Expedition 21

Expedition 21 was the 21st long-duration mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The expedition began on 11 October 2009, with Frank de Winne becoming the first ESA astronaut to command a space mission.

ISS Expedition 21
Promotional Poster
Mission typeISS Expedition
Expedition
Space stationInternational Space Station
Began11 October 2009 (2009-10-11)
Ended1 December 2009 (2010-01)
Arrived aboardSoyuz TMA-15
Soyuz TMA-16
Stott: STS-128
Space Shuttle Discovery
Departed aboardSoyuz TMA-15
Soyuz TMA-16
Stott: STS-129
Space Shuttle Atlantis
Crew
Crew size6 (to November)
5 (from November)
MembersExpedition 20/21:
Frank De Winne
Roman Romanenko
Robert Brent Thirsk
Nicole P. Stott (to November)

Expedition 21/22:
Jeffrey N. Williams
Maksim Surayev

Expedition 21 mission patch

from left to right: Maksim Surayev, Nicole Stott, Jeffrey Williams, Frank De Winne (commander), Robert Thirsk, Roman Romanenko
 
Expedition 21 lifts off.

The handover between Expedition 20 and Expedition 21 required three Soyuz vehicles being docked to the station at the same time, the first time this has occurred.

Soyuz TMA-16 brought the final members of Expedition 21 to the ISS, along with space tourist Guy Laliberté. Laliberté returned to Earth on Soyuz TMA-14 with two members of Expedition 20 on 11 October 2009.

Nicole P. Stott was the last ISS expedition crew member to fly on the Space Shuttle. She returned to Earth aboard STS-129 in November 2009.

Crew
Position First Part
(October to November 2009)		 Second Part
(November to December 2009)
Commander Belgium Frank De Winne, ESA
Second and last spaceflight
Flight Engineer 1 Russia Roman Romanenko, RSA
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer 2 Canada Robert Thirsk, CSA
Second and last Spaceflight
Flight Engineer 3 United States Jeffrey N. Williams, NASA
Third spaceflight
Flight Engineer 4 Russia Maksim Surayev, RSA
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer 5 United States Nicole P. Stott, NASA
First spaceflight
Source
NASA[1]

Backup crew

References

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

  1. NASA HQ (2008). "NASA Assigns Space Station Crews, Updates Expedition Numbering". NASA. Retrieved 21 November 2008.
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