Astronaut E. Michael Fincke, a colonel in the U.S. Air Force, will command the Expedition 18 mission. He previously served as flight engineer and NASA Space Station science officer on Expedition 9 in 2004. During Fincke's first stay at the International Space Station, he performed four spacewalks.
› Biography →Cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov, a colonel in the Russian Air Force, will serve as a flight engineer and Soyuz commander for Expedition 18. This will be his third trip to the station. Lonchakov was a mission specialist on STS-100, which visited the orbital outpost in 2001, and he returned to the station in 2002 as part of the Soyuz TMA-1 crew.
› Biography →Astronaut Gregory E. Chamitoff flew to the station on shuttle mission STS-124 and will return to Earth on STS-126. Chamitoff previously served as a crew member on the Aquarius undersea research habitat for nine days as part of the NEEMO 3 mission. This is Chamitoff's first space flight. He will serve as a flight engineer and NASA Space Station science officer for Expeditions 17 and 18.
› Biography →Astronaut Sandra H. Magnus will fly to the station on STS-126 and will return to Earth on STS-119. She previously served as a mission specialist on STS-112, which visited the station in 2002. During STS-112, Magnus operated the space station’s robotic arm during the three spacewalks the crew performed to continue the assembly of the station. She will serve as a flight engineer and NASA Space Station science officer for Expedition 18.
› Biography →Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata will fly to the station on STS-119 and join Expedition 18 as a flight engineer. Wakata will be the first resident station crew member from JAXA. He will return to Earth on STS-127.
› Biography →American Richard Garriott flew to the International Space Station on a Soyuz spacecraft with the Expedition 18 crew and returned on a Soyuz spacecraft with the Expedition 17 crew under a commercial agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency.
Visit the Expedition 18 photo gallery.