posted 07-26-2017 08:00 AM               

Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft, crew poised for launch

Soyuz MS-05 commander Sergey Ryazanskiy of Roscosmos, along with flight engineers Randy Bresnik of NASA and Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency are set to launch to the International Space Station on Friday (July 28) at 10:41 a.m. CDT (1541 GMT; 9:41 p.m. local time) from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

They will dock the Soyuz to the space station's Rassvet module at 5 p.m CDT (2300 GMT), following a four-orbit rendezvous.

About two hours later, the hatches between the Soyuz and space station will open and Ryazanskiy, Bresnik and Nespoli will be greeted by Expedition 52 commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineers Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer.

Ryazansky, Bresnik and Nespoli will stay onboard the station through December.

On Wednesday (July 26), the Soyuz-FG rocket topped with the Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft was rolled out to the pad by train and erected into position.

Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

posted 07-28-2017 11:10 AM               

Russian, US and Italian crew launches for space station on Soyuz MS-05

The grandson of a Soviet rocket scientist, the grandson of Amelia Earhart's authorized photographer and an Italian engineer who will be the oldest professional astronaut to reside aboard the International Space Station launched into Earth orbit on Friday (July 28) on a planned five month mission.

Sergey Ryazanskiy of Russia's federal space corporation Roscosmos, Randy Bresnik of NASA and Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency (ESA), lifted off aboard Russia's Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft atop a Soyuz FG rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:41 a.m. EDT (1641 GMT or 9:41 p.m. local Baikonur time). Launched on an expedited six-orbit rendezvous, the three crewmates will dock the Soyuz at the space station's Rassvet module at 6 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT).

posted 07-28-2017 05:22 PM               

Soyuz MS-05 arrives at space station

After a six-hour spaceflight, Sergey Ryazanskiy of Roscosmos, NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik and Paolo Nespoli of ESA (European Space Agency) arrived at the International Space Station at 4:54 p.m. CDT (2154) on Friday (July 28) to continue scientific research on board the orbiting laboratory.

Following standard pressurization checks, the hatches between the Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft and the space station will be opened.

posted 12-14-2017 04:00 AM               

Soyuz MS-05 crew returns to Earth safely after 139 days on space station

Three International Space Station crewmembers from Russia, Italy and the United States are back on Earth, having landed after five months aboard the orbiting outpost.

Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy, Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency (ESA) and astronaut Randy Bresnik of NASA touched down on Russia's Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft on Thursday (Dec. 14), landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan at 3:37 a.m. EST (0837 GMT; 2:37 p.m. local Kazakh time).