ISS Expedition 43/44

Mission Profile

Overview

Expedition 43/44 is the mission on which Gennady Padalka became, by a wide margin, the most experienced space traveller in history. He launched aboard Soyuz TMA-16M in March 2015 in the same spacecraft as Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko, who were beginning the station's first year-long mission. Padalka served as flight engineer for Expedition 43 and then commanded Expedition 44 — his fourth ISS command, an unmatched record. When he returned in September 2015 his cumulative time off Earth passed 878 days across five flights, the longest of any human. His Soyuz home-leg also carried Kazakhstan's Aidyn Aimbetov and Denmark's Andreas Mogensen, ESA's first Danish astronaut, who had flown up days earlier on a short visiting mission. Padalka logged 168 days on this flight.

Crew

Key Milestones

1. 2015-03-27

   Soyuz TMA-16M launches with Padalka, Kelly and Kornienko (the start of the first ISS one-year mission)

2. 2015-03-28

   Docking; Padalka joins Expedition 43 as flight engineer

3. 2015-06-11

   Padalka takes command of Expedition 44 — his record fourth ISS command

4. 2015-09-12

   Soyuz TMA-16M lands with Padalka, plus visiting crew Aidyn Aimbetov and Andreas Mogensen

Key Achievements

• Padalka became the most experienced space traveller in history (878+ cumulative days)

• First person to command the ISS four times

• Flew up alongside the first ISS one-year-mission crew of Kelly and Kornienko

Related Missions

Sources

1. Wikipedia — Soyuz TMA-16M
2. spacefacts.de — Soyuz TMA-16M
3. NASASpaceflight — Soyuz TMA-16M one-year expedition