Expedition 48

Occurred 9 years ago

Expedition explored space physics to benfit manufacturing, how weightlessness affects the musculoskeletal system, and tiny free-flying robotic satellites, among many other subjects benefitting Earth and space industries,

Mission Type

ISS Expedition

meet the crew

Jeff Williams, Oleg Skripochka, Alexey Ovchinin, Anatoly Ivanishin, Kate Rubins, Takuya Onishi

Launch

March 18, 2016

Landing

Sept. 6, 2016

Expedition 48 Official Crew Portrait — Expedition 48 crew portrait with Jeff Williams, Oleg Skripochka, Aleksei Ovchinin, Anatoli Ivanishin, Kate Rubins, and Takuya Onishi.
NASA

Crew Members

Jeff Williams, Commander
Oleg Skripochka, Flight Engineer
Alexey Ovchinin, Flight Engineer
Anatoly Ivanishin, Flight Engineer
Kate Rubins, Flight Engineer
Takuya Onishi, Flight Engineer

Crew and Cargo Missions

9/6/16 – Expedition 47/48 Land
8/26/16 – SpaceX CRS-9 Splashdown
7/20/16 – SpaceX CRS-9 Capture
7/18/16 – ISS Progress 64 Docks
7/18/16 – SpaceX CRS-9 Launch
7/16/16 – ISS Progress 64 Launch
7/9/16 – Expedition 48/49 Dock
7/6/16 – Expedition 48/49 Launch
7/3/16 – ISS Progress 62 Final Undock
7/1/16 – ISS Progress 62 Undock/Re-dock

Spacewalks

Date: Sept. 1, 2016
Duration: 6 hours, 48 minutes
Spacewalkers: Jeff Williams, Kate Rubins

Date: Aug. 19, 2016
Duration: 5 hours, 58 minutes
Spacewalkers: Jeff Williams, Kate Rubins

Expedition 48 Resources

Mission Blogs

The daily blog updates for Expedition 48 highlighting crew and cargo missions, spacewalks, and advanced space research.

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

Learn more about the range of microgravity science encompassing human research, space phsyics, and more the Expedition 48 crew has conducted.

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 48, 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 48 in the gallery.