posted 03-23-2021 12:00 PM               

Russia's next space station-bound Soyuz spacecraft named for first cosmonaut

The next crew to launch into space will fly on board a vehicle named for the first person to do so, Russia's space agency has announced.

Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov, together with NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, are set to lift off to the International Space Station on Russia's Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, which has been named the "Yu.A. Gagarin."

posted 04-06-2021 10:14 AM               

Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, crew poised for launch

Soyuz MS-18 commander Oleg Novitsky of Roscosmos, together with flight engineers Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, are set to launch to the International Space Station on Friday (April 9) at 3:42 a.m. EDT (0742 GMT; 12:42 p.m. local) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

They will dock Soyuz MS-18 to the station's Rassvet module at 7:07 a.m. EDT (1107 GMT) the same day, after a two-orbit rendezvous.

About two hours after docking, the hatches between the Soyuz and the space station will open and Novitsky, Dubrov and Vande Hei will be greeted by Expedition 64 commander Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos and crewmates Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, NASA astronauts Kate Rubins, Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi.

Ryzhikov, Kud-Sverchkov and Rubins will complete their station mission and return to Earth April 16 on the Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft.

On Tuesday (April 6), the Soyuz-2.1a rocket topped with the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft was rolled out to Pad 31/6 by train and erected into position.

posted 04-09-2021 03:00 AM               

Soyuz MS-18 crew launches to station 60 years after first human spaceflight

A three-person crew embarked for the International Space Station on Friday (April 9), launching just three days shy of the 60th anniversary of the first human spaceflight.

Cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of Russia's state space corporation Roscosmos and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei lifted off aboard Russia's Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft for a three-hour, two-orbit rendezvous with the space station. The Soyuz took flight at 3:42 a.m. EDT (0742 GMT or 12:42 p.m. local time) from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, near where cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made history becoming the first person to fly into space on April 12, 1961.

posted 04-09-2021 09:07 AM               

Hatches open, 10 crew members on station

The hatches between the International Space Station and the newly-arrived Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft opened on Friday (April 9) at 9:20 a.m. EDT (1320 GMT). The arrival of NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos temporarily increases the station's population to ten.

The Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft docked to the Rassvet module at 7:05 a.m. EDT (1105 GMT) while both spacecraft were flying about 262 miles above northern China.

Now on board the orbiting laboratory, Vande Hei, Novitskiy and Dubrov have joined the Expedition 64 crew, including commander Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos and flight engineers Sergey Kud-Sverchkov also of Roscosmos, NASA astronauts Kate Rubins, Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi.

Expedition 65 begins on April 16, with the departure of Ryzhikov, Kud-Sverchkov and Rubins on Soyuz MS-17. Ryzhikov will hand off command of the space station to Walker during a ceremony on April 15.

posted 10-16-2021 08:35 PM               

Soyuz MS-18 undocks from space station

Cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy of the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos, actress Yulia Peresild and producer Klim Shipenko departed the International Space Station to return to Earth on Saturday (Oct. 16), undocking their Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft from the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module at 9:14 p.m. EDT (0114 GMT Oct. 17).

A deorbit burn at 11:41 p.m. EDT (0341 GMT) will set up a landing southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan at 12:36 a.m. EDT (0436 GMT or 10:36 a.m. local Kazakh time).

posted 10-16-2021 11:50 PM               

That's a wrap! Soyuz lands with film crew after space station movie shoot

The first professional film crew to fly into space has returned to Earth after 12 days shooting a movie aboard the International Space Station.

Russian actress Yulia Peresild and producer Klim Shipenko landed with cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy of the Russian federal space corporation Roscosmos on Sunday (Oct. 17). The three descended aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft to a touchdown at 12:35 a.m. EDT (0435 GMT or 10:35 a.m. local time) on the steppe of Kazakhstan.