ROSCOSMOS - Soyuz TMA-07M Mission patch.
Dec. 19, 2012
Soyuz TMA-07M ready for launch. Image Credits: NASA TV / Orbiter.ch Aerospace.
The Soyuz TMA-07M launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station at 7:12 a.m. EST. NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko now are safely in orbit.
Image above: Expedition 34 Flight Engineers Tom Marshburn, Roman Romanenko and Chris Hadfield launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Photo Credit: NASA TV.
Flight Engineers Tom Marshburn, Roman Romanenko and Chris Hadfield will orbit the Earth for two days before docking to the Rassvet module at 9:12 a.m. Friday. The new trio will join Commander Kevin Ford and Flight Engineers Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin who’ve been residing at the orbital laboratory since Oct. 26.
Expedition 34/35 Launches to the International Space Station
The crew will dock with the station’s Rassvet module at 9:12 a.m. Friday, Dec. 21. Welcoming them aboard will be the current station residents.
Image above: Expedition 34 crew's Tom Marshburn and Roman Romanenko inside Soyuz TMA-07M during the launch. Image Credits: NASA TV / Orbiter.ch Aerospace.
Hadfield last visited the station in April 2001 aboard space shuttle Endeavour as an STS-100 mission specialist. He helped install the Canadarm2, the station’s robotic arm, during two spacewalks. Hadfield will be Canada’s first station commander when Expedition 35 begins. Marshburn went to the station in July 2009 aboard shuttle Endeavour for the STS-127 mission. He performed three spacewalks to help complete the construction of the Japanese Kibo laboratory module.
Romanenko served as a flight engineer for Expedition 20/21 for six months in 2009.
Expedition 34 will be a six-member crew until March 2013 when Ford, Novitskiy and Tarelkin undock from the Poisk module and return home inside the Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft for a landing in Kazakhstan. When they undock Expedition 35 will officially begin as Hadfield becomes commander staying behind with Marshburn and Romanenko before finally returning home in May 2013.
Back on Earth three more crew members are training for their upcoming launch to the station. NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and cosmonauts Alexander Misurkin and Pavel Vinogradov will complete the Expedition 35 crew when they launch to the orbiting laboratory in March 2013.
Read more about Expedition 34: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition34/index.html
For more information about the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Images, Video, Text, Credits: ROSCOSMOS / NASA / NASA TV / Orbiter.ch Aerospace.
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