Expedition 69 Explained

Mission Type:Long-duration mission to ISS
Operator:NASA / Roscosmos
Space Station:International Space Station
Start Date:28 March 2023
Arrival Craft:Soyuz MS-23 (uncrewed launch)
SpaceX Crew-6
Soyuz MS-24
SpaceX Crew-7
Departure Craft:Soyuz MS-23
SpaceX Crew-6
End Date:27 September 2023
Crew Size:7–11
Crew Evas:8
Crew Eva Duration:51 hours and 58 minutes
Insignia:ISS Expedition 69 Patch.png
Insignia Caption:Expedition 69 mission patch
Insignia Size:200px
Crew Photo:Expedition 69 Crew Portrait.jpg
Crew Photo Caption:Expedition 69 crew portrait
Crew Photo Size:300px
Programme:Expeditions
Previous Mission:Expedition 68
Next Mission:Expedition 70

Expedition 69 was the 69th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station. The expedition began with the uncrewed departure of Soyuz MS-22 in March 2023 with Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev continuing his ISS command from Expedition 68.[1] It ended with his departure with his crewmates onboard Soyuz MS-23 on 27 September 2023.

Background, Crew and Events

Initially, the expedition consisted of Prokopyev and his two Soyuz MS-22/23 crewmates, Dmitry Petelin from Russia and American astronaut Francisco Rubio, as well as American astronauts Stephen G. Bowen and Warren Hoburg, Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi, and another Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, who launched aboard SpaceX Crew-6 on March 2, 2023 and were transferred from Expedition 68 alongside the Soyuz MS-22/23 crew.[2] The departure of the MS-22 spacecraft with its crew was ultimately canceled because of a coolant leak in December 2022. The decision was made to return Soyuz MS-22 uncrewed and launch Soyuz MS-23 uncrewed[3] as its replacement. By the time the MS-22/23 crew returned to Earth on 27 September 2023, which was the end of Expedition 69, they had spent more than a year in space due to their mission extension.[4] [5] [6]

The manifest changes do not affect US crew rotation plans, where SpaceX Crew-5 was replaced by Crew-6 in February during Expedition 68.[7]

Previously, US crew handovers since flights returned in 2020 took place during a new expedition, about 2–3 weeks after the Soyuz handover occurs (which officially changes the Expeditions). However, in this handover, the swap occurred before the Soyuz MS-22 departure date of March 28. The early US handover was a part of the manifest prior to the Soyuz MS-22 coolant leak in December 2022.[8]

The crew was later replenished by subsequent crew rotation missions in the expedition, SpaceX Crew-7, consisting of NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen, Satoshi Furukawa from Japan, and Russian cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov, and Soyuz MS-24, consisting of Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub (both on a year long ISS mission) and another American astronaut Loral O'Hara. The space station was also visited by a non-expedition crew, Axiom Mission 2, consisting of former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson (who had previously commanded the station twice during Expedition 16 and Expedition 51), John Shoffner, Ali AlQarni, and Rayyanah Barnawi.

Events manifest

Events involving crewed spacecraft are listed in bold.

Previous mission: Expedition 68

28 March 2023 – Soyuz MS-22 Uncrewed undocking, official switch from Expedition 68

6 April 2023 – Soyuz MS-23 Redocking

15 April 2023 – CRS SpX-27 Undocking

16 April 2023 – EVA 1 (VKD-56): 7 hrs, 55 mins

16 April 2023 – Relocation of Nauka outfitting: Moving "RtoD" add-on heat radiator from Rassvet module to Nauka module

21 April 2023 – CRS NG-18 Unberthing & Release

28 April 2023 – EVA 2 (US-86): 7 hrs, 1 min

3–4 May 2023 – EVA 3 (VKD-57): 7 hrs, 11 mins

4 May 2023 – Relocation of Nauka outfitting: Moving experiments airlock "ShK" from Rassvet module to Nauka module forward port

6 May 2023 – SpaceX Crew-6 Redocking

12 May 2023 – EVA 4 (VKD-58): 5 hrs, 14 mins

22 May 2023 – Axiom Mission 2 Docking (Non-Expedition crew)

24 May 2023 – Progress MS-23/84P Docking[9]

30 May 2023 – Axiom Mission 2 Undocking (Non-Expedition crew)

1 June 2023 – CRS SpX-28 Docking

9 June 2023 – EVA 5 (US EVA-87): 6 hrs, 3 mins, installed the fifth iROSA at Array 1A

15 June 2023 – EVA 6 (US EVA-88): 5 hrs, 35 mins, installed the sixth and last iROSA at Array 1B

22 June 2023 – EVA 7 (VKD-59): 6 hrs, 24 mins

29 June 2023 – CRS SpX-28 Undocking

4 August 2023 – CRS NG-19 Capture & Berthing

9 August 2023 – EVA 8 (VKD-60): 6 hrs, 35 mins

9 August 2023 – Relocation of Nauka outfitting: Moving European Robotic Arm's Portable Workpost from Rassvet module to Nauka module

