Soyuz rocket with manned spacecraft installed at Baikonur launch pad

The launch of the Soyuz MS-06 with Russia’s Aleksandr Misurkin, and NASA’s Mark Vande Hei and Joseph Acaba is due on September 13 at 00:17 Moscow time

A Soyuz-FG carrier rocket with a Soyuz MS-06 manned spacecraft, which is due to take a new crew to the International Space Station on September 13, has been installed at a launch pad of the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan, the Roscosmos space corporation told TASS.

"Upon the decision of the state commission, the Soyuz-FG carrier rocket with a manned spacecraft Soyuz MS-06 has been taken from an assembly and testing facility and installed at a launch pad," a spokesman said.

The launch of the Soyuz MS-06 with Russia’s Aleksandr Misurkin, and NASA’s Mark Vande Hei and Joseph Acaba is due on September 13 at 00:17 Moscow time. At 05.57 a.m. Moscow Time the Soyuz is due to dock with the world orbiter’s Russian module Poisk. This mission is due to last for 167 days.

Quelle: TASS

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Update: 11.09.2017

NASA Television Coverage Set for Next International Space Station Crew Launch

Expedition 53 crew members: Joe Acaba of NASA, Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos, and Mark Vande Hei of NASA pose for a photograph for the press outside the Soyuz simulator ahead of their Soyuz qualification exams, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017, at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. The three are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 5:17 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017 (3:17 a.m. on Sept. 13, Baikonur time) aboard the Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft.

Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Two NASA astronauts are among the three crew members poised to launch for a five-month stay aboard the International Space Station, and NASA Television will provide extensive coverage of their prelaunch activities, launch and their arrival on their orbital outpost.

Expedition 53-54 Flight Engineers Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba of NASA and Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 5:17 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, Sept. 12 (3:17 a.m. Baikonur time on Sept. 13) aboard the Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft. Launch coverage will begin at 4:15 p.m. on NASA Television and the agency’s website. A full complement of video of the crew’s prelaunch activities in Baikonur will air on NASA TV in the days preceding launch.

After their launch, the trio will travel on a fast-track, six-hour path to the space station, where they are expected to dock at 10:57 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12. NASA TV coverage of docking will begin at 10:15 p.m.

Hatches between the Soyuz and the space station will open at about 12:40 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 13. The arriving crew will be welcomed on board by Expedition 53 Commander Randy Bresnik of NASA and Flight Engineers Sergey Ryazanskiy of Roscosmos and Paolo Nespoli of the ESA (European Space Agency). NASA TV coverage of the hatch opening and welcoming ceremonies will begin at 12 a.m. Sept. 13.

Quelle: NASA

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Update: 12.09.2017

Soyuz rocket rolled out for next station crew launch

A Russian Soyuz booster arrived at its launch pad Sunday in Kazakhstan for two days of final countdown preparations ahead of liftoff with a Russian cosmonaut and two U.S. astronauts Tuesday on the way to the International Space Station.

The Soyuz-FG launcher is set for liftoff at 2117:02 GMT (5:17:02 p.m. EDT) Tuesday, or 3:17 a.m. local time Wednesday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz MS-06 crew capsule on top of the rocket will arrive in orbit less than nine minutes into the flight, on the way to a fast-track docking with the space station at 0257 GMT Wednesday (10:57 p.m. EDT Tuesday).

Russian commander Alexander Misurkin will occupy the capsule’s center seat, launching on his second space mission. Rookie NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei will be in the left seat servicing as the prime Soyuz flight engineer. NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, a veteran of two previous spaceflights, will be in the right seat.

Acaba was assigned to the mission earlier this year, filling a seat made empty by Russia’s decision to downsize their crew complement on the space station.

The trio will join Expedition 53 commander Randy Bresnik and flight engineers Sergey Ryazanskiy and Paolo Nespoli — from Russia and Italy, respectively — already living and working on the orbiting research complex. Three outgoing crew members departed the station Sept. 2 and landed in Kazakhstan, freeing up room for Misurkin and his crewmates.

Misurkin, Vande Hei and Acaba will stay aboard the space station through February 2018.

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