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Expedition 72

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Expedition 72
Expedition 72 crew
Mission typeLong-duration expedition
OperatorNASA / Roscosmos
Mission duration208 days, 13 hours and 20 minutes
Expedition
Space stationInternational Space Station
Began23 September 2024
Ended19 April 2025
Arrived aboard
Departed aboard
Crew
Crew size7–11
Members
EVAs3
EVA duration18 hours, 43 minutes

Expedition 72 mission patch

Left to right, top row: Ovchinin, Williams, Wilmore
Middle row: Vagner, Pettit
Bottom row: Gorbunov, Hague

Expedition 72 was the 72nd long-duration expedition to the International Space Station (ISS). The expedition began with the departure of Soyuz MS-25 on 23 September 2024 with NASA astronaut Sunita Williams taking over the ISS command.[1] It continued the extensive scientific research conducted aboard the ISS, focusing on biology, human physiology, physics, and materials science. The crew members also maintained and upgraded the space station systems.

Background, Crew, and Events

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The expedition consisted of Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, and Aleksandr Gorbunov, and NASA astronauts Barry E. Wilmore, Sunita Williams, Donald Pettit, and Nick Hague.

Wilmore and Williams arrived at the station on 6 June 2024 for what was expected to be a brief visit as part of the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. However, their spacecraft experienced technical issues and returned to Earth uncrewed, and Wilmore and Williams were added to the Expedition 71/72 crew.[2]

Ovchinin, Vagner, and Pettit arrived at the station on 11 September aboard Soyuz MS-26.[3][4]

Hague and Gorbunov arrived to the station on 29 September aboard SpaceX Crew-9.[5] The handover between Crew-9 and Crew-8 was far longer than normal. Additional time was needed to reconfigure Crew-8's Dragon capsule to remove the temporary seat structures that were added in case Wilmore and Williams needed to evacuate. The departure was further delayed due to poor weather conditions in the splashdown zones surrounding Florida caused by Hurricane Milton and several other storms.[6] The cumulative delays caused Crew-8 to become the longest Dragon mission when it departed with NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin on 23 October.

The expedition saw three spacewalks. On 19 December 2024, Ovchinin and Vagner conducted a 7-hour, 17-minute EVA to work on externally mounted science systems.[7] On 16 January 2025, Hague and Williams completed a 6-hour EVA focused on maintenance and upgrades. This was the first full-length EVA by U.S. astronauts in over a year, following a June 2024 incident in which a leak in an EMU cut a spacewalk short.[8] The final EVA took place on 30 January with Williams and Wilmore removing a radio frequency group antenna assembly during a 5-hour, 26-minute spacewalk. During this EVA, Williams set a new record for total spacewalking time by a female astronaut.[9]

Williams handed over command of the space station to Ovchinin on 7 March to prepare for her departure.[10] SpaceX Crew-10 arrived at the ISS on 16 March, transporting NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov,[11] and featured a shorter than normal handover with Crew-9 of just two days.[12][13] It was shortened due to a delay in an upcoming supply flight,[14] which necessitated conserving resources like food and a brief window of favorable weather in the Gulf of Mexico for splashdown.[12] Crew-9 departed with Hague, Gorbunov, Wilmore, and Williams on 18 March.[15]

Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, along with NASA astronaut Jonny Kim arrived at the station aboard Soyuz MS-27 on 8 April 2025.[16] After a handover period, Ovchinin handed over command of the space station to Onishi on 18 April. The expedition came to a close on 19 April with the departure of Ovchinin, Vagner, and Pettit on Soyuz MS-26.[17][18]

Events manifest

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Events involving crewed spacecraft are listed in bold.

