The Soyuz MS-18 rocket is launched by NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Oleg Novitskiy on Friday, April 9, 2021 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credit: NASA / Bill Ingalls
NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and two Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station on Friday, bringing their population to 10 for the coming week.
The Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft with Vande Hei and cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos crashed into the station’s Rassvet module at 07:05 EDT. Docking took place two lanes and about three hours after a 03:42 launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Vande Hei, Novitskiy and Dubrov will join the crew of Expedition 64 when shutters open at around 09:00. Expedition 65, with NASA astronaut Shannon Walker as commander, begins on Friday, April 16, following the departure of Kate Rubins from NASA, Sergey Kud, Roscosmos. Sverchkov, and departing station commander Sergey Ryzhikov. The trio will land in Kazakhstan after six months aboard the orbital laboratory.
The change of command with all crew members is scheduled for Thursday, April 15 at 3:45 p.m., and will be broadcast live on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.
This is the second spaceflight for Vande Hei, the third for Novitskiy and the first for Dubrov. During a six-month stay aboard the orbital laboratory, the trio will work on science and research in technology development, Earth science, biology, human research, and more.
During Expedition 65, the arrival of Crew-2 aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon will bring four more members to the International Space Station. Crew-2 was currently launched on Earth Day, Thursday 22 April. Crew-1, the first long-running commercial crew mission, will return to Earth on April 28.
In November 2020, the International Space Station exceeded its 20-milestone of continuous human presence, providing opportunities for unique technological demonstrations and research that help prepare for long-term missions to the Moon and March while also improving life on earth. To date, 243 people from 19 countries have visited the orbital laboratory, which has conducted nearly 3,000 research studies by researchers in 108 countries and territories.