The Stars My Destination: Expedition 75

Please Stand By | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

International Space Station Expedition 75 began on Sunday, 26 July 2026 with the departure of Soyuz MS-28 (A.K.A. Soyuz 74S). Expedition 75 is expected to continue until April 2027.

Commentary: Even back in the day, the "The Stars My Destination" posts about I.S.S. expeditions were a bit of a mess. I'm thinking about how to improve those going forward, & to catch up with the backlog after I work through the Launch America & Artemis backlogs. Stay tuned.

The Stars My Destination: Boeing Crew Flight Test

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

The Space Age
5 June-6 September 2024: Commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore (N.A.S.A.) & Pilot Suni Williams (N.A.S.A.) lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's SLC-41 aboard the Starliner Calypso (Spacecraft 3) atop an Atlas V rocket. The Calypso made it to orbit without incident. After dangerous thruster failures during the approach to the International Space Station, the duo docked for an intended week-long mission. After pouring over data & the ground testing of Starliner components, N.A.S.A. judged it too risky to return the crew to Earth aboard the Calypso; Wilmore & Williams were transferred to long-duration crew aboad the I.S.S. with the Crew Dragon Endeavour (C206) as their emergency lifeboat.

After ninety-three days on orbit, the Calypso returned uncrewed & landed at the White Sands Space Harbor.

Wilmore was a veteran of two previous spaceflights (S.T.S.-129 & Soyuz TMA-14M for Expeditions 41 & 42); Williams was also a veteran of two previous spaceflights (S.T.S.-116 [launch]/S.T.S.-117 [landing] for Expeditions 14 & 15 & Soyuz TMA-05M for Expeditions 32 & 33).

Boe-C.F.T. was the second flight of the Calypso.

A February 2026 report classified Boe-C.F.T. as a Type A mishap, the most serious category of mission failure. The report was especially critical of decision-making & leadership within both N.A.S.A. & Boeing. The next Boeing Starliner mission, Starliner-1, will be an uncrewed cargo flight, the third uncrewed flight after Boeing Orbital Flight Test (Boe-O.F.T., 2019) & Boe-O.F.T.-2 (2022). By contrast, the SpaceX Crew Dragon conducted only a single successful uncrewed test flight (Demo-1, 2019).

Bonus! Song o' the Day: Boe-C.F.T. & the Calypso
Robert Preston, "Ya Got Trouble" from The Music Man: Original Soundtrack (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Wayback Machine Tour of Launch America
2020
Demo-2 Launch
Demo-2 Splashdown
Crew-1 Launch
2021
Crew-1 Relocation
Crew-2 Launch
Crew-1 Splashdown
Inspiration4 Launch & Splashdown
Crew-2 Splashdown
Crew-3 Launch
2022
Ax-1 Launch & Splashdown
Crew-4 Launch
Crew-3 Splashdown
Crew-5 Launch
Crew-4 Splashdown
2023
Crew-6 Scrub
Crew-6 Launch
Crew-5 Splashdown
Ax-2 Launch & Splashdown
Crew-7 Launch
Crew-6 Splashdown
2024
Ax-3 Launch & Splashdown
Crew-7 Splashdown
Crew-8 Launch & Splashdown

Godspeed, Butch & Suni, & welcome back to the good Earth, Calypso!

The Stars My Destination: Crew-7 Splashdown

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

The Space Age
12 March 2024: After one hundred ninety-nine days on orbit, the Crew Dragon Endurance splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean & was recovered by M/V Megan, safely returning to Earth the Crew-7 quartet of Jasmin Moghbeli (N.A.S.A.), Andreas Mogensen (E.S.A.), Satoshi Furukawa (J.A.X.A.), & Konstantin Borisov (Roscosmos).

Crew-7 served as part of International Space Station Expedition 69 & Expedition 70.

Bonus! Song o' the Day: Crew-7 & the Endurance
Broken Social Scene, "Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl" from Scot Pilgrim vs. the World: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Wayback Machine Tour of Launch America
2020
Demo-2 Launch
Demo-2 Splashdown
Crew-1 Launch
2021
Crew-1 Relocation
Crew-2 Launch
Crew-1 Splashdown
Inspiration4 Launch & Splashdown
Crew-2 Splashdown
Crew-3 Launch
2022
Ax-1 Launch & Splashdown
Crew-4 Launch
Crew-3 Splashdown
Crew-5 Launch
Crew-4 Splashdown
2023
Crew-6 Scrub
Crew-6 Launch
Crew-5 Splashdown
Ax-2 Launch & Splashdown
Crew-7 Launch
Crew-6 Splashdown
2024
Ax-3 Launch & Splashdown

Welcome back to the good Earth, Crew-7!

The Stars My Destination: Anniversary Traffic Jam

Recently, "The Explorers' Club" ran into a scheduling buzzsaw with the overlapping fiftieth, sixtieth, & fortieth anniversaries of Skylab 2 (25 May-22 June 1973), Vostok 5 & Vostok 6 (14-19 June 1963), & S.T.S.-7 (18-24 June 1983). Standard protocol is to publish episodes of "The Explorers' Club" no more frequently than every three days.

