Live launch coverage is underway on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel as teams prepare for the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft launch to the International Space Station. Liftoff is scheduled for 10:47 a.m. EDT (7:47 p.m. Baikonur time) on Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The Soyuz spacecraft will carry NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina to the orbiting laboratory, where they will spend approximately eight months conducting science before returning to Earth in April 2027.
After a two-orbit, three-hour trip to the station, the spacecraft will automatically dock at 1:56 p.m. to the Prichal module. Shortly afterward, hatches will open between the Soyuz and the orbiting laboratory.
Once aboard, the trio will join NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, and Chris Williams, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, Sergei Mikaev, and Andrey Fedyaev.
NASA’s arrival coverage schedule is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):
1:10 p.m. – Rendezvous and docking coverage begins on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and YouTube.
1:56 p.m. – Docking
3:30 p.m. – Hatch opening and welcome coverage begins on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and YouTube.
3:55 p.m. – Hatch opening
During his stay on the station, Menon will conduct scientific research and technology demonstrations aimed at advancing human space exploration and benefiting life on Earth. He will continue research to refine in-space production of semiconductor crystals to enable the large-scale manufacturing of components needed for high-performance computers, artificial intelligence, and improved medical devices. Menon also will perform ultrasound using augmented reality and artificial intelligence methods that could eliminate the need for medical support from Earth on future space missions. He will be a test subject helping researchers understand how blood flow is affected in space to protect future astronauts. He also will test bioprinting vascular constructs in microgravity to improve understanding of the aging process to advance therapeutic developments.
This will be Menon’s first spaceflight and the second for both Dubrov and Kikina.
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