Expedition 26

Expedition 26
Promotional Poster
Mission typeLong-duration 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

Expedition 26 mission patch

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

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.

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

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

Backup crew

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MagISStra

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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

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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.

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References

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Public Domain 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. ^ a b c NASA HQ (2008). "NASA Assigns Space Station Crews, Updates Expedition Numbering". NASA. Archived from the original on 17 April 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2008.
  3. ^ Mark Carreau, Mark (24 February 2011). "Discovery Soars on Final Mission". AviationWeek.com. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  4. ^ "NASA.gov". Archived from the original on 7 March 2009. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  5. ^ "ISS Expedition 26". NASA.gov. 12 February 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  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). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 June 2022. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
  9. ^ "Cosmonauts Perform 27th Russian Space Station Spacewalk". Archived from the original on 28 December 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
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