Expedition 59

Occurred 4 years ago

The Expedition 59 crew observed tissue chips, or bioengineered devices that mimic human organs, and tested free-flying robotic assistants. The crewmates also set up external science facilities that study materials exposed to outer space and investigates the distribution of carbon dioxide on Earth.

Mission Type

ISS Expedition

meet the crew

David Saint-Jacques, Anne McClain, Oleg Kononenko, Alexey Ovchinin, Nick Hague, Christina Koch

Launch

March 14, 2019

Landing

Oct. 3, 2019

The official Expedition 59 crew portrait with (from left) astronauts David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency and Anne McClain of NASA; cosmonauts Oleg Konenenko and Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos; and NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch.
NASA

The official insignia of the Expedition 59 mission aboard the International Space Station.
NASA

Crew Members

David Saint-Jacques, Commander
Anne McClain, Flight Engineer
Oleg Kononenko, Flight Engineer
Alexey Ovchinin, Flight Engineer
Nick Hague, Flight Engineer
Christina Koch, Flight Engineer

Crew and Cargo Missions

6/24/19 – Exp 58/59 Land
6/4/19 – ISS Progress 71 Undock
6/3/19 – SpaceX CRS-17 Release
5/6/19 – SpaceX CRS-17 Capture
5/4/19 – SpaceX CRS-17 Launch
4/19/19 – Cygnus CRS-11 Capture
4/17/19 – Cygnus CRS-11 Launch
4/4/19 – ISS Progress 72 Launch/Dock
3/14/19 – Exp 59/60 Launch/Dock

Spacewalks

Date: May 29, 2019
Duration: 6 hours, 1 minute
Spacewalkers: Oleg Kononenko, Alexey Ovchinin

Date: April 8, 2019
Duration: 6 hours, 29 minutes
Spacewalkers: Anne McClain, David Saint-Jacques

Date: March 29, 2019
Duration: 6 hours, 45 minutes
Spacewalkers: Nick Hague, Christina Koch

Date: March 22, 2019
Duration: 6 hours, 39 minutes
Spacewalkers: Anne McClain, Nick Hague

Expedition 59 Resources

Mission Blogs

The daily blog updates for Expedition 59 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 59, 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 59 in the gallery.