Andrei Borisenko

Following the launch of ISS Expedition 23/24 on Soyuz TMA-18 in April 2010, Borisenko was released from his duties on the flight's backup crew and assigned to the prime crew of Expedition 27/28, as flight engineer on Expedition 27 and commander on Expedition 28. He and his two crewmates, Soyuz commander Aleksandr Samokutyayev of Roscosmos and NASA astronaut Ronald Garan, launched aboard Soyuz TMA-21 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome's Gagarin's Start launch pad, at 23:18:20 UTC on April 4, 2011. The launch of Soyuz TMA-21 was dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight by Yuri Gagarin performed in 1961.[5] After 2 days of autonomous flight, the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on April 6 at 23:09 UTC, with the crew officially joining the crew of Expedition 27, alongside Russian commander Dmitri Kondratyev, NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman and Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli.[6]

Soyuz TMA-21 crewmembers Ron Garan (left), Aleksandr Samokutyev (centre) and Borisenko (right).

On 22 May 2011 Kondratyev officially handed over command to Borisenko, with Expedition 27 officially ending with the departure of Soyuz TMA-20, carrying Kondratyev, Coleman and Nespoli back to Earth on 24 May 2011.[7] The Expedition 28 crew would soon be joined by the crew of Soyuz TMA-02M, carrying Russian cosmonaut Sergey Volkov, JAXA astronaut Satoshi Furukawa and NASA astronaut Mike Fossum.[8]

Borisenko concluded his stay aboard the ISS, when his spaceship, Soyuz TMA-21 undocked from the Russian segment's Poisk module at 00:38 UTC on September 16,.[9] On the same day, the Soyuz TMA-21 capsule carrying Borisenko and his two crew mates, Alexander Samokutyaev and Ron Garan touched down (3:59:39 UTC) at 93 miles southeast of the city of Zhezkazgan in Kazakhstan.[10] During the Soyuz re-entry, repeated calls to the spacecraft from the Russian Mission Control in Korolyov, near Moscow, went unanswered for several minutes. Communication was eventually established between the crew and a plane circling the landing site.

On the ground, Borisenko appeared to be in good spirits as he flashed up an enthusiastic "thumbs-up" signal shortly after he was pulled out of the Soyuz landing capsule. He and his colleagues were carried on their chairs to a makeshift inflatable hospital for further medical check ups. After attending the traditional greeting ceremony at the airport in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, Borisenko boarded a plane to return to the training base in Star City, Russia.

Borisenko pictured on Christmas Eve 2016

Borisenko launched for a second time on 19 October 2016 aboard Soyuz MS-02 as Flight Engineer,[11] launch was originally scheduled for 23 September although was delayed due to technical issues with the spacecraft.[12]

Borisenko (right), pictured with Soyuz MS-02 crew members Shane Kimbrough (left), and commander Sergey Ryzhikov (centre)

Borisenko and his two crew mates, Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov and NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough rendezvoused and docked to the ISS on the 21st of October following a two-day rendezvous, and officially joined the Expedition 49 alongside Russian commander Anatoli Ivanishin and flight engineers Takuya Onishi of JAXA and Kathleen Rubins of NASA. Due to month long launch delay Soyuz MS-02 faced, the hand over period was short, Expedition 49 ended on 30 October 2016 when Ivanishin, Onishi and Rubins returned to Earth aboard Soyuz MS-01, leaving the MS-02 trio on board the ISS as Expedition 50 with Kimbrough taking command.[13]

Borisenko following the landing of Soyuz MS-02.

The rest of the Expedition 50 crew joined Borisenko and his two crew mates on 19 November 2016 when Soyuz MS-03, carrying Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, and NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson docked to the station.[14] During the Expedition the Russian Orbital Segment of the ISS was supposed to welcome the Progress MS-04 uncrewed resupply spacecraft, although the spacecraft failed to reach the ISS due to an issue with the Soyuz-U launch vehicle's third stage which shutdown sooner than intended.[15] Progress flights quickly resumed during Expedition 50, with the launch of Progress MS-05 in February 2017.[16]

Borisenko continued to work as a flight engineer with the Expedition 50 crew until 10 April 2017, when he, Ryzhikov and Kimbrough un-docked from the ISS, officially ending Expedition 50 and starting Expedition 51. The trio safely landed on the Kazakh Steppe less than five hours later, wrapping up a 173-day spaceflight and bringing Borisenko's total time in space to 337 days.[17]

Borisenko is currently scheduled to be one of the first Russian cosmonauts to fly on board an American Commercial Crew Vehicle, as he is the only confirmed member of a cadre of Russian cosmonauts assigned to fly on board either SpaceX's Crew Dragon or Boeing's Starliner spacecraft once they have completed crewed test flights and proved their safety. It is unclear which of the two spacecraft Borisenko will fly on as no cosmonauts have started training on either vehicle yet, and it has been stated by Pavel Vlasov (head of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center) that if the two vehicles are further delayed it would be logical to revert Borisenko to a Soyuz flight.[18] If Borisenko is the first Russian to fly on either Crew Dragon or Starliner, he will be the first Russian cosmonaut to launch on a spacecraft other than the Soyuz since Nikolai Budarin, who launched on the Space Shuttle on STS-113 in 2002.

If NASA does not purchase a seat on Soyuz MS-18, Borisenko will fly on the mission alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov as a member of Expedition 65/66.[19]