The compromise schedule I devised was:

13 June 2023: The 60th Anniversary of Vostok 5 & Vostok 6, Part I (14-16 June 1963)

16 June 2023: The 60th Anniversary of Vostok 5 & Vostok 6, Part II (17-19 June 1963)

19 June 2023: The 40th Anniversary of S.T.S.-7, Part I (18 June 1983)

22 June 2023: The 50th Anniversary of Skylab 2, Part III (19-22 June 1973)

25 June 2023: The 40th Anniversary of S.T.S.-7, Part II (19-24 June 1983)

The Stars My Destination: Crew-6 Launch

The Space Age
In the wee hours of this morning, 2 March 2023, Spacecraft Commander Stephen Bowen (N.A.S.A.), Pilot Woody Hoburg (N.A.S.A.), Mission Specialist 1 Sultan Al Neyadi (Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre [United Arab Emirates]), & Mission Specialist 2 Andrey Fedyaev (Roscosmos) lifted off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center's LC-39A aboard the Crew Dragon Endeavour (Dragon C206) atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The quartet are expected to dock with the International Space Station shortly in the wee hours of tomorrow, 3 March, to begin their six-month mission to the orbital laboratory.

Bowen is a veteran of three previous spaceflights (STS-126, STS-132, & STS-133, making him the only astronaut to fly consecutive Space Shuttle missions), while Hoburg, Al Neyadi, & Fedyaev are rookies.

Crew-6 is the fourth flight of the Endeavour.

Bonus! Song o' the Day: Crew-6 & the Endeavour
Dressy Bessy, "Baby Six String" from Dressy Bessy (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Wayback Machine Tour of Launch America
2020
Demo-2 Launch & Demo-2 Splashdown
Crew-1 Launch, Crew-1 Relocation, & Crew-1 Splashdown
2021
Crew-2 Launch & Crew-2 Splashdown
Inspiration4 Launch & Splashdown
Crew-3 Launch & Crew-3 Splashdown
2022
Ax-1 Launch & Splashdown
Crew-4 Launch & Crew-4 Splashdown
Crew-5 Launch
2023
Crew-6 Scrub

Godspeed, Crew-6!

The Stars My Destination: Ax-1

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

The Space Age
From 8-25 April 2022, Spacecraft CDR Mike López-Alegría (private), Pilot Larry Connor (private), Mission Specialist 1 Eytan Stibbe (private), & Mission Specialist 2 Mark Pathy (private) lifted off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center's LC-39A aboard the Crew Dragon Endeavour (Dragon C206) atop a Falcon 9 rocket, spent fifteen-plus days docked to the International Space Station (I.S.S.), splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, & were recovered by the M/V Megan. They had originally planned to spend ten days on the I.S.S., but were granted bonus days in space due to unfavorable weather in their Atlantic landing zone.

López-Alegría was a N.A.S.A. astronaut & is a veteran of four previous spaceflights (STS-73, STS-92, STS-113, & Soyuz TMA-9 & Expedition 14); Connor, Stibbe, & Pathy are rookies. Stibbe is the second Israeli in space, after Israel Space Agency astronaut Ilan Ramon, who died in the Columbia disaster.

Ax-1 was the third flight of the Endeavour.

Axiom Space plans to continue flying space tourists to the I.S.S., with Ax-2 planned for May 2023. Axiom also plans to launch several new modules to the I.S.S., forming the Axiom Orbital Segment, a private facility for commercial activities, including research, manufacturing, & entertainment. When the I.S.S. is decommissioned & deorbited circa 2031, the Axiom Orbital Segment would detach & become the standalone Axiom Station.

Bonus! Song o' the Day: Ax-1 & the Endeavour
Don Byron, "Powerhouse" from Bug Music (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Wayback Machine Tour of Launch America
2020
Demo-2 Launch & Demo-2 Splashdown
Crew-1 Launch, Crew-1 Relocation, & Crew-1 Splashdown
2021
Crew-2 Launch & Crew-2 Splashdown
Inspiration4 Launch & Splashdown
Crew-3 Launch & Crew-3 Splashdown
2022
Crew-4 Launch & Crew-4 Splashdown
Crew-5 Launch

Godspeed & welcome back to the good Earth, Ax-1!

The Stars My Destination: Expedition 68

The Space Age
International Space Station (I.S.S.) Expedition 68 began on 29 September 2022 with the departure of Soyuz MS-21, carrying cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev, & Sergey Korsakov. It has now become routine for the I.S.S. to host complements of ten during the generally weeklong overlap of Soyuz capsule crews & complements of eleven during the generally weeklong overlap of Crew Dragon crews. More astronauts & cosmonauts on the I.S.S. means more science being done, even as both the Russian & United States Orbital Segments age & require increased maintenance & repair.

Expedition 68 (29 September 2022-present)
29 September-6 October
Commander: Samantha Cristoforetti (Italian, E.S.A.)
Flight Engineer: Kjell Lindgren (American, N.A.S.A.)
F.E.: Bob Hines (American, N.A.S.A.)
F.E.: Jessica Watkins (American, N.A.S.A.)
F.E.: Sergey Prokopyev (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Dmitry Petelin (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Francisco Rubio (American, N.A.S.A
6-14 October
F.E.: Nicole Mann (American, N.A.S.A.)
F.E.: Josh Cassada (American, N.A.S.A.)
F.E.: Koichi Wakata (Japanese, J.A.X.A.)
F.E.: Anna Kikina (Russian, Roscosmos)

14 October-present
CDR: Sergey Prokopyev (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Dmitry Petelin (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Francisco Rubio (American, N.A.S.A)
F.E.: Nicole Mann (American, N.A.S.A.)
F.E.: Josh Cassada (American, N.A.S.A.)
F.E.: Koichi Wakata (Japanese, J.A.X.A.)
F.E.: Anna Kikina (Russian, Roscosmos)

Soyuz MS-22 (Tsiolkovsky)
Launch: 21 September 2022
CDR: Sergey Prokopyev (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Dmitry Petelin (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Francisco Rubio (American, N.A.S.A)

Soyuz MS-21 (Korolyov)
Landing: 29 September 2022
CDR: Oleg Artemyev (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Denis Matveev (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Sergey Korsakov (Russian, Roscosmos)

On 15 December 2022, a "visible stream of flakes" was detected eminating from the MS-22 capsule. A 0.8 mm hole has been located on the Soyuz's external radiator cooling loop, raising questions about the spacecraft's ability to ferry its crew safely back to Earth. The current plan is for Soyuz MS-23 to be launched uncrewed in February, to return Prokopyev, Petelin, & Rubio to the steppes of Kazakhstan; MS-22 will return uncrewed. Meanwhile, in case of emergency, Rubio would evacuate to the Crew Dragon Endurance (giving her a crew of five, having been originally designed for a crew of seven), while Prokopyev & Petelin would evaculate aboard the MS-22, a crew of two placing less demand on the cooling system than a crew of three. Pray those eventualities will remain hypothetical.

SpaceX Crew-5 (Endurance)
Launch: 5 October 2022
CDR: Nicole Mann (American, N.A.S.A.)
Pilot: Josh Cassada (American, N.A.S.A.)
M.S.1: Koichi Wakata (Japanese, J.A.X.A.)
M.S.2: Anna Kikina (Russian, Roscosmos)

SpaceX Crew-4 (Freedom)
Splashdown: 14 October 2022
CDR: Kjell Lindgren (American, N.A.S.A.)
Pilot: Bob Hines (American, N.A.S.A.)
M.S. 1: Samantha Cristoforetti (Italian, E.S.A.)
M.S. 2: Jessica Watkins (American, N.A.S.A.)

"What a time to be alive!"

The Stars My Destination: Expedition 67

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

The Space Age
International Space Station Expedition 67 began on 30 March 2022 with the departure of Soyuz MS-19, with cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov & Pyotr Dubrov & astronaut Mark Vande Hei. Vande Hei set a new American spaceflight endurance record: three hundred fifty-five days, ten days shy of a year. Dmitry Rogozin, the demogogic (& now erstwhile) Director General of Roscosmos, had earlier in March threatened to strand Vande Hei in space in retaliation for international sanctions against Russia in response to the unprovoked & atrocious invasion of Ukraine, but the professionals at Roscosmos continued to work with N.A.S.A. to bring Vande Hei home on schedule.

Expedition 67 (30 March-29 September 2002)
30 March-27 April
Commander: Thomas Marshburn (American, N.A.S.A.)
Flight Engineer: Oleg Artemyev (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Denis Matveev (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Sergey Korsakov (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Raja Chari (American, N.A.S.A.)
F.E.: Kayla Barron (American, N.A.S.A.)
F.E.: Matthias Maurer (German, E.S.A.)
27 April-5 May
F.E.: Kjell Lindgren (American, N.A.S.A.)
F.E.: Bob Hines (American, N.A.S.A.)
F.E.: Samantha Cristoforetti (Italian, E.S.A.)
F.E.: Jessica Watkins (American, N.A.S.A.)

5 May-21 September
CDR: Oleg Artemyev (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Denis Matveev (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Sergey Korsakov (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Kjell Lindgren (American, N.A.S.A.)
F.E.: Bob Hines (American, N.A.S.A.)
F.E.: Samantha Cristoforetti (Italian, E.S.A.)
F.E.: Jessica Watkins (American, N.A.S.A.)
21-29 September
F.E.: Sergey Prokopyev (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Dmitry Petelin (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Francisco Rubio (American, N.A.S.A.)

Cosmonauts Artemyev, Matveev, & Korsakov arrived almost two weeks earlier, the first Soyuz flight to the I.S.S., in over twenty-one years of continuous operation, to carry three Roscosmos cosmonauts. All previous Soyuz flight to the I.S.S. had carried at least one N.A.S.A. astronaut, international astronaut (European, Japanese, etc.), or civilian space tourist. The unusual all-Roscosmos crew was decided long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a result of Russian reluctance to fly cosmonauts on Crew Dragon & anger at N.A.S.A.'s ceasing to buy seats for astronauts on Soyuz.

