[FPSPACE] ISS crew rotation schedule 2008-2009

[Bart Hendrickx]

“Novosti kosmonavtiki” magazine has an update on ISS crew rotation plans for
2008/2009 in its March issue.  This may be nothing new, but it’s always nice
to have an overview. Things are getting rather complicated with the
appearance of the first six-man crews in 2009. Dates (especially Shuttle)
are of course subject to change (I haven’t checked, but changes may already
have taken place since the NK article was written).

 

Expedition 18  :  

Michael Fincke  (Yuriy Lonchakov) : up on Soyuz TMA-13  (12 Oct 2008)  -
down on Soyuz TMA-13  (5 Apr 2009) 

Salizhan Sharipov  (Michael Barratt) :   up on Soyuz TMA-13 (12 Oct 2008)  -
down on Soyuz TMA-13 (5 Apr 2009)

Sandra Magnus (Nicole Stott) : up on STS-126 (16 Oct 2008) – down on STS-119
(17 Dec 2008)

 

Expedition 18/19A :

Koichi Wakata (Soichi Noguchi) : up on STS-119 (4 Dec 2008) – down on
STS-127 (8 May 2009)

 

Expedition 19A :

Gennadiy Padalka (Maksim Surayev) : up on Soyuz TMA-14 (25 Mar 2009) – down
on Soyuz TMA-14 (Oct 2009)

Michael Barratt (Shannon Walker) : up on Soyuz TMA-14 (25 Mar 2009) – down
on Soyuz TMA-14 (Oct 2009)

Timothy Kopra (Timothy Creamer) : up on STS-127 (23 Apr 2009) – down on
STS-128 (Jul 2009)

 

Expedition 19A/19B or 20A(?)

Nicole Stott (Kathryn Coleman) : up on STS-128 (Jul 2009) – down on Soyuz
TMA-15 (Dec 2009)

 

Expedition 19B

Yuriy Lonchakov (Dmitriy Kondratyev) : up on Soyuz TMA-15 (25 May 2009) –
down on Soyuz TMA-15 (Dec 2009)

Frank De Winne (André Kuypers) : up on Soyuz TMA-15 (25 May 2009) – down on
Soyuz TMA-15 (Dec 2009)

Robert Thirsk (Chris Hadfield)  : up on Soyuz  TMA-15 (25 May 2009) – down
on STS-129 (Sep 2009)

 

Expedition 20A

Jeffrey Williams (?) (Scott Kelly?) : up on Soyuz TMA-16 (Sep 2009)

Russian cosmonaut : up on Soyuz TMA-16 (Sep 2009)

 

Expedition 20B

Russian cosmonaut  : up on Soyuz TMA-17 (Nov 2009)

NASA astronaut : up on Soyuz TMA-17 (Nov 2009)

JAXA astronaut   : up on Soyuz TMA-17 (Nov 2009)

 

A few notes :

 

Even with six cosmonauts on board, there will be only one station commander,
namely the commander of the “A” Expedition. For instance, Padalka will be
station commander from March until September/October 2009, with the other
five crew members serving as flight engineers. Padalka will then turn over
command to a NASA astronaut (possibly Williams), who will serve as station
commander for Expeditions 19B, 20A and 20B.

 

Since Thirsk will not be replaced after his return on the Shuttle in
September 2009, there will be a permanent crew of just five between the
return of Expedition 19A (Padalka/Barratt) in October 2009 and the arrival
of Expedition 21A in (March/April?) 2010.  It’s not quite clear if Stott
will be part of 20A or 19B in October-December (although she returns with
the 19B crew). 

 

During handovers between Expeditions all three Soyuz ports on the ISS
(Zvezda aft, Pirs, FGB nadir) will be occupied, leaving no room for Progress
or ATV vehicles.

 

Final rotation by Shuttle will be STS-128, with STS-129 being the last
mission to bring back an Expedition crew member. After that all Expedition
crew members will fly Soyuz. This means there are only three more slots left
for tourist missions on Soyuz : 

TMA-13 in October 2008 / assignments : Richard Garriott (Nik Halik)

TMA-14 in March 2009  / assignments unknown

TMA-15 in September 2009 / assignments unknown (NK speculates this seat may
be reserved for Russian spaceflight participant Vladimir Gruzdev)

 

Bart Hendrickx