# Expedition 66

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. It was commanded by European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, the fourth European astronaut and first French astronaut to command the ISS until 8 November 2021 when Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, who arrived aboard Soyuz MS-19, took over his command.
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. Crew-2 from Expedition 65 extended their tour of duty on the ISS to become part of Expedition 66, 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. 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. However, continued international collaboration has been thrown into doubt by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and related sanctions on Russia.

## Crew

| Flight | Astronaut | First part (17 October – 8 November 2021) | Second part (8–11 November 2021) | Third part (11 November 2021 – 18 March 2022) | Fourth part (18 – 30 March 2022) |
| Soyuz MS-19 | Anton Shkaplerov, Roscosmos Fourth and last spaceflight | Flight Engineer | Commander | Commander | Commander |
| Soyuz MS-19 | Pyotr Dubrov, Roscosmos First spaceflight | Flight Engineer | Flight Engineer | Flight Engineer | Flight Engineer |
| Soyuz MS-19 | Mark T. Vande Hei, NASA Second spaceflight | Flight Engineer | Flight Engineer | Flight Engineer | Flight Engineer |
| SpaceX Crew-2 | Shane Kimbrough, NASA Third and last spaceflight | Flight Engineer | Off Station | Off Station | Off Station |
| SpaceX Crew-2 | Megan McArthur, NASA Second spaceflight | Flight Engineer | Off Station | Off Station | Off Station |
| SpaceX Crew-2 | Akihiko Hoshide, JAXA Third spaceflight | Flight Engineer | Off Station | Off Station | Off Station |
| SpaceX Crew-2 | Thomas Pesquet, ESA Second spaceflight | Commander | Off Station | Off Station | Off Station |
| SpaceX Crew-3 | Raja Chari, NASA First spaceflight | Off Station | Off Station | Flight Engineer | Flight Engineer |
| SpaceX Crew-3 | Thomas Marshburn, NASA Third and last spaceflight | Off Station | Off Station | Flight Engineer | Flight Engineer |
| SpaceX Crew-3 | Matthias Maurer, ESA First spaceflight | Off Station | Off Station | Flight Engineer | Flight Engineer |
| SpaceX Crew-3 | Kayla Barron, NASA First spaceflight | Off Station | Off Station | Flight Engineer | Flight Engineer |
| Soyuz MS-21 | Oleg Artemyev, Roscosmos Third spaceflight | Off Station | Off Station | Off Station | Flight Engineer |
| Soyuz MS-21 | Denis Matveev, Roscosmos Only spaceflight | Off Station | Off Station | Off Station | Flight Engineer |
| Soyuz MS-21 | Sergey Korsakov, Roscosmos First spaceflight | Off Station | Off Station | Off Station | Flight Engineer |