Expedition 43
Expedition 43 was the 43rd expedition to the International Space Station. It commenced on 11 March 2015 with the undocking of Soyuz TMA-14M, returning the crew of Expedition 42 to Earth and ended with the departure of Soyuz TMA-15M on 11 June 2015.
Promotional Poster | |
| Mission type | ISS Expedition |
|---|---|
| Expedition | |
| Space station | International Space Station |
| Began | 11 March 2015 UTC |
| Ended | 11 June 2015 UTC |
| Arrived aboard | Soyuz TMA-15M Soyuz TMA-16M |
| Departed aboard | Soyuz TMA-15M Soyuz TMA-16M Soyuz TMA-18M |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 6 |
| Members | Expedition 42/43: Anton Shkaplerov Samantha Cristoforetti Terry W. Virts Expedition 43/44: Gennady Padalka Mikhail Korniyenko Scott Kelly |
Expedition 43 mission patch (l-r) Padalka, Kelly, Shkaplerov, Cristoforetti, Kornienko, Virts ISS expeditions | |
The Expedition 43 crew spent an extra "bonus month" on board pending investigation of the Progress M-27M cargo spacecraft failure. On June 8, 2015 ISS adjusted its orbit to move to a safe distance from a piece of orbital space debris.
This expedition also used the ISSpresso machine and tested a special cup designed to be drunk from in microgravity by using capillary flow. This was a further development of a zero gravity cup invented by astronaut Donald Pettit and tested on ISS in 2008. The new zero g coffee cup idea was further developed by a Fluid physicist at Portland State University among others.