Expedition One begins aboard ISS 2000

Expedition 1 crew (L-R): Sergei Krikalev, Bill Shepherd, Yuri Gidzenko

Expedition 1 mission patch

Expedition One, which began November 2, 2000, marked the beginning of a constant human presence aboard the International Space Station.  Crew members William Shepherd, Yuri Gidzenko, and Sergei Krikalev had blasted off just two days before aboard Soyuz TM-31 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.  

The first supply ship, the unmanned Russian spacecraft Progress M1-4 arrived at the station on November 18. 

On December 2, Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-97) arrived at the ISS, bringing more equipment for the station.  The crew conducted three EVAs prior to boarding the station. The Endeavour's crew returned to Earth December 11.

Expedition One's crew was given Christmas Day and New Year's Day off.

On February 9, 2001, Atlantis (STS-98) docked with the station bringing a crew of five for a temporary stay.  By this time, Expedition One had been on board for three months.  NASA had noticed a "three-month wall", a psychological barrier that causes depression in previous astronauts.  To combat this, NASA allowed more time for them to speak to their families and encouraged them to watch movies and listen to music they liked.

Discovery (STS-102) arrived at the ISS March 10, 2001, bringing a new crew for Expedition 2.  Expedition One returned to Earth on Discovery March 21, ending their four and a half months stay in space.

Discovery (STS-41) launched 1990

STS-41 crew (L-R): Bruce Melnick, Robert Cabana, Thomas Akers, Richard Richards, William Shepherd

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-41), launched October 6, 1990, deployed the Ulysses probe, which was sent to study the polar regions of the sun.  Its crew consisted of Commander Richard Richards, Pilot Robert Cabana, Bruce Melnick, William Shepherd and Thomas Akers.

Ulysses was launched only six hours after Discovery took off.  The crew returned to Earth October 10.

Zarya, International Space Station Core, launched 1998

The first building block of the International Space Station, the Zarya module, was launched November 20, 1998 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.  Two weeks later, the crew of STS-88 attached the Unity module to Zarya during spacewalks.

At this time, the Russian space station Mir was still occupied so the International Space Station remained uninhabited until Mir was deorbited.  Expedition 1, the first crew to the ISS, arrived in November 2000.  The crew members were  William Shepherd (NASA), Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev (Roscosmos).

The ISS is now permanently manned and currently the crew of Expedition 57, Alexander Gerst (ESA), Serena Aunon-Chancellor (NASA) and Sergey Prokopyev (Roscosmos) is station there.

Columbia (STS-52) launched 1992

Front Row (L-R): Charles Veach, Tamara Jernigan, William Shepherd

Back Row (L-R): Michael Baker, James Wetherbee, Steven Maclean

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-52) blasted off October 22, 1992.  Its crew consisted of Commander James Wetherbee, Pilot Michael Baker, Charles Veach, William Shepherd, Tamara Jernigan and Steven MacLean (CSA).

The crew carried out experiments and projects that were joint ventures with the Canadian Space Agency, the European Space Agency, Italian Space Agency and France's Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales. 

Also, some of Gene Roddenberry's ashes flew on this trip.  Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, died the previous October.

Columbia returned to Earth November 1.

Happy birthday, Expedition 1 commander William Shepherd!

William Shepherd, born July 26, 1949 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is a veteran of three shuttle missions and was a member of the first crew aboard the International Space Station.  He was selected as an astronaut for NASA in 1984. 

His first mission into space was aboard Atlantis (STS-27) as mission specialist in December 1988.  Atlantis carried payloads for the Department of Defense so many of the details of the trip are classified.

Shepherd's second flight was aboard Discovery (STS-41) in October 1990.  This mission deployed the Ulysses probe to investigate polar regions of the Sun.

His third flight was aboard Columbia (STS-52) October-November 1992, which deployed the Laser Geodynamic Satellite.

In 1993, he was assigned to become the commander of Expedition 1 to the ISS aboard Soyuz TM-31 in October 2000.  With cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, he stayed on board until March 2001.  They returned to Earth aboard Discovery (STS-102).

Happy birthday, cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko!

Yuri Gidzenko, born March 26, 1962 in Ukraine, has flown on Soyuz spacecraft and a space shuttle, and has spent time on both Mir and the International Space Station.

