Expedition 25 up and coming

A Soyuz rocket will leave the Station on 24 September 2010, with Alexandre Skvortsov, Mikhail Kornienko and Tracy Caldwell Dyson aboard; thus signifying the official end of ISS Expedition 24. The 3 astronauts remaining on board the ISS (Fyodor Yurchikhin, Douglas Wheelock and Shannon Walker) will then form the first half of the crew for Expedition 25. On 8 October 2010, another Soyuz vessel will blast off with the second half of Expedition 25 aboard: Scott Kelly, Alexandre Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka. The docking with the Station is scheduled for the 10 October. In accordance with tradition, this crew posed for an official photograph and for a poster, both of which are shown below.

The official Expedition 25 crew photograph. From left to right: Russians Oleg Skripochka and Alexandre Kaleri, Americans Scott Kelly, Doug Wheelock (Commander) and Shannon Walker and Russian Fyodor Yurchikhin). Credit : NASA

The Expedition 25 poster. This time, one of the many allusions to film posters has not been used. The artwork is, however, superbly done with the portraits having been revamped to give them the appearance of a hyperrealistic painting within a design that brings a space odyssey to mind. After all, when these six astronauts are united aboard the Station on 10 October, the orbital complex will have been constantly lived in for 4,342 days! Credit: NASA