NASA Astronauts Prepare for Launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Docking of Soyuz Sept. 15
By NASA information center // September 13, 2023
NASA & SPACE NEWS
(NASA) – A NASA astronaut and two Roscosmos cosmonauts are set to launch to the International Space Station on Friday, September 15.
The U.S. space agency will provide full coverage of the launch and crew’s arrival at the microgravity laboratory.
NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub are scheduled to lift off on the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:44 a.m. EDT (8:44 p.m. Baikonur time).
O’Hara, who will begin a six-month mission aboard the station, and Kononenko and Chub, who will both spend a year on the orbital outpost, will fly on a quick two-orbit, three-hour trajectory that will result in a docking to the station’s Rassvet module at 2:56 p.m.
A short time later, hatches between the station and the Soyuz will open and the crew will be welcomed aboard.
The trio will join the space station’s Expedition 69 crew of NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Frank Rubio, Roscosmos cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin, and Konstantin Borisov, and expedition Sergey Prokopyev, as well ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa.
This will be the first spaceflight for O’Hara and Chub, and the fifth flight for Kononenko.
Mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern):
■ 10:45 a.m. – Launch coverage begins
■ 2 p.m. – Rendezvous and docking coverage begins
■ 4:45 p.m. – Hatch opening and welcome remarks coverage begins
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