Watch Live Stream: NASA Astronauts' Arrival at International Space Station
The three newest members of the International Space Station crew launched Wednesday to the massive satellite station that orbits Earth. Two American NASA astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut from Roscosmos were on board the Soyuz craft and scheduled to arrive at the station Friday to begin their five-month stay, according to NASA.
They launch Wednesday at 1:44 p.m. EDT, or 11:44 p.m. in Kazakhstan, where the Soyuz MS-08 craft and rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The rocket went vertical on the launch pad Monday, two days prior to the scheduled launch, and the astronauts readied for their trip.
Flight engineers Ricky Arnold and Drew Feustel from NASA joined Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos for their trip up to the ISS, and the three were set to link up with the three other crew members currently on board the station. Those crew members are NASA astronaut Scott Tingle, station commander Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Norishige Kanai.
The astronauts were on track to arrive as scheduled, a NASA spokesperson confirmed to Newsweek Friday morning. Coverage of the docking and welcoming ceremony was set to air live on NASA television Friday. The docking was scheduled for 3:41 p.m. EDT, and the hatch opening and welcoming ceremony was scheduled for 5 p.m. That coverage is expected to be available on NASA’s website as well as the agency’s YouTube channels, or here:
It took the astronauts a little more than 48 hours and 35 orbits around the Earth to reach the ISS after Wednesday's launch.
See all of the best photos of the week in these slideshows
The Soyuz craft had to reach a height of more than 200 miles above Earth, it also needed to reach the same speed that the station orbits at, more than 17,000 miles per hour, so that the craft could dock on the station.
Once on board, the crew will get to work on more than 100 experiments for the duration of the members' stay.