Happy birthday, cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin!

Aleksey Ovchinin, born September 28, 1971 in the former USSR, is a veteran of two space mission and one aborted flight.

His first flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-20M as commander to the International Space Station in March 2016.  He participated in Expeditions 47 and 48 before returning to Earth in September 2016.

His second flight was aboard Soyuz MS-10 as commander in October 2018, but the mission was aborted just after launch because the launch vehicle boosters failed.  He and fellow astronaut Nick Hague returned to Earth safely.

His third mission was aboard Soyuz MS-12 to the International Space Station in March 2019.  He participated in Expedition 59 and made commander of Expedition 60.  He returned to Earth in October 2019.

Soyuz MS-14 launched 2019

Soyuz MS-14, an unmanned spacecraft, was launched August 22, 2019 to the International Space Station.    It was the first unpiloted mission of the Soyuz program to the ISS and the first Soyuz crew vessel without a crew in 33 years.

Its mission was to test a modification of the launch abort system.  Its first attempt at docking with the ISS on August 24 was unsuccessful and cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin commanded it to back a safe distance away from the space station.  They tried again, this time using a manual docking procedure and successfully docked with the ISS on August 27.

Soyuz MS-12 launched 2019

Soyuz MS-12 crew (L-R): Nick Hague, Aleksey Ovchinin, Christina Koch

Mission patch

Soyuz MS-12, launched March 14, 2019, carried the crew of Expedition 59 to the International Space Station.  Its crew consisted of Commander Aleksey Ovhinin, Nick Hague and Christina Koch.

Ovchinin and Hague retunred to Earth in October 2019 with space participant Hazza Al Mansouri of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) of the United Arab Emirates.

Christina Koch returned to Earth in February 2020 after a record-breaking stay in space.

Welcome home, Expedition 61!

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.

Happy birthday, astronaut Nick Hague!

It isn't usual to wish someone happy birthday while they are in space at the time, but today is Nick Hague's birthday.  He is currently aboard the International Space Station as part of Expedition 59.  Hague was born September 24, 1975 in Belleville, Kansas.  He graduated from the US Air Force Academy.  After he joined the Air Force, he was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in May 1998 and promoted to Colonel in 2016,

Hague's first trip into space aboard Soyuz MS-10 was aborted shortly after take-off.  He and fellow astronaut Aleksey Ovchinin escaped safely.

Hague's second trip into space was aboard Soyuz MS-12, which was successfully launched March 2019, with Ovchinin and Christina Koch to the ISS.  They are scheduled to return to Earth in October 2019.

Soyuz MS-10 launched (and landed) today

Soyuz MS-10 crew: Aleksey Ovchinin, Nick Hague

Mission patch

Soyuz MS-10, launched today, suffered a booster failure and the crew of Expedition 57 to the International Space Station had to abort.  Commander Aleksey Ovchinin and Flight Engineer Nick Hague parachuted to safety and were recovered safe and sound in Kazakhstan.

Soyuz TMA-20M launched 2016

Soyuz TMA-20M crew (L-R): Jeff Williams, Aleksey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka

Mission patch

Soyuz TMA-20M, launched March 18, 2016, is the 129th Soyuz mission and the last flight of the Soyuz TMA-M class spacecraft, being replaced by the Soyuz-MS later in 2016.  Its crew consisted of Commander Aleksey Ovchinin, Flight Engineer Oleg Skripochka, and Flight Engineer Jeffrey Williams of NASA.

They formed Expeditions 47 and 48 aboard the International Space Station and stayed until September 2016, when they returned to Earth.

During August 2016, they captured stunning video of Hurricanes Lester and Madeline in the Atlantic Ocean and Hurricane Gaston in the Pacific Ocean.