Expedition 22 totals 5

The entire crew is now aboard the International Space Station.

 

The entire crew of Expedition 22 as it is now aboard the International Space Station (from left to right): Americans T.J. Creamer and Jeffrey Williams (Commander), Russians Maxim Suraev and Oleg Kotov, and Japanese Soichi Noguchi. Credit: NASA

For the first time since 2006, the ISS was home to a crew of just 2 astronauts, American Jeffrey Williams (Commander) and Russian Maxim Suraev.

A 5-man Expedition
Between 2003 and 2006, the orbital complex only received 2 permanent residents at a time due to the Columbia disaster. We would reiterate that the accident of the American space shuttle grounded NASA’s other space planes. The partners of the Station programme were therefore obliged to interrupt all assembly operations and logistical requirements meant that Expedition crews (7 to 13) had to be reduced to two.
But the reasons were different for the current Expedition 22. At the end of November, American Nicole Stott from Expedition 21 returned to Earth with the space shuttle Atlantis (STS-129), becoming the last member of an ISS Expedition to return via NASA’s space plane. She, therefore, left a Station with 5 resident astronauts: Belgian Frank De Winne, Canadian Robert Thirsk, Russians Roman Romanenko and Maxim Suraev as well as the American Jeffrey Williams. On 1 December, it was the turn of the first three (De Winne, Thirsk and Romanenko) to return to Earth in a Soyuz rocket. This left but two residents aboard the Station: Williams and Suraev; it also marked the official start of Expedition 22.
On 20 December, Russian Oleg Kotov, Japanese Soichi Noguchi and American T.J. Creamer blasted off from Baikonur aboard Soyuz TMA-17 and, yesterday at 22:48 UT (Universal Time), their spaceship docked with the Station. The air-lock was opened today at 00:30, once checks had been carried out for leaks. Expedition 22 is now present and correct.
Below is a NASA TV video of the docking.



Changeover to “all Soyuz”
Under previous conditions, a 6th crew member would have been brought by a space shuttle flight. But as we mentioned above, Nicole Stott was the last member of an ISS Expedition to return (and to have been brought) via NASA’s space plane. It is clear that the inevitable preparations for the post-space shuttle section of the ISS programme are actually in hand as there are now only 5 scheduled flights remaining, the last one being due to take place in September 2010. With Expedition 22, the International Space Station has changed over to “all Soyuz” flights for its crews, the transition resulting in an interlude with 5 residents.

The future Expedition 23 marks the return to 6 crew members (from left to right): Mikhail Kornienko, Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Alexander Skvortsov, Oleg Kotov, T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi. Credit: NASA

However, the return to 6 is to take place as of the next Expedition, number 23. On 18 March 2010, Williams and Suraev will return to Earth in a Soyuz rocket, leaving Kotov, Noguchi and Creamer on board the Station. Then, on 2 April, the Soyuz TMA-18 rocket is to blast off with American Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Russians Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko. When it docks with the ISS, the newly formed Expedition 23 will total 6 crew members.

Published on 23 December 2009