Expedition 50

Expedition 50 was the 50th long-duration increment aboard the International Space Station, commanded by NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough. It began after Soyuz MS-01 departed with the Expedition 49 return crew, leaving Kimbrough, Sergey Ryzhikov, and Andrei Borisenko aboard the station. The crew expanded to six after Soyuz MS-03 docked with Oleg Novitskiy, Thomas Pesquet, and Peggy Whitson. The increment supported human research, tissue-regeneration studies, station lighting experiments, Earth and atmospheric observations, visiting-vehicle traffic, and four U.S. segment spacewalks to upgrade station power and prepare docking hardware. Expedition 50 ended when Soyuz MS-02 undocked with Kimbrough, Ryzhikov, and Borisenko, after which Peggy Whitson continued aboard as commander for Expedition 51.