Expedition 26

Expedition 26 was the 26th long-duration mission to the International Space Station. The expedition's first three crew members – one US astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts – arrived at the station on board Soyuz TMA-01M on 10 October 2010. Expedition 26 officially began the following month on 26 November,[2] when half of the crew of the previous mission, Expedition 25, returned to Earth on board Soyuz TMA-19.[2] The rest of the Expedition 26 crew – one US astronaut, one Russian cosmonaut and one ESA astronaut – joined the trio already on board when their spacecraft, Soyuz TMA-20, docked with the station on 17 December 2010.

ISS Expedition 26
Mission typeISS Expedition
Expedition
Space StationInternational Space Station
Began26 November 2010, 04:46 (2010-11-26UTC04:46Z) UTC[1]
Ended16 March 2011, 08:54 (2011-03-16UTC08:55Z) UTC
Arrived aboardSoyuz TMA-01M
Soyuz TMA-20
Departed aboardSoyuz TMA-01M
Soyuz TMA-20
Crew
Crew size6
MembersExpedition 25/26:
Scott J. Kelly
Aleksandr Kaleri
Oleg Skripochka

Expedition 26/27:
Dmitri Kondratyev
Catherine Coleman
Paolo Nespoli
EVAs2

(l-r) Skripochka, Kaleri, Kondratyev, Nespoli, Coleman and Kelly
 

The commander of Expedition 25, Douglas Wheelock, handed over command of the station to Expedition 26 commander Scott Kelly on 24 November 2010. The 26 crew was joined by the crew of STS-133 on 26 February 2011,[3] and was supplied by the ESA's Johannes Kepler unmanned resupply craft, which arrived on 24 February. Expedition 26 ended on 16 March 2011 with the departure of Soyuz TMA-01M.

Crew
Position First part
(November 2010)		 Second part
(December 2010
to March 2011)[4][5]
Commander Scott J. Kelly, NASA
Third spaceflight
Flight Engineer 1 Aleksandr Kaleri, RSA
Fifth spaceflight
Flight Engineer 2 Oleg Skripochka, RSA
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer 3 Dmitri Kondratyev, RSA
Only spaceflight
Flight Engineer 4 Catherine Coleman, NASA
Third and last spaceflight
Flight Engineer 5 Paolo Nespoli, ESA
Second spaceflight
Source
NASA[2][6]

Backup crew

MagISStra

ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli's mission to the space station was named MagISStra. The name combines the word magistra, meaning "female teacher" in Latin, with the acronym "ISS", as suggested by Antonella Pezzani of Italy.[7]

Spacewalks

Two Russian spacewalks were scheduled for Expedition 26.[8] The first, Russian EVA-27, was conducted Friday, 21 January 2011.[9] The second spacewalk, Russian EVA-28, was conducted on the date of 16 February 2011. Cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Dmitri Kondratyev conducted both spacewalks.

  • Soyuz TMA-19 departs the ISS, marking the beginning of Expedition 26.
  • The Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft is rolled out by train on its way to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
  • The Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft is seen shortly after arrival to the launch pad.
  • Soyuz TMA-20 lifts-off on 15 December 2010.
  • Space Shuttle Discovery approaches the ISS on 26 February 2011.
  • Soyuz TMA-01M after landing in Kazakhstan on 16 March 2011.

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

  1. Space.com - Soyuz Capsule Lands Safely With Space Station Crew (26 November 2010)
  2. NASA HQ (2008). "NASA Assigns Space Station Crews, Updates Expedition Numbering". NASA. Retrieved 21 November 2008.
  3. Mark Carreau, Mark (24 February 2011). "Discovery Soars On Final Mission". AviationWeek.com. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  4. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/iss_manifest.html
  5. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition26/index.html
  6. NASA HQ (2009). "NASA and its International Partners Assign Space Station Crews". NASA. Retrieved 7 October 2009.
  7. "Counting down for ESA's MagISStra mission to Space Station". European Space Agency. 8 October 2010. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
  8. NASA (October 2010). "Expedition 25 and 26 PRESS KIT - A New Decade Begins" (PDF). Retrieved 27 November 2010.
  9. "Cosmonauts Perform 27th Russian Space Station Spacewalk".
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