NASA's Space to Ground: Samantha Assumes Command | Week of Sept. 30, 2022

NASA's Space to Ground: Samantha Assumes Command | Week of Sept. 30, 2022

Week of September 30, 2022: NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy is the new Commander of the International Space Station. “Cristoforetti will lead the new Expedition 68 crew until she and three of her SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom crewmates depart the space station in October.”

Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev, and Sergey Korsakov of Russia landed on Earth, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Kazakhstan. The trio returned after 195 days in space that spanned 3,120 orbits of Earth and over 78 million miles.

During the mission, Artemyev completed five spacewalks totaling 33 hours, 12 minutes. He has now logged 561 days in space on his three flights.

Matveev completed four spacewalks totaling 26 hours, 7 minutes during the mission. He logged 195 days in space on his first flight.

Korsakov also logged 195 days in space on his first flight.

Remaining aboard the station is the seven-person crew of Expedition 66 with Station Commander Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency (ESA), NASA astronauts Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren, Frank Rubio, and Jessica Watkins, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin.

In October, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 members—NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina—will join the Expedition 68 members aboard the station. Crew-5 will be the fifth crew rotation mission of SpaceX’s human space transportation system, and its sixth flight with astronauts, to the International Space Station for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science 

For more information about STEM on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Release Date: September 30, 2022

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