List of commanders of the International Space Station

This is a chronological list of commanders of the International Space Station (ISS). 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

ExpeditionPatchPortraitCommanderAssumed commandRelinquished commandNotes (while in command of the expedition)Expedition 1 William M. Shepherd31 October 200019 March 2001First commander of the ISS and also first American commander of the ISS.Expedition 2 Yury Usachev19 March 200118 August 2001First Russian commander of ISS.Expedition 3 Frank Culbertson18 August 200113 December 2001Only American onboard ISS during September 11 attacks.Expedition 4 Yury Onufrienko13 December 200110 June 2002Expedition 5 Valery Korzun10 June 200230 November 2002Expedition 6 Kenneth Bowersox30 November 20024 May 2003Commanded the ISS while the Columbia disaster happened.Expedition 7 Yuri Malenchenko4 May 200327 October 2003First person to marry in space.Expedition 8 Michael Foale27 October 200326 April 2004Expedition 9 Gennady Padalka26 April 200422 October 2004Expedition 10 Leroy Chiao22 October 200424 April 2005First Asian-American commander of ISS.Expedition 11 Sergei K. Krikalev24 April 200510 October 2005Expedition 12 William S. McArthur 10 October 20057 April 2006Expedition 13 Pavel Vinogradov7 April 200627 September 2006Expedition 14 Michael López-Alegría27 September 200617 April 2007Expedition 15 Fyodor Yurchikhin17 April 200719 October 2007Expedition 16 Peggy Whitson19 October 200717 April 2008First female commander of ISS.Expedition 17 Sergei Volkov17 April 200822 October 2008Youngest person to command the station at 35.Expedition 18 Michael Fincke22 October 20082 April 2009Expedition 19 Gennady Padalka2 April 20099 October 2009Second time as commander.Expedition 20Expedition 21 Frank De Winne9 October 20091 December 2009First Belgian national as commander, first ESA astronaut as commander, and first non-American or non-Russian commander.Expedition 22 Jeffrey N. Williams1 December 200917 March 2010Expedition 23 Oleg Kotov17 March 20102 June 2010Expedition 24 Aleksandr Skvortsov2 June 201022 September 2010Expedition 25 Douglas H. Wheelock22 September 201024 November 2010Expedition 26 Scott J. Kelly24 November 201013 March 2011Expedition 27 Dmitri Kondratyev13 March 201122 May 2011Expedition 28 Andrei Borisenko22 May 201114 September 2011Expedition 29 Mike Fossum14 September 201120 November 2011Expedition 30 Dan Burbank20 November 201125 April 2012Expedition 31 Oleg Kononenko25 April 20121 July 2012Expedition 32 Gennady Padalka1 July 201215 September 2012Third time as commander.Expedition 33 Sunita Williams15 September 201217 November 2012Expedition 34 Kevin A. Ford17 November 201213 March 2013Expedition 35 Chris Hadfield13 March 201313 May 2013First Canadian national as commander.Expedition 36 Pavel Vinogradov13 May 20139 September 2013Second time as commander.Expedition 37 Fyodor Yurchikhin9 September 201310 November 2013Second time as commander.Expedition 38 Oleg Kotov10 November 20139 March 2014Second time as commander.Expedition 39 Koichi Wakata9 March 201412 May 2014First Japanese national as commander.Expedition 40 Steven R. Swanson12 May 20149 September 2014Expedition 41 Maksim Surayev9 September 201410 November 2014Expedition 42 Barry E. Wilmore10 November 201410 March 2015Expedition 43 Terry W. Virts, Jr.10 March 201510 June 2015Expedition 44 Gennady Padalka10 June 20155 September 2015Fourth 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 Kelly5 September 201529 February 2016Second time as commander.Expedition 46Expedition 47 Timothy L. Kopra29 February 201617 June 2016Expedition 48 Jeffrey Williams17 June 20165 September 2016Second time as commander.Expedition 49 Anatoli Ivanishin5 September 201628 October 2016Expedition 50 Robert S. Kimbrough28 October 20169 April 2017Expedition 51 Peggy A. Whitson9 April 20171 June 2017Second time as commander.Expedition 52 Fyodor Yurchikhin1 June 20171 September 2017Third time as commander.Expedition 53 Randolph J. Bresnik1 September 201713 December 2017Expedition 54 Alexander Misurkin13 December 201726 February 2018Expedition 55 Anton Shkaplerov26 February 20181 June 2018Expedition 56 Andrew Feustel1 June 20184 October 2018Expedition 57 Alexander Gerst4 October 201818 December 2018First German national and second youngest person to command the station at 42.Expedition 58 Oleg Kononenko18 December 201824 June 2019Second time as commander.Expedition 59Expedition 60 Aleksey Ovchinin24 June 20192 October 2019Expedition 61 Luca Parmitano2 October 20196 February 2020First Italian national as commander.Expedition 62 Oleg Skripochka6 February 202015 April 2020Expedition 63 Chris Cassidy15 April 202020 October 2020Expedition 64 Sergey Ryzhikov20 October 202015 April 2021Expedition 65 Shannon Walker 15 April 202127 April 2021Shortest term as commander at 11 days. Akihiko Hoshide27 April 20214 October 2021 Thomas Pesquet4 October 20218 November 2021First French national as commander.Expedition 66 Anton Shkaplerov8 November 202129 March 2022Second time as commander.Expedition 67 Thomas Marshburn 29 March 20224 May 2022 Oleg Artemyev4 May 202228 September 2022Expedition 68 Samantha Cristoforetti28 September 202212 October 2022First European female as commander. Sergey Prokopyev12 October 202226 September 2023Longest continuous tenure as commander at 349 days.Expedition 69Expedition 70 Andreas Mogensen26 September 202310 March 2024First Danish national as commander. Oleg Kononenko 10 March 2024 22 September 2024Third time as commander.Expedition 71Expedition 72 Sunita Williams22 September 20247 March 2025Second time as commander. Aleksey Ovchinin7 March 202518 April 2025Second time as commander.Expedition 73 Takuya Onishi18 April 20255 August 2025 Sergey Ryzhikov5 August 20257 December 2025Second time as commander.Expedition 74 Michael Fincke7 December 202512 January 2026Second time as commander. Sergey Kud-Sverchkov12 January 202625 July 2026Expedition 75 Jessica Meir25 July 20264 October 2026 Pyotr Dubrov4 October 2026March 2027 (planned)

Statistics

A Russian national has commanded the station 36 times. A US national has commanded the station 32 times.Including dual-national Michael Foale 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 four 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.

List of commanders of the International Space Station

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