ROSCOSMOS - Soyuz MS-09 Mission patch.
December 19, 2018
NASA Flight Engineer Serena Auñón-Chancellor, Expedition 57 Commander Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency) and Soyuz commander Sergey Prokopyev of the Russian space agency Roscosmos undocked from the International Space Station at 8:40 p.m. EST to begin their trip home.
Image above: The Soyuz MS-09 crew spacecraft from Roscosmos undocking to the Rassvet module. Image Credits: NASA TV/ISS HD Live/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
Deorbit burn is scheduled for approximately 11:10 p.m., with landing in Kazakhstan targeted for 12:03 a.m. Thursday (11:03 p.m. local time). NASA will resume coverage on TV and online at 10:45 p.m. for deorbit burn and landing.
Soyuz MS-09 undocking and departure
At the time of undocking, Expedition 58 began aboard the space station under the command of Roscosmos’ Oleg Kononenko. Along with his crewmates Anne McClain of NASA and David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency, the three-person crew will operate the station for a little more than two months.
Nick Hague and Christina Koch of NASA and Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos will launch aboard Soyuz MS-12 Feb. 28, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, to join their fellow crewmates following a six-hour journey. Expedition 59 will begin when the new trio docks to the space station.
Departing Trio Boards Soyuz Crew Ship, Prepares to Undock
Soyuz MS-09 hatch closure
At 5:30 p.m. EST, the hatch closed between the Soyuz spacecraft and the International Space Station in preparation for undocking. NASA Flight Engineer Serena Auñón-Chancellor, Expedition 57 Commander Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency) and Soyuz commander Sergey Prokopyev of the Russian space agency Roscosmos are scheduled to undock their Soyuz at 8:40 p.m.
Image above: Expedition 57 crew members Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA, Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency) and Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos aboard of Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft. Image Credits: NASA TV/ISS HD Live/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
NASA Television will air live coverage of the undocking beginning at 7:45 p.m.
Image above: Sunrise over North Pacific Ocean, seen by EarthCam on ISS, speed: 27'608 Km/h, altitude: 417,96 Km, image captured by Roland Berga (on Earth in Switzerland) from International Space Station (ISS) using ISS-HD Live application with EarthCam's from ISS on December 19, 2018 at 22:27 UTC. Image Credits: Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
Their landing in Kazakhstan is targeted for approximately 12:03 a.m. Thursday (11:03 a.m. Kazakhstan time) and will conclude a more than six month mission conducting science and maintenance aboard the space station, in which they circled the globe 3,152 times, covering 83.3 million miles.
Related links:
Expedition 57: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition57/index.html
Expedition 58: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition58/index.html
NASA TV live coverage: http://nasa.gov/live
International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Images (mentioned), Videos, Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia/NASA TV/SciNews/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
Best regards, Orbiter.ch
