ISS20th: Expedition 1 Crew Named

During a Jan. 30, 1996, press conference in Washington, D.C., U.S. Vice President Albert A. “Al” Gore and Russian Prime Minister Viktor S. Chernomyrdin announced the assignment of American astronaut William M. Shepherd and Russian cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalev to the first team of crew members who would occupy the International Space Station. Shepherd had completed three space shuttle missions, and Krikalev had flown two long-duration missions aboard the Mir space station, as well as on STS-60, becoming the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard the space shuttle. At the time of the announcement, Shepherd and Krikalev planned to launch to station in May 1998 with a third crew member, another Russian cosmonaut. Initially, the Russians designated Anatoli Y. Solovyev, a veteran of several missions to Mir, as that third crew member; but, they ultimately replaced him with Yuri P. Gidzenko, also a Mir veteran. The partners later announced a backup crew comprised of veteran shuttle commander Kenneth D. Bowersox, Mir veteran Vladimir N. Dezhurov and space rookie Mikhail V. Tyurin.

The primary tasks expected of the Expedition 1 crew included activating various systems aboard the station, unpacking equipment that had been delivered and hosting three visiting space shuttle crews and two unmanned Russian Progress resupply vehicles. The orbiters planned to deliver new components to the nascent outpost, including the first set of U.S. solar arrays and the U.S. Laboratory Module.  Although the crew would remain busy with the high-priority commissioning tasks, time would be set aside to conduct the first research experiments aboard the station.

Prime Crew:

Backup Crew:

After delays in the launch of the Zvezda Service Module that included living quarters, Shepherd, Krikalev and Gidzenko launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Oct. 31, 2000. Two days later, they docked with space station, which, at that time, included the Zarya, Unity and Zvezda modules, to begin their 136-day stay. With a permanent crew of three aboard, assembly truly began in earnest to develop the station’s capabilities. The Z1 truss segment, fixed to the top of Node 1, added a communications capability, while the P6 truss segment brought the first set of U.S. solar arrays to significantly increase the available power. With the additional power, the U.S. Destiny laboratory module came next, along with the first research racks. The first of many crew rotations replaced the Expedition 1 crew with a new crew—a scenario repeated many times in the life of the space station.