Previous mission: Expedition 71

23 September 2024 - Soyuz MS-25 Undocking, official switch from Expedition 71

29 September 2024 - SpaceX Crew-9 Docking

23 October 2024 - SpaceX Crew-8 Undocking

3 November 2024 - SpaceX Crew-9 Redocking

5 November 2024 - CRS SpX-31 Docking

19 November 2024 - Progress MS-27/88P Undocking

23 November 2024 - Progress MS-29/90P Docking

16 December 2024 - CRS SpX-31 Undocking

19 December 2024 - EVA 1 (VKD-63) Ovchinin/Vagner: 7 hrs, 17 mins

16 January 2025 - EVA 2 (US-91) Hague/Williams: 6 hrs

30 January 2025 - EVA 3 (US-92) Williams/Wilmore: 5 hrs, 26 mins

25 February 2025 - Progress MS-28/89P Undocking

1 March 2025 - Progress MS-30/91P Docking

7 March 2025 - ISS Expedition 72 Change of Command Ceremony from Sunita Williams to Aleksey Ovchinin

16 March 2025 - SpaceX Crew-10 Docking

18 March 2025 - SpaceX Crew-9 Undocking

28 March 2025 - CRS NG-21 Unberthing & Release

8 April 2025 - Soyuz MS-27 Docking

18 April 2025 - ISS Expedition 72/73 Change of Command Ceremony from Aleksey Ovchinin to Takuya Onishi

19 April 2025 - Soyuz MS-26 Undocking, official switch to Expedition 73

Next mission: Expedition 73

Crew

[edit]
Flight Astronaut Increment 72a Increment 72b Increment 72c Increment 72d Increment 72e Increment 72f Increment 72g
23-29 Sep 2024 29 Sep-23 Oct 2024 23 Oct 2024-7 Mar 2025 7-16 Mar 2025 16-18 Mar 2025 18 Mar-8 Apr 2025 8-19 Apr 2025
Soyuz MS-26 Russia Aleksey Ovchinin, Roscosmos
Third[a] spaceflight 		Flight Engineer Commander
  Russia Ivan Vagner, Roscosmos
Second spaceflight 		Flight Engineer
United States Donald Pettit, NASA
Fourth spaceflight 		Flight Engineer
SpaceX Crew-8 United States Matthew Dominick, NASA
First spaceflight 		Flight Engineer Off Station
United States Michael Barratt, NASA
Third spaceflight 		Flight Engineer Off Station
United States Jeanette Epps, NASA
Only spaceflight 		Flight Engineer Off Station
Russia Alexander Grebenkin, Roscosmos
First spaceflight 		Flight Engineer Off Station
Boeing Crew Flight Test/SpaceX Crew-9 United States Barry E. Wilmore, NASA
Third spaceflight 		Flight Engineer Off Station
United States Sunita Williams, NASA
Third spaceflight 		Commander Flight Engineer Off Station
SpaceX Crew-9
 United States Nick Hague, NASA
Second[a] spaceflight 		Off Station Flight Engineer Off Station
Russia Aleksandr Gorbunov, Roscosmos
First spaceflight 		Off Station Flight Engineer Off Station
SpaceX Crew-10
 United States Anne McClain, NASA
Second spaceflight 		Off Station Flight Engineer
United States Nichole Ayers, NASA
First spaceflight 		Off Station Flight Engineer
Japan Takuya Onishi, JAXA
Second spaceflight 		Off Station Flight Engineer
Russia Kirill Peskov, Roscosmos
First spaceflight 		Off Station Flight Engineer
Soyuz MS-27 Russia Sergey Ryzhikov, Roscosmos
Third spaceflight 		Off Station Flight Engineer
Russia Alexey Zubritsky, Roscosmos
First spaceflight 		Off Station Flight Engineer
United States Jonny Kim, NASA
First spaceflight 		Off Station Flight Engineer

