ROSCOSMOS - Soyuz TMA-20M Mission patch.
March 18, 2016
Image above: The Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft launches on time from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Image Credit: NASA TV.
The Soyuz TMA-20M launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station at 5:26 p.m. EDT Friday (3:26 a.m. on March 19 in Baikonur). Jeff Williams of NASA and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin are now safely in orbit.
NASA astronaut Jeff Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin are on the way to the International Space Station (ISS) for a six hours flight.
New Crew Launches to the Space Station
NASA Television coverage of the launch continues: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/
The trio will join Expedition 47 Commander Tim Kopra of NASA and Flight Engineers Tim Peake of ESA (European Space Agency) and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko of Roscosmos. Together, they will bring the total to six crew aboard station, which will once again be fully staffed after operating with only three crew members following the departure of a separate trio on March 1.
Image above: Expedition 47-48 crew members (from left) Jeff Williams, Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka pose for a portrait two days before their launch. Image Credit: NASA.
During his six-month mission, Williams will become the new American record holder for cumulative days in space – 534 – surpassing Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly, who wrapped up his one-year mission on March 1. Williams will take command of the station on June 4 for Expedition 48. This will be his third space station expedition – another record.
The Expedition 47 crew members will continue several hundred experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science currently underway and scheduled to take place aboard humanity’s only orbiting laboratory. Williams, Ovchinin and Skripochka are scheduled to spend six months on the station, returning to Earth in early September 2016.
To learn more about the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station.
Images (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: NASA/NASA TV/ROSCOSMOS/Mark Garcia/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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