Expedition 59: The Space Station Mission in Photos

The Expedition 59 mission to the International Space Station begins on March 14, 2019 when the Soyuz MS-12 crew capsule arrives at the station with Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin and NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch. The other half of the six-person crew arrived with the Soyuz MS-11 in December 2018 during Expedition 58.

During the six-month mission, astronauts will conduct hundreds of science experiments and embark on several spacewalks to repair and upgrade the orbiting laboratory. Click through this gallery to see the Expedition 59 crew in action!

Above: The official Expedition 59 group portrait. From left to right: Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques, NASA astronaut Anne McClain, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Alexey Ovchinin, NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch.

NASA astronaut Anne McClain and Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques assist as NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Nick Hague prepare to embark on a spacewalk on March 29, 2018.

Four Expedition 59 astronauts pose for a group photo inside the International Space Station's Harmony module. Clockwise from left are astronaut David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency; and NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Anne McClain and Nick Hague.

Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques wears his Sokol launch and entry suit during a leak check to prepare for his return to Earth on June 24.

NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Anne McClain and Christina Koch (right) conduct maintenance on the U.S. spacesuits in the Quest airlock of the International Space Station.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague floats inside European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory module during a HAM radio session at the International Space Station.

The Expedition 59 astronauts had a pizza party in space on April 5, 2019.

"A long week of hard work and spacewalk prep calls for a pizza party," NASA astronaut Nick Hague wrote on Twitter. "Making pizza in space is similar to making pizza on Earth, the only difference is our ovens look a little different and our pizza can float!"

Full Story: Astronauts Whipped Up a Pizza Dinner to Prep for Spacewalk (And It Looks Tasty)

NASA astronaut Christina Koch works inside the Life Sciences Glovebox while conducting a kidney cell research.

Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Kononenko train for the arrival of the Russian Progress 72 cargo resupply ship, which launched to the International Space Station on April 1, 2019.

Inside the International Space Station's Tranquility module, NASA astronaut Christina Koch works to remove and replace the treadmill, also known as the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, or COLBERT.

NAS astronaut Christina Koch, cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos and NASA astronaut Nick Hague conduct an emergency simulation to they practice quickly entering the Soyuz spacecraft, undocking from the International Space Station and descending to Earth.

NASA astronaut Christina Koch works on the Genes In Space (GIS-6) experiment inside Europe’s Columbus laboratory module.

A lime-green aurora lights up Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean in this photo captured from the International Space Station by an Expedition 59 crewmember. In the foreground is the Columbus module, a research laboratory that the European Space Agency launched to the station in 2008.

A Soyuz rocket launches the MS-12 spacecraft carrying the Expedition 59 crew for the International Space Station from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on March 15, 2019 Kazakh time (March 14 EDT).

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On March 14, 2019, these three Expedition 59 crewmembers will launch to the International Space Station in the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft. Rookie NASA astronaut Christina Koch (left) will join veteran cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin (center) and NASA astronaut Nick Hague for a 6.5-month space mission.

Ovchinin and Hague were on board the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft together during a launch failure on Oct. 11, 2018. Their mission was aborted just a few minutes after liftoff. That launch was Hague's first spaceflight experience. Before Expedition 59, Ovchinin had already logged 172 days in space as a member of Expedition 47/48 in 2016.

Roscosmos staff at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan prepare the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft for encapsulation on top of the Russian Soyuz rocket booster on March 6, 2019, about one week ahead of its planned launch to the International Space Station.

The Expedition 59 prime and backup crewmembers pose with a miniature model of a Russian Soyuz rocket at the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on March 7, 2019.

The three prime crewmembers are on the left: NASA astronaut Nick Hague, Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Christina Koch. To the right of the little rocket are the backup crewmembers: NASA astronaut Drew Morgan, Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano.

A train hauls a Russian Soyuz rocket out to the launch site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 12, 2019, two days ahead of its planned launch of the Soyuz MS-12 crew capsule that will carry three astronauts to the International Space Station.

The Soyuz rocket rolls out to its launch site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 12, 2019.

The Russian Soyuz rocket is erected onto the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 12, 2019, two days ahead of its planned launch.

NASA astronaut Christina Koch signs a ceremonial book during pre-launch activities at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, on Feb. 21, 2019. Her two Soyuz MS-12 crewmembers, Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin (center) and NASA astronaut Nick Hague (right) look on.

NASA astronaut Christina Koch plants a tree in her name outside of the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, as part of a pre-launch tradition on March 7, 2019. Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin (center) and NASA astronaut Nick Hague help out.

Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin (left), NASA astronaut Nick Hague (center) and NASA astronaut Christina Koch (right) take a group photo with crew insignia stickers aboard a Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center aircraft on Feb. 26, 2019, when they flew from Star City, Russia to the launch site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin works inside a Soyuz spacecraft simulator at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, during pre-launch qualification exams on Feb. 20, 2019.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague conducts a launch suit pressure check during pre-launch training in Star City, Russia, on Feb. 27, 2019.

NASA astronaut Christina Koch works inside the Soyuz MS-12 crew capsule during pre-launch training in Star City, Russia, on Feb. 27, 2019.

Expedition 59 crewmembers Christina Koch (left), Alexey Ovchinin (center) and Nick Hague (right) take a fun photo with their Sokol launch and entry suits on Feb. 27, 2019 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Clad in their Sokol launch and entry suits, the prime crew of Expedition 59 poses with their backup crew (donning the blue flight suits) during pre-launch training in Star City, Russia, on Feb. 27, 2019.

Front Row (from left to right): Christina Koch, Alexey Ovchinin and Nick Hague
Back Row: Drew Morgan, Alexander Skvortsov and Luca Parmitano

The backup crew for Expedition 59 pose with the Soyuz rocket as it rolls to the launch pad on March 12, 2019. From left to right: NASA astronaut Drew Morgan, Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano

The official mission insignia for Expedition 59.

Hanneke Weitering is a multimedia journalist in the Pacific Northwest reporting on the future of aviation at FutureFlight.aero and Aviation International News and was previously the Editor for Spaceflight and Astronomy news here at Space.com. As an editor with over 10 years of experience in science journalism she has previously written for Scholastic Classroom Magazines, MedPage Today and The Joint Institute for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After studying physics at the University of Tennessee in her hometown of Knoxville, she earned her graduate degree in Science, Health and Environmental Reporting (SHERP) from New York University. Hanneke joined the Space.com team in 2016 as a staff writer and producer, covering topics including spaceflight and astronomy. She currently lives in Seattle, home of the Space Needle, with her cat and two snakes. In her spare time, Hanneke enjoys exploring the Rocky Mountains, basking in nature and looking for dark skies to gaze at the cosmos.