Astronomy:Expedition 42

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Short description: Long-duration mission to the International Space Station
ISS Expedition 42
Expedition 42 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' crew poster.jpg
Promotional Poster
Mission typeISS Expedition
Expedition
Space StationInternational Space Station
Began10 November 2014 (2014-11-10Z) UTC
Ended11 March 2015 (2015-03-12Z) UTC
Arrived aboardSoyuz TMA-14M
Soyuz TMA-15M
Departed aboardSoyuz TMA-14M
Soyuz TMA-15M
Crew
Crew size6
MembersExpedition 41/42:
Barry E. Wilmore
Aleksandr Samokutyayev
Yelena Serova

Expedition 42/43:
Anton Shkaplerov
Samantha Cristoforetti
Terry W. Virts
ISS Expedition 42 Patch.svg
Expedition 42 mission patch
Expedition 42 crew portrait.jpg
(l-r) Serova, Wilmore, Samokutyayev, Shkaplerov, Virts and Cristoforetti 

Expedition 42 was the 42nd expedition to the International Space Station. It began on 10 November 2014 with the undocking of Soyuz TMA-13M, returning the crew of Expedition 41 to Earth and ended with the undocking of Soyuz TMA-14M on 11 March 2015.[1]

Crew

Position First Part
(November 2014)
Second Part
(November 2014 to March 2015)
Commander United States Barry E. Wilmore, NASA
Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer 1 Russia Aleksandr Samokutyayev, RSA
Second and last spaceflight
Flight Engineer 2 Russia Yelena Serova, RSA
Only spaceflight
Flight Engineer 3 Russia Anton Shkaplerov, RSA
Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer 4 Italy Samantha Cristoforetti, ASI-ESA
First spaceflight
Flight Engineer 5 United States Terry W. Virts, NASA
Second and last spaceflight
Source
Spacefacts[2]

Mission

One of the key aspects of Mission 42 - and other missions in 2015 - is the preparation (that is, reconfiguration) of parts of the ISS to allow commercial space taxis to dock at the station. The mission requires several space walks in 2015 to prepare a berthing slip is being prepared at the forward end of the Harmony connecting node where Space Shuttles formerly docked, and another on Harmony's zenith port. These new ports will allow for the Boeing's CST-100 and SpaceX's Dragon capsules to dock at the ISS. The first paid passengers are expected to arrive in 2019.[3]

Gallery

In popular culture

  • A fictionalized version of Expedition 42 is depicted in the 2013 film Gravity. The crew, never shown, is forced to evacuate the International Space Station in a Soyuz capsule before the orbital debris arrive.[4]
  • To commemorate the Expedition number's connection to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comic science fiction franchise, the crew released a poster in the style of the 2005 film.[5]

References

External links