Soyuz MS-21 (Korolyov)
Launch: 18 March 2022
CDR: Oleg Artemyev (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Denis Matveev (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Sergey Korsakov (Russian, Roscosmos)

Soyuz MS-19 (Astraeus)
Landing: 30 March 2022
CDR: Anton Shkaplerov (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Pyotr Dubrov (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Mark Vande Hei (American, N.A.S.A.)

Meanwhile, the United States Orbital Segment played host to Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1), the first all-private mission to the I.S.S. Former N.A.S.A. astronaut Mike López-Alegría, a veteran of both Space Shuttle & Soyuz flights, now a private astronaut for Axiom Space, led three space tourists aboard the SpaceX-owned Crew Dragon Endeavour, the capsule's third flight.

Axiom Ax-1 (Endeavour)
Launch: 8 April 2022
Commander: Mike López-Alegría (American, private)
Pilot: Larry Connor (American, private)
Mission Specialist 1: Eytan Stibbe (Israeli, private)
Mission Specialist 2: Mark Pathy (Canadian, private)

Axiom Ax-1 (Endeavour)
Landing: 25 April 2022
CDR: Mike López-Alegría (American, private)
Pilot: Larry Connor (American, private)
M.S.1: Eytan Stibbe (Israeli, private)
M.S.2: Mark Pathy (Canadian, private)

SpaceX Crew-4 (Freedom)
Launch: 27 April 2022
CDR: Kjell Lindgren (American, N.A.S.A.)
Pilot: Bob Hines (American, N.A.S.A.)
M.S.1: Samantha Cristoforetti (Italian, E.S.A.)
M.S.2: Jessica Watkins (American, N.A.S.A.)

SpaceX Crew-3 (Endurance)
Splashdown: 5 May 2022
CDR: Raja Chari (American, N.A.S.A.)
Pilot: Thomas Marshburn (American, N.A.S.A.)
M.S.1: Matthias Maurer (German, E.S.A.)
M.S.2: Kayla Barron (American, N.A.S.A.)

Boeing Orbital Flight Test 2
19-25 May 2022
An uncrewed & unnamed Boeing CST-100 Starliner lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) atop an Atlas V rocket. This second uncrewed test flight was necessary after the first Orbital Test Flight (20-22 December 2019) failed to dock with the International Space Station (I.S.S.). Starliner Spcecraft 2 lifted off on 19 May & achieved hard dock with the I.S.S. on 21 May. Astronauts unloaded hundreds of pounds of cargo & loaded hundreds of pounds of equipment for refurbishment back on Earth. Spacecraft 2 undocked from the I.S.S., re-entered the atmosphere, & landed at the White Sands Missile Range on 25 May.

Orbital Flight Test 2 achieved all its critical mission objectives & the follow-on Crewed Flight Test is planned for April 2023.

Boeing Crewed Flight Test (Calypso)
April 2023 (planned)
CDR: Barry Wilmore (American, N.A.S.A.)
Pilot: Sunita Williams (American, N.A.S.A.)

The Stars My Destination: Crew-3 Launch

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

On 11 November 2021, Spacecraft Commander Raja Chari (N.A.S.A.), Pilot Thomas Marshburn (N.A.S.A.), Mission Specialist 1 Matthias Maurer (E.S.A.), & Mission Specialist 2 Kayla Barron (N.A.S.A.) lifted off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center's LC-39A aboard the Crew Dragon Endurance (C210) atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Marshburn is the only experienced astronaut among the crew, with previous flights aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour (S.T.S.-127, 15-31 July 2009) & Soyuz TMA-07M (Expeditions 34/35, 19 December 2012-14 May 2013). Chari, Maurer, & Barron became the five hundred ninety-ninth, six hundredth, & six hundred first persons in space, since Yuri Gagarin's pioneering Vostok 1 flight on 12 April 1961.

The Endurance is the third operational Crew Dragon capsule, after the Endeavour (C206, Demo-2: 30 May-2 August 2020 & Crew-2: 23 April-9 November 2021) & the Resilience (C207, Crew-1: 16 November 2020-2 May 2021 & Inspiration4: 16-18 September 2021). Like the Dragon Resilience & the Perseverance Mars rover, the name Endurance refers to the resilience, perseverance, & endurance of N.A.S.A. personnel & the general public during the interminable COVID-19 pandemic. She is also the namesake of the Endurance, Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship during the Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition of 1914–1917. This pleases me greatly.

C208 & C209 are uncrewed & thus unnamed Cargo Dragon capsules. C208 flew SpaceX Crew Resupply Service-21 (C.R.S.-21, 6 December 2020-14 January 2021) & C.R.S.-23 (29 August-1 October 2021); C209 flew C.R.S.-22 (3 June-10 July 2021) & is currently flying C.R.S.-24 (launched 21 December 2021).

Bonus! Song o' the Day: Crew-3 & the Endurance
Steppenwolf, "Magic Carpet Ride" from Sar Trek: First Contact (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Wayback Machine Tour of Launch America
Crew-2 Splashdown
Crew-1 Splashdown
Crew-2 Launch
Crew-1 Relocation
Crew-1 Launch
Demo-2 Splashdown
Demo-2 Launch

Semper exploro.

