Expedition 69 was the 69th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station. The expedition began with the uncrewed departure of Soyuz MS-22 in March 2023 with Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev continuing his ISS command from Expedition 68. It ended with his departure onboard Soyuz MS-23 with his crewmates on 27 September 2023.
Background, Crew, and Events Initially, the expedition consisted of Prokopyev and his two Soyuz MS-22/23 crewmates, Dmitry Petelin from Russia and American astronaut Francisco Rubio, as well as SpaceX Crew-6 crewmates, American astronauts Stephen G. Bowen and Warren Hoburg, Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi, and another Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, who launched on March 2, 2023 and were transferred from Expedition 68 alongside the Soyuz MS-22/23 crew. The departure of the MS-22 spacecraft with its crew was ultimately canceled because of a coolant leak in December 2022. The decision was made to return Soyuz MS-22 uncrewed and launch Soyuz MS-23 uncrewed as its replacement. By the time the MS-22/23 crew returned to Earth on 27 September 2023, which was the end of Expedition 69, they had spent more than a year in space due to their mission extension.
The manifest changes do not affect US crew rotation plans, where SpaceX Crew-5 was replaced by Crew-6 in February during Expedition 68.
Previously, US crew handovers since flights returned in 2020 took place during a new expedition, about 2–3 weeks after the Soyuz handover occurs (which officially changes the expeditions). However, in this handover, the swap occurred before the Soyuz MS-22 departure date of March 28. The early US handover was a part of the manifest prior to the Soyuz MS-22 coolant leak in December 2022.
The crew was later replenished by subsequent crew rotation missions in the expedition, SpaceX Crew-7, consisting of NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen, Satoshi Furukawa from Japan, and Russian cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov, and Soyuz MS-24, consisting of Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub (both on a year long ISS mission) and another American astronaut Loral O'Hara. The space station was also visited by a non-expedition crew, Axiom Mission 2, consisting of former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson (who had previously commanded the station twice during Expedition 16 and Expedition 51), John Shoffner, Ali AlQarni, and Rayyanah Barnawi.
Events manifest Events involving crewed spacecraft are listed in bold.
Previous mission: Expedition 68
28 March 2023 – Soyuz MS-22 uncrewed undocking, official switch from Expedition 68 6 April 2023 – Soyuz MS-23 redocking 15 April 2023 – CRS SpX-27 undocking 16 April 2023 – EVA 1 (VKD-56) Prokopyev/Petelin: 7 hrs, 55 mins 16 April 2023 – Relocation of Nauka outfitting: Moving "RtoD" add-on heat radiator from Rassvet module to Nauka module 21 April 2023 – CRS NG-18 unberthing and release 28 April 2023 – EVA 2 (US-86) Bowen/Al Neyadi: 7 hrs, 1 min 3–4 May 2023 – EVA 3 (VKD-57) Prokopyev/Petelin: 7 hrs, 11 mins 4 May 2023 – Relocation of Nauka outfitting: Moving experiments airlock "ShK" from Rassvet module to Nauka module forward port 6 May 2023 – SpaceX Crew-6 redocking 12 May 2023 – EVA 4 (VKD-58) Prokopyev/Petelin: 5 hrs, 14 mins 22 May 2023 – Axiom Mission 2 docking (non-Expedition crew) 24 May 2023 – Progress MS-23/84P docking 30 May 2023 – Axiom Mission 2 undocking (non-Expedition crew) 6 June 2023 – CRS SpX-28 docking 9 June 2023 – EVA 5 (US-87) Bowen/Hoburg: 6 hrs, 3 mins, installed the fifth iROSA at Array 1A 15 June 2023 – EVA 6 (US-88) Bowen/Hoburg: 5 hrs, 35 mins, installed the sixth and last iROSA at Array 1B 22 June 2023 – EVA 7 (VKD-59) Prokopyev/Petelin: 6 hrs, 24 mins 