WATCH LIVE: ISS Set For Launch From Russia Today
By Space Coast Daily // March 25, 2014
LAUNCH SET FOR 5:17 P.M.
LIVE STREAM: Watch LIVE coverage of Expedition 39 begins at 4:15 p.m. EDT
Tune into SpaceCoastDaily.com to watch the live stream of the launch on Tuesday as three new Expedition 39 crew members wrapped up training Friday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as they prepare for next week’s launch to join Commander Koichi Wakata and Flight Engineers Rick Mastracchio and Mikhail Tyurin aboard the International Space Station.
NASA astronaut Steve Swanson and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev inspected the Soyuz TMA-12M that will carry them on an express, six-hour journey to the station on Tuesday.
The trio checked out the seats and the interior configuration of the Soyuz in advance of its being rolled out to the launch pad.
The Soyuz carrying Swanson, Skvortsov and Artemyev is scheduled to lift off from Baikonur at 5:17 p.m. EDT Tuesday (3:17 a.m. Wednesday, Kazakh time) and dock to the Poisk mini-research module at 11:04 p.m. NASA Television will provide live coverage of all the events, including the hatch opening planned for 12:45 a.m. Wednesday.
SWANSON TO BE EXPEDITION 40 COMMANDER
Swanson, Skvortsov and Artemyev will remain aboard the station until mid-September. Wakata, Mastracchio and Tyurin have been aboard the orbital outpost since November 2013 and will return to Earth May 14, leaving Swanson as the Expedition 40 commander.
TUNE IN TO SPACECOASTDAILY.COM TO WATCH THE LIVE STREAM TUESDAY
BELOW VIDEO: Expedition 39/40 Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), NASA Flight Engineer Steve Swanson and Flight Engineer Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos participated in a final “fit check” dress rehearsal in their Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft and conducted other pre-launch activities at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan March 21 as they prepared for their launch to the International Space Station on March 26, Kazakh time for a six-month mission on the orbital outpost.