The Stars My Destination: Expedition 66

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

International Space Station (I.S.S.) Expedition 66 began on 17 October 2021 after the departure of Soyuz MS-18, with veteran cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, motion picture director Klim Shipenko, & actress Yulia Peresild. The latter duo filmed scenes for an upcoming Russian film, The Challenge. Very apropos to hosting The Challenge, the Expedition 66 mission patch echoes the road signs for U.S. Route 66, the most famous signage in the U.S. highway systems, made iconic by the television series Route 66.

Expedition 66 (as of 8 January 2022)
Commander: Anton Shkaplerov (Russian, Roscosmos)
Flight Engineer 1: Pyotr Dubrov (Russian, Roscosmos)
Flight Engineer 2: Mark Vande Hei (American, N.A.S.A.)
Flight Engineer 3: Raja Chari (American, N.A.S.A.)
Flight Engineer 4: Thomas Marshburn (American, N.A.S.A.)
Flight Engineer 5: Kayla Barron (American, N.A.S.A.)
Flight Engineer 6: Matthias Maurer (German, E.S.A.)

Shipenko & Peresild arrived on orbit aboard Soyuz MS-19 on 5 October, along with CDR Anton Shkaplerov, before departing aboard Soyuz MS-18, along with CDR Novitsky. The Russians mix & match spacecraft crew, which drives me crazy, affronting my persnickety sense of order; they've been doing it for decades, so I can only imagine they have no intention of stopping.

Soyuz MS-18 (Y. A. Gagarin, launch): 9 April 2021
Commander: Oleg Novitsky (Russian, Roscosmos)
Flight Engineer: Pyotr Dubrov (Russian, Roscosmos)
Flight Engineer: Mark Vande Hei (American, N.A.S.A.)

Soyuz MS-19 (Astraeus, launch): 5 October 2021
Commander: Anton Shkaplerov (Russian, Roscosmos)
Spaceflight Participant 1: Klim Shipenko (Russian, private)
Spaceflight Participant 2: Yulia Peresild (Russian, private)

Soyuz MS-18 (Y. A. Gagarin, landing): 17 October 2021
CDR: Oleg Novitsky (Russian, Roscosmos)
S.P.1: Klim Shipenko (Russian, private)
S.P.2: Yulia Peresild (Russian, private)

Soyuz MS-19 (Astraeus, landing): 28 March 2022 (planned)
CDR: Anton Shkaplerov (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Pyotr Dubrov (Russian, Roscosmos)
F.E.: Mark Vande Hei (American, N.A.S.A.)

In December 2021, the I.S.S. was visited by two Japanese space tourists, accompanied by a Russian cosmonaut.

Soyuz MS-20 (Altair, launch): 8 December 2021
Commander: Alexander Misurkin (Russian, Roscosmos)
Spaceflight Participant 1: Yusaku Maezawa (Japanese, private)
Spaceflight Participant 2: Yozo Hirano (Japanese, private)

Soyuz MS-20 (Altair, landing): 20 December 2021
CDR: Alexander Misurkin (Russian, Roscosmos)
S.P.1: Yusaku Maezawa (Japanese, private)
S.P.2: Yozo Hirano (Japanese, private)

Meanwhile, in the United States Orbital Segment, SpaceX Crew-2 departed (the Endeavour, 8 November 2021) before the arrival of SpaceX Crew-3 (the Endurance, 11 November 2021). Crew-3 are scheduled to transfer to Expedition 67 in March or April of 2022, around the same time as the arrival of the Crew-4 quartet.

Crew-3 (Endurance, launch): 11 November 2021
Commander: Raja Chari (American, N.A.S.A.)
Pilot: Thomas Marshburn (American, N.A.S.A.)
Mission Specialist 1: Matthias Maurer (German, E.S.A.)
Mission Specialist 2: Kayla Barron (American, N.A.S.A.)

Crew-4 (new Crew Dragon, launch): April 2022 (planned)
CDR: Kjell Lindgren (American, N.A.S.A.)
Pilot: Robert Hines (American, N.A.S.A.)
M.S.1: Jessica Watkins (American, N.A.S.A.)
M.S.2: Samantha Cristoforetti (Italian, E.S.A.)

Crew-5, planned for autumn of 2022, marks the first flight of the Russian cosmonaut on a SpaceX Crew Dragon. During the first decade of the I.S.S., in between Space Shuttle flights, & during the second decade of the I.S.S., when Soyuz was the only operational manned spacecraft, N.A.S.A. purchased seats for astronauts aboard Soyuz capsules. Going forward, those cash payments will end & there will be a straight swap of seats, Soyuz for Crew Dragon &, eventually, Starliner.

Crew-5 (Crew Dragon, launch): September 2022 (planned)
CDR: Nicole Mann (American, N.A.S.A.)
Pilot: Josh Cassada (American, N.A.S.A.)
M.S.1: Koichi Wakata (Japanese, J.A.X.A.)
M.S.2: Anna Kikina (Russian, Roscosmos)

Semper exploro.

