Liftoff! Three space travellers including a NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts successfully launch on board a Soyuz MS-18 rocket to the International Space Station
NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei is making his second trip to the ISS that s orbiting 254 miles above the Earth
Cosmonauts Oleg Novitskly and Pyotr Dubrov join him in the Soyuz capsule that launched at 08:42 BST today
They will orbit the Earth twice before docking with the nearly 20-foot-long Rassvet module on the station
Traveling aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov blasted off from the Russia-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan at 3:42 a.m. ET.
After a two-orbit journey that spanned for more than three hours, the hatches between the ISS and the Soyuz opened at 9:20 a.m. ET, flying above the South Pacific.
The launch came just three days before the 60th anniversary of the first human flight to space by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and the 40th anniversary of the first launch of NASA’s space shuttle.
According to Space.com, the Soyuz MS-18 named for Gagarin is Russia s 64th Soyuz spacecraft to launch for the ISS since 2000 and the 147th to fly since 1967.
NASA TV to cover the Soyuz MS-18 carrying three astronauts liftoff live techgenyz.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from techgenyz.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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WASHINGTON, April 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ Three space travelers, including NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, are poised to launch Friday, April 9, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station. NASA Television, the agency s website, and the NASA app will provide comprehensive prelaunch and launch-to-docking coverage.
Joining Vande Hei aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft will be Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy and Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos for launch at 3:42 a.m. EDT (12:42 p.m. Kazakhstan time) on a two-orbit, three-hour journey to dock to the station s Rassvet module. Launch coverage will begin at 2:45 a.m. This will be the second spaceflight for Vande Hei, the third for Novitskiy, and the first for Dubrov. The launch comes three days before the 60th anniversary of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin s launch to become the first human