His first trip into space was as Commander aboard Soyuz TM-22, launched September 3, 1995 to the space station Mir, as part of the twentieth expedition, Mir EO-20.  He remained on board until February 29, 1996.

His second trip into space was as Commander of Soyuz TM-31, launched October 31, 2000, which carried Sergei Krikalev and William Shepherd (NASA), for the first long-duration ISS crew. Expedition 1.  They returned to Earth aboard Discovery (STS-102) in March 2001.

Gidzenko's third and final flight was Commander aboard Soyuz TM-34, launched April 25, 2002, to the ISS.  Then he remained on ISS for about 10 days and returned aboard Soyuz TM-33 May 5, 2002.

Discovery (STS-102) launched 2001

Crew of STS-102 

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-102), launched March 8, 2001, was a resupply mission to the International Space Station.  It also rotated the Expedition 1 and Expedition 2 crews to ISS.  The crew that launched and then returned March 21 consisted of Commander James Wetherbee, Pilot James Kelly, mission specialist Andy Thomas and mission specialist Paul Richards.

They carried the members of Expedition 2 to the station, who were Yury Usachov, James Voss and Susan Helms.  Expedition 1, which consisted of William Shepherd, Yuri Gidzenko, and Sergei Krikalev.

Atlantis (STS-27) launched 1988

Back row, L-R: William Shepherd, Richard Mullane. Front row, L-R: Guy Gardner, Robert Gibson, Jerry Ross.

Mission Patch

Atlantis (STS-27), the second Space Shuttle flight after the Challenger disaster, launched December 2, 1988.  It was a mission for the Department of Defense, so its payload and purpose were classified.  Her crew consisted of Commander Robert Gibson, Pilot Guy Gardner (not the Green Lantern), Mission Specialist 1 Richard Mullane, Mission Specialist 2 Jerry Ross and Mission Specialist 3 William Shepherd.

During the ascent the Thermal Protection System tiles were damaged by ablative insulating material from the right SRB.  The crew reported they saw white material on the windshield at various times during ascent.  They tried to examine the starboard side of Atlantis with the Canadarm but could not determine the full extent of the damage.  Due to the sensitive nature of the mission, the crew could not send hi-res photos to the ground to assess the damage.  The poor resolution pics weren't enough to tell what had happened, either.  NASA told the crew that the damage didn't look any worse than previous shuttle incidents.  Small comfort for the crew.

It has been reported that Commander Gibson thought the crew would perish upon re-entry, but miraculously, Atlantis landed safely December 6, despite being one of the most damaged shuttles to return.

Endeavour (STS-97) launched 2000

Seated (L-R): Michael Bloomfield, Marc Garneau, Brent Jett

Standing (L-R): Carlos Noriega, Joseph Tanner

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Endeavour launched November 30, 2000, carried the first set of solar arrays to the International Space Station.  Her crew was Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Michael Bloomfield, Mission Specialist Joseph Tanner, Mission Specialist Marc Garneau (Canadian Space Agency) and Mission Specialist Carlos Noriega (first Peruvian in space, but this wasn't his first flight). 

On Flight Day 3, Endeavour linked to the ISS.  Joseph Tanner and Carlos Noriega moved through Endeavour's docking tunnel and opened the hatch to the ISS docking port to leave supplies and computer hardware on the "doorstep" of the ISS.

The next day, the crew of Expedition 1, Commander Bill Shepherd, Pilot Yuri Gidzenko and Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev, retrieved the items left for them.

Tanner and Noriega performed 3 EVAs to install the solar arrays on the ISS and installed a camera cable outside the Unity Module.

On Flight Day 8, Endeavour's crew met Expedition 1's crew in the ISS.  Up until now, they had kept one hatch closed between the shuttle and the station to maintain respective atmospheres.

Flight Day 9, the crews finished transferring supplies to the station and stuff to be brought back to Earth.  Endeavour landed December 11.




https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-97.html

Soyuz TM-31 launched 2000

Soyuz TM-31, launched October 31, 2000, was the first Soyuz spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station.  Aboard were members of Expedition 1, the first long-duration crew for the ISS.

The crew was Commander Yuri Gidzenko, Sergei Krikalev and astronaut William Shepherd, who became commander of Expedition 1.

Soyuz TM-31 returned to Earth May 6, 2001.


The best that I could find is this computer animated video about the launch.  It is much better than the computer-generated voice of the other one.