20 August 2023 – Progress MS-22/83P Undocking

25 August 2023 – Progress MS-24/85P Docking

27 August 2023 – SpaceX Crew-7 Docking

3 September 2023 – SpaceX Crew-6 Undocking

15 September 2023 – Soyuz MS-24 Docking

26 September 2023 – ISS Expedition 69/70 Change of Command Ceremony from Sergey Prokopyev to Andreas Mogensen

27 September 2023 – Soyuz MS-23 Undocking, official switch to Expedition 70

Next: Expedition 70

Crew

FlightCrewmemberIncrement 69aIncrement 69bIncrement 69cIncrement 69d
28 Mar–27 Aug 202327 Aug–3 Sep 20233–15 Sep 202315–27 Sep 2023
Soyuz MS-23 Sergey Prokopyev, Roscosmos
Second spaceflight
Commander
Dmitry Petelin, Roscosmos
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer
Francisco Rubio, NASA
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer
SpaceX Crew-6 Stephen Bowen, NASA
Fourth spaceflight
Flight EngineerOff Station
Warren Hoburg, NASA
First spaceflight
Flight EngineerOff Station
Sultan Al Neyadi, MBRSC
First spaceflight
Flight EngineerOff Station
Andrey Fedyaev, Roscosmos
First spaceflight
Flight EngineerOff Station
SpaceX Crew-7 Jasmin Moghbeli, NASA
First spaceflight
Off StationFlight Engineer
Andreas Mogensen, ESA
Second spaceflight
Off StationFlight Engineer
Satoshi Furukawa, JAXA
Second spaceflight
Off StationFlight Engineer
Konstantin Borisov, Roscosmos
First spaceflight
Off StationFlight Engineer
Soyuz MS-24 Oleg Kononenko, Roscosmos
Fifth spaceflight
Off StationFlight Engineer
Nikolai Chub, Roscosmos
First spaceflight
Off StationFlight Engineer
Loral O'Hara, NASA
First spaceflight
Off StationFlight Engineer
Sources:[10]

Vehicle manifest

VehiclePurposePortDocking/Capture DateUndocking Date
Vehicles inherited from Expedition 67 or Expedition 68
CRS NG-18CargoUnity nadir9 Nov 2022 (Exp. 68)[11] 21 Apr 2023
Progress MS-22/83PCargoZvezda aft11 Feb 2023 (Exp. 68)20 Aug 2023
Soyuz MS-23/69SExp. 67/68/69 crewPoisk zenith24 Feb 2023 (Exp. 68)[12] 6 Apr 2023 (redock)
SpaceX Crew-6 "Endeavour"Exp. 68/69 crewHarmony zenith28 Feb 2023 (Exp. 68)[13] 6 May 2023 (redock)
CRS SpX-27CargoHarmony forward16 Mar 2023 (Exp. 68)[14] 16 Apr 2023
Vehicles docked during Expedition 69
Soyuz MS-23/69SExp. 67/68/69 crewPrichal nadir6 Apr 2023 (redock)[15] 27 Sep 2023
SpaceX Crew-6 "Endeavour"Exp. 68/69 crewHarmony forward6 May 2023 (redock)[16] 3 Sep 2023
Ax-2Visiting commercial mission Harmony zenith22 May 202330 May 2023
Progress MS-23/84PCargoPoisk zenith24 May 202329 Nov 2023 (Exp. 70)
CRS SpX-28CargoHarmony forward6 Jun 202329 Jun 2023
CRS NG-19CargoUnity nadir4 Aug 202322 Dec 2023 (Exp. 70)
Progress MS-24/85PCargoZvezda aft25 Aug 202313 Feb 2024 (Exp. 70)
SpaceX Crew-7 "Endurance"Exp. 69/70 crewHarmony zenith27 Aug 202311 Mar 2024 (Exp. 70)
Soyuz MS-24/70S "Antares"Exp. 69/70 crewRasssvet nadir15 Sep 20236 Apr 2024 (Exp. 70)

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Garcia . Mark . Uncrewed Soyuz Spacecraft Undocks from Station . 2023-03-29 . blogs.nasa.gov . en-US.
  2. Web site: Garcia . Mark . Uncrewed Soyuz Spaceship Lands in Kazakhstan . 2023-03-29 . blogs.nasa.gov . en-US.
  3. Web site: Foust . Jeff . 2023-01-11 . Roscosmos to launch uncrewed Soyuz to replace damaged spacecraft at ISS . 2023-01-14 . SpaceNews . en-US.
  4. Web site: International Space Station Operations, Soyuz Status Update – Space Station . 2023-01-13 . blogs.nasa.gov . en-US.
  5. Web site: 2023-01-11 . Roscosmos and NASA Have a Plan to Replace Damaged Soyuz Spacecraft at ISS . 2023-01-13 . Gizmodo . en.
  6. Web site: Wattles . Ashley Strickland,Jackie . 2023-01-11 . Roscosmos will send replacement spacecraft to return crew to Earth after Soyuz leak . 2023-01-14 . CNN . en.
  7. Web site: Josh Dinner . 2023-01-10 . SpaceX and NASA target Crew-6 astronaut launch in mid-February . 2023-01-13 . Space.com . en.
  8. Web site: SpaceX launches first NASA astronauts to fly from US since shuttle collectSPACE . 2023-01-14 . collectSPACE.com.
  9. Web site: Launch Schedule – Spaceflight Now . 2023-02-23 . en-US.
  10. Web site: ISS Expedition Reports . 2023-04-22 . spacefacts.de.
  11. Web site: Navin . Joseph . 2022-11-07 . SS Sally Ride Cygnus arrives at ISS on NG-18 mission . 2023-01-19 . NASASpaceFlight.com . en-US.
  12. Web site: updated . Elizabeth Howell last . 2023-02-22 . Watch Russia launch replacement Soyuz to International Space Station tonight (Feb. 23) . 2023-02-23 . Space.com . en.
  13. Web site: Heidler . Scott . 2023-02-22 . Launch date postponed for SpaceX Crew-6 . 2023-02-23 . WESH . en.
  14. https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/03/spacex-crs-27/
  15. https://scitechdaily.com/astronaut-and-cosmonauts-fly-soyuz-crew-ship-to-new-docking-port-on-space-station/
  16. Web site: Heidler . Scott . 2023-02-22 . Launch date postponed for SpaceX Crew-6 . 2023-02-23 . WESH . en.