Expedition 57 was the 57th 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 ...

, which began on October 4, 2018, upon the departure of

Soyuz MS-08 Soyuz MS-08 was a Soyuz spaceflight that launched on 21 March 2018. It transported three members of the Expedition 55 crew to the International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembl ...

History

Soyuz MS-09 Soyuz MS-09 was a Soyuz (spacecraft), Soyuz spaceflight that launched on 6 June 2018. It transported three members of the Expedition 56/Expedition 57, 57 crew to the International Space Station (ISS). is the 138th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. ...

crew,

Alexander Gerst Alexander Gerst (born 3 May 1976 in Künzelsau, Baden-Württemberg) is a German European Space Agency astronaut and geophysicist, who was selected in 2009 to take part in space training. He was part of the International Space Station Expeditio ...

, Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor, and Sergey Prokopyev, since June 2018 aboard the ISS, were expected to be joined by

Aleksey Ovchinin Aleksey Nikolayevich Ovchinin (; born 28 September 1971) is a Russian cosmonaut and holds the rank of Podpolkovnik#Russia, Podpolkovnik (lieutenant colonel) in the in the Russian Air Force Reserve. He was selected as a cosmonaut in 2006 and mad ...

and Nick Hague in October 2018. The latter two crew members boarded

Soyuz MS-10 Soyuz MS-10 was a crewed Soyuz MS spaceflight that aborted shortly after launch on 11 October 2018 due to a failure of the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle boosters. MS-10 was the 139th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. It was intended to transport two mem ...

on October 11, 2018, but the launch was aborted mid-flight due to a booster failure; the crew landed safely after a ballistic descent. The impact of the Soyuz MS-10 failure and subsequent investigation on the ISS crew schedule was not initially clear. The Expedition 57 initial crew needed to depart by mid-December 2018 in

due to the limited on-orbit lifespan of "about 200 days" of the Soyuz capsule, or no later than early January 2019 allowing for a small margin on the lifespan. NASA would have attempted to avoid de-crewing the ISS, commanding the station from the ground is feasible if necessary. On 23 October 2018, NASA Administrator

Jim Bridenstine James Frederick Bridenstine (born June 15, 1975) is an American military officer and politician who served as the 13th administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Bridenstine was the United States representative ...

announced that Soyuz flights to the ISS were expected to resume in December 2018. The Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft commanded by cosmonaut

Oleg Kononenko Oleg Dmitriyevich Kononenko (; ; born 21 June 1964) is a Russian cosmonaut. He has flown to the International Space Station five times as a flight engineer for Expedition 17 aboard Soyuz TMA-12, as a flight engineer on Expedition 30 and comm ...

, carrying him and two flight engineers,

Anne McClain Anne Charlotte McClain (born June 7, 1979) is a colonel in the U.S. Army, engineer and a NASA astronaut. Her call sign, "Annimal", dates back to her rugby career; she also uses the call sign in her Twitter handle, AstroAnnimal. She was a flight ...

and

David Saint-Jacques David Saint-Jacques ( , ; born 6 January 1970) is a Canadian astronaut with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). He is also an astrophysicist, engineer, and a physician. In December 2018, he launched to the International Space Station, as flight ...

, was launched on December 3, 2018, marking the 100th orbital launch of the year; the Expedition 57 initial crew departed on December 20 and Expedition 58 started as a three-person increment.

Crew

Originally NASA Astronaut Jeanette Epps was assigned as flight engineer for Expeditions 56 and 57, becoming the first African American space station crew member and the 15th African American to fly in space, but on January 16, 2018, NASA announced that Epps had been replaced by her backup Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor. On January 20, Epps' brother Henry posted a statement on Facebook, since deleted, that "My sister Dr. Jeannette Epps has been fighting against oppressive racism and misogyny in NASA and now they are holding her back and allowing a Caucasian Astronaut to take her place!" Jeanette Epps stated that she could not comment on her brother's post or the reason why she was pulled off the mission, but did state that she has no medical condition or family problem preventing her from flying, and that her training had been successful. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' stated that "Last-minute crew changes are not unusual at NASA." Cosmonaut

Nikolai Tikhonov Nikolai Aleksandrovich Tikhonov ( – 1 June 1997) was a Soviet Russian-Ukrainian statesman during the Cold War. He served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1980 to 1985, and as a First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers, ...

was slated to make his first spaceflight on the

spacecraft, but was removed from the crew due to delays in launching the Russian Nauka module. This is the second time that Tikhonov has been removed from an ISS crew for such reason.

Spacewalks

*denotes spacewalks performed from the ''Pirs'' docking compartment in Russian Orlan suits.

Uncrewed spaceflights to the ISS

Resupply missions that visited the International Space Station during Expedition 57:

References

External links

Expedition 57
on Nasa.gov
Expedition 57
related articles on spaceflightnow.com {{ISS expeditions Expeditions to the International Space Station 2018 in spaceflight