Expedition 71 was the 71st long-duration expedition to the International Space Station. The expedition began with the departure of Soyuz MS-24 on 6 April 2024 with Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko continuing his ISS command from Expedition 70. It ended with his departure on Soyuz MS-25 with crewmates from MS-24 and MS-25 on 23 September 2024.

Background, Crew, and Events Initially, the expedition consisted of Kononenko, his Russian Soyuz MS-24 crewmate Nikolai Chub (both on a year long ISS mission since 15 September 2023), and his American Soyuz MS-25 crewmate, Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, who launched on 23 March 2024, as well as SpaceX Crew-8 crewmates, American astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, who launched on 4 March 2024 and were transferred from Expedition 70 after Soyuz MS-24 departure.

NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams arrived at the station on 6 June 2024 as part of the Boeing Crew Flight Test. Their visit was planned to be brief. However, due to technical issues with their spacecraft, their stay was extended, and they became de facto members of the ISS crew. They assisted with various tasks, including research, housekeeping, and maintenance. On 24 August 2024, NASA announced that the Boeing Starliner spacecraft would return to Earth uncrewed, with Wilmore and Williams being formally added to the Expedition 71/72 crew and returning aboard SpaceX Crew-9 on 18 March 2025.

On 11 September 2024, Soyuz MS-26 arrived at the station, transporting Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, as well as NASA astronaut Donald Pettit.

Events manifest Events involving crewed spacecraft are listed in bold.

Previous mission: Expedition 70

6 April 2024 – Soyuz MS-24 undocking (includes Visiting Expedition 21), official switch from Expedition 70 25 April 2024 – EVA-1 (VKD-62) Kononenko/Chub: 4 hrs, 36 mins 28 April 2024 – CRS SpX-30 undocking 2 May 2024 – SpaceX Crew-8 redocking 28 May 2024 – Progress MS-25/86P undocking 1 June 2024 – Progress MS-27/88P docking 6 June 2024 – Boeing Crew Flight Test docking 24 June 2024 – EVA-2 (US-90) Dyson/Barratt: 31 mins 12 July 2024 – CRS NG-20 unberthing and release 6 August 2024 – CRS NG-21 capture and berthing 13 August 2024 – Progress MS-26/87P undocking 17 August 2024 – Progress MS-28/89P docking 4 September 2024 – Wilmore and Williams' seat liner moved from Boeing CFT swapped to SpaceX Crew-8 for CFT uncrewed landing 6 September 2024 – Boeing Crew Flight Test uncrewed undocking 11 September 2024 – Soyuz MS-26 docking 22 September 2024 – ISS Expedition 71/72 change of command ceremony from Oleg Kononenko to Sunita Williams 23 September 2024 – Soyuz MS-25 undocking, official switch to Expedition 72

Next: Expedition 72

Crew FlightAstronautIncrement 71aIncrement 71bIncrement 71c6Apr – 6Jun 20246Jun – 11Sep 202411 – 23Sep 2024Soyuz MS-25 Oleg Kononenko, Roscosmos Fifth spaceflightCommander Nikolai Chub, Roscosmos First spaceflightFlight engineer Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, NASA Third spaceflightFlight engineerSpaceX Crew-8 Matthew Dominick, NASA First spaceflightFlight engineer Michael Barratt, NASA Third spaceflightFlight engineer Jeanette Epps, NASA Only spaceflightFlight engineer Alexander Grebenkin, Roscosmos First spaceflightFlight engineerBoeing Crew Flight Test Barry E. Wilmore, NASA Third and last spaceflightOff stationFlight engineer Sunita Williams, NASA Third and last spaceflightOff stationFlight engineerSoyuz MS-26 Aleksey Ovchinin, Roscosmos Third spaceflightOff stationFlight engineer Ivan Vagner, Roscosmos Second spaceflightOff station Flight engineer Donald Pettit, NASA Fourth spaceflightOff station Flight engineer

Crewed test flight Mission Astronauts Docking (UTC) Undocking (UTC) Duration Boeing Crew Flight Test Barry Wilmore, NASA Sunita Williams, NASA 6 June 2024, 17:34 6 September 2024, 22:04 (uncrewed) 93 days Besides the expedition crew, a Boeing Starliner spacecraft visited the station for a crewed flight test, consisting of NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams. The spacecraft Calypso launched and docked to the station in June 2024. The flight marked the first crewed test flight of the Starliner. Crew members were scheduled to stay aboard the station for approximately 6 days, but the mission was extended due to issues with the spacecraft. Despite months of testing, NASA felt it was not able to understand why the thrusters malfunctioned and decided that it was too risky to return Wilmore and Williams to Earth aboard Starliner. Instead, they rode down on the SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon capsule, and the Boeing spacecraft returned uncrewed. Until Crew-9 arrived, they along with their seat liners moved to SpaceX Crew-8, their temporary emergency evacuation spacecraft, after which they and their seat liners transferred to Crew-9. It was the first launch of humans from Cape Canaveral since Apollo 7 in October 1968 and first launch of humans from SLC-41.

Vehicle manifest VehiclePurposePortDocking/capture dateUndocking dateVehicles inherited from Expedition 70 Progress MS-25CargoPoisk zenith3 Dec 202328 May 2024 CRS NG-20CargoUnity nadir1 Feb 202412 Jul 2024 Progress MS-26CargoZvezda aft17 Feb 202413 Aug 2024 SpaceX Crew-8 "Endeavour"Exp. 70/71/72 crewHarmony forward5 Mar 20242 May 2024 (redock)Harmony zenith2 May 2024 (redock)23 Oct 2024 (Exp. 72) CRS SpX-30CargoHarmony zenith23 Mar 202428 Apr 2024 Soyuz MS-25 "Kazbek"Exp. 70/71 crew, Visiting Expedition 21Prichal nadir25 Mar 202423 Sep 2024Vehicles docked during Expedition 71 Progress MS-27CargoPoisk zenith1 Jun 202419 Nov 2024 (Exp. 72) Boeing CFT "Calypso" Visiting CCDev missionHarmony forward6 Jun 20246 Sep 2024 CRS NG-21CargoUnity nadir6 Aug 202428 Mar 2025 (Exp. 72) Progress MS-28CargoZvezda aft17 Aug 202425 Feb 2025 (Exp. 72) Soyuz MS-26 "Burlak"Exp. 71/72 crewRassvet nadir11 Sep 202419 Apr 2025 (Exp. 72) Segment U.S. Orbital Segment Russian Orbital SegmentPeriodHarmony forwardHarmony zenithHarmony nadirUnity nadirRassvet nadirPrichal nadirPoisk zenithZvezda aft6–28 Apr 2024SpaceX Crew-8CRS SpX-30 VacantCRS NG-20 VacantSoyuz MS-25Progress MS-25Progress MS-2628 Apr–2 May 2024 Vacant2–28 May 2024 VacantSpaceX Crew-828 May–1 Jun 2024 Vacant1–6 Jun 2024 Progress MS-276 Jun–12 Jul 2024Boeing CFT12 Jul–6 Aug 2024 Vacant6–13 Aug 2024CRS NG-2113–17 Aug 2024 Vacant17 Aug–6 Sep 2024Progress MS-286–11 Sep 2024 Vacant11-23 Sep 2024Soyuz MS-26 The Prichal aft, forward, starboard, and aft ports all have yet to be used since the module originally docked to the station and are not included in the table.

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