Expedition 23

Occurred 14 years ago

The Expedition 23 and 24 crew researched how living in space affects human physiology and studied how plant roots orient themselves in microgravity. Physics studies included observing fluids transitioning from liquid to gas, the movement of molecules within fluids, how metals solidify, and semiconductor crystals grow in the spaceflight environment.

Mission Type

ISS Expedition

meet the press

Oleg Kotov, Soichi Noguchi, T.J. Creamer, Alexander Skvortsov, Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, Mikhail Kornienko

Launch

Dec. 20, 2009

Landing

June 1, 2010

Expedition 23 Official Crew Portrait — Expedition 23 crew members take a break from training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center to pose for a crew portrait. From the left are Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, all flight engineers; Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, commander; NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, both flight engineers.
NASA

Expedition 23 Official Crew Insignia — The official insignia of the Expedition 23 mission aboard the International Space Station.
NASA

Crew Members

Oleg Kotov, Commander
Soichi Noguchi, Flight Engineer
T.J. Creamer, Flight Engineer
Alexander Skvortsov, Flight Engineer
Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Flight Engineer
Mikhail Kornienko, Flight Engineer

Crew and Cargo Missions

6/1/10 – Expedition 22/23 Land
5/23/10 – STS-132 Undock
5/16/10 – STS-132 Dock
5/12/10 – Soyuz TMA-17 Relocation
5/10/10 – ISS Progress 36 Undock
5/1/10 – ISS Progress 37 Dock
4/28/10 – ISS Progress 37 Launch
4/22/10 – ISS Progress 35 Undock
4/17/10 – STS-131 Undock
4/7/10 – STS-131 Dock
4/4/10 – Expedition 23/24 Dock
4/2/10 – Expedition 23/24 Launch

Spacewalks

Date: May 21, 2010
Duration: 5 hours, 21 minutes
Spacewalks: Michael Good, Garret Reisman

Date: May 19, 2010
Duration: 7 hours, 9 minutes
Spacewalks: Stephen Bowen, Michael Good

Date: May 17, 2010
Duration: 7 hours, 25 minutes
Spacewalks: Garret Reisman, Stephen Bowen

Date: April 13, 2010
Duration: 6 hours, 24 minutes
Spacewalks: Richard Mastracchio, Clayton Anderson

Date: April 11, 2010
Duration: 7 hours, 26 minutes
Spacewalks: Richard Mastracchio, Clayton Anderson

Date: April 9, 2010
Duration: 6 hours, 27 minutes
Spacewalks: Richard Mastracchio, Clayton Anderson

Expedition 23 Resources

Earth's Moon, Venus, Jupiter and the crescent of Earth at the top.

Expedition Press Kit

Get an overview of the Expedition, its crew and the activities they are working on during this mission to the International Space Station.

The Solid Fuel Ignition and Extinction (SoFIE) Growth and Extinction Limits (GEL) experiment aboard the International Space Station (ISS) studies flame growth and extinction in an effort to improve fire safety in space. This image shows a sequence of snapshots taken about 3 seconds apart. During this test point, the ambient oxygen concentration starts relatively high (28%). Initially, the flame is seen as yellow and sooty. As the ambient pressure is reduced, the flame becomes bluer and continues to shrink until fully extinguished. This gives researchers pressure limit data points for flame extinction that could help improve crew and spacecraft safety for future exploration missions.

Mission Science

Explore hands-on activities, interactive, lesson plans, educator guides, and other downloadable content about this topic.

One of the Expedition 41 crew members aboard the International Space Station, flying at an altitude of 222 nautical miles above a point in the Atlantic Ocean several hundred miles off the coast of Africa near the Tropic of Cancer, photographed this eye-catching panorama of the night sky and the Milky Way on Sept. 27. NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, flight engineer, tweeted the image, which was taken with an electronic still camera, set with a 24mm focal length. In his accompanying comments, Wiseman stated, "Sahara sands make the Earth glow orange."

Mission Imagery

During Expedition 23, the crew took images of the Earth views, the orbiting station, their daily lives aboard and the experiments they conducted during their stay, plus so much more. Check out some of the image highlights from Expedition 23 in the gallery.