The ISS ham radio population expanded to three, following the arrival of NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko, RN3BF, and Gennady Padalka, RN3DT, on March 28 (UTC). Kelly, 51, and Kornienko, 54, will remain aboard the ISS for 1 year — the longest space mission ever assigned to a NASA astronaut.

European Space Agency Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF, will head back to Earth in May, after Kjell Lindgren, KO5MOS; Oleg Kononenko, RN3DX, and Kimiya Yui arrive at the ISS as part of a scheduled crew rotation. Cristoforetti has conducted several Amateur Radio on the International Space Station school contacts during her ISS duty tour.