Soyuz MS-03 was a

Soyuz Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз ( Russian and Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалис ...

spaceflight launched on 17 November 2016. It transported three members of the

Expedition 50 Expedition 50 was the 50th expedition to the International Space Station. Robert S. Kimbrough, Andrei Borisenko and Sergey Ryzhikov transferred from Expedition 49. Expedition 50 began upon the departure of Soyuz MS-01 on October 28, 2016 and ...

crew to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

. MS-03 was the 132nd flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. The crew consisted of a Russian commander with American and French flight engineers.

Crew

Backup crew

Mission highlights

Soyuz MS-03 launched with Expedition 50/51 on 17 November 2016, at 20:17 UTC. Astronaut

Peggy Whitson Peggy Annette Whitson (born February 9, 1960) is an American biochemistry researcher, retired NASA astronaut, and former NASA Chief Astronaut. Whitson has a total of 665 days in space, more than any other woman or American. Her first space mi ...

, at age 56, became the oldest woman to fly into space. Soyuz MS-03 docked at the International Space Station on 19 November 2016. On 2 June 2017, Soyuz MS-03 undocked from the ISS, carrying

Oleg Novitsky Oleg Viktorovich Novitskiy (russian: Олег Викторович Новицкий; born October 12, 1971) is a former Lieutenant Colonel in the Russian Air Force who logged over 700 hours of flight time and was awarded for bravery. He is curr ...

and

Thomas Pesquet Thomas Gautier Pesquet (; born 27 February 1978 in Rouen) is a French aerospace engineer, pilot, and European Space Agency astronaut. Pesquet was selected by ESA as a candidate in May 2009, and he successfully completed his basic training in Nov ...

back to Earth after 196 days in space. Whitson remained on the ISS and returned on

Soyuz MS-04 Soyuz MS-04 was a Soyuz spaceflight that launched on 20 April 2017 to the ISS. It transported two members of the Expedition 52 crew to the International Space Station. Soyuz MS-04 was the 133rd flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. The crew consisted ...

on 3 September 2017.

References

{{Orbital launches in 2016 Crewed Soyuz missions Spacecraft launched in 2016 2016 in Russia Spacecraft which reentered in 2017 Spacecraft launched by Soyuz-FG rockets Fully civilian crewed orbital spaceflights