Current ISS Expedition
Expedition 70 is the 70th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station. The expedition began with the departure of Soyuz MS-23 on 27 September 2023[2][3][4] with Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen taking over the ISS command from Expedition 69 cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev. It will end with the departure of NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara on Soyuz MS-24 on 2 April 2024.[5]
Background, Crew and Events
Initially, the expedition consisted of Andreas and his three SpaceX Crew-7 crewmates, Jasmin Moghbeli, Satoshi Furukawa and Konstantin Borisov from America, Japan, and Russia respectively, as well as Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub (both on a year long ISS mission) and another American astronaut Loral O'Hara, who launched aboard Soyuz MS-24 on September 15, 2023 and were transferred from Expedition 69 alongside the SpaceX Crew-7 astronauts.[6]
However, even after several months of outfitting EVAs and RTOd heat radiator installation, six months later on 9 October 2023, the Nauka RTOd radiator malfunctioned before active use of Nauka (the purpose of RTOd installation is to radiate heat from Nauka experiments). The malfunction, a leak, rendered the RTOd radiator unusable for Nauka. This is the third ISS radiator leak after Soyuz MS-22 and Progress MS-21 radiator leaks. If a spare RTOd is not available, Nauka experiments will have to rely on Nauka's main launch radiator and the module could never be utilized to its full capacity.[7][8]
Later, the crew was replenished by subsequent missions in both expedition and visiting crews, i.e., Axiom Mission 3, (consisting of American Michael López-Alegría, Italian astronaut Walter Villadei, ESA Swedish Project astronaut Marcus Wandt, and Turkish astronaut Alper Gezeravcı), SpaceX Crew-8, (consisting of American Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps and Russian Alexander Grebenkin) and Soyuz MS-25, (consisting of Russian Oleg Novitsky, Belarusian Marina Vasilevskaya and American Tracy Caldwell-Dyson).[5] Originally, the Boeing Starliner Crewed Flight Test was supposed to dock during the expedition. Instead, it was again moved farther down the vehicle schedule to May, during Expedition 71.[9]
Events manifest
Previous mission: Expedition 69
27 September 2023 – Soyuz MS-23 Undocking, official switch from Expedition 69
9 October 2023 - Nauka outfitting RtoD Add-on Heat Radiator Leak Event
25/26 October 2023 – EVA 1 (VKD-61) Kononenko/Chub: 7 hrs, 41 min[10]
1 November 2023– EVA 2 (US-89) Moghbeli/O'Hara: 6 hrs, 42 mins[11]
11 November 2023– CRS SpX-29 Docking
29 November 2023 – Progress MS-23/84P Undocking
3 December 2023 – Progress MS-25/86P Docking
21 December 2023 – CRS SpX-29 Undocking
22 December 2023 – CRS Cygnus NG-19 Unberthing & Release
20 January 2024 – Axiom Mission 3 Docking (Non-Expedition crew)
1 February 2024 – CRS Cygnus NG-20 Capture & Berthing
7 February 2024 – Axiom Mission 3 Undocking (Non-Expedition crew)
13 February 2024 – Progress MS-24/85P Undocking
17 February 2024 – Progress MS-26/87P Docking[12]
5 March 2024 – SpaceX Crew-8 Docking[13]
10 March 2024 - ISS Expedition 70 Change of Command Ceremony from Andreas Mogensen to Oleg Kononenko
11 March 2024 – SpaceX Crew-7 Undocking
Planned Events:
21 March 2024 – Soyuz MS-25 Docking (Expedition 70/71 & Visiting Expedition 21)
23 March 2024– CRS SpX-30 Docking
2 April 2024 – Soyuz MS-24 Undocking, official switch to Expedition 71
Next: Expedition 71
Crew
| Flight[5]
|
Astronaut
|
Increment 70a
|
Increment 70b
|
Increment 70c
|
Increment 70d
|
| 27 Sep 2023 - 5 Mar 2024
|
5 - 11 Mar 2024
|
11 - 21 Mar 2024 (current)
|
21 Mar - 2 Apr 2024 (planned)
|
| Soyuz MS-24
|
 Oleg Kononenko, Roscosmos
Fifth spaceflight
|
Flight Engineer
|
Commander[15]
|
Nikolai Chub, Roscosmos
First spaceflight
|
Flight Engineer
|
 Loral O'Hara, NASA
First spaceflight
|
Flight Engineer
|
| SpaceX Crew-7
|
Jasmin Moghbeli, NASA
First spaceflight
|
Flight Engineer
|
Off Station
|
 Andreas Mogensen, ESA
Second spaceflight
|
Commander
|
Off Station
|
 Satoshi Furukawa, JAXA
Second spaceflight
|
Flight Engineer
|
Off Station
|
Konstantin Borisov, Roscosmos
First spaceflight
|
Flight Engineer
|
Off Station
|
| SpaceX Crew-8
|
Matthew Dominick, NASA
First spaceflight
|
Off Station
|
Flight Engineer
|
Michael Barratt, NASA
Third spaceflight
|
Off Station
|
Flight Engineer
|
Jeanette Epps, NASA
First spaceflight
|
Off Station
|
Flight Engineer
|
Alexander Grebenkin, Roscosmos
First spaceflight
|
Off Station
|
Flight Engineer
|
| Soyuz MS-25
|
Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, NASA
Third spaceflight
|
Off Station
|
Flight Engineer
|
Besides the expedition crew, Crew Dragon visited the station, carrying Axiom Mission 3, consisting of Michael López-Alegría of Axiom Space (formerly NASA), Walter Villadei of the Italian Ministry of Defence, Alper Gezeravcı of the Turkish Space Agency, and Marcus Wandt of the Swedish National Space Agency.[16]
The Soyuz MS-25 vehicle will carry expedition member Tracy Caldwell-Dyson and visitors Oleg Novitsky of Roscosmos and Marina Vasilevskaya, a flight attendant trained by the Belarus Space Agency for Visiting Expedition 21. One week after docking, Novitsky and Vasilevskaya will return with expedition member Loral O'Hara on the Soyuz MS-24 vehicle. Meanwhile, Kononenko and Chub, who launched on MS-24, will return on the MS-25 vehicle.[5]
