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BAIKONUR COSMODROME, Kazakhstan – Three flying planes are on their way to the International Space Station after being launched into orbit inside their Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft at the summit of the ISS. A Soyuz-FG rocket. Takeoff took place at 16:12. local time (7:12 am EDT / 11:12 GMT) June 6, 2018.
Flying into space to be part of the ongoing Expedition 56 of the space station is the Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev, l & # 39; NASA astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor and Astronaut of the European Space Agency Alexander Gerst. They are expected and dock at the ISS Friday morning after 34 orbits around the Earth
Serving as Commander Soyuz MS-09 at age 43 Prokopyev . Selected to be a cosmonaut in 2010, this will be his first flight in space. Prior to that, he served as commander in the Russian air force.
42 years old Gerst is on his second space flight. The first flight of the German astronaut took place in 2014 as part of the Expedition 40/41 expedition. During this visit, he made a single space trip with NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman to replace a faulty cooling pump.
Also on his first space flight is Aunon-Chancellor . The 42-year-old athlete was selected as NASA's astronaut in 2009. Previously, she worked as a flight surgeon for the US Space Agency and was badistant crew surgeon for STS- 127 and Expedition 22 in 2009.
The trio arrives at the outpost, it will be a very busy time for the space station.
"When we arrive there, [EVE] within six days of our arrival and then several sightseeing vehicles during this period, who are getting ready all this time," said Aunon-Chancellor in the pre-launch of the press conference in Kazakhstan "I think that one of the most important things we do is to monitor each other as a crew and make sure that the pace is good, that it is adequate and that we are achieving all the goals we need to achieve. "
14 spacewalk, which will be directed by Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold, NASA astronauts, SpaceX's CRS-15 Dragon capsule is scheduled to be launched on June 29 and will arrive on July 1. Then, the Cygnus cargo spacecraft will be launched in mid-July. . Finally, in mid-August, the Japanese satellite Kounotori-7 is expected to land aboard the ISS
In addition, the crew will conduct more than 250 scientific research in areas such as biology, Earth sciences, human research and the physical sciences. Among the many people who attended the launch, there was the director general of the ESA, Johann-Dietrich Worner
[The crew]. Soyuz capsule tiny and this shows me that space can really bridge the earthly crisis, "said Worner SpaceFlight Insider . "All three will go to the international space station and will do science and technology experiments – very important." Worner said that many of ESA's ISS experiments are mostly funded by industry in the US. part of a public-private partnership, adding that microgravity experiments will still be needed after the end of the ISS. Moreover, he stated that ESA was also considering the possibility of doing what at orbital low
"What the Americans are proposing, called the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, is a good idea to join forces, international activities and international cooperation," said M Worner. "I hope ESA will be able to play a part in it."
The crew started the day of launch waking up at the # Cosmonaut hotel nine hours before scheduled departure. Three hours later, the trio departed for site 254 to begin preparing in their launch and entry suits Sokol
Meanwhile, the Soyuz refueling of 499 meters (499 meters) FG carrier rocket (which rolled to the launch pad two days earlier) with kerosene and liquid oxygen began at about 02:12 EDT (06:12 GMT) and continued for about two hours. 19659010] At 4:12 am EDT (0812 GMT), the crew finished getting ready before boarding a bus to get to the launch site, Pad 1/5. Known as Gagarin's Start it is the same stamp that was used to send Yuri Gagarin into orbit in April 1961 to become the first human in space.
Once at the helm 20 minutes later, they climbed stairs to board a small elevator on one of the gantry tower flappers. They paused for a few moments to say goodbye.
After being attached to the descent module of the spacecraft, the hatch was closed and leaks began. This happened about an hour and 20 minutes before the launch. After that, service structures and clamshell service towers were removed.
The crew began checking their combinations Sokol for leaks 37 minutes before launch and completed this process about 15 minutes before leaving Earth
All pre-launch operations were completed approximately seven minutes prior to launch
The propellant tanks were pressurized approximately two minutes and 45 seconds with the vehicle departing.
At 35 seconds from the launch, the first of the two umbilical towers was separated. The final umbilical tower separated at 15 seconds from take-off.
Twelve seconds before leaving the Earth, the launch command was launched and the four RD-107A boosters and the RD-108A base engine at the base of the rocket ignited.
The engines reached their maximum thrust five seconds before getting up. At zero, the vehicle began to rise to the sky, turning to the space station's orbital tilt of 51.6 degrees.
After almost two minutes of flight, the abandonment tower, which was no longer needed, was dropped. A few seconds later, the four boosters separate and fall into an iconic pattern known as Korolev Cross which bears the name of the creator of the rocket Sergei Korolev.
Two minutes 40 seconds after Leaving Kazakhstan, the fairing of the clamshell cargo separated and fell as it was no longer necessary. At that time, the inner crew was able to look out the window to see the atmosphere of the Earth melt black as they began to fly overhead.
About four minutes, 45 seconds after the flight. . But a few seconds before that happens, the upper floor – called the third floor – has triggered its unique RD-0110 engine in a process called "warm-up". That's why the interstage has an open wire mesh design to allow the exhaust to leave when the engine is winding up.
Once the third floor was in control, he continued shooting until about eight minutes and 50 seconds. A moment later, the Soyuz spacecraft MS-09 has separated and deployed its antennas and solar panels
Soyuz MS-09 will gradually increase its orbit over the next two days and begin the process of catching up the space station. 19659010] On about 34 orbits, the spacecraft will be in sight of the outpost and will begin the process of aligning the vehicle for autonomous docking with the module Rbadvet on the Orbital Segment Russian of the ISS. Docking is currently scheduled for 09:07 EDT (13:07 GMT) on June 8th. The traps between the two vehicles will occur about 1.5 hours or two hours later
Once inside the ISS, Prokopyev, Anon-Chancellor and Gerst will join the trio already on board, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, as well as Arnold and Feustel from NASA. After several hugs and congratulations inside the cramped module Rbadvet the six will go to the service module Zvezda for a traditional conference with friends and family via the control of the Russian mission in Moscow
The launch comes less than a week after another trio left the ISS in Soyuz MS-07 . Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, NASA astronaut Scott Tingle and astronaut of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Norishige Kanai landed on the Kazakh steppe several hundred kilometers to the north East of Baikonur
Prokopyev, Aunon-Chancellor and Gerst will remain on board the ISS until December 2018. Artemyev, Arnold and Feustel are expected to return to Earth in early October
Sean Costello, who was at the Baikonur Cosmodrome for the launch, contributed to this story
Video published with the kind permission of SpaceFlight Insider [19659010]
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