Expedition 8

Occurred 21 years ago

Expedition 8 investigated space-caused muscle, bone, immunity, and chromosomal changes, researched fluid physics, and studied cell biology.

Mission Type

Humans in Space

meet the crew

Michael Foale, Alexander Kaleri

Launch

Oct. 18, 2003

Landing

April 29, 2004

The official insignia of the Expedition 8 mission aboard the International Space Station.
NASA

Crew

Michael Foale, Commander
Alexander Kaleri, Flight Engineer

Mission Overview

4/29/04 – Expedition 8 Land
4/21/04 – Expedition 9 Dock
4/18/04 – Expedition 9 Launch
1/31/04 – ISS Progress 13 Dock
1/29/04 – ISS Progress 13 Launch
1/28/04 – ISS Progress 12 Undock

Spacewalks

Date: Feb. 26, 2004
Duration: 3 hours, 55 minutes
Spacewalkers: Michael Foale, Alexander Kaleri

Expedition 8 Resources

Status Reports

Expedition 8 Status Reports from October 2003 through April 2004.

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 8 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 8, 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 8 in the gallery.