Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin and spaceflight participants Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano are safely in orbit on the Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft after launching at 2:38 a.m. EST from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (12:38 p.m. Baikonur time).
After a four-orbit, six-hour journey, the Soyuz will dock to the station’s Poisk module at 8:41 a.m. About two hours after docking, hatches between the Soyuz and the station will open and the crew members will greet each other.
NASA TV coverage of docking will begin at 8 a.m. on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.
Three Visitors Prepare to Launch to Station Live on NASA TV
NASA TV coverage now is underway for the launch of a veteran Russian cosmonaut and two Japanese private citizens to the International Space Station. Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin joins spaceflight participants Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano on the Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2:38 a.m. EST (12:38 p.m. Baikonur time). Launch and docking activities will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.
After a four-orbit, six-hour journey, the Soyuz will dock to the station’s Poisk module at 8:41 a.m. About two hours after docking, hatches between the Soyuz and the station will open and the crew members will greet each other.
Once on station, the trio will join Expedition 66 Commander Anton Shkaplerov and cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos, as well as NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei, Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer, for approximately 12 days on the orbital laboratory.
On Sunday, Dec. 19, Misurkin, Maezawa, and Hirano will complete their mission, undocking the Soyuz from the Poisk module before heading for a parachute-assisted landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan at 10:18 p.m. EST (9:18 a.m. Monday, Dec. 20, Kazakhstan time).
Full mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern):
Wednesday, Dec. 8
2 a.m. – NASA TV coverage begins for 2:38 a.m. launch.
8 a.m. – NASA TV coverage begins for 8:41 a.m. docking.
10:15 a.m. – NASA TV coverage begins for hatch opening and welcome remarks.
Sunday, Dec. 19
3 p.m. – NASA TV coverage begins for hatch closing at 3:32 p.m.
6:30 p.m. – NASA TV coverage begins for undocking at 6:54 p.m.
9 p.m. – NASA TV coverage begins for deorbit and landing. Landing is targeted for 10:18 p.m.
This will be Misurkin’s third flight into space and the first flight for Maezawa and Mirano, who are making their trek into space under a contract between Space Adventures and Roscosmos.
Crew Keeps Up Research as Station Visitors Prep for Wednesday Launch
A Soyuz crew ship is counting down to its launch early Wednesday carrying three individuals to the International Space Station for an eleven-day visit. Back in space, the seven-member Expedition 66 crew moved along Tuesday studying space physics and biomedical science.
Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin will lead Japanese spaceflight participants Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano aboard the Soyuz MS-20 crew ship when it lifts off from Kazakhstan at 2:38 a.m. EST (12:38 p.m. Kazakh time) on Wednesday. The trio will dock to the Poisk module at 8:41 a.m. and enter the station to greet the Expedition 66 crew about an hour-and-a-half later. Live NASA TV begins its live launch coverage on Wednesday at 2 a.m. on the agency’s website, and the NASA app.
Onboard the orbital lab today, the station residents stayed focused on microgravity science observing a variety of space phenomena. Results from the multitude of ongoing space investigations provide new insights and benefits difficult to achieve in Earth’s gravity.
NASA crewmates Raja Chari and Kayla Barron partnered up inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endurance inspecting components inside the vehicle. Chari started his day spinning his blood samples in a centrifuge and stowing them in a science freezer. Barron took a cognition test in the morning then collected sound level readings throughout the space station.
The station’s five astronauts also joined cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov and practiced an emergency drill during Tuesday afternoon. The septet reviewed roles and responsibilities, coordinated communications with controllers on Earth, and mimicked the actions necessary for different emergency scenarios.
Station Visitors Near Launch as Crew Stays Busy with Research
The Expedition 66 crew is getting ready to welcome three new visitors to the International Space Station on Wednesday. In the meantime, the seven orbital residents have started the work week on human research, space physics, and artificial intelligence.
In Kazakhstan, the Soyuz MS-20 crew ship has rolled out from its processing facility and is now standing vertical at its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It will blast off on Wednesday at 2:38 a.m. EST (12:38 pm Kazakh time) carrying Soyuz Commander Alexander Misurkin and spaceflight participants Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano to the orbiting lab. Just over six hours later, the veteran Roscosmos cosmonaut and the two Japanese space visitors will dock to the Poisk module beginning an 11-day stay at the space station. Live NASA TV coverage of the launch begins Wednesday at 2 a.m. on the agency’s website, and the NASA app.
Back in space, artery scans, eye checks and a hearing test filled a portion of the crew day. The astronauts are also continuing to clean up following last week’s spacewalk.
NASA Flight Engineer Thomas Marshburn spent Monday morning attaching electrodes to his right leg and scanning his femoral artery using an ultrasound scan device. Ground doctors monitored the activities in real-time to understand the accelerated aging characteristics that appear in an astronaut’s arteries.
ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer checked the eyes of NASA Flight Engineer Raja Chari using medical imaging gear. NASA astronaut Kayla Barron had a hearing assessment before joining Chari collecting and stowing blood and saliva samples for later analysis.
Barron also partnered with Marshburn stowing the tools they used to replace a failed antenna system during a six-hour and 32-minute spacewalk last week. Chari also helped out cleaning the spacesuit’s cooling loops that keep spacewalkers comfortable in the extreme environment of microgravity.
NASA Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei spent the day swapping samples inside the Materials Science Laboratory to explore ways microgravity can improve the development of new and existing materials. Maurer set up the CIMON hardware to study how artificial intelligence could provide future support to astronauts.
Station cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov readied the Poisk module for Wednesday’s docking of the Soyuz MS-20 crew ship. The station duo also familiarized themselves with the visiting crew’s timeline and prepared the Russian segment for the new guests.
Station Separates from Debris After Orbital Maneuver
At 1:58 a.m. CST, 2:58 a.m. EST this morning, the Russian Progress 79, attached to the space station, fired its thrusters for 2 minutes and 41 seconds to slightly lower the station’s orbit. This maneuver provided a healthy margin of separation from a fragment of Pegasus rocket debris (object 39915) that ballistics specialists have been tracking. The Expedition 66 crew aboard the station is not in any additional danger.
The Pre-determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver, or PDAM, was coordinated between NASA flight controllers, Russian ballistics officials, and the station’s other international partners.
The station’s orbit has been lowered by 3/10 of a mile at apogee and 4/10 of a mile at perigee. The current orbit is 262.6 x 258.8 statute miles.
Object 39915 was a piece of debris generated during the breakup of object 23106 (Pegasus R/B). The launch occurred on May 19, 1994, and the breakup of the rocket’s upper stage occurred on June 3, 1996. Locate more information about how NASA manages the risk of orbital debris at: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/orbital_debris.html