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List of commanders of the International Space Station

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This is a chronological list of commanders of the International Space Station. A pre-decided inhabitant of the ISS assumes command upon departure of the previous commander, at the end of an expedition, in a small hand-over ceremony. Their responsibility is defined by the ISS Code of Conduct, which states that the ISS commander has some authority over the operations of the ISS, but should ultimately defer most decisions to the Flight Director.[1]

A typical ISS commander handover ceremony from Expedition 57 to 58

The commander keeps a symbolic key of the station with them during their tenure, that is, a copy of the handle opening the hatches to the Russian segment. It is passed on to a new astronaut when they replace the existing commander as the new station commander.[2]

Continued international collaboration on ISS missions has been thrown into doubt by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and related sanctions on Russia.[3]

Responsibilities

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  • Conduct operations in or on the ISS as directed by the Flight Director and in accordance with the Flight Rules, plans and procedures
  • Direct the activities of the ISS crewmembers as a single, integrated team to ensure the successful completion of the mission
  • Fully and accurately inform the Flight Director, in a timely manner, of the ISS vehicle configuration, status, commanding, and other operational activities on-board (including off-nominal or emergency situations)
  • Enforce procedures for the physical and information security of operations and utilization data
  • Maintain order
  • Ensure crew safety, health and well-being including crew rescue and return
  • Take all reasonable action necessary for the protection of the ISS elements, equipment, or payloads[1]

Ceremony

[edit]

A ceremony occurs at each change of command, similar to rituals in various military services. The new and old commanders together ring a bell. The first occurred when Yury V. Usachev of Expedition 2 replaced Expedition 1 commander William M. Shepherd.[4]

