A multinational crew of space travelers, including NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan, is scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station on Saturday, July 20 the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11s historic landing on the Moon. NASA Television and the agencys website will provide live coverage of the crews launch and arrival.
Morgan, Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) and Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos are preparing to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft at 12:28 p.m. EDT July 20 (9:28 p.m. Kazakhstan time). The four-orbit, six-hour journey will be the first spaceflight for Morgan, the second for Parmitano and the third for Skvortsov.
The trios arrival will return the orbiting laboratorys population to six, including three NASA astronauts. The new crew members will dock to the stations Zvezda service module at 6:50 p.m. About two hours later, hatches between the Soyuz and the station will open, and the arriving crew will be greeted by Expedition 60 Commander Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos and NASA Flight Engineers Nick Hague and Christina Koch, who have been aboard the complex since March.
The Expedition 60 crew will continue work on hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science aboard humanitys only permanently occupied microgravity laboratory.
TV coverage of the July 20 launch and docking activities is as follows (all times EDT):
- 11:30 a.m. Soyuz MS-13 launch coverage
- 6 p.m. Docking coverage
- 8 p.m. Hatch opening and welcome coverage
Video of the crews prelaunch activities in Baikonur will air on NASA TV in the days preceding launch, beginning Monday, July 15. Check out the full NASA TV schedule and video streaming information at:
