Expedition 58 Explained

ISS Expedition 58
Insignia:ISS Expedition 58 Patch.svg
Insignia Caption:Expedition 58 mission patch
Mission Type:ISS Expedition
Crew Size:3
Crew Members:Expedition 58/59:
Crew Photo:Expedition 58 crew portrait.jpg
Crew Photo Caption:(l-r) NASA Astronaut Anne McClain, Roscosmos Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and CSA Astronaut David Saint-Jacques.
Space Station:International Space Station
Start Date:20 December, 2018 01:40 UTC
End Date:15 March, 2019 01:01 UTC
Arrival Craft:Soyuz MS-11
Departure Craft:Soyuz MS-11
Previous Mission:Expedition 57
Next Mission:Expedition 59
Programme:ISS expeditions

Expedition 58 was the 58th expedition to the International Space Station, which began on December 20, 2018 with the departure of the Expedition 57 crew.[1] [2] It was commanded by cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, with astronauts Anne McClain and David Saint-Jacques as flight engineers; the trio launched on board Soyuz MS-11 on December 3, 2018, marking the 100th orbital launch of the year.[3]

Kononenko, McClain and Saint-Jacques subsequently transferred to Expedition 59 on March 15 2019, when Aleksey Ovchinin, Nick Hague and Christina Koch arrived on board Soyuz MS-12.[4] [5]

History

During early planning, the expedition was scheduled to include rookie cosmonaut Nikolai Tikhonov. However, Tikhonov's assignment was postponed (for the second time) due to delays in launching the Russian Nauka module.[6] [7] Tikhonov has been reassigned to the Soyuz MS-14 flight scheduled for late 2019.

As of October 2018, plans called for the expedition to feature a crew of five: cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin and astronaut Nick Hague would have joined the Expedition 57 crew in October 2018, and subsequently transferred to Expedition 58; they would have been joined by Kononenko, McClain and Saint-Jacques in December 2018. Ovchinin and Hague would then have returned to Earth in April 2019. Subsequently, the Expedition 59 mission would have begun with Kononenko as commander. However, the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft carrying Ocvhinin and Hague aborted during its launch on October 11, 2018; the two crew returned safely to Earth.[8]

Following the Soyuz MS-10 abort, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced on October 23, 2018 that Soyuz flights to the ISS were expected to resume in December 2018.[9] At first, it was assumed that Expedition 58 would initially consist of three crew members who would then be joined later by the crew of Soyuz MS-12, bringing the crew up to six. However, in the post-launch news conference for Soyuz MS-11, NASA announced that the Soyuz MS-12 crew would become the station Expedition 59/60 crew. Expedition 58 was therefore a three person increment.

Crew

PositionCrew member
Commander Oleg Kononenko, RSA
Fourth spaceflight
Flight Engineer 1 Anne McClain, NASA
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer 2 David Saint-Jacques, CSA
First spaceflight

Saint-Jacques is the first Canadian resident on the space station since Chris Hadfield served as commander of Expedition 35, which concluded on May 13, 2013 almost six years prior.

Uncrewed spaceflights to the ISS

Resupply missions that visited the International Space Station during Expedition 58:

Notes and References

  1. News: Astronauts arrived ISS following successful launch of Soyuz rocket . 20 December 2018 . Aerospace Technology . 5 December 2018 . Expedition 58 officially begins once the three departing spacefarers undock from the space station..
  2. News: Gebhardt . Chris . Soyuz MS-09 lands after unprecedented on-orbit repairs, inspections – NASASpaceFlight.com . 20 December 2018.
  3. News: Gebhardt . Chris . 100th orbital launch of 2018: International trio set for launch to Space Station – NASASpaceFlight.com . 3 December 2018 . NASASpaceflight.com.
  4. News: Gebhardt . Chris . Soyuz MS-12 docks with the Space Station – NASASpaceFlight.com . NASASpaceflight.com . 14 March 2019.
  5. News: Moran . Noah . Soyuz Docked to Space Station . NASA Blogs . 14 March 2019.
  6. Web site: No U.S. Crew Will Command The International Space Station in 2019 . AmericaSpace . Ben Evans . May 30, 2018 . August 18, 2018.
  7. Web site: As Soyuz MS-01 Lands, International Partners Look Ahead to Reduced Crewing in 2017 . AmericaSpace . Ben Evans . October 30, 2016 . August 18, 2018.
  8. News: Berger . Eric . A Soyuz crew makes an emergency landing after rocket fails . 11 October 2018 . Ars Technica . 11 October 2018 . en-us.
  9. Web site: NASA administrator says Russians on track for December Soyuz flight to station . Spaceflight Now . 25 October 2018.