Soyuz MS-17 was a Soyuz spaceflight that was launched on 14 October 2020. It transported three crew members of the Expedition 63/64 crew to the International Space Station. Soyuz MS-17 was the 145th crewed flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. The crew consisted of a Russian commander and a Russian and American flight engineer.
Favor launches atop a Soyuz-2.1a
Rubins, Ryzhikov, and Kud-SverchkovSoyuz programme (crewed)← Soyuz MS-16Soyuz MS-18 →
Image: Expedition 64 Preflight (NHQ202010140001)
Expedition 63 was the 63rd long duration mission to the International Space Station, which began on 17 April 2020 with the undocking of the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft and continued until the undocking of the Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft on 21 October 2020, an unusual double-length expedition increment. The Expedition initially consisted of American commander Chris Cassidy, as well as Russian flight engineers Anatoli Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner. On 31 May 2020, the Expedition welcomed the crew of Crew Dragon Demo-2, the first crewed flight of SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft, named Endeavour after the eponymous Space Shuttle vehicle. The mission's two crew members Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken undocked from the International Space Station on 1 August 2020 to help bolster research on the station and participate in several spacewalks outside of the station.
Promotional Poster (without Demo-2 crew)
Up: Roscosmos cosmonaut Anatoli Ivanishin, NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, Roscosmos cosmonaut Ivan Vagner (Soyuz MS-16), and down: NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken (Crew Dragon Demo-2)ISS expeditions← Expedition 62Expedition 64 →
The Expedition 62 and 63 crews pose together moments after Oleg Skripochka handed over ISS command to Chris Cassidy.
On 26 June 2020, spacewalkers Behnken and Cassidy completed the first of four scheduled spacewalks.