Image: At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio performs preflight checkouts in the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft. Rubio is scheduled to launch with crewmates Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin Sept. 21 for a six-month mission on the International Space Station. Credits: NASA/Victor Zelentsov.
NASA will provide live coverage of key events as a NASA astronaut and two cosmonauts launch and dock to the International Space Station on Wednesday, Sept. 21.
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin will launch aboard the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9:54 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Sept. 21 (6:54 p.m. Baikonur time). Coverage will begin at 9 a.m. on NASA Television’s Public Channel, the NASA app, and on the agency’s website.
NASA also will air continuous coverage of an Artemis I tanking test on NASA TV’s Media Channel beginning at 7:15 a.m.
Soyuz MS-22 launch and key events as well of coverage of the Artemis I tanking test will be available to watch online at: https://www.nasa.gov/live
After a two-orbit, three-hour journey, the Soyuz will dock to the space station’s Rassvet module at 1:11 p.m. About two hours after docking, hatches between the Soyuz and the station will open and the crew members will greet each other.
Once aboard station, the trio will join Expedition 67 Commander Oleg Artemyev, cosmonauts Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov of Roscosmos, as well as NASA astronauts Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren, and Jessica Watkins, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. Rubio, Prokopyev, and Petelin will spend six months aboard the orbital laboratory.
This will be Prokopyev’s second flight into space and the first for Rubio and Petelin.
Mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern):
Wednesday, Sept. 21
9 a.m. – Coverage begins on NASA TV’s Public Channel for 9:54 a.m. launch.
12:15 p.m. – Coverage begins on NASA TV’s Public Channel for 1:11 p.m. docking.
3:30 p.m. – Coverage begins on NASA TV for hatch opening and welcome remarks.
