Record-Setting Astronaut Celebrates Milestone as Upcoming Crew Readies for ISS Deployment

A photograph of Earth, specifically highlighting the Strait of Gibraltar, was captured from the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft as it neared the International Space Station (ISS). The Strait of Gibraltar serves as a conduit between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, separating the continents of Europe and Africa. Photo Credit: NASA

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On Monday, September 11, the seven crew members of Expedition 69 relished a day of leisure on board the ISS. They are slated to greet three new colleagues by the end of the week following their successful launch and docking with the space facility.

Forthcoming Launch and Arrival of New Crew

Three astronauts designated for future station deployment are presently at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, anticipating their launch on the Soyuz MS-24 vessel scheduled for 11:44 a.m. EDT this Friday. The upcoming crew includes NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub. They are expected to dock with the Rassvet module approximately three hours post-launch, at 2:56 p.m. First-time space travelers O’Hara and Chub, alongside Kononenko who is embarking on an unprecedented fifth journey to the ISS, will spend six months in orbit engaged in cutting-edge space research.

Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Frank Rubio from NASA is occupied in the Microgravity Science Glovebox, where he is interchanging samples of graphene aerogel as part of a study focused on space manufacturing. The research aims to generate a homogeneous, high-quality material that could have applications in energy storage, environmental conservation, and chemical sensing. Credit: NASA

Present Crew and Their Achievements

The ongoing Expedition 69 is comprised of two distinct crews, one of which has been aboard the ISS for nearly a year, and another that joined the station on August 27. The crew with the longest duration, including Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineers Dmitri Petelin and Frank Rubio, will conclude their over-a-year-long mission by the end of this month.

Recent Milestones in Crew History

Frank Rubio has now surpassed NASA’s previous record for continuous days in space, set at 355 days by astronaut Mark Vande Hei on March 30, 2022. A pre-recorded dialogue between Vande Hei and Rubio will be aired at 11 a.m. on Tuesday via NASA TV, where Vande Hei offers his congratulations for the record-setting mission.

The ISS’s latest team is in its third week of a scheduled six-month voyage. The group includes NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov, both flying for the first time, along with Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Andreas Mogensen of ESA (European Space Agency), both of whom have visited the station before. This crew will be involved in a range of microgravity scientific experiments aimed at benefiting humans both on Earth and in space, extending their mission until the end of February.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about ISS Expedition 69

More about ISS Expedition 69

• NASA’s Official Website for ISS Expedition 69
• Baikonur Cosmodrome Launch Schedule
• Frank Rubio’s NASA Profile
• Record for Longest Continuous Days in Space
• Graphene Aerogel Research Study
• NASA TV Broadcast Schedule