Expedition 21
 Mission insignia |
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| Number of crew | 6 (5 after departure of Nicole Stott) | ||||
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| Launch site | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | ||||
| Launch craft | Soyuz TMA-15, STS-128, Soyuz TMA-16 | ||||
| Start | 30 October 2009 | ||||
| End | 1 December 2009 | ||||
| Landing craft | Soyuz TMA-15 | ||||
| Landing site | Arkalyk, Kazakhstan | ||||
| Duration | 186 days | ||||
 from left to right: Maksim Surayev, Nicole Stott, Jeffrey Williams, Frank De Winne (commander), Robert Thirsk, Roman Romanenko |
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Expedition 21 was the 21st long-duration mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The expedition began on 30 September 2009, with Frank de Winne becoming the first ESA astronaut to command a space mission.
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 2009 to November 2009) |
Second Part (November 2009 to December 2009) |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Commander | Frank De Winne, ESA Second spaceflight |
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| Flight Engineer 1 | Roman Romanenko, RSA First spaceflight |
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| Flight Engineer 2 | Robert Thirsk, CSA Second Spaceflight |
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| Flight Engineer 3 | Jeffrey N. Williams, NASA Third spaceflight |
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| Flight Engineer 4 | Maksim Surayev, RSA First spaceflight |
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| Flight Engineer 5 | Nicole P. Stott, NASA First spaceflight |
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References
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
- ^ NASA HQ (2008). "NASA Assigns Space Station Crews, Updates Expedition Numbering". NASA. Retrieved 21 November 2008.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Expedition 21 |
