Expedition 71 crew

Expedition 71 was the 71st long-duration expedition to the International Space Station. The expedition began with the departure of Soyuz MS-24 on 6 April 2024 with Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko continuing his ISS command from Expedition 70. It ended with his departure on Soyuz MS-25 with crewmates from MS-24 and MS-25 on 23 September 2024.

Background, Crew, and Events

Initially, the expedition consisted of Kononenko, his Russian Soyuz MS-24 crewmate Nikolai Chub (both on a year long ISS mission since 15 September 2023), and his American Soyuz MS-25 crewmate, Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, who launched on 23 March 2024, as well as SpaceX Crew-8 crewmates, American astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, who launched on 4 March 2024 and were transferred from Expedition 70 after Soyuz MS-24 departure.

NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams arrived at the station on 6 June 2024 as part of the Boeing Crew Flight Test. Their visit was planned to be brief. However, due to technical issues with their spacecraft, their stay was extended, and they became de facto members of the ISS crew. They assisted with various tasks, including research, housekeeping, and maintenance. On 24 August 2024, NASA announced that the Boeing Starliner spacecraft would return to Earth uncrewed, with Wilmore and Williams being formally added to the Expedition 71/72 crew and returning aboard SpaceX Crew-9 on 18 March 2025.

On 11 September 2024, Soyuz MS-26 arrived at the station, transporting Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, as well as NASA astronaut Donald Pettit.

Events manifest

Events involving crewed spacecraft are listed in bold.

Previous mission: Expedition 70

Next: Expedition 72

Crew

FlightAstronautIncrement 71aIncrement 71bIncrement 71c
6Apr – 6Jun 20246Jun – 11Sep 202411 – 23Sep 2024
Soyuz MS-25Oleg Kononenko, Roscosmos Fifth spaceflightCommander
Nikolai Chub, Roscosmos First spaceflightFlight engineer
Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, NASA Third spaceflightFlight engineer
SpaceX Crew-8Matthew Dominick, NASA First spaceflightFlight engineer
Michael Barratt, NASA Third spaceflightFlight engineer
Jeanette Epps, NASA Only spaceflightFlight engineer
Alexander Grebenkin, Roscosmos First spaceflightFlight engineer
Boeing Crew Flight TestBarry E. Wilmore, NASA Third and last spaceflightOff stationFlight engineer
Sunita Williams, NASA Third and last spaceflightOff stationFlight engineer
Soyuz MS-26Aleksey Ovchinin, Roscosmos Third spaceflightOff stationFlight engineer
Ivan Vagner, Roscosmos Second spaceflightOff stationFlight engineer
Donald Pettit, NASA Fourth spaceflightOff stationFlight engineer

Crewed test flight

MissionAstronautsDocking (UTC)Undocking (UTC)Duration
Boeing Crew Flight TestBarry Wilmore, NASA Sunita Williams, NASA6 June 2024, 17:346 September 2024, 22:04 (uncrewed)93 days
Besides the expedition crew, a Boeing Starliner spacecraft visited the station for a crewed flight test, consisting of NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams. The spacecraft Calypso launched and docked to the station in June 2024. The flight marked the first crewed test flight of the Starliner. Crew members were scheduled to stay aboard the station for approximately 6 days, but the mission was extended due to issues with the spacecraft. Despite months of testing, NASA felt it was not able to understand why the thrusters malfunctioned and decided that it was too risky to return Wilmore and Williams to Earth aboard Starliner. Instead, they rode down on the SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon capsule, and the Boeing spacecraft returned uncrewed. Until Crew-9 arrived, they along with their seat liners moved to SpaceX Crew-8, their temporary emergency evacuation spacecraft, after which they and their seat liners transferred to Crew-9. It was the first launch of humans from Cape Canaveral since Apollo 7 in October 1968 and first launch of humans from SLC-41.

Vehicle manifest

VehiclePurposePortDocking/capture dateUndocking date
Vehicles inherited from Expedition 70
Progress MS-25CargoPoisk zenith3Dec 202328May 2024
CRS NG-20CargoUnity nadir1Feb 202412Jul 2024
Progress MS-26CargoZvezda aft17Feb 202413Aug 2024
SpaceX Crew-8 "Endeavour"Exp. 70/71/72 crewHarmony forward5Mar 20242May 2024 (redock)
Harmony zenith2May 2024 (redock)23Oct 2024 (Exp.72)
CRS SpX-30CargoHarmony zenith23Mar 202428Apr 2024
Soyuz MS-25 "Kazbek"Exp. 70/71 crew, Visiting Expedition 21Prichal nadir25Mar 202423Sep 2024
Vehicles docked during Expedition 71
Progress MS-27CargoPoisk zenith1Jun 202419Nov 2024 (Exp.72)
Boeing CFT "Calypso"Visiting CCDev missionHarmony forward6Jun 20246Sep 2024
CRS NG-21CargoUnity nadir6Aug 202428Mar 2025 (Exp.72)
Progress MS-28CargoZvezda aft17Aug 202425Feb 2025 (Exp.72)
Soyuz MS-26 "Burlak"Exp. 71/72 crewRassvet nadir11Sep 202419Apr 2025 (Exp.72)
SegmentU.S. Orbital SegmentRussian Orbital Segment
PeriodHarmony forwardHarmony zenithHarmony nadirUnity nadirRassvet nadirPrichal nadirPoisk zenithZvezda aft
6–28Apr 2024SpaceX Crew-8CRS SpX-30VacantCRS NG-20VacantSoyuz MS-25Progress MS-25Progress MS-26
28Apr–2May 2024Vacant
2–28 May 2024VacantSpaceX Crew-8
28May–1Jun 2024Vacant
1–6Jun 2024Progress MS-27
6Jun–12Jul 2024Boeing CFT
12Jul–6Aug 2024Vacant
6–13Aug 2024CRS NG-21
13–17Aug 2024Vacant
17Aug–6Sep 2024Progress MS-28
6–11Sep 2024Vacant
11-23Sep 2024Soyuz MS-26

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.

Notes