NASA astronaut Don Pettit will launch aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft, accompanied by cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, to the International Space Station, where they will join the Expedition 71 crew in advancing scientific research.
Pettit, Ovchinin, and Vagner will lift off at 02.23 a.m. (AEST) September 12, 2024, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
After a two-orbit, three-hour trajectory to the station, the spacecraft will automatically dock at 5:33 a.m. at the orbiting laboratory’s Rassvet module. Shortly after, hatches will open between the spacecraft and the station.
Once aboard, the trio will join NASA astronauts Tracy C. Dyson, Mike Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, Butch Wilmore, and Suni Williams, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin, and Oleg Kononenko.
The trio will spend approximately six months aboard the orbital laboratory as Expedition 71 and 72 crew members before returning to Earth in the spring of 2025. This will be the fourth spaceflight for Pettit and Ovchinin, and the second for Vagner.
Coverage will stream on NASA+, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.
