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
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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.
The crew members of Expedition
53-54 will continue work on hundreds of experiments in biology,
biotechnology, physical science and Earth science aboard the International
Space Station, humanity’s only permanently occupied microgravity laboratory.
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