Vehicle manifest

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Vehicle[19] Purpose Port Docking/capture date Undocking date
Vehicles inherited from Expedition 71
United States SpaceX Crew-8 "Endeavour" Exp. 70/71/72 crew Harmony zenith 2 May 2024 (redock) 23 Oct 2024
Russia Progress MS-27 Cargo Poisk zenith 1 Jun 2024 19 Nov 2024
United States CRS NG-21 Cargo Unity nadir 6 Aug 2024 28 Mar 2025
Russia Progress MS-28 Cargo Zvezda aft 17 Aug 2024 25 Feb 2025
Russia Soyuz MS-26 "Burlak" Exp. 71/72 crew Rassvet nadir 11 Sep 2024 19 Apr 2025
Vehicles docked during Expedition 72
United States SpaceX Crew-9 "Freedom" Exp. 72 crew Harmony forward/zenith 29 Sep 2024/3 Nov 2024 (redock) 3 Nov 2024 (redock)/18 Mar 2025
United States CRS SpX-31 Cargo Harmony forward 5 Nov 2024 16 Dec 2024
Russia Progress MS-29 Cargo Poisk zenith 23 Nov 2024 1 Jul 2025 (Exp. 73)
Russia Progress MS-30 Cargo Zvezda aft 1 Mar 2025 Aug 2025 (Exp. 73)
United States SpaceX Crew-10 "Endurance" Exp. 72/73 crew Harmony forward 16 Mar 2025 6 Aug 2025 (Exp. 73)
Russia Soyuz MS-27 "Favor" Exp. 72/73 crew Prichal nadir 8 Apr 2025 9 Dec 2025 (Exp. 73)
Segment United States US Orbital Segment Russia Russian Segment
Period Harmony forward Harmony zenith Harmony nadir Unity nadir Rassvet nadir Prichal nadir Poisk zenith Zvezda aft
23-29 Sep 2024 Vacant SpaceX Crew-8 Vacant CRS NG-21 Soyuz MS-26/72S Vacant Progress MS-27/88P Progress MS-28/89P
29 Sep-23 Oct 2024 SpaceX Crew-9
23 Oct-3 Nov 2024 Vacant
3-5 Nov 2024 Vacant SpaceX Crew-9
5-19 Nov 2024 CRS SpX-31
19-23 Nov 2024 Vacant
23 Nov-16 Dec 2024 Progress 29/90P
16 Dec 2024-25 Feb 2025 Vacant
25 Feb 2025-1 Mar 2025 Vacant
1-16 Mar 2025 Progress MS-30/91P
16-18 Mar 2025 SpaceX Crew-10
18-28 Mar 2025 Vacant
28 Mar-8 Apr 2025 Vacant
8-19 Apr 2025 Soyuz MS-27/73S

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Not counting the aborted flight of Soyuz MS-10.

References

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  1. ^ Foust, Jeff (13 September 2024). "Starliner astronauts adjust to long-term ISS stay". SpaceNews. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  2. ^ Taveau, Jessica (24 August 2024). "NASA Decides to Bring Starliner Spacecraft Back to Earth Without Crew". NASA. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
  3. ^ "NASA Astronaut Don Pettit, Crewmates Arrive at Space Station".
  4. ^ Donaldson, Abbey A. (27 March 2024). "NASA Astronaut Don Pettit to Conduct Science During Fourth Mission - NASA". NASA. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  5. ^ Donaldson, Abbey A. (30 August 2024). "NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 Changes Ahead of September Launch". NASA. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  6. ^ Wulfeck, Andrew (19 October 2024). "SpaceX's Crew-8 prepare to depart space station after weeks of weather delays". FOX Weather. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  7. ^ Pearlman, Robert Z. (19 December 2024). "Russian cosmonauts install X-ray detector, jettison trash on spacewalk outside ISS". Space.com. Retrieved 19 March 2025.
  8. ^ Davenport, Justin (24 January 2025). "Spacewalks resume from U.S. segment of ISS after six month hiatus". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 19 March 2025.
  9. ^ Pearlman, Robert Z. (30 January 2025). "NASA astronaut Suni Williams sets new record on 5.5-hour spacewalk outside ISS". Space.com. Retrieved 19 March 2025.
  10. ^ Garcia, Mark A. (7 March 2025). "Station Swaps Commanders and Keeps Up Research Before Crew Swap". NASA. Retrieved 19 March 2025.
  11. ^ Taveau, Jessica (1 August 2024). "NASA Shares its SpaceX Crew-10 Assignments for Space Station Mission". NASA. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  12. ^ a b Watkins, Ali; Chang, Kenneth (16 March 2025). "NASA Schedules Quick Return of Astronauts in SpaceX Capsule". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 17 March 2025.
  13. ^ "Top Things to Know about Space Station Crew Handovers - NASA". 29 April 2021. Retrieved 17 March 2025.
  14. ^ Foust, Jeff (10 March 2025). "Cygnus issue causes changes in ISS cargo missions". spacenews.com. SpaceNews. Retrieved 17 March 2025.
  15. ^ Garcia, Mark A. (18 March 2025). "Dragon Undocks With SpaceX Crew-9 Members for Return to Earth". NASA. Retrieved 19 March 2025.
  16. ^ Doyle, Tiernan P. (28 August 2024). "NASA Assigns Astronaut Jonny Kim to First Space Station Mission". NASA. Archived from the original on 30 August 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  17. ^ Niles-Carnes, Elyna (17 December 2024). "NASA Adjusts Crew-10 Launch Date". NASA. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  18. ^ "NASA Adjusts Crew-10 Launch Date – NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 Mission". blogs.nasa.gov. 17 December 2024. Retrieved 28 January 2025.
  19. ^ Cite error: The named reference nsf-schedule was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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