Expedition 68

Expedition 68 is the 68th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station. The expedition began upon the departure of Soyuz MS-21 on 29 September 2022,[2] with ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti taking over as ISS commander,[3] and will end upon the departure of the unmanned Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft in March 2023. Initially, the expedition consisted of Cristoforetti and her three SpaceX Crew-4 crewmates Kjell N. Lindgren, Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and American astronaut, Francisco Rubio, who launched aboard Soyuz MS-22 on September 21, 2022 and were transferred from Expedition 67 alongside the Crew-4 astronauts.

ISS Expedition 68

Expedition 68 Crew (Soyuz MS-22 & SpX Crew-5) Official Photo
Mission type	Long-duration mission to the ISS
Operator	NASA / Roscosmos
Mission duration	138 days, 22 hours and 15 minutes
Expedition
Space station	International Space Station
Began	29 September 2022[1]
Arrived aboard	SpaceX Crew-4 Soyuz MS-22 SpaceX Crew-5 SpaceX Crew-6
Crew
Crew size	7-11
Members	Expedition 67/68: SpaceX Crew-4: Kjell N. Lindgren Bob Hines Samantha Cristoforetti[lower-alpha 1] Jessica Watkins Expedition 67/68/69: Soyuz MS-22 (Launch) Soyuz MS-23 (Landing): Sergey Prokopyev[lower-alpha 2] Dmitry Petelin Francisco Rubio Expedition 68: SpaceX Crew-5: Nicole Mann Josh Cassada Koichi Wakata Anna Kikina Expedition 68/69: SpaceX Crew-6: Stephen Bowen Warren Hoburg Sultan Al Neyadi Andrey Fedyaev
EVAs	4
EVA duration	41 hours and 51 minutes
Expedition 68 mission patch ISS expeditions

Crew-4 departed the station on 13 October 2022 (splashing down the next day)[4] and was replaced by SpaceX Crew-5 through a direct handover, which ferried NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, as well as JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina, to the station. Before departing, Cristoforetti handed command of the station over to Prokopyev.[5]

On December 14, 2022, a coolant leak was discovered on the docked Soyuz MS-22 vehicle causing it to leak ammonia, which forced the cancellation of an imminent Russian spacewalk.[6]

After observation and imaging of the damaged spacecraft, in January 2023, Roscosmos and NASA announced that due to the leak, the MS-22 vehicle could not safely return the crew, except in an extraordinary case. The governing bodies also announced changes to the crew manifest: the Soyuz MS-22 crew will remain on the station for 12 months and the Soyuz MS-22 craft will return unmanned. The Soyuz MS-23 craft will launch unmanned,[7] and the Soyuz crew will return to Earth in August or September on MS-23. The original MS-23 crew will instead launch on Soyuz MS-24, working on the station for both Expedition 68 and 69, with a chance at crossing over to Expedition 70, pending official scheduling details.[8]

In February, on the day of docking for the Progress MS-22/83P vehicle, another Russian craft experienced a coolant leak, the second to occur on station in just two months. Due to this, Russian officials on the ground have currently postponed the unmanned launch of the Soyuz MS-23 until an investigation is conducted or a cause is found. [9]

In an unrelated edit to the US crew manifest, SpaceX's Crew-6 mission is slated for launch in late February,[10] as opposed to the usual launch date of April/September. The Expeditions are currently scheduled to switch on the departure of Soyuz MS-22 in March or April, making Crew-6 a part of Expedition 68.