Expedition 54

Occurred 6 years ago

The Expedition 54 crew tested the antibiotic resistance of bacteria to support astronaut health. The crew also investigated manufacturing superior optical fibers and the development of self-replicating materials benefitting both Earth and space industries.

Mission Type

ISS Expedition

meet the crew

Alexander Misurkin, Joe Acaba, Mark Vande Hei, Anton Shkaplerov, Scott Tingle, Norishige Kanai

Launch

Sep. 12, 2017

Landing

Feb. 27, 2018

Expedition 54 Official Crew Portrait — The six-member Expedition 54 crew poses for an official crew portrait at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. From left are Flight Engineers Joe Acaba and Mark Vande Hei of NASA, Commander Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos and Flight Engineers Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos, Scott Tingle of NASA and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
NASA

Expedition 54 Official Crew Insignia — The official insignia of the Expedition 54 mission aboard the International Space Station.
NASA

Crew Members

Alexander Misurkin, Commander
Mark Vande Hei, Flight Engineer
Joe Acaba, Flight Engineer
Anton Shkaplerov, Flight Engineer
Scott Tingle, Flight Engineer
Norishige Kanai, Flight Engineer

Crew and Cargo Missions

2/27/18 – Exp 53/54 Undock/Land
2/15/18 – ISS Progress 69 Dock
2/13/18 – ISS Progress 69 Launch
1/13/18 – SpaceX CRS-13 Release
12/27/17 – ISS Progress 67 Undock
12/19/17 – Exp 54/55 Dock
12/17/17 – SpaceX CRS-13 Capture
12/17/17 – Exp 54/55 Launch
12/15/17 – SpaceX CRS-13 Launch

Spacewalks

Date: Feb. 16, 2018
Duration: 5 hours, 57 minutes
Spacewalkers: Mark Vande Hei, Norishige Kanai

Date: Feb. 2, 2018
Duration: 8 hours, 13 minutes
Spacewalkers: Alexander Misurkin, Anton Shkaplerov

Date: Jan. 23, 2018
Duration: 7 hours, 24 minutes
Spacewalkers: Mark Vande He i, Scott Tingle

Expedition 54 Resources

Mission Blogs

The daily blog updates for Expedition 54 highlighting crew and cargo missions, spacewalks, and advanced space research.

The sun's first rays burst over the Earth's horizon

Mission Summary

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 54, 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 54 in the gallery.