Soyuz TMA-09M, launched May 28, 2013, carried three astronauts to the International Space Station. Its crew consisted of Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, Luca Parmitano (ESA), and Karen Nyberg (NASA). They participated in Expedition 36 on the ISS and returned to Earth in November 2013, after 166 days in space.
Expedition 61 crew (L-R): Andrew Morgan, Aleksandr Skvortsov, Luca Parmitano, Oleg Skripochka, Jessica Meir and Christina Koch
Mission patch
The members of Expedition 61 - Commander Luca Parmitano, Christina Koch and Aleksandr Skvortsov - returned to Earth from the International Space Station this morning aboard I. Koch went into space way back in March 2019 aboard Soyuz MS-12. She has set the world record for longest stay in space by a woman at 328 days. She has the second-longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut and 7th on the list of cumulative time in space for American astronauts.
Skvortsov and Parmitano arrived at the ISS in July 2019 with Andrew Morgan aboard Soyuz MS-13 and have completed a 201-day stay in space. With this mission, Parmitano has logged 367 days in space, longer than any other ESA astronaut.
Skvortsov has completed his third mission and has logged 546 days in space, putting him 15th on the list of all-time spaceflight endurance tests.
Koch performed 6 EVAs during her stay and Parmitano conducted 4.
Oleg Skripochka, Jessica Meir and Andrew Morgan remain onboard the ISS and have transferred over to Expedition 62.
Luca Parmitano, born September 27, 1976 in Paterno, Sicily, is an astronaut with the European Space Agency. He went into space on board Soyuz TMA-09M, launched May 2013 to the International Space Station with Fyodor Yurchikhin and Karen Nyberg. He was part of the crew of Expeditions 36 and 37.
