BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan, July 22 (UPI) — The Soyuz rocket that will take three new crew members to the International Space Station is ready and waiting on the launch pad at Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome, located in Kazakhstan.
“An international crew from Russia, Japan and the United States is in Kazakhstan as their Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft rests on its launch pad,” NASA confirmed in a blog post on Wednesday morning.
Blastoff is scheduled for 5:02 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, 3:02 a.m. Baikonur time on Thursday. The rocket will deliver Expedition 44, which is headed by cosmonaut and Soyuz Commander Oleg Kononenko. He is joined by NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui.
Once arrived, the three new members will join astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko — the two members of the One-Year mission — as well as cosmonaut and Expedition 44 Commander Gennady Padalka.
Russia’s Soyuz-FG rocket will boost the spacecraft 124 miles into Earth’s upper atmosphere before separating. From there, the craft’s boosters will propel it on its path through space. Only nine minutes will elapse between takeoff and separation. The craft will orbit Earth before being slung toward ISS.
After the six-hour trip, the Soyuz spacecraft will dock on the space station’s Rassvet mini-research module. The crew members will remain aboard ISS until December.
The rocket launch will be covered by a live stream on NASA TV, beginning at 4:00 p.m. EDT.
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