 Promotional Poster | |
| Mission type | Long-duration expedition |
|---|---|
| Expedition | |
| Space station | International Space Station |
| Began | 11 October 2009 (2009-10-11) |
| Ended | 1 December 2009 (2010-01) |
| Arrived aboard | Soyuz TMA-15 Soyuz TMA-16 Stott:STS-128 Space Shuttle Discovery |
| Departed aboard | Soyuz TMA-15 Soyuz TMA-16 Stott:STS-129 Space Shuttle Atlantis |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 6 (to November) 5 (from November) |
| Members | Expedition 20/21: Frank De Winne Roman Romanenko Robert Brent Thirsk Nicole P. Stott (to November) Expedition 21/22: Jeffrey N. Williams Maksim Surayev |
 Expedition 21 mission patch  from left to right: Maksim Surayev, Nicole Stott, Jeffrey Williams, Frank De Winne (commander), Robert Thirsk, Roman Romanenko | |
Expedition 21 was the 21st long-duration mission to theInternational Space Station (ISS). The expedition began on 11 October 2009, withFrank de Winne becoming the firstESA astronaut to command a space mission.
The handover betweenExpedition 20 and Expedition 21 required threeSoyuz 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 withspace touristGuy Laliberté. Laliberté returned to Earth onSoyuz 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 theSpace Shuttle. She returned to Earth aboardSTS-129 in November 2009.
| Position | First Part (October to November 2009) | Second Part (November to December 2009) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commander |  Frank De Winne,ESASecond and last spaceflight | ||
| Flight Engineer 1 |  Roman Romanenko,RSAFirst spaceflight | ||
| Flight Engineer 2 |  Robert Thirsk,CSASecond and last Spaceflight | ||
| Flight Engineer 3 |  Jeffrey N. Williams,NASAThird spaceflight | ||
| Flight Engineer 4 | Maksim Surayev,RSA First spaceflight | ||
| Flight Engineer 5 | Nicole P. Stott,NASA First spaceflight | ||
André Kuipers - CommanderDimitri KondratyevChris HadfieldShannon WalkerAleksandr SkvortsovCatherine Coleman
This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration.
| 2000–2004 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| 2005–2009 | ||
| 2010–2014 | ||
| 2015–2019 | ||
| Since 2020 | ||
| Related | ||
