Soyuz departs for International Space Station with Russia's Sergei Volkov, NASA's Mike Fossum and Japan's Dr. Satoshi Furukawa. Photo Credit/NASA TV
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft lifted off from Central Asia on Tuesday, initiating a two-day trip to the International Space Station for a three-man multinational crew prepared to lead the orbital outpost from the lengthy shuttle-led assembly/outfitting era to the scientific research phase.
Russia’s venerable Soyuz roared away from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 4:12 p.m., EDT. Cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, a 38-year-old previous ISS commander; NASA’s Mike Fossum, a 53-year-old veteran of two shuttle missions; and JAXA’s Satoshi Furukawa, a 46-year-old medical doctor and spaceflight rookie, were on an initial course to dock with the station’s Rassvet module on Thursday.
The linkup was scheduled for 5:22 p.m., EDT.
The newcomers, trained for a six month flight, will join Expedition 28’s Andrey Borisenko, Alexander Samokutyaev and Ron Garan. Station staffing was temporarily reduced from six to three on May 23rd , when three U. S., Italian and Russian astronauts descended to Earth aboard an earlier Soyuz.
The fully constituted Expedition 28 crew will host NASA’s final shuttle mission in July and pitch in to off load supplies. The latest Soyuz crew will also host a pair of Russian Progress supply ships.
The full station crew will carry out two and possibly three spacewalks, while tending more than 100 science experiments and technology demonstrations, much of it focused on long duration crew health issues.