Expedition 72

Expedition 72

Expedition 72 crew
Mission type	Long-duration expedition
Operator	NASA / Roscosmos
Mission duration	96 days, 9 hours and 46 minutes (in progress)
Expedition
Space station	International Space Station
Began	23 September 2024
Ended	March 2025
Arrived aboard	SpaceX Crew-8 Boeing Crew Flight Test Soyuz MS-26 SpaceX Crew-9 Soyuz MS-27
Departed aboard	SpaceX Crew-8 Soyuz MS-26
Crew
Crew size	7–11
Members	Expedition 70/71/72: Matthew Dominick Michael Barratt Jeanette Epps Alexander Grebenkin Expedition 71/72/73: Barry E. Wilmore Sunita Williams Expedition 71/72: Aleksey Ovchinin Ivan Vagner Donald Pettit Expedition 72/73: Nick Hague Aleksandr Gorbunov Expedition 72/73/74: Sergey Ryzhikov Alexey Zubritsky Jonny Kim
EVAs	1
EVA duration	7 hours, 17 minutes
Expedition 72 mission patch Left to right, top row: Ovchinin, Williams, Wilmore Middle row: Vagner, Pettit Bottom row: Gorbunov, Hague Expeditions

Expedition 72 is the 72nd long-duration expedition to the International Space Station (ISS). The expedition began with the departure of Soyuz MS-25 on 23 September 2024 and is led by Sunita Williams, her second time serving as commander of the ISS. It will continue the extensive scientific research conducted aboard the ISS, focusing on various fields, including biology, human physiology, physics, and materials science. The crew members will also maintain and upgrade the space station systems.

Background, Crew, and Events

The expedition consists of Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, and Aleksandr Gorbunov, and NASA astronauts Barry E. Wilmore, Sunita Williams, Donald Pettit, and Nick Hague.

Wilmore and Williams arrived at the station on 6 June 2024 for what was expected to be a brief visit as part of the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. However, their spacecraft experienced technical issues and returned to Earth uncrewed, and Wilmore and Williams were added to the Expedition 71/72/73 crew.

Ovchinin, Vagner, and Pettit arrived at the station on 11 September aboard Soyuz MS-26. Hague and Gorbunov arrived to the station on 29 September aboard SpaceX Crew-9. After a handover period, SpaceX Crew-8 departed on 23 October.

In March 2025, SpaceX Crew-10 is expected to arrive, transporting NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.

Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, along with NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, are expected to arrive at the station aboard Soyuz MS-27 in March 2025.

Expedition 72 will come to a close in March 2025 with the departure of Ovchinin, Vagner, and Pettit on Soyuz MS-26.

Crew

Flight	Crew member	Increment 72a	Increment 72b	Increment 72c	Increment 72d
		23-29 Sep 2024	29 Sep-23 Oct 2024	23 Oct 2024-Mar 2025 (in progress)	Mar-Mar 2025 (planned)
Soyuz MS-26	Aleksey Ovchinin, Roscosmos Third spaceflight	Flight Engineer
	Ivan Vagner, Roscosmos Second spaceflight	Flight Engineer
	Donald Pettit, NASA Fourth spaceflight	Flight Engineer
SpaceX Crew-8	Matthew Dominick, NASA First spaceflight	Flight Engineer		Off Station
	Michael Barratt, NASA Third spaceflight	Flight Engineer		Off Station
	Jeanette Epps, NASA First spaceflight	Flight Engineer		Off Station
	Alexander Grebenkin, Roscosmos First spaceflight	Flight Engineer		Off Station
Boeing Crew Flight Test	Barry E. Wilmore, NASA Third spaceflight	Flight Engineer
	Sunita Williams, NASA Third spaceflight	Commander
SpaceX Crew-9	Nick Hague, NASA Second spaceflight	Off Station	Flight Engineer
	Aleksandr Gorbunov, Roscosmos First spaceflight	Off Station	Flight Engineer
Soyuz MS-27 (planned)	Sergey Ryzhikov, Roscosmos Third spaceflight	Off Station			Flight Engineer
	Alexey Zubritsky, Roscosmos First spaceflight	Off Station			Flight Engineer
	Jonny Kim, NASA First spaceflight	Off Station			Flight Engineer