes
Expedition
Space StationInternational Space Station
Began17 October 2021, 01:14 UTC[1]
Ended~28 March 2022
Arrived aboardSpaceX Crew-2
Soyuz MS-19
SpaceX Crew-3
Soyuz MS-21
Crew
Crew size7-10
Members

Expedition 66 mission patch, resembling that of U.S. Route 66

Expedition 66 crew potrait
 

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.[4] Crew-2 from Expedition 65 extended their tour of duty on the ISS to become part of Expedition 66,[5] along with Russian cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who both launched on Soyuz MS-18 and will return 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.[6] At the end of Expedition 66 in early 2022, Shkaplerov, Dubrov, Vande Hei, Chari, Marshburn, Barron, and Maurer are scheduled to remain on the ISS as part of Expedition 67.[7]

Crew

Expedition Crew
Position First part
(17 October – 8 November 2021)		 Second part
(8–11 November 2021)[8]		 Third part
(12 November 2021 – 18 March 2022)		 Fourth part
(18 March – 28 March 2022)
Commander Thomas Pesquet, ESA
Second spaceflight		 Anton Shkaplerov, Roscosmos
Fourth spaceflight
Flight Engineer 1 Pyotr Dubrov, Roscosmos
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer 2 Mark Vande Hei, NASA
Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer 3 Shane Kimbrough, NASA
Third spaceflight		 Raja Chari, NASA
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer 4 Megan McArthur, NASA
Second spaceflight		 Thomas Marshburn, NASA
Third spaceflight
Flight Engineer 5 Akihiko Hoshide, JAXA
Third spaceflight		 Kayla Barron, NASA
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer 6 Anton Shkaplerov, Roscosmos
Fourth spaceflight		 Matthias Maurer, ESA
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer 7 Oleg Artemyev, Roscosmos
Third spaceflight
Flight Engineer 8 Denis Matveev, Roscosmos
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer 9 Sergey Korsakov, Roscosmos
First spaceflight

Non Expedition Visiting Crew
Mission Astronauts Docking (UTC) Undocking (UTC) Duration
Soyuz MS-20 Alexander Misurkin, RSA
Yusaku Maezawa, SA
Yozo Hirano, SA		 8 December, 2021
13:41		 20 December, 2021
 12 days
Maezawa and Hirano will be the first space tourists from Japan.[9] Maezawa purchased two seats from Space Adventures.[10] There is no backup crew for Maezawa but Shun Ogiso was backup for Hirano.

Notes
  1. The European portion of SpaceX Crew-2 is called Alpha, and is headed by Thomas Pesquet.
  2. Current ISS Expedition 66 commander.
  3. The European portion of SpaceX Crew-3 is called Cosmic Kiss, which is headed by Matthias Maurer.

References
  1. "ISS Expedition 66". spacefacts.de. 6 November 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  2. "NASA Television Upcoming Events". Archived from the original on 2021-09-24. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
  3. York, Joanna (2021-03-19). "French astronaut next International Space Station commander". www.connexionfrance.com. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  4. Gohd, Chelsea (23 April 2021). "SpaceX's Crew-2 launch lights up the predawn sky with a spectacular show (photos)". Retrieved 24 April 2021.
  5. "Alpha 2021" (PDF). esamultimedia.esa.int. European Space Agency. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  6. "NASA, SpaceX Adjust Crew-2 Station Departure Date". 8 November 2021.
  7. "Soyuz MS-19 to send a "movie crew" to ISS". www.russianspaceweb.com. Retrieved 2021-10-04.
  8. "NASA SpaceX Crew-2 to Discuss Station Mission, Upcoming Splashdown". NASA. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
  9. "Actress and moon-bound billionaire to film on space station missions". 2021-05-13. Retrieved 2021-07-23.
  10. @spaceadventures (May 13, 2021). "Yusaku Maezawa purchased two seats on the #Soyuz spacecraft from Space Adventures. He and his assistant, Yozo Hirano, will begin spaceflight training in Russia next month after passing the required medical examinations. @yousuckMZ
    @Roscosmos
    #spaceflight"     (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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