Expedition 55

Expedition 55 was a 2018 International Space Station increment commanded by Roscosmos cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov. It began when Soyuz MS-06 undocked with Aleksandr Misurkin, Mark Vande Hei, and Joseph Acaba, leaving Shkaplerov, Scott Tingle, and Norishige Kanai aboard from the Expedition 54 crew. Soyuz MS-08 arrived in March 2018 with Oleg Artemyev, Andrew Feustel, and Richard Arnold, restoring the station to a six-person crew. The increment supported station research in human health, biology, materials, combustion, Earth observation, and technology demonstrations, while also handling cargo operations and regular maintenance across the U.S. and Russian segments. Expedition 55 included U.S. spacewalks by Feustel and Arnold for communications equipment, external cameras, cooling-system hardware, and commercial-crew docking support. The mission also featured robotics work, including Dragon cargo-vehicle operations, and a strong education component through NASA's Year of Education on Station. Expedition 55 ended when Soyuz MS-07 undocked with Shkaplerov, Tingle, and Kanai, handing command to Feustel for Expedition 56.