29 June 2023 – CRS SpX-28 undocking 4 August 2023 – CRS NG-19 capture and berthing 9 August 2023 – EVA 8 (VKD-60) Prokopyev/Petelin: 6 hrs, 35 mins 9 August 2023 – Relocation of Nauka outfitting: Moving European Robotic Arm's Portable Workpost from Rassvet module to Nauka module 20 August 2023 – Progress MS-22/83P undocking 25 August 2023 – Progress MS-24/85P docking 27 August 2023 – SpaceX Crew-7 docking 3 September 2023 – SpaceX Crew-6 undocking 15 September 2023 – Soyuz MS-24 docking 26 September 2023 – ISS Expedition 69/70 change of command ceremony from Sergey Prokopyev to Andreas Mogensen 27 September 2023 – Soyuz MS-23 undocking, official switch to Expedition 70
Next: Expedition 70
Crew FlightAstronautIncrement 69aIncrement 69bIncrement 69cIncrement 69d28 Mar–27 Aug 202327 Aug–3 Sep 20233–15 Sep 202315–27 Sep 2023Soyuz MS-23 Sergey Prokopyev, RoscosmosSecond spaceflightCommander Dmitry Petelin, RoscosmosFirst spaceflightFlight engineer Francisco Rubio, NASAFirst spaceflightFlight engineerSpaceX Crew-6 Stephen Bowen, NASAFourth spaceflightFlight engineerOff station Warren Hoburg, NASAFirst spaceflightFlight engineerOff stationSultan Al Neyadi, MBRSCFirst spaceflightFlight engineerOff station Andrey Fedyaev, RoscosmosFirst spaceflightFlight engineerOff stationSpaceX Crew-7 Jasmin Moghbeli, NASAFirst spaceflightOff stationFlight engineerAndreas Mogensen, ESASecond spaceflightOff stationFlight engineerSatoshi Furukawa, JAXASecond and last spaceflightOff stationFlight engineer Konstantin Borisov, RoscosmosFirst spaceflightOff stationFlight engineerSoyuz MS-24 Oleg Kononenko, Roscosmos Fifth spaceflightOff stationFlight engineer Nikolai Chub, RoscosmosFirst spaceflightOff stationFlight engineer Loral O'Hara, NASAFirst spaceflightOff stationFlight engineerSources:
Vehicle manifest VehiclePurposePortDocking/Capture DateUndocking DateVehicles inherited from Expedition 68 CRS NG-18CargoUnity nadir9 Nov 202221 Apr 2023 Progress MS-22CargoZvezda aft11 Feb 202320 Aug 2023 Soyuz MS-23Exp. 67/68/69 crewPoisk zenith24 Feb 20236 Apr 2023 (redock)Prichal nadir6 Apr 2023 (redock)https://scitechdaily.com/astronaut-and-cosmonauts-fly-soyuz-crew-ship-to-new-docking-port-on-space-station/27 Sep 2023 SpaceX Crew-6 "Endeavour"Exp. 68/69 crewHarmony zenith28 Feb 20236 May 2023 (redock)Harmony forward6 May 2023 (redock)3 Sep 2023 CRS SpX-27CargoHarmony forward16 Mar 2023https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/03/spacex-crs-27/15 Apr 2023Vehicles docked during Expedition 69 Ax-2Visiting commercial mission Harmony zenith22 May 202330 May 2023 Progress MS-23CargoPoisk zenith24 May 202329 Nov 2023 (Exp. 70) CRS SpX-28CargoHarmony zenith6 Jun 202329 Jun 2023 CRS NG-19CargoUnity nadir4 Aug 202322 Dec 2023 (Exp. 70) Progress MS-24/85PCargoZvezda aft25 Aug 202313 Feb 2024 (Exp. 70) SpaceX Crew-7 "Endurance"Exp. 69/70 crewHarmony zenith27 Aug 202311 Mar 2024 (Exp. 70) Soyuz MS-24 "Antares"Exp. 69/70 crewRasssvet nadir15 Sep 20236 Apr 2024 (Exp. 70) Segment U.S. Orbital Segment Russian Orbital SegmentPeriodHarmony forwardHarmony zenithHarmony nadirUnity nadirRassvet nadirPrichal nadirPoisk zenithZvezda aft28 Mar-6 Apr 2023CRS SpX-27SpaceX Crew-6 VacantCRS NG-18 Vacant VacantSoyuz MS-23Progress MS-226-15 Apr 2023Soyuz MS-23 Vacant15-21 Apr 2023 Vacant21 Apr-6 May 2023 Vacant6-22 May 2023SpaceX Crew-6 Vacant22-24 May 2023Ax-224-30 May 2023Progress MS-2330 May-6 Jun 2023 Vacant6-29 Jun 2023CRS SpX-2829 Jun-4 Aug 2023 Vacant4-20 Aug 2023CRS NG-1920-25 Aug 2023 Vacant25-27 Aug 2023Progress MS-2427 Aug-3 Sep 2023SpaceX Crew-73-15 Sep 2023 Vacant15-27 Sep 2023Soyuz MS-24 The Prichal aft, forward, starboard, and aft ports all have yet to be used since the module originally docked to the station and are not included in the table.
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