Backup Crew: Commander: Anton Shkaplerov, Roscosmos Flight Engineer 1: Andrei Babkin, Roscosmos
Landing Crews: Klim Shipenko, Channel 1 Film The Challenge (Vyzov) First spaceflight Flight Engineer/Spaceflight Participant 2United States Mark T. Vande Hei, NASA Exp. 64/65/66 Second spaceflightRussia Yulia Peresild, Channel 1 Film The Challenge (Vyzov) First spaceflight
The Soyuz MS-18 crew arrived on 9 April 2021, well ahead of the launch and docking of Nauka module launching on a Proton-M launch vehicle on 21 July 2021 that carried a portion of the European Robotic Arm (ERA). A spacewalk was undertaken by Expedition 65 (Soyuz MS-18 crew members) to prepare the ISS Russian Segment for Nauka and ERA installation in the summer of 2021.Two other spacewalks for outfitting Nauka were also conducted by Soyuz MS-18 crew members.
ISS russian orbital segment after docking of UM Prichal module The UM Prichal module launched to the International Space Station on 24 November 2021 with Progress M-UM. One port on Prichal is equipped with an active hybrid docking port, which enables docking with the Nauka module. The remaining five ports are passive hybrids, enabling docking of Soyuz and Progress vehicles, as well as heavier modules and future spacecraft with modified docking systems.
The Prichal module was the second addition to the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) in 2021.
Soyuz MS-18 Crew with Expedition 64 Crew.
Soyuz MS-18 Docked To Nauka after relocation Engine firing incident On 15 October 2021, at 09:02 UTC, during preparation of the ship's propulsion system for landing, the Soyuz MS-18 inadvertently fired its thrusters beyond its planned time, which resulted in changing the orientation of the ISS by as much as 57°, at 09:13 UTC. The station's attitude control system then counteracted that motion by activating thrusters of the Russian Segment. The erroneous firing of Soyuz engines was the result of a procedural error in the instructions sent by mission control to Oleg Novitsky ahead of the test. Fortunately, the flight control system aboard the Soyuz spacecraft had a limit set for the engine testing, which generated a cutoff command as soon as the firing consumed all the propellant allocated for the test. As a result, all the propellant reserves aboard the spacecraft needed for landing remained untouched. The crew was not in danger and it was the second such incident since the loss of control of Nauka on 29 July 2021
