Expedition 42 was the 42nd expedition to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

. It began on 10 November 2014 with the undocking of Soyuz TMA-13M, returning the crew of Expedition 41 to Earth and ended with the undocking of

Soyuz TMA-14M Soyuz TMA-14M was a 2014 flight to the International Space Station. It transported three members of the Expedition 41 crew to the International Space Station. TMA-14M is the 123rd flight of a Soyuz spacecraft, the first flight launching in 1967. ...

on 11 March 2015.

Crew

;Source: Spacefacts

Mission

One of the key aspects of Mission 42 - and other missions in 2015 - is the preparation (that is, reconfiguration) of parts of the ISS to allow commercial space taxis to dock at the station. The mission requires several space walks in 2015 to prepare a berthing slip is being prepared at the forward end of the ''

Harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

'' connecting node where

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

s formerly docked, and another on ''Harmony''s zenith port. These new ports will allow for the Boeing's

CST-100 The Boeing Starliner (or CST-100) is a spacecraft designed to transport crew to and from the International Space Station (ISS) and other low-Earth-orbit destinations. Developed by Boeing under NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP), it consists o ...

and SpaceX's

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

capsules to dock at the ISS. The first paid passengers are expected to arrive in 2019.

Gallery

File:CST-100 (crop).jpg, New docking ports for

capsule. File:COTS2Dragon.6.jpg, New docking ports for Dragon capsule.

In popular culture

* A fictionalized version of Expedition 42 is depicted in the 2013 film ''

Gravity In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force b ...

''. The crew, never shown, is forced to evacuate the

in a

Soyuz Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз (Russian language, Russian and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Soviet Union, Union of Soviet Socialist Republi ...

capsule before the orbital debris arrive. * To commemorate the Expedition number's connection to ''

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' is a comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a radio sitcom broadcast over two series on BBC Radio 4 between 1978 and 1980, it was soon adapted to other formats, incl ...

'' comic science fiction franchise, the crew released a poster in the style of the

2005 film 2005 in film is an overview of events, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies, festivals, a list of country-specific lists of films released, notable deaths and film debuts. Highest-grossing films The top 10 films released i ...

References

External links

NASA's Space Station Expeditions page
Expeditions to the International Space Station 2014 in spaceflight 2015 in spaceflight {{space-stub