ROSCOSMOS - Soyuz MS-21 Mission patch.
March 18, 2022
Russian Trio Launches on Express Trip to Station
Image above: The Soyuz MS-21 rocket lifts off on time from Kazakhstan carrying three cosmonauts to the space station. Image Credits: ROSCOSMOS/NASA TV.
Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev, and Sergey Korsakov are safely in orbit on the Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft after launching at 11:55 a.m. EDT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (8:55 p.m. Baikonur time).
Soyuz MS-21 launch
The Soyuz will dock to the station’s Prichal module at 3:05 p.m. About two hours after docking, hatches between the Soyuz and the station will open.
Soyuz MS-21 Crew. Image Credit: ROSCOSMOS
Soyuz Trio Docks to Station, NASA Astronaut Nears Departure
Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev, and Sergey Korsakov on the Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft docked to the International Space Station at 3:12 p.m. EDT while the station was traveling 260 miles over eastern Kazakhstan. Coverage of hatch opening will air at 5:15 p.m. on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.
Image above: The Soyuz MS-21 crew ship with three cosmonauts aboard approaches the Prichal module for a docking in this view from the space station. Image Credit: NASA TV.
Once on station, the trio will join Expedition 66 Commander Anton Shkaplerov and cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos, as well as NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei, Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer.
Soyuz MS-21 manual docking
On March 30, a Soyuz spacecraft will return as scheduled carrying NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov back to Earth. Upon their return, Vande Hei will hold the American record for the longest single human spaceflight mission of 355 days.
Related links:
NASA Television: https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive
Prichal module: https://go.nasa.gov/3cOCFx6
International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Images (mentioned), Videos, Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia/ROSCOSMOS/NASA TV/SciNews.
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