The Stars My Destination: Crew-2 Splashdown

In the wee hours of this morning—Tuesday, 9 November—the Endeavour (Dragon C206) splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico & was recovered by the G.O. Navigator, safely returning to Earth the Crew-2 quartet of Shane Kimbrough (N.A.S.A.), Megan MacArthur (N.A.S.A.), Akihiko Hoshide (J.A.X.A.), & Thomas Pesquet (E.S.A.). Alas, a series of delays to the launch of the Crew-3 mission precluded the two crews from meeting on the International Space Station. Currently, there are only three crew aboard the I.S.S., two cosmonauts & an astronaut. In October (apologies for being behind on "The Stars My Destination" posts), for the few days between the arrival of Soyuz MS-19 & the departure of Soyuz MS-18, there were ten persons aboard the station.

The Endeavour set a new American spacecraft endurance record, spending one hundred ninety-nine days in space, surpassing the previous record of one hundred sixty-seven days set by the Resilience (Dragon C207) during the Crew-1 mission. Between Demo-2 & Crew-2, the Endeavour has spent two hundred sixty-three days on orbit; between Crew-1 & Inspiration4, the Resilience has spent one hundred seventy days on orbit. The Crew-3 mission will use a new capsule, the Endurance (Dragon C210).

Bonus Song o' the Day: Crew-2 & the Endeavour
The Phenomenauts, "Welcome Back" from Re-Entry (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Wayback Machine Tour of Launch America
Crew-1 Splashdown
Crew-2 Launch
Crew-1 Relocation
Crew-1 Launch
Demo-2 Splashdown
Demo-2 Launch

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAfter Party

Reel Big Fish, "Everything Sucks" from Turn the Radio Off (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: I know, I know, everything sucks, & I agree. 2021 was supposed to be a return to normalcy after the annus horribilis of 2020, only for '21 to be an annus horribilis, too; not the same as '20, but an annus horribilis all the same, & with three-plus months left to go, it might still get worse. Everything sucks!

Yet—yet!—there is this: "Everything Sucks" is a fun, catchy, & somewhat poignant song, & right now, for this brief moment in time during the private Inspiration4 spaceflight aboard the Crew Dragon Resilience before the Chinese Shenzhou 12 crew departs the Tiangong space station, there is a record number of human persons in orbit of the good Earth: fourteen. What a time to be alive!

The Stars My Destination: The More the Merrier
International Space Station: 7
Akihiko Hoshide (Japanese, J.A.X.A.)
Shane Kimbrough (American, N.A.S.A.)
Megan McArthur (American, N.A.S.A.)
Thomas Pesquet (French, E.S.A.)
Oleg Novitsky (Russian, Roscosmos)
Pyotr Dubrov (Russian, Roscosmos)
Mark Vande Hei (American, N.A.S.A.)

Inspiration4: 4
Jared Isaacman (American)
Hayley Arceneaux (American)
Sian Proctor (American)
Christopher Sembroski (American)

Tiangong space station: 3
Nie Haisheng (Chinese, P.L.A.A.C.)
Liu Boming (Chinese, P.L.A.A.C.)
Tang Hongbo (Chinese, P.L.A.A.C.)

The Stars My Destination: Orbital Flight Test-2

Today's rescheduled launch of the Boeing Starliner capsule's uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 (O.F.T.-2) was scrubbed, but not due to any further issues with the International Space Station & the hazardous Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module. So, I was right that O.F.T.-2 would not launch today, but wrong as to why. As of this writing, the next opportunity to launch O.F.T.-2 is tomorrow, Wednesday, 4 August. Scrubbed launches are a part of spaceflight; they happen to everybody.

Go, Starliner! Go! (Eventually.)

The Stars My Destination: Panic in the Sky

Last week, the Crew-2 astronauts—Shane Kimbrough (N.A.S.A.), Megan MacArthur (N.A.S.A.), Akihiko Hoshide (J.A.X.A.), & Thomas Pesquet (E.S.A.) donned their spacesuits & boarded the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour to transfer from one docking port on the International Space Station's (I.S.S.) Harmony module (forward) to another (zenith). This was done to facilitate an as-yet-unnamed Boeing Starliner's docking with the I.S.S. during the upcoming uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 (O.F.T.-2), scheduled for launch tomorrow, 30 July.

This morning, 29 July, the long-delayed Russian Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module docked with the I.S.S., the most significant expansion of the station in a decade. The Nauka was originally targeted for a 2007 launch, fourteen years hence. In preparation for the Multipurpose Laboratory Module's arrival, the Pirs docking module was disconnected from the I.S.S. by an uncrewed Progress cargo spacecraft & destructively deorbited on 26 July.

Three hours after docking, the Nauka's thrusters began an uncommanded firing, & the I.S.S. lost attitude control before the thrust was countered & corrected by thrusters on the Zvezda Service Module. A space emergency was declared & the Nauka's thrusters changed the space station's attitude by as much as 45º! N.A.S.A. & Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, claim not to know why Nauka's thrusters fired uncommanded, yet also claim that they have issued commands to make sure that cannot happen again. Guys, if you don't know what caused the original malfunction, how can you claim to have corrected that malfunction? That's self-contradictory, A.K.A. a damned, dirty lie.

