Expedition 66

{{Short description|Long-duration mission to the International Space Station}}{{Infobox spaceflight

| name = Expedition 66

| names_list =

| image = Expedition 66 crew poster.jpg

| image_caption = Promotional poster

| image_size = 300px

| operator = NASA / Roscosmos

| website =

| mission_duration = {{time interval|2021-10-17 01:14|2022-03-30 07:21:03|show=dhm}}

| mission_type = Long-duration expedition

| crew_size = 7-10

| crew_members = {{unbulleted list

|Expedition 65/66:
Shane Kimbrough

| Megan McArthur

| Akihiko Hoshide

| Thomas Pesquet{{efn|The European portion of SpaceX Crew-2 is called Alpha and is headed by Thomas Pesquet.}}

| Anton Shkaplerov

| Expedition 64/65/66:
Pyotr Dubrov

| Mark T. Vande Hei

|Expedition 66/67:
Raja Chari

| Thomas Marshburn

| Matthias Maurer{{efn|The European portion of SpaceX Crew-3 is called Cosmic Kiss, which is headed by Matthias Maurer.}}

| Kayla Barron

| Oleg Artemyev

| Denis Matveev

| Sergey Korsakov

}}

| crew_EVAs = 4

| crew_EVA_duration = 25 hours 31 minutes

| crew_photo = File:Expedition 66 crew portrait.jpg

| crew_photo_caption = Expedition 66 crew portrait

| crew_photo_size = 300px

| space_station = International Space Station

| start_date = 17 October 2021, 01:14 UTC{{cite web | url=http://www.spacefacts.de/iss/english/exp_66.htm | title=ISS Expedition 66 | publisher=spacefacts.de | date=6 November 2021 | access-date=6 November 2021}}

| end_date = 30 March 2022, 07:21:03

| arrival_craft = Soyuz MS-18
SpaceX Crew-2
Soyuz MS-19
SpaceX Crew-3
Soyuz MS-21

| departure_craft = SpaceX Crew-2
Soyuz MS-19

| insignia = File:ISS Expedition 66 Patch.svg

| insignia_caption = Expedition 66 mission patch, resembling that of U.S. Route 66

| insignia_size = 200px

| programme = ISS expeditions

| previous_mission = Expedition 65

| next_mission = Expedition 67

}}

File:The Soyuz MS-20 and Expedition 66 crews.jpg

Expedition 66 was the 66th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station. The mission began after the departure of Soyuz MS-18 on 17 October 2021.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/schedule.html|title=NASA Television Upcoming Events|date=16 October 2017|access-date=2021-09-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924230948/https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/schedule.html|archive-date=2021-09-24|url-status=live}} It was commanded by European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, the fourth European astronaut and first French astronaut to command the ISS{{Cite web|last=York|first=Joanna|date=2021-03-19|title=French astronaut next International Space Station commander|url=https://www.connexionfrance.com/French-news/Astronaut-Thomas-Pesquet-will-be-first-French-ISS-commander|access-date=2021-04-21|website=www.connexionfrance.com}} until 8 November 2021 when Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, who arrived aboard Soyuz MS-19, took over his command.{{Cite web|url=https://spacelaunchnow.me/event/iss-expedition-66-change-of-command-ceremony/|title = Space Launch Now - ISS Expedition 66 Change of Command Ceremony}}

Pesquet was transported to the ISS on SpaceX Crew-2 in April 2021, joined by NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide.{{cite web|last=Gohd|first=Chelsea|url=https://www.space.com/spacex-crew-2-astronaut-launch-photos|title=SpaceX's Crew-2 launch lights up the predawn sky with a spectacular show (photos)|website=Space.com|date=23 April 2021|access-date=24 April 2021}} Crew-2 from Expedition 65 extended their tour of duty on the ISS to become part of Expedition 66,{{Cite web|title=Alpha 2021|url=https://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/HRE/Alpha_brochure.pdf|access-date=2021-04-21|website=esamultimedia.esa.int|publisher=European Space Agency}} along with Russian cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who both launched on Soyuz MS-18 and returned to Earth on Soyuz MS-19, following their extended mission. Russian cosmonaut Shkaplerov launched on Soyuz MS-19, along with two participants in the joint film project between Roscosmos and Channel One, The Challenge: film director Klim Shipenko and actress Yulia Peresild.

SpaceX Crew-3, launched 10 November 2021, carried NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, and Kayla Barron and ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer to the ISS.{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.nasa.gov/crew-2/2021/11/07/nasa-spacex-adjust-crew-2-station-departure-date/ |title=NASA, SpaceX Adjust Crew-2 Station Departure Date |date=8 November 2021}} At the end of Expedition 66, they remained on the ISS as part of Expedition 67 while Dubrov and Vande Hei returned to Earth aboard Soyuz MS-19.{{Cite web|title=Soyuz MS-19 to send a "movie crew" to ISS|url=http://www.russianspaceweb.com/soyuz-ms-19.html|access-date=2021-10-04|website=www.russianspaceweb.com}} However, continued international collaboration has been thrown into doubt by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and related sanctions on Russia.{{cite journal |last1=Witze |first1=Alexandra |title=Russia's invasion of Ukraine is redrawing the geopolitics of space |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00727-x |journal=Nature |access-date=13 March 2022 |language=en |doi=10.1038/d41586-022-00727-x |date=11 March 2022|pmid=35277688 |s2cid=247407886 }}