ISS Expedition 63
Mission emblem | |||
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Mission dates | |||
Mission: | ISS Expedition 63 | ||
Crew: | 5 (temporarily up to 7) | ||
Rescue ships: |
Soyuz MS-16 SpX-DM2 USCV-1 (planned) |
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Space station: | ISS | ||
Start: | April 17, 2020, 03:53 UTC | ||
Started by: | Decoupling from Soyuz MS-15 | ||
The End: | October 21, 2020 (planned) | ||
Ended by: | Decoupling from Soyuz MS-16 | ||
Duration: | 187 days (planned) | ||
Team photo | |||
v. l. To the right: Chris Cassidy, Anatoli Iwanischin and Iwan Wagner |
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v. l. To the right: Douglas G. Hurley, Robert L. Behnken |
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navigation | |||
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ISS Expedition 63 is the mission name for the 63rd long-term crew of the International Space Station (ISS). The mission began with the decoupling of the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft from the ISS on April 17, 2020 and is expected to end with the Soyuz MS-16 decoupling in October 2020.
team
Main crew
Since Expedition 20 in 2009, the core crew of the ISS has consisted of six space travelers, each participating in two successive expeditions. Due to delays in the completion of the new US spaceships Crew Dragon and CST-100 Starliner , the ISS has only been manned by at least three people since February 6, 2020.
The three-man regular team of Expedition 63 reached the space station a week before the start of the expedition with the Russian feeder flight Soyuz MS-16 :
- Chris Cassidy (3rd space flight), Commander ( USA / NASA )
- Anatoli Iwanischin (3rd space flight), flight engineer ( Russia / Roskosmos )
- Iwan Wagner (1st spaceflight), flight engineer (Russia / Roskosmos)
At the end of May 2020, NASA's SpX-DM2 flight brought two more astronauts to the ISS. These were only part of Expedition 63 until the beginning of August 2020, as the spaceship used is designed for a maximum of 110 days of flight duration:
- Douglas Hurley (3rd spaceflight), flight engineer (USA / NASA)
- Robert Behnken (3rd space flight), flight engineer (USA / NASA)
Substitute team
Since Expedition 20, no official replacement team has been announced due to the permanent training for the six-person crew. Unofficially, the backup crews of the respective feeder spaceships (see there) are considered substitutes. As a rule, these crews are then deployed two missions later.
Mission description
With a planned duration of a good six months, Expedition 63 is the longest since Expedition 17 in 2008.
Freight traffic
As the first supply flight during Expedition 63, the Russian space freighter Progress MS-14 reached the ISS on April 25, 2020 . A good two weeks later, the US freighter Cygnus NG-13 “Robert H. Lawrence” with the “ Canadarm ” gripper arm was uncoupled from the station and released for its return journey to Earth.
On May 25, the last copy of the Japanese supply spaceship H-2 Transfer Vehicle "Kounotori" docked with the HTV-9 mission . It brought 6.2 tons of cargo to the ISS, including the Solid Combustion Experiment Module device for investigating combustion processes in weightlessness and new lithium-ion batteries for powering the station. The HTV will in future be replaced by the newly developed HTV-X . The Russian space ship Progress MS-13 cast off on July 8 and was replaced by Progress MS-15 on July 23.
Other planned flight movements are:
- Casting off HTV-9 in August
- Arrival of the US space freighter Cygnus NG-14 in October
An unmanned test flight of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is also planned for the second half of the year . This can also bring smaller amounts of cargo to the ISS.
Space operations
Several spacecraft missions are planned on the ISS during Expedition 63 . Among other things, batteries in the S6 segment need to be replaced and upgrades made to the European Columbus module . Since at least one US astronaut is on board at least at times, Anatoly Iwanischin also tried using the American spacesuits to be on the safe side.
See also
Web links
- ISS-Expedition 63 on the website of NASA (English)
- ISS-Expedition 63 at Spacefacts.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Touchdown! Expedition 62 Returns to Earth, Completes Station Mission . NASA, April 17, 2020 (English).
- ↑ SMSR Integrated Master Schedule . NASA, April 27, 2020.
- ↑ a b Kirk Shireman: International Space Station Status (PDF, 52 MB), page 5. NASA, May 2020.
- ^ NASA, SpaceX to Launch First Astronauts to Space Station from US Since 2011 . NASA, April 17, 2020
- ↑ Stephen Clark: Cygnus departs space station, beginning extended experimental mission . Spaceflight Now, May 11, 2020.
- ↑ HTV-9 arrives at ISS on final mission . Nasaspaceflight.com, May 25, 2020.
- ↑ HTV9 payload . JAXA, last updated March 14, 2020, accessed May 26, 2020.
- ↑ TASS: Russia's Progress MS-13 cargo spacecraft buried in Pacific - Roscosmos. July 9, 2020, accessed on August 7, 2020 .
- ^ Joseph Navin, Chris Gebhardt: Progress MS-15 arrives at Station with eventful automated docking. nasaspaceflight.com, July 23, 2020, accessed August 7, 2020 .
- ^ Launch Schedule. Spaceflight Now, August 4, 2020, accessed August 7, 2020 .
- ↑ Marcel-Garcia Spacesuit Work and Heart Research Fill Crew Day . NASA ISS blog, April 29, 2020.
- ↑ Russian Cosmonauts May Conduct Spacewalk In US-Made Spacesuits In 2020 - Training Center . Urdu Point, October 28, 2019.