This is a chronological list of commanders of the International Space Station. A pre-decided inhabitant of the ISS assumes command upon departure of the previous commander, at the end of an expedition, in a small hand-over ceremony. Their responsibility is defined by the ISS Code of Conduct, which states that the ISS commander has some authority over the operations of the ISS, but should ultimately defer most decisions to the Flight Director.
The commander keeps a symbolic key of the station with them during their tenure, that is, a copy of the handle opening the hatches to the Russian segment. It is passed on to a new astronaut when they replace the existing commander as the new station commander.
Responsibilities
- Conduct operations in or on the ISS as directed by the Flight Director and in accordance with the Flight Rules, plans and procedures
- Direct the activities of the ISS crewmembers as a single, integrated team to ensure the successful completion of the mission
- Fully and accurately inform the Flight Director, in a timely manner, of the ISS vehicle configuration, status, commanding, and other operational activities on-board (including off-nominal or emergency situations)
- Enforce procedures for the physical and information security of operations and utilization data
- Maintain order
- Ensure crew safety, health and well-being including crew rescue and return
- Take all reasonable action necessary for the protection of the ISS elements, equipment, or payloads
Ceremony
A ceremony occurs at each change of command, similar to rituals in various military services. The new and old commanders together ring a bell. The first occurred when Yury V. Usachev of Expedition 2 replaced Expedition 1 commander William M. Shepherd.
List
| Expedition | Patch | Portrait | Commander | Assumed command | Relinquished command | Notes (while in command of the expedition) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expedition 1 | William M. Shepherd | 31 October 2000 | 19 March 2001 | First commander of the ISS and also first American commander of the ISS. | ||
| Expedition 2 | Yury Usachev | 19 March 2001 | 18 August 2001 | First Russian commander of ISS. | ||
| Expedition 3 | Frank Culbertson | 18 August 2001 | 13 December 2001 | Only American onboard ISS during September 11 attacks. | ||
| Expedition 4 | Yury Onufrienko | 13 December 2001 | 10 June 2002 | |||
| Expedition 5 | Valery Korzun | 10 June 2002 | 30 November 2002 | |||
| Expedition 6 | Kenneth Bowersox | 30 November 2002 | 4 May 2003 | |||
| Expedition 7 | Yuri Malenchenko | 4 May 2003 | 27 October 2003 | First person to marry in space. | ||
| Expedition 8 | Michael Foale | 27 October 2003 | 26 April 2004 | |||
| Expedition 9 | Gennady Padalka | 26 April 2004 | 22 October 2004 | |||
| Expedition 10 | Leroy Chiao | 22 October 2004 | 24 April 2005 | First Asian-American commander of ISS. | ||
| Expedition 11 | Sergei K. Krikalev | 24 April 2005 | 10 October 2005 | |||
| Expedition 12 | William S. McArthur | 10 October 2005 | 7 April 2006 | |||
| Expedition 13 | Pavel Vinogradov | 7 April 2006 | 27 September 2006 | |||
| Expedition 14 | Michael López-Alegría | 27 September 2006 | 17 April 2007 | |||
| Expedition 15 | Fyodor Yurchikhin | 17 April 2007 | 19 October 2007 | |||
| Expedition 16 | Peggy Whitson | 19 October 2007 | 17 April 2008 | First female commander of ISS. | ||
| Expedition 17 | Sergei Volkov | 17 April 2008 | 22 October 2008 | Youngest person to command the station at 35. | ||
| Expedition 18 | Michael Fincke | 22 October 2008 | 2 April 2009 | |||
| Expedition 19 | Gennady Padalka | 2 April 2009 | 9 October 2009 | Second time as commander. | ||
| Expedition 20 | ||||||
| Expedition 21 | Frank De Winne | 9 October 2009 | 1 December 2009 | First Belgian national as commander, first ESA astronaut as commander, and first non-American or non-Russian commander. | ||
| Expedition 22 | Jeffrey N. Williams | 1 December 2009 | 17 March 2010 | |||
| Expedition 23 | Oleg Kotov | 17 March 2010 | 2 June 2010 | |||
| Expedition 24 | Aleksandr Skvortsov | 2 June 2010 | 22 September 2010 | |||
| Expedition 25 | Douglas H. Wheelock | 22 September 2010 | 24 November 2010 | |||
| Expedition 26 | Scott J. Kelly | 24 November 2010 | 13 March 2011 | |||
| Expedition 27 | Dmitri Kondratyev | 13 March 2011 | 22 May 2011 | |||
| Expedition 28 | Andrei Borisenko | 22 May 2011 | 14 September 2011 | |||
| Expedition 29 | Mike Fossum | 14 September 2011 | 20 November 2011 | |||
| Expedition 30 | Dan Burbank | 20 November 2011 | 25 April 2012 | |||
| Expedition 31 | Oleg Kononenko | 25 April 2012 | 1 July 2012 | |||
| Expedition 32 | Gennady Padalka | 1 July 2012 | 15 September 2012 | Third time as commander. | ||
| Expedition 33 | Sunita Williams | 15 September 2012 | 17 November 2012 | |||
| Expedition 34 | Kevin A. Ford | 17 November 2012 | 13 March 2013 | |||
| Expedition 35 | Chris Hadfield | 13 March 2013 | 13 May 2013 | First Canadian national as commander. | ||