In light of the ongoing peril that the misbegotten Multipurpose Laboratory Module poses to the cosmonauts & astronauts aboard the International Space Station, as well as to the station itself, the Starliner's O.F.T.-2. has been delayed indefinitely. The next launch window is on 3 August, but given that the cause of the Nauka's malfunction—& the space station's lose of attitude control—is yet unknown, I am extremely dubious that O.F.T.-2 will launch anytime soon.

The Stars My Destination: S.T.S.-135

Operation AXIOM: The Space Age—The 10th Anniversary of S.T.S.135
Ten years ago to the day, 21 July 2011, the Space Shuttle Atlantis O.V.-104 landed at Florida's Kennedy Space Center, concluding S.T.S.-135, the final flight of the Space Shuttle program. CDR Christopher Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, Mission Specialist 1 Sandra Magnus, & Mission Specialist 2 Rex Walheim ferried the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to & from the International Space Station, delivery supplies & hauling away refuse.

S.T.S.-135 launched on 8 July 2011, the last time a manned spacecraft would lift off from the United States until the launch of the Crew Dragon Endeavour C206 on30 May 2020, the beginning of the SpaceX Demo-2 mission. That nearly nine-year gap between liftoffs was the longest since Alan Shepard became the first American in space on 5 May 1961. At the time, I was disconsolate, my despair masked by inarticulate rage. President Obama had increased N.A.S.A.'s budget, but cancelled the Constellation Program & retired the Shuttle fleet; Constellation's replacement, the Space Launch System (S.L.S.), would not be announced until September 2011, & still has not flown a single piece of hardware as of this writing. (Artemis I, the uncrewed test flight of the S.L.S. rocket, is scheduled for launch in November 2021.) The future of American manned spaceflight looked bleak, & remained uncertain for years.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis landed, concluding S.T.S.-135, the final flight of the Space Shuttle, ten years ago today, 21 July 2011.

Bonus! Space Age Song o' the Day: S.T.S.-135
They Might Be Giants, "The End of the Tour" from John Henry (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Stars My Destination: Crew-1 Splashdown

In the wee hours of Sunday morning, 2 May, hours before the dawn, the Crew Dragon Resilience splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico, safely returning to Earth the Crew-1 quartet of N.A.S.A. astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, & Shannon Walker, & J.A.X.A. astronaut Soichi Noguchi. A night splashdown is not the ideal scenario, but was necessitated by the weather conditions at the recovery zone. The safe return of Crew-1 marks yet another milestone on the return of routine spaceflight to & from the International Space Station from & to the United States.

The Resilience set a new American spacecraft endurance record, spending one hundred sixty-seven days in space, surpassing the previous record of eighty-four days set by the Skylab 4 Apollo module in 1973-1974.

Bonus Song o' the Day: Crew-1 & the Resilience
Real Can of Yams, "Late Night Swim" from CODENAME: Koala (Remastered) (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Wayback Machine Tour of Launch America
Crew-2 Launch
Crew-1 Relocation
Crew-1 Launch
Demo-2 Splashdown
Demo-2 Launch

The Stars My Destination: Crew-2 Launch

Yesterday, for the third time inside eleven months, a Crew Dragon capsule launched from American soil, ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station. This is quickly becoming routine, which we here at The Secret Base find very exciting.

Commander Shane Kimbrough (N.A.S.A.), Pilot Megan MacArthur (N.A.S.A.), Mission Specialist Akihiko Hoshide (J.A.X.A.), & Mission Specialist Thomas Pesquet (E.S.A.) lifted off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center's LC-39A aboad the Crew Dragon Endeavour (C206) atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The Endeavour is the same capsule that ferried the Demo-2 astronauts last summer, & in a further bit of cost-saving reusability, the Falcon 9 first-stage is the same first-stage rocket that carried the Endeavour last summer. I suppose the use of the N.A.S.A. "worm" logo is appropriate in that SpaceX is helping to realize the Space Shuttle's goals of reusability leading to significant cost-saving.

I was not yet two years-old when S.T.S.-1 flew in April 1981. The Space Shuttle, ferrying astronuats, satellites, & scientific experiments to & from Low Earth Orbit (L.E.O.) was routine throughout the first three decades of my life, until the retirement of the Shuttle fleet in 2011. I took the Space Shuttle, & the International Space Station (I.S.S.) it constructed, for granted—no ifs, ands, or buts. After an agonizing nine years (2011-2020) of watching the United States flounder without the ability to launch even a single astronaut into L.E.O., I am resolved not to take the Commerical Crew Program (Launch America—the SpaceX Crew Dragon &, eventually, the Boeing Starliner) & the I.S.S. for granted.

Kimbrough, MacArthur, Hoshide, & Pesquet are now on-board the I.S.S., completing the crew of Expedition 65. We are now three-fourths of the way through the month-long handoff from Expedition 64 to Expedition 65. The Crew-1 quartet of Hopkins, Glover, Noguchi, & Walker are scheduled to remain aboard for about a week before falling to Earth aboard the Crew Dragon Resilience.

