Cosmonaut Sergei Volkov will command the Expedition 17 mission, his first spaceflight. Since January 2000, he has been part of a group of test cosmonauts training for missions to the International Space Station.
› Biography →Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko will serve Expedition 17 as a flight engineer. He was qualified for flight assignment as a test cosmonaut in 1998. This is Kononenko's first space flight.
› Biography →Astronaut Gregory E. Chamitoff flew to the station on shuttle mission STS-124 and returned 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 was Chamitoff's first space flight. He served as a flight engineer and NASA Space Station science officer for Expeditions 17 and 18.
› Biography →Astronaut Garrett Reisman flew to the station aboard space shuttle Endeavour on STS-123 and joined Expedition 16 as a flight engineer. He stayed aboard the station to join Expedition 17. He returned to Earth aboard shuttle Discovery on STS-124.
› Biography →South Korean astronaut So-yeon Yi launched to the International Space Station on a Soyuz spacecraft with the Expedition 17 crew and returned on a Soyuz spacecraft with the Expedition 16 crew under a commercial agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency.
Here are video excerpts from the Expedition 16 and 17 crew news conference that also included South Korean spaceflight participant So-yeon Yi.
Visit the Expedition 17 photo gallery.