What Expedition Is the ISS On Right Now?
The station is on Expedition 74, commanded by Sergey Kud-Sverchkov (RFSA), which began on 9 December 2025. The figures above update automatically at each change of command. You can see where the station is this minute on the live ISS tracker, and work out when it next passes over you with tonight's viewing times.
Overview
The expedition system gives the International Space Station a continuous chain of command. Each expedition is numbered in sequence and typically lasts around six months. Since Expedition 1 arrived on 2 November 2000, the station has never been empty, the longest unbroken human presence in space and now past 25 years.
Early expeditions carried just two or three people, launching on Soyuz and the Space Shuttle. After the Columbia accident in 2003 and the Shuttle's retirement in 2011, crew size contracted before expanding again. The arrival of Crew Dragon in 2020 restored an American crew launch capability and let the station support regular crews of six or seven.
Early Expeditions (2000–2006)
Small crews of two or three, carried by Soyuz and the Shuttle, while assembly was in full swing and major modules arrived on nearly every Shuttle visit.
| Expedition | Dates | Commander | Crew | Transport | Notable |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nov 2000 – Mar 2001 | Bill Shepherd (NASA) | 3 | Soyuz TM-31 | First permanent crew; began continuous habitation on 2 November 2000 |
| 2 | Mar – Aug 2001 | Yury Usachov (Roscosmos) | 3 | STS-102 | First EVA from the Quest airlock |
| 3 | Aug – Dec 2001 | Frank Culbertson (NASA) | 3 | STS-105 | Only American off the planet on 11 September 2001 |
| 4 | Dec 2001 – Jun 2002 | Yuri Onufriyenko (Roscosmos) | 3 | STS-108 | First NASA science officer role established |
| 5 | Jun – Dec 2002 | Valery Korzun (Roscosmos) | 3 | STS-111 | Peggy Whitson's first mission |
| 6 | Nov 2002 – May 2003 | Ken Bowersox (NASA) | 3 | STS-113 | Crew returned on Soyuz after Columbia grounded the Shuttle fleet |
| 7–12 | Apr 2003 – Apr 2006 | Various | 2 | Soyuz only | Two-person caretaker crews through the Shuttle stand-down |
| 13 | Mar – Sep 2006 | Pavel Vinogradov (Roscosmos) | 2–3 | Soyuz TMA-8 | Brazil's first astronaut, Marcos Pontes, visited the station |
Assembly and Growth (2006–2011)
With the Shuttle flying again, assembly accelerated. Columbus, Kibo, Tranquility and the Cupola arrived, and the standing crew doubled to six during Expedition 20.
| Expedition | Dates | Commander | Crew | Notable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14–19 | Sep 2006 – May 2009 | Various | 3 | Columbus laboratory (Exp 16), Kibo pressurised module (Exp 17), Kibo exposed facility (Exp 19) |
| 20 | May – Oct 2009 | Gennady Padalka (Roscosmos) | 6 | First six-person resident crew |
| 21–28 | Oct 2009 – Nov 2011 | Various | 6 | Tranquility and the Cupola (Exp 22), Leonardo permanent module (Exp 26), AMS-02 delivered (Exp 28) |
Soyuz-Only Era (2011–2020)
After the final Shuttle flight in July 2011, every crew reached the station on Soyuz. Expeditions lengthened, the One-Year Mission ran, and international participation widened.
| Expedition | Dates | Commander | Crew | Notable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29–42 | Sep 2011 – Mar 2015 | Various | 6 | Soyuz-only transport begins; growing ESA and JAXA participation |
| 43–44 | Mar 2015 – Sep 2015 | Terry Virts (NASA) / Gennady Padalka (Roscosmos) | 6 | One-Year Mission under way: Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko spent 340 days aboard |
| 45–47 | Sep 2015 – Jun 2016 | Scott Kelly (NASA) / Timothy Kopra (NASA) | 6 | One-Year Mission ended (Exp 46); the BEAM expandable module arrived in April 2016 (Exp 47) |
| 48–62 | Jun 2016 – Apr 2020 | Various | 3–6 | Christina Koch set the women's single-flight record at 328 days (Exp 59–61); first all-female EVA (Exp 61) |
Commercial Crew Era (2020–Present)
Crew Dragon's first crewed flight in May 2020 restored an American launch capability. From Expedition 63 onwards crews have arrived on both Soyuz and Crew Dragon, which enabled larger rotations and the first privately chartered visits.
| Expedition | Dates | Commander | Crew | Notable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 63 | Apr – Oct 2020 | Chris Cassidy (NASA) | 3 | Crew Dragon Demo-2 visited: the first commercial crew to reach the station |
| 64 | Oct 2020 – Apr 2021 | Sergey Ryzhikov (Roscosmos) / Shannon Walker (NASA) | 7 | First operational Crew Dragon rotation (Crew-1); resident crew rose to seven |
| 65–66 | Apr 2021 – Mar 2022 | Akihiko Hoshide (JAXA) / Anton Shkaplerov (Roscosmos) | 7 | Nauka module arrived (Exp 65); Prichal docked (Exp 66) |
| 67 | Mar – Sep 2022 | Oleg Artemyev (Roscosmos) | 7 | Axiom Mission 1, the first fully private crew visit, flew in April 2022 |
| 68–69 | Sep 2022 – Sep 2023 | Sergey Prokopyev (Roscosmos) | 7 | Crew-5, Crew-6 and Crew-7 rotations; Soyuz MS-22 coolant leak forced an uncrewed replacement flight |
| 70 | Sep 2023 – Apr 2024 | Andreas Mogensen (ESA) | 7 | First Danish station commander |
| 71 | Apr – Sep 2024 | Oleg Kononenko (Roscosmos) | 7 | Starliner crewed flight test arrived in June 2024; Kononenko passed 1,000 cumulative days in space |
| 72 | Sep 2024 – Apr 2025 | Suni Williams (NASA) | 7 | Crew-9 launched with two empty seats so the Starliner test crew could return on Dragon |
| 73 | Apr – Dec 2025 | Takuya Onishi (JAXA) | 7 | Crew-10 rotation; third Japanese commander of the station |
| 74 | Dec 2025 – Jul 2026 | Michael Fincke (NASA), then Sergei Kud-Sverchkov (Roscosmos) | 7 | Crew-11 and Crew-12 rotations; command changed hands mid-expedition in January 2026 |
| 74 | Dec 2025 – present | Sergey Kud-Sverchkov (RFSA) | 8 | Current expedition |
How ISS Expeditions Work
Numbering. Expeditions run in sequence and increment when command of the station formally passes to the next commander, not when a spacecraft docks. Because crews arrive and leave on staggered vehicles, most people serve across two expedition numbers: someone launching during Expedition 74 may well return during Expedition 75.
Command. The commander is responsible for crew safety, station operations and coordination between the partner agencies. The role rotates mainly between NASA and Roscosmos, with ESA and JAXA astronauts taking it periodically.
Transport. Two vehicles are in service: Crew Dragon from Kennedy Space Center and Soyuz from Baikonur. Starliner is intended as a second American provider following its 2024 crewed test flight. Cargo arrives separately on Cargo Dragon, Progress and Cygnus.
Science. Each expedition runs hundreds of investigations across human physiology, biology, fluid physics, materials science, Earth observation and technology demonstration, coordinated between NASA, ESA, JAXA, Roscosmos and CSA.