Bonus! Song o' the Day: Crew-2 & the Endeavour
Guster, "Rocketship" from Goldfly (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Stars My Destination: Artemis III & Soyuz MS-17

Yesterday, N.A.S.A. announced the selection of SpaceX as the constructor of the Human Landing System (H.L.S.) to ferry astronauts to & from the surface of the Moon beginning with 2024's Artemis III mission. The H.L.S. Starship beat out more Apollo Lunar Module-like H.L.S. concepts from Dynetics & Blue Origin. I'm inherently leary of Starship's single-stage architecture & not encouraged by the rate at which Starship prototypes keep exploding upon landing during test flights over Texas, but I see little option but to trust that the eggheads at N.A.S.A. know what they're doing. SpaceX has done a bang-up job with the Dragon 2 capsule (in both Crew & Cargo variants) & the Falcon 9 rocket. Starships keep exploding & the Super Heavy rocket has yet to fly, but there are goods reasons to think these systems will eventually be as reliable as the Crew Dragon-Falcon 9 combination, which is set to ferry the Crew-2 mission to the International Space Station (I.S.S.) next week.

Bonus! Song o' the Day: Human Landing System
Frank Sinatra, "Fly Me to the Moon" from It Might As Well Be Swing (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

We are now halfway through a busy April of crew rotation aboard the I.S.S. Last Week, two Russian cosmonauts & an American astronaut blasted off to & arrived at the station aboard Soyuz MS-18 (the Yu.A. Gagarin, the first indication I've ever seen that the Russians name their capsules) & today a different trio of two cosmonauts & an astronaut landed safely in Kazahkstan aboard the Soyuz MS-17 (the Favor). Next week, the Crew-2 mission of four astronauts—two Americans, one Japanese, & one European—is set to launch to the I.S.S., withe the Crew-1 mission of four astronauts—three Americans & one Japanese—set to return the week after next. Two down, two to go. What a time to be alive!

The Stars My Destination: Crew-1, Crew-2, & O.F.T.-2

This morning, the Crew Dragon Resilience (C207), with the Crew-1 foursome aboard, relocated from one docking port on the International Space Station's (I.S.S.) Harmony module to another Harmony docking port, to prepare for the arrival of the Crew Dragon Endeavour (C206) with the four Crew-2 astronauts later this month. Last month, the Russian Soyuz capsule with the MS-17 trio (to the best of my knowledge, our Russian colleagues don't name their capsules) moved from one docking port to another to prepare for the arrival of a second Soyuz capsule with the MS-18 crew (two cosmonuats & one astronaut) at the end of this week.

For most of the past decade, between the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet & the advent of the SpaceX Crew Dragon as a operational capsule, the International Space Station had an average crew size of three, the crew complement of a Soyuz capsule. There are currently crew aboard the I.S.S., five astronauts (four Americans, one Japanese) & two Russian cosmonauts. From the arrival of MS-18 (approximately Friday, 9 April) to the departure of MS-17 (approximately Saturday, 17 April), there will be ten astronauts & cosmonauts aboard the I.S.S.; from the arrival of Crew-2 (approximately Thursday, 22 April) to the departure of Crew-1 (approximately Wednesday, 28 April) there will be eleven astronauts & cosmonauts. I.S.S. crews of seven or more should be the new norm. More astronauts & cosmonauts means more work being accomplished, more science being done. "Science!" These are exciting times.

The casualty in this busy month of crew rotations is the Orbital Flight Test-2 (O.F.T.-2) of the Boeing Starliner capsule. O.F.T.-2 was scheduled for approximately Friday, 2 April, but was delayed by all the Soyuz & Crew Dragon relocations, arrivals, & departures. It is not yet clear when, after April's crew rotations are completed, O.F.T.-2 will launch. Whenever O.F.T.-2 happens, if it as successful as we all hope, will be followed by the Boeing Crew Flight Test (C.F.T., the Starliner equivalent of Summer 2020's SpaceX Demo-2, the first flight of the Crew Dragon Endeavour), no sooner than Fall 2021.

Also unknown is how the private Inspiration4 spaceflight (September 2021) might effect SpaceX Crew-3 for N.A.S.A. to the I.S.S. (October 2021), as right now both flights are scheduled to use the Crew Dragon Resilience: Is the Resilience resilient enough to be refurbished that quickly? According to the Wikipedia, there are three additional Crew Dragon capsules under construction, but none is close to crew-rated flight readiness.

Bonus! Song o' the Day: Crew-1 & the Resilience
Billy Joel, "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" from Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Explorers' Club, № DCCLXXXI

Operation AXIOM: The Space Age—The 20th Anniversary of Soyuz TM-31 & Expedition 1
31 October-2 November 2000: Soyuz TM-31 lifted off from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying CDR Bill Shepherd, Flight Engineer 1 Yuri Gidzenko, & Flight Engineer 2 Sergei Krikalev aboard a Soyuz-TM capsule atop a Soyuz-U rocket; Expedition 1 began when the trio boarded the International Space Station, begining twenty years of continuous habitation in space… & counting.

Bonus! Space Age Song o' Soyuz TM-31 & Expedition 1
The Phenomenauts, "Infinite Frontier" from For All Mankind (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Semper exploro.