MISSION/STUDY INFORMATION

International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 60 began June 24, 2019 when three members of the Expedition 59 crew said goodbye and returned to Earth leaving Alexey Ovchinin (RSA), Nick Hague (NASA), and Christina Koch (NASA) onboard with Ovchinin as the Expedition 60 commander.

They were joined by Andrew Morgan (NASA), Luca Parmitano (ESA), and Alexander Skvortsov (RSA), on July 20, completing the Expedition 60 crew.

During Expedition 60, the crew continued or initiated research designed to increase understanding of the effects of long duration spaceflight in preparation for eagerly anticipated exploration class missions. They also participated in a number of technical demonstrations. Hague and Morgan successfully completed a spacewalk, installing an international docking adapter that will accommodate commercial crew spacecraft when the United States resumes launches in the near future.

The crew grew to nine with the arrival of Jessica Meir (NASA), Oleg Skripochka (RSA), and spaceflight participant Hazzaa Ali Almansoor (United Arab Emirates) on September 25, 2019.

Ovchinin handed command over to Parmitano on October 2, 2019. Expedition 60 came to an end October 3, 2019 when Ovchinin, Hague, and Almansoor returned to Earth. Parmitano, Skvortsov, Morgan, Koch, Skripochka and Meir remained onboard as Expedition 61 began.