List

[edit]
Expedition Patch Portrait Commander Assumed command Relinquished command Notes (while in command of the expedition)
Expedition 1 United States William M. Shepherd[5] 31 October 2000[5][6] 19 March 2001 First commander of the ISS and also first American commander of the ISS.
Expedition 2 Russia Yury Usachev[7] 19 March 2001[7] 18 August 2001[8] First Russian commander of ISS.
Expedition 3 United States Frank Culbertson[8] 18 August 2001[8] 13 December 2001[9] Only American onboard ISS during September 11 attacks.[10]
Expedition 4 Russia Yury Onufrienko[9] 13 December 2001[9] 10 June 2002[11]
Expedition 5 Russia Valery Korzun[11] 10 June 2002[11] 30 November 2002[12]
Expedition 6 United States Kenneth Bowersox[12] 30 November 2002[12] 4 May 2003[13]
Expedition 7 Russia Yuri Malenchenko[13] 4 May 2003[13] 27 October 2003[14] First person to marry in space.[15]
Expedition 8 United States United Kingdom Michael Foale[14] 27 October 2003[14] 26 April 2004[16]
Expedition 9 Russia Gennady Padalka[16] 26 April 2004[16] 22 October 2004[17]
Expedition 10 United States Leroy Chiao[17] 22 October 2004[17] 24 April 2005[18] First Asian-American commander of ISS.
Expedition 11 Russia Sergei K. Krikalev[18] 24 April 2005[18] 10 October 2005[19]
Expedition 12 United States William S. McArthur [19] 10 October 2005[19] 7 April 2006[20]
Expedition 13 Russia Pavel Vinogradov[20] 7 April 2006[20] 27 September 2006[21]
Expedition 14 United States Michael López-Alegría[21] 27 September 2006[21] 17 April 2007[22]
Expedition 15 Russia Fyodor Yurchikhin[22] 17 April 2007[22] 19 October 2007[23]
Expedition 16 United States Peggy Whitson[23] 19 October 2007[23] 17 April 2008[24] First female commander of ISS.[25]
Expedition 17 Russia Sergei Volkov[24] 17 April 2008[24] 22 October 2008[26] Youngest person to command the station at 35.
Expedition 18 United States Michael Fincke[26] 22 October 2008[26] 2 April 2009[27]
Expedition 19 Russia Gennady Padalka[27] 2 April 2009[27] 9 October 2009[28] Second time as commander.
Expedition 20
Expedition 21 Belgium Frank De Winne[28] 9 October 2009[28] 1 December 2009[29] First Belgian national as commander, first ESA astronaut as commander, and first non-American or non-Russian commander.
Expedition 22 United States Jeffrey N. Williams[29] 1 December 2009[29] 17 March 2010[30]
Expedition 23 Russia Oleg Kotov[30] 17 March 2010[30] 2 June 2010
Expedition 24 Russia Aleksandr Skvortsov 2 June 2010 22 September 2010[31]
Expedition 25 United States Douglas H. Wheelock[31] 22 September 2010[31] 24 November 2010[32]
Expedition 26 United States Scott J. Kelly[32] 24 November 2010[32] 13 March 2011[33]
Expedition 27 Russia Dmitri Kondratyev[33] 13 March 2011[33] 22 May 2011[34]
Expedition 28 Russia Andrei Borisenko[34] 22 May 2011[34] 14 September 2011[35]
Expedition 29 United States Mike Fossum[35] 14 September 2011[35] 20 November 2011[36]
Expedition 30 United States Dan Burbank[36] 20 November 2011[36] 25 April 2012[37]
Expedition 31 Russia Oleg Kononenko[37] 25 April 2012[37] 1 July 2012
Expedition 32 Russia Gennady Padalka 1 July 2012 15 September 2012[38] Third time as commander.
Expedition 33 United States Sunita Williams[38] 15 September 2012[38] 17 November 2012[39]
Expedition 34 United States Kevin A. Ford[39] 17 November 2012[39] 13 March 2013[40]
Expedition 35 Canada Chris Hadfield[40] 13 March 2013[40] 13 May 2013[41] First Canadian national as commander.[40]
Expedition 36 Russia Pavel Vinogradov[41] 13 May 2013[41] 9 September 2013[42] Second time as commander.
Expedition 37 Russia Fyodor Yurchikhin[42] 9 September 2013[42] 10 November 2013 Second time as commander.
Expedition 38 Russia Oleg Kotov 10 November 2013 9 March 2014[43] Second time as commander.
Expedition 39 Japan Koichi Wakata[43] 9 March 2014[43] 12 May 2014[44] First Japanese national as commander.[43]
Expedition 40 United States Steven R. Swanson[44] 12 May 2014[44] 9 September 2014[45]
Expedition 41 Russia Maksim Surayev[45] 9 September 2014[45] 10 November 2014[46]
Expedition 42 United States Barry E. Wilmore[46] 10 November 2014[46] 10 March 2015[47]
Expedition 43 United States Terry W. Virts, Jr.[47] 10 March 2015[47] 10 June 2015[48]
Expedition 44 Russia Gennady Padalka[48] 10 June 2015[48] 5 September 2015[49] Fourth time as commander; set the record for most time spent in space (878 days) until Oleg Kononenko surpassed him on February 4, 2024.
Expedition 45 United States Scott Kelly[49] 5 September 2015[49] 29 February 2016[50] Second time as commander.
Expedition 46
Expedition 47 United States Timothy L. Kopra[50] 29 February 2016[50] 17 June 2016[51]
Expedition 48 United States Jeffrey Williams[51] 17 June 2016[51] 5 September 2016[52] Second time as commander.
Expedition 49 Russia Anatoli Ivanishin[52] 5 September 2016[52] 28 October 2016[53]
Expedition 50 United States Robert S. Kimbrough[53] 28 October 2016[53] 9 April 2017[54]
Expedition 51 United States Peggy A. Whitson[54] 9 April 2017[54] 1 June 2017 Second time as commander.
Expedition 52 Russia Fyodor Yurchikhin[55] 1 June 2017[55] 1 September 2017[56] Third time as commander.
Expedition 53 United States Randolph J. Bresnik[56] 1 September 2017[56] 13 December 2017[57]
Expedition 54 Russia Alexander Misurkin[57] 13 December 2017[57] 26 February 2018[58]
Expedition 55 Russia Anton Shkaplerov[58] 26 February 2018[58] 1 June 2018[59]
Expedition 56 United States Andrew Feustel[59] 1 June 2018[59] 4 October 2018[60]
Expedition 57 Germany Alexander Gerst[60] 4 October 2018[60] 18 December 2018[61] First German national and second youngest person to command the station at 42.
Expedition 58 Russia Oleg Kononenko[61] 18 December 2018[61] 24 June 2019[62] Second time as commander.
Expedition 59
Expedition 60 Russia Aleksey Ovchinin[62] 24 June 2019[62] 2 October 2019[63]
Expedition 61 Italy Luca Parmitano[63] 2 October 2019[63] 6 February 2020[64] First Italian national as commander.
Expedition 62 Russia Oleg Skripochka[64] 6 February 2020[64] 15 April 2020[65]
Expedition 63 United States Chris Cassidy[65] 15 April 2020[65] 20 October 2020
Expedition 64 Russia Sergey Ryzhikov[66][67][68] 20 October 2020 15 April 2021
Expedition 65 United States Shannon Walker 15 April 2021 27 April 2021 Shortest term as commander at 11 days.
Japan Akihiko Hoshide[69] 27 April 2021 4 October 2021
France Thomas Pesquet[70] 4 October 2021 8 November 2021 First French national as commander.
Expedition 66
Russia Anton Shkaplerov[71] 8 November 2021 29 March 2022 Second time as commander.
Expedition 67 United States Thomas Marshburn[72][73] 29 March 2022 4 May 2022
Russia Oleg Artemyev 4 May 2022 28 September 2022
Expedition 68 Italy Samantha Cristoforetti[74] 28 September 2022 12 October 2022 First European female as commander.
Russia Sergey Prokopyev 12 October 2022 26 September 2023
Expedition 69
Expedition 70 Denmark Andreas Mogensen 26 September 2023 10 March 2024 First Danish national as commander.
Russia Oleg Kononenko 10 March 2024 22 September 2024 Third time as commander.
Expedition 71
Expedition 72 United States Sunita Williams[75] 22 September 2024 February 2025 Second time as commander.

Statistics

[edit]

A Russian national has commanded the station 31 times, including the current one. A US national has commanded the station 28 times.[Note 1] Japanese and Italian nationals have commanded the station 2 times. Belgian, British,[Note 1] Canadian, Danish, German, and French nationals have commanded the station once each.

Gennady Padalka has commanded the station on 4 separate occasions, more than any other inhabitant.

Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kononenko have commanded the station thrice. Scott Kelly, Oleg Kotov, Anton Shkaplerov, Pavel Vinogradov, Peggy Whitson, Jeffrey Williams, and Sunita Williams have commanded the station twice each.

See also

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References

[edit]
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  66. ^ @anik1982space (9 May 2020). "Вот и новые составы российских экипажей «Союза МС-17» стали известны из пресс-релиза аэропорта Жуковский.
    Основной: Сергей Рыжиков, Сергей Кудь-Сверчков.
    Дублирующий: Олег Новицкий, Пётр Дубров.
    К сожалению, Николая Тихонова и Андрея Бабкина нет..."     (Tweet) (in Russian) – via Twitter.
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Footnotes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Including dual-national Michael Foale
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