Information about Expedition 1

Expedition 1

Mission insignia
Mission statistics
Mission name:	Expedition 1
Call sign:	Expedition 1
Number of crew:	3
Launch Date:	October 31, 2000 07:52:47 UTC
Launch Spacecraft:	Soyuz TM-31
Landing Date:	March 21, 2001 07:33:06 UTC
Landing Spacecraft:	Discovery STS-102
Time Docked:	136 days 19:10:57
EVA Duration:	0 h 0 min
Mission Duration:	140 days 23:40:19
Number of orbits:	2,207
Distance traveled:	~93,847,506 km
Mass:	89,155 kg
Crew picture
Expedition 1 crew portrait L-R: Sergei K. Krikalev (Russia), William M. (Bill) Shepherd (U.S.A.), and Yuri Pavlovich Gidzenko (Russia)
Navigation
Previous: Mir
Next: Expedition 2
Expedition 1 Crew

Expedition 1 was the first expedition to the International Space Station.

Crew

• William Shepherd (4), Commander -  United States
• Sergei K. Krikalev (5), Flight Engineer -  Russia
• Yuri Gidzenko (2), Soyuz Commander -  Russia

(1) number of spaceflights each crew member has completed, including this mission.

Mission parameters

• Perigee: 384 km
• Apogee: 396 km
• Inclination: 51.6°
• Period: 92 min
• Docked: November 2, 2000, 09:21:03 UTC
• Undocked: March 19, 2001, 04:32:00 UTC
• Time Docked: 136 days, 19 h, 10 min, 57 s

Mission Objectives

Human space flight entered a new era when the International Space Station received its first resident crew on November 2 2000. The three-member Expedition 1 crew successfully launched October 31 2000 atop a Soyuz rocket on Soyuz TM-31 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Their four-month tour aboard the ISS officially ended on March 18 2001. The Expedition 1 crew returned home to Earth on STS-102 on March 21 2001.

An international crew of three were onboard the International Space Station for over four months. The crew consisted of Commander Bill Shepherd, a U.S. astronaut; Soyuz Commander Yuri Gidzenko, a Russian cosmonaut; and Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev, a Russian cosmonaut. The crew helped with assembly tasks as new elements, including the U.S. Destiny Laboratory, were added to the orbiting outpost. They also conducted early science experiments.

The Expedition One crew members returned to Earth in March aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery at the completion of the STS-102 mission, which brought the second resident crew to the ISS to begin scientific research in earnest following the delivery of Destiny a month earlier. During their four months on board the Station, Shepherd, Gidzenko and Krikalev hosted three visiting Shuttle crews, which brought the large U.S. photovoltaic arrays to augment ISS power capability, Destiny, which is the centerpiece for scientific research in the future, and the first science racks for Destiny, along with a variety of other key hardware. In addition to activating those systems, the Expedition One crew unloaded two unmanned Russian Progress resupply vehicles, which automatically link up to the Station's Russian module docking ports, during the crew's visit.



In their first weeks on board, the Expedition One crew members activated critical life support systems and unpacked Station components, clothing, laptop computers, office equipment, cables and electrical gear left behind for them by previous Shuttle crews which conducted logistic supply flights to the new complex over the past two years. By "moving in" to their new home, Shepherd, Gidzenko and Krikalev set the stage for a continuous human presence in space by international researchers for at least the next 15 years.

The Expedition One mission embarked from the same launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome from which Yuri Gagarin was launched more than 40 years ago to become the first human to fly in space. A three-stage, 310-ton Soyuz rocket lifted the crew members to a preliminary orbit about 10 minutes after launch, enabling Gidzenko to begin a series of rendezvous maneuvers, which led to the capsule's docking to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module around 4:21 a.m. EST on November 2. Ninety minutes after docking, Shepherd opened the hatch to Zvezda and the crew members entered the complex for the first time.

Their first tasks included the activation of a food warmer in Zvezda's galley, the setup of their sleeping quarters and initial communications checks with both Mission Control in Houston and the Russian Mission Control Center in Korolev, outside Moscow. The crew communicated with both teams of flight controllers, using Russian communications gear in Zvezda and the Zarya module, and the S-band Early Communication gear in the U.S. Unity Module, which had been used for the past two years to allow U.S. flight controllers to command ISS systems and read Station system data when Russian ground station coverage is not available.

•  • [ e] Expeditions to the International Space Station
Completed: Expedition 1 • Expedition 2 • Expedition 3 • Expedition 4 • Expedition 5 • Expedition 6 • Expedition 7 • Expedition 8 • Expedition 9 • Expedition 10 • Expedition 11 • Expedition 12 • Expedition 13 • Expedition 14 Current: Expedition 15 Planned: Expedition 16 • Expedition 17 • Expedition 18 • Expedition 19