Soyuz TM-31 began Expedition 1 by carrying 3 cosmonauts and astronauts to the International Space Station. Russian Commander, cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko alongside Flight Engineer, Sergei Krikalev and Flight Engineer/Spaceflight Participant William Shepherd launched aboard the Soyuz spacecraft on October 31, 2000, 07:52:47 UTC. They docked with the station two days later. During their stay there, crew performed first maintenance and repair works, carried out first experiments and conducted several EVAs. They were also visited by several Progress resupply spacecrafts and STS-97 and STS-98 crews, and welcomed aboart STS-102 with the next expedition crew. Expedition 1 returned with STS-102, landing safely back on Earth on 21 March 2001, 07:33:06 UTC.