| Expedition 36 | Pavel Vinogradov | 13 May 2013 | 9 September 2013 | Second time as commander. | ||
| Expedition 37 | Fyodor Yurchikhin | 9 September 2013 | 10 November 2013 | Second time as commander. | ||
| Expedition 38 | Oleg Kotov | 10 November 2013 | 9 March 2014 | Second time as commander. | ||
| Expedition 39 | Koichi Wakata | 9 March 2014 | 12 May 2014 | First Japanese national as commander. | ||
| Expedition 40 | Steven R. Swanson | 12 May 2014 | 9 September 2014 | |||
| Expedition 41 | Maksim Surayev | 9 September 2014 | 10 November 2014 | |||
| Expedition 42 | Barry E. Wilmore | 10 November 2014 | 10 March 2015 | |||
| Expedition 43 | Terry W. Virts, Jr. | 10 March 2015 | 10 June 2015 | |||
| Expedition 44 | Gennady Padalka | 10 June 2015 | 5 September 2015 | Fourth time as commander; set the record for most time spent in space (878 days) until Oleg Kononenko surpassed him on February 4, 2024. | ||
| Expedition 45 | Scott Kelly | 5 September 2015 | 29 February 2016 | Second time as commander. | ||
| Expedition 46 | ||||||
| Expedition 47 | Timothy L. Kopra | 29 February 2016 | 17 June 2016 | |||
| Expedition 48 | Jeffrey Williams | 17 June 2016 | 5 September 2016 | Second time as commander. | ||
| Expedition 49 | Anatoli Ivanishin | 5 September 2016 | 28 October 2016 | |||
| Expedition 50 | Robert S. Kimbrough | 28 October 2016 | 9 April 2017 | |||
| Expedition 51 | Peggy A. Whitson | 9 April 2017 | 1 June 2017 | Second time as commander. | ||
| Expedition 52 | Fyodor Yurchikhin | 1 June 2017 | 1 September 2017 | Third time as commander. | ||
| Expedition 53 | Randolph J. Bresnik | 1 September 2017 | 13 December 2017 | |||
| Expedition 54 | Alexander Misurkin | 13 December 2017 | 26 February 2018 | |||
| Expedition 55 | Anton Shkaplerov | 26 February 2018 | 1 June 2018 | |||
| Expedition 56 | Andrew Feustel | 1 June 2018 | 4 October 2018 | |||
| Expedition 57 | Alexander Gerst | 4 October 2018 | 18 December 2018 | First German national and second youngest person to command the station at 42. | ||
| Expedition 58 | Oleg Kononenko | 18 December 2018 | 24 June 2019 | Second time as commander. | ||
| Expedition 59 | ||||||
| Expedition 60 | Aleksey Ovchinin | 24 June 2019 | 2 October 2019 | |||
| Expedition 61 | Luca Parmitano | 2 October 2019 | 6 February 2020 | First Italian national as commander. | ||
| Expedition 62 | Oleg Skripochka | 6 February 2020 | 15 April 2020 | |||
| Expedition 63 | Chris Cassidy | 15 April 2020 | 20 October 2020 | |||
| Expedition 64 | Sergey Ryzhikov | 20 October 2020 | 15 April 2021 | |||
| Expedition 65 | Shannon Walker | 15 April 2021 | 27 April 2021 | Shortest term as commander at 11 days. | ||
| Akihiko Hoshide | 27 April 2021 | 4 October 2021 | ||||
| Thomas Pesquet | 4 October 2021 | 8 November 2021 | First French national as commander. | |||
| Expedition 66 | ||||||
| Anton Shkaplerov | 8 November 2021 | 29 March 2022 | Second time as commander. | |||
| Expedition 67 | Thomas Marshburn | 29 March 2022 | 4 May 2022 | |||
| Oleg Artemyev | 4 May 2022 | 28 September 2022 | ||||
| Expedition 68 | Samantha Cristoforetti | 28 September 2022 | 12 October 2022 | First European female as commander. | ||
| Sergey Prokopyev | 12 October 2022 | 26 September 2023 | Longest continuous tenure as commander. | |||
| Expedition 69 | ||||||
| Expedition 70 | Andreas Mogensen | 26 September 2023 | 10 March 2024 | First Danish national as commander. | ||
| Oleg Kononenko | 10 March 2024 | 22 September 2024 | Third time as commander. | |||
| Expedition 71 | ||||||
| Expedition 72 | Sunita Williams | 22 September 2024 | 7 March 2025 | Second time as commander. | ||
| Aleksey Ovchinin | 7 March 2025 | 18 April 2025 | Second time as commander. | |||
| Expedition 73 | Takuya Onishi | 18 April 2025 | 5 August 2025 | |||
| Sergey Ryzhikov | 5 August 2025 | 7 December 2025 | Second time as commander. | |||
| Expedition 74 | Michael Fincke | 7 December 2025 | March 2026 | Second time as commander. |
Statistics
A Russian national has commanded the station 31 times. A US national has commanded the station 28 times. A Japanese national has commanded the station thrice. Italian nationals have commanded the station twice. Belgian, British, Canadian, Danish, German, and French nationals have commanded the station once each.
Gennady Padalka has commanded the station on 4 separate occasions, more than any other inhabitant.
Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kononenko have commanded the station thrice. Scott Kelly, Oleg Kotov, Anton Shkaplerov, Pavel Vinogradov, Peggy Whitson, Jeffrey Williams, Sunita Williams, Aleksey Ovchinin, Sergey Ryzhikov, and Michael Fincke have commanded the station twice each.
See also
- List of International Space Station expeditions
- List of human spaceflights to the International Space Station
- List of Soyuz missions
- Uncrewed spaceflights to the International Space Station
- List of Mir expeditions
Footnotes
- Including dual-national Michael Foale
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