Welcome Home Expedition 69 Crew: Debrief and Awards Ceremony

by Sumer Loggins | 2024-01-23

The Expedition 69 crew debrief and awards ceremony occurred on January 18, 2024, at Space Center Houston’s IMAX theater. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts reflected on their time aboard the International Space Station and awarded Johnson Space Center employees and partners who helped make the expedition a success.

A group of people pose in front of a black background including three mission patches. — *A group photo of participants from the Expedition 69 crew debrief and awards ceremony on January 18, 2024, at Space Center Houston’s IMAX theater. Credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz*

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Johnson Center Director Vanessa Wyche kicked off the event by honoring the achievements of NASA's SpaceX Crew-6 mission and the 69th expedition to the space station. “NASA astronauts dedicate their lives and careers to exploration and discovery,” said Wyche. “These brave individuals live on long-duration missions away from their family and friends to conduct groundbreaking research and inspire the world. The view of Earth from the cupola is just a bonus!”

The special event featured four Crew-6 astronauts:

Expedition 68 and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Frank Rubio set a record for the longest continuous spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut after spending 371 days aboard the space station.
Commander Stephen Bowen completed three spacewalks during Expedition 69, bringing his career total to 10 spacewalks adding up to 65 hours and 57 minutes.
Pilot Woody Hoburg marked Expedition 69 as his inaugural spaceflight and accomplished two spacewalks totaling 11 hours and 38 minutes.
United Arab Emirates Mission Specialist Sultan Alneyadi made history as the first Emirati astronaut to serve on the space station for a six-month mission and the first to conduct a spacewalk.

A large screen that displays four people in microgravity dressed in white space suits. A screen that displays an astronaut during a spacewalk.

A group photo of seven people in blue space suits in front of a space-themed background. — *The official Expedition 69 crew portrait. (from left) Frank Rubio, Dmitri Petelin, Sultan Alneyadi, Woody Hoburg, Stephen Bowen, Andrey Fedyaev, and Sergey Prokopyev. Credit: NASA/Josh Valcarcel*

The Expedition 69 crew successfully conducted 340 experiments and installed two solar arrays while aboard the space station.

The astronauts studied how particular materials burn in microgravity to keep spacecraft safe, tested a new tool for deep-space immune monitoring in orbit, continued work with 3D-cultured cardiac muscle tissue to assess human cardiac function in microgravity, and tested samples for microorganisms from outside of the orbital outpost.

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Watch below to recap on the Expedition 69 crew members' unique journey aboard the International Space Station and to celebrate those who helped make the mission a success.