Expedition 18
 Mission insignia |
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| Number of crew | 3 | ||||
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| Launch site | Baikonur | ||||
| Launch craft | Soyuz TMA-13, STS-124 Space Shuttle Discovery (Chamitoff), STS-126 Space Shuttle Endeavour (Magnus), STS-119 Space Shuttle Discovery (Wakata) | ||||
| Start | 31 May 2008 (STS-124), 12 October 2008 (Soyuz TMA-13), 14 November 2008 (STS-126), 15 March 2009 (STS-119) |
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| End | 8 April 2009 | ||||
 (Left to right) Koichi Wakata, Michael Fincke, Sandra Magnus, Yuri Lonchakov, Gregory Chamitoff |
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Expedition 18 was the 18th permanent crew of the International Space Station (ISS). The first two crew members, Michael Fincke, and Yuri Lonchakov were launched on 12 October 2008, aboard Soyuz TMA-13. With them was astronaut Sandra Magnus, who joined the Expedition 18 crew after launching on STS-126 and remained until departing on STS-119 on 25 March 2009. She was replaced by JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata, who arrived at the ISS on STS-119 on 17 March 2009. Gregory Chamitoff, who joined Expedition 18 after Expedition 17 left the station,[1] ended his stay aboard ISS and returned to Earth with the STS-126 crew.
Contents |
Crew [edit]
| Position[2] | First Part (October 2008 to November 2008) |
Second Part (November 2008 to March 2009) |
Third Part (March 2009 to April 2009) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commander | Michael Fincke, NASA Second spaceflight |
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| Flight Engineer 1 | Yuri Lonchakov, RSA Third spaceflight |
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| Flight Engineer 2 | Gregory Chamitoff, NASA First Spaceflight |
Sandra Magnus, NASA Second spaceflight |
Koichi Wakata, JAXA Third spaceflight |
Crew notes [edit]
Salizhan Sharipov, was originally slated to be the Soyuz commander and Expedition 18 Flight Engineer 1, but was replaced by his back-up Yuri Lonchakov.
Backup crew [edit]
- Gennady Padalka - Commander - RSA (for Lonchakov)
- Michael Barratt- Flight Engineer - NASA (for Fincke)
- Timothy Kopra - Flight Engineer - NASA (for Chamitoff)
- Nicole Stott - Flight Engineer - NASA (for Magnus)
- Soichi Noguchi - Flight Engineer - JAXA (for Wakata)
Mission plan [edit]
- Launch vehicle: Soyuz TMA-13
- Launch date: 12 October 2008 3:01 a.m. EDT
- Docking: 14 October 2008
- Spacewalks: 22 December 2008 (completed 23 December) and 10 March 2009
- Landing: 8 April 2009
March 2009 debris incident [edit]
On 12 March 2009, a piece of debris from the upper stage of a Delta II rocket used to launch a GPS satellite in 1993, passed close to the ISS. The conjunction between the debris and the Space Station was not detected until it was too late to perform a collision avoidance manoeuvre. The crew prepared to evacuate the station by closing hatches between modules, and boarding the Soyuz spacecraft that was docked to provide emergency crew escape.[3] The debris did not hit the station, instead it passed by at 16:38 UTC, and the crew were cleared to resume operations about five minutes later.[3]
Extra-vehicular activity [edit]
| Mission | Spacewalkers | Start (UTC) | End (UTC) | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EVA 1 | Yuri Lonchakov Michael Fincke |
23 December 2008 00:51 |
23 December 2008 06:29 |
5 hours, 38 minutes |
| Installed an electromagnetic energy measuring device, (Langmuir probe) on Pirs, removed the Russian Biorisk long-duration experiment, installed the Expose-R experiment package on Zvezda, but subsequently removed it after it failed to activate and transmit telemetry on ground command. Installed the Impulse experiment. EVA conducted from Pirs airlock in Russian Orlan space suits.[4][5] | ||||
| EVA 2 | Yuri Lonchakov Michael Fincke |
10 March 2009 16:22 |
10 March 2009 21:11 |
4 hours, 49 minutes |
| Installed the EXPOSE-R onto the universal science platform of the Zvezda module, removed tape straps from the area of the docking target on the Pirs airlock and docking compartment, inspected and photographed the exterior of the Russian portion of the station. EVA conducted from Pirs airlock in Russian Orlan space suits.[6] | ||||
See also [edit]
References [edit]
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
- ^ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (2008). "Expedition 18 Launch Preparations". NASA. Retrieved 7 October 2008.
- ^ NASA (2007). "NASA Announces Three International Space Station Crews". NASA. Retrieved 3 November 2007.
- ^ a b Bergin, Chris (12 March 2009). "RED threshold late notice conjunction threat misses ISS - Crew egress Soyuz". NASASpaceflight.com. Retrieved 12 March 2009.
- ^ NASA (2008). "ISS On-Orbit Status 12/23/08". NASA. Retrieved 23 December 2008.[dead link]
- ^ Associated Press (2008). "US, Russian space station crew conduct spacewalk". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 23 December 2008.[dead link]
- ^ Brian Wagner (10 March 2009). "Space Station Astronauts Complete Space Walk Ahead of Shuttle Launch". Voice of America. Retrieved 11 March 2009.
