Space Station Photos: Expedition 53 Mission Crew in Orbit

Meet the Crew

The Expedition 53 crew: (from left) Flight Engineer Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos and Commander Randy Bresnik of NASA. Standing in the back (from left) are NASA astronauts Joe Acaba and Mark Vande Hei, Sergey Ryazanskiy of Roscosmos and Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency.

Expedition 52/53

Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency, left; Sergey Ryazanskiy of Roscosmos; and Randy Bresnik of NASA pose for a photograph outside the Soyuz simulator.

Expedition 53/54

Expedition 53/54 crewmembers (from left) NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei.

Blast Off!

On Friday, July 28, 2017, Soyuz MS-05 left the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aiming for the International Space Station.

Success

On Friday, July 28, 2017, the Soyuz MS-05 successfully defeated gravity, launching Expedition 52 crewmembers into orbit, headed for the ISS.

Aurora over Canada

From the ISS, Canada's aurora borealis glows beautifully. On the left the station's main solar arrays are visible.

Outside the Station

During a spacewalk on Oct. 10, 2017, astronaut Mark Vande Hei lubricates the latching end effector on the Canadarm2. [Full Story: Astronauts Breeze Through Spacewalk at the International Space Station]

Above the Indian Ocean

Inside the Cupola observatory, astronaut Joe Acaba works with a backdrop of the Indian Ocean.

Happy Halloween!

An astronaut for Halloween? I don't think so — on the International Space Station super heroes and other fun characters won out. [Full Story: Space Station Halloween! Astronauts Go All-Out with Zero-G Costumes]

MobiPV Tweaking

Astronaut Paolo Nespoli uses the mobile procedure viewer to check the ISS system.

Teamwork

Astronauts Randy Bresnik and Mark Vande Hei replace part of the Canadarm2 robotic arm during a spacewalk on Oct. 10, 2017. [Full Story: Astronauts Breeze Through Spacewalk at the International Space Station]