Expedition 69

Expedition 69 was the 69th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station. The expedition began with the uncrewed departure of Soyuz MS-22 in March 2023 with Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev continuing his ISS command from Expedition 68. It ended with his departure with his crewmates onboard Soyuz MS-23 on 27 September 2023.

Background, Crew and Events
Initially, the expedition consisted of Prokopyev and his two Soyuz MS-22/23 crewmates, Dmitry Petelin from Russia and American astronaut Francisco Rubio, as well as American astronauts Stephen G. Bowen and Warren Hoburg, Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi, and another Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, who launched aboard SpaceX Crew-6 on March 2, 2023 and were transferred from Expedition 68 alongside the Soyuz MS-22/23 crew. The departure of the MS-22 spacecraft with its crew was ultimately canceled because of a coolant leak in December 2022. The decision was made to return Soyuz MS-22 uncrewed and launch Soyuz MS-23 uncrewed as its replacement. By the time the MS-22/23 crew returned to Earth on 27 September 2023, which was the end of Expedition 69, they had spent more than a year in space due to their mission extension.

The manifest changes do not affect US crew rotation plans, where SpaceX Crew-5 was replaced by Crew-6 in February during Expedition 68.

Previously, US crew handovers since flights returned in 2020 took place during a new expedition, about 2–3 weeks after the Soyuz handover occurs (which officially changes the Expeditions). However, in this handover, the swap occurred before the Soyuz MS-22 departure date of March 28. The early US handover was a part of the manifest prior to the Soyuz MS-22 coolant leak in December 2022.

The crew was later replenished by subsequent crew rotation missions in the expedition, SpaceX Crew-7, consisting of NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen, Satoshi Furukawa from Japan, and Russian cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov, and Soyuz MS-24, consisting of Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub (both on a year long ISS mission) and another American astronaut Loral O'Hara. The space station was also visited by a non-expedition crew, Axiom Mission 2, consisting of former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson (who had previously commanded the station twice during Expedition 16 and Expedition 51), John Shoffner, Ali AlQarni, and Rayyanah Barnawi.

Events manifest
Previous mission: Expedition 68

28 March 2023 – Soyuz MS-22 Uncrewed undocking, official switch from Expedition 68

6 April 2023 – Soyuz MS-23 Redocking

15 April 2023 – CRS SpX-27 Undocking

16 April 2023 – EVA 1 (VKD-56): 7 hrs, 55 mins

16 April 2023 – Relocation of Nauka outfitting: Moving "RtoD" add-on heat radiator from Rassvet module to Nauka module

21 April 2023 – CRS Cygnus NG-18 Unberthing & Release

28 April 2023 – EVA 2 (US-86): 7 hrs, 1 min

3–4 May 2023 – EVA 3 (VKD-57): 7 hrs, 11 mins

4 May 2023 – Relocation of Nauka outfitting: Moving experiments airlock "ShK" from Rassvet module to Nauka module forward port

6 May 2023 – SpaceX Crew-6 Redocking

12 May 2023 – EVA 4 (VKD-58): 5 hrs, 14 mins

22 May 2023 – Axiom Mission 2 Docking (Non-Expedition crew)

24 May 2023 – Progress MS-23/84P Docking

30 May 2023 – Axiom Mission 2 Undocking (Non-Expedition crew)

1 June 2023 – SpaceX CRS-28 Docking

9 June 2023 – EVA 5 (US EVA-87): 6 hrs, 3 mins, installed the fifth iROSA at Array 1A

15 June 2023 – EVA 6 (US EVA-88): 5 hrs, 35 mins, installed the sixth and last iROSA at Array 1B

22 June 2023 – EVA 7 (VKD-59): 6 hrs, 24 mins

29 June 2023 – CRS SpX-28 Undocking

4 August 2023 – CRS Cygnus NG-19 Capture & Berthing

9 August 2023 – EVA 8 (VKD-60): 6 hrs, 35 mins

9 August 2023 – Relocation of Nauka outfitting: Moving European Robotic Arm's Portable Workpost from Rassvet module to Nauka module

20 August 2023 – Progress MS-22/83P Undocking

25 August 2023 – Progress MS-24/85P Docking

27 August 2023 – SpaceX Crew-7 Docking

3 September 2023 – SpaceX Crew-6 Undocking

15 September 2023 – Soyuz MS-24 Docking

26 September 2023 – ISS Expedition 69/70 Change of Command Ceremony from Sergey Prokopyev to Andreas Mogensen

27 September 2023 – Soyuz MS-23 Undocking, official switch to Expedition 70

Next: Expedition 70

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