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Expedition 56
56th expedition to the International Space Station

Expedition 56 was the 56th expedition to the International Space Station, which began on June 3, 2018, upon the departure of Soyuz MS-07. Andrew Feustel, Oleg Artemyev, and Richard R. Arnold were transferred from Expedition 55, with Andrew Feustel taking the commander role. Alexander Gerst, Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor, and Sergey Prokopyev launched aboard Soyuz MS-09, on June 6, 2018. Expedition 56 ended with the departure of Soyuz MS-08 on October 4, 2018.

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Crew

PositionFirst part

(June 3 – 6, 2018)

Second part

(June 6 – October 4, 2018)

Commander Andrew Feustel, NASAThird spaceflight3
Flight Engineer 1 Oleg Artemyev, RSASecond spaceflight
Flight Engineer 2 Richard R. Arnold, NASASecond spaceflight4
Flight Engineer 3 Sergey Prokopyev, RSAFirst spaceflight
Flight Engineer 4 Alexander Gerst, ESASecond spaceflight5
Flight Engineer 5 Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor, NASAFirst spaceflight6

Originally NASA Astronaut Jeanette Epps was assigned as flight engineer for Expeditions 56 and 57, becoming the first African American space station crew member7 and the 15th African American to fly in space, but on January 16, 2018, NASA announced that Epps had been replaced by her backup Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor with no announced explanation as to why.89

Spacewalks

EVA #SpacewalkersStart (UTC)End (UTC)Duration
Expedition 56EVA 1 Andrew J. Feustel

Richard R. Arnold

June 14, 2018,

12:06

June 14, 2018,

18:55

6 hours 49 minutes
Feustel and Arnold installed new high-definition cameras near IDA 2 mated to the front end of the station's Harmony module. The additions will provide enhanced views during the final phase of approach and docking of the SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing CST 100 Starliner commercial crew spacecraft that will soon begin launching from American soil.

The astronauts also swapped out a camera assembly on the starboard truss of the station used to film NASA TV and closed an aperture door on the CATS experiment outside the Japanese Kibo module in preparation for disposal on SpaceX CRS 15 and replacement by its successor, ECOSTRESS. Get aheads involved relocating an adjustable grapple bar to the S1 Truss and securing the Flex Hose Rotary Coupler in preparation for replacement on the next spacewalk. During the spacewalk Feustel beat Jerry Ross, his STS 125 crewmate Dr. John Grunsfeld, Fyoder Yurchikhin, and Peggy Whitson to become third on the list of all time space walkers.10

Expedition 56EVA 2* Oleg Artemyev

Sergey Prokopyev

August 15, 2018,

16:17

August 15, 2018,

00:03

7 hours 46 minutes
The cosmonauts launched four cubesats and installed the Icarus experiment. Spacewalk fell behind schedule when Icarus failed to seat properly putting the spacewalk 90 minutes behind schedule and calling for an hour extension. The cosmonauts finished the spacewalk by retrieving experiments from the Pirs docking compartment and Poisk module11

*denotes spacewalks performed from the Pirs docking compartment in Russian Orlan suits.All other spacewalks were performed from the Quest airlock.

Uncrewed spaceflights to the ISS

Resupply missions that visited the International Space Station during Expedition 56:

Spacecraft- ISS flight numberCountryMissionLauncherLaunch(UTC)Docked/Berthed(UTC) †Undocked/Unberthed(UTC)Duration (Docked)Deorbit
SpaceX CRS-15 - CRS SpX-15 United StatesLogisticsFalcon 9June 29, 2018, 09:42July 2, 2018, 13:50August 3, 2018, 16:3832d 2h 48mAugust 3, 2018, 22:17
Progress MS-09 - ISS 70P RussiaLogisticsSoyuz-2.1aJuly 9, 2018, 21:51:34July 10, 2018, 01:30:48January 25, 2019, 12:55199d 11h 24mJanuary 25, 2019, 16:50
Kounotori 7 - HTV-7 JapanLogisticsH-IIBSeptember 22, 2018, 17:52:27September 27, 2018, 14:09November 6, 2018, 23:3240d 9h 23mNovember 10, 2018, 21:14

Leak

Main article: Soyuz MS-09 § Air leak

On August 29, 2018, a small leak was detected through a drop in air pressure by the flight controllers. After learning about the leak upon waking up, the astronauts discovered a 2 mm hole in the orbital module of the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft. The hole was initially repaired with tape, followed by a permanent repair with gauze and epoxy.1213

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References

  1. "Future Expeditions". NASA. March 8, 2018. Retrieved March 12, 2018. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/future.html ↩

  2. "Expedition 55 Mission Summary" (PDF). NASA. 2018. Retrieved March 12, 2018. https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/exp-55-summary.pdf ↩

  3. "Andrew J. Feustel (PH.D.) NASA Astronaut". NASA. August 3, 2017. Retrieved March 12, 2018. https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/andrew-j-feustel/biography ↩

  4. "Richard R. Arnold II NASA Astronaut". NASA. March 6, 2018. Archived from the original on April 16, 2019. Retrieved March 12, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20190416053341/https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/richard-r-arnold/biography/ ↩

  5. "Alexander Gerst". ESA. February 9, 2018. Retrieved March 12, 2018. http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Astronauts/Alexander_Gerst ↩

  6. "Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor (M.D.) NASA Astronaut". NASA. August 3, 2017. Archived from the original on July 3, 2017. Retrieved March 12, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20170703073924/https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/serena-m-aunon-chancellor/biography/ ↩

  7. Karen Northon (January 4, 2017). "NASA Assigns Upcoming Space Station Crew Members". NASA press release 17-001. Retrieved January 21, 2017. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-assigns-upcoming-space-station-crew-members ↩

  8. Karen Northon (January 18, 2018). "NASA Announces Updated Crew Assignments for Space Station Missions". NASA press release 18-004. Retrieved January 21, 2017. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-announces-updated-crew-assignments-for-space-station-missions ↩

  9. "NASA removes astronaut Jeanette Epps, Syracuse high school grad, from flight crew". syracuse.com. Retrieved January 21, 2018. http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2018/01/nasa_removes_astronaut_jeanette_epps_a_syracuse_high_school_grad_from_flight_cre.html ↩

  10. Garcia, Mark (June 14, 2018). "Spacewalkers Complete HD Camera Installation Work". NASA. https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2018/06/14/spacewalkers-complete-hd-camera-installation-work/ ↩

  11. Richardson, Derek (August 16, 2018). "Russian spacewalk runs into overtime during 'Icarus' experiment installation". Orbital Velocity. http://www.orbital-velocity.com/news/2018/8/16/russian-spacewalk-runs-into-overtime-during-icarus-experiment-installation/ ↩

  12. Garcia, Mark (August 30, 2018). "International Space Station Status". Blogs. NASA. Retrieved October 24, 2018. https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2018/08/30/international-space-station-status-2/ ↩

  13. Foust, Jeff (August 30, 2018). "ISS leak highlights concerns about orbital debris and station operations". SpaceNews. Retrieved October 24, 2018. https://spacenews.com/iss-leak-highlights-concerns-about-orbital-debris-and-station-operations/ ↩