posted 11-16-2016 06:02 AM               

Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft, crew poised for launch

Soyuz MS-03 commander Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos, along with flight engineers Peggy Whitson of NASA and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency are set to launch to the International Space Station on Thursday (Nov. 17) at 2:20 p.m. CT (2020 GMT; 2:20 a.m. local time) from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

They will dock the Soyuz to the station's Rassvet module at 3:15 p.m CST (2115 GMT) Saturday (Nov. 19) following a two-day rendezvous.

About two hours later, the hatches between the Soyuz and space station will open and Novitskiy, Whitson and Pequet will be greeted by ISS Expedition 50 commander Shane Kimbrough and flight engineers Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrei Borisenko.

Novitskiy, Whitson and Pequet will stay on the station through May.

On Monday (Nov. 14), the Soyuz-FG rocket topped with Soyuz MS-03 was rolled out to the launch pad by train and erected into position.

posted 11-17-2016 02:38 PM               

Soyuz MS-03 lifts off to space station with Russian, American and French crew

A record-setting American woman, a veteran Russian cosmonaut and France's 10th astronaut are on their way to the International Space Station, where they will live and work for the next six months.

NASA's Peggy Whitson, Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet lifted off aboard Russia's Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft on Thursday (Nov. 17), beginning their two-day trip to the space station.

Their Soyuz FG rocket launched from Site 1/5, also known as "Gagarin's Start," at Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:20 p.m. EST (2020 GMT; 2:20 a.m. Nov. 18 local time).

posted 11-19-2016 04:03 PM               

Soyuz MS-03 docks to space station

Russia's Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft docked to the Rassvet module at the International Space Station Saturday (Nov. 19) at 3:58 p.m. CST (2158 GMT) as the vehicles were 260 miles above the Earth.

posted 06-02-2017 05:56 AM               

Soyuz MS-03 undocks from space station

After 194 days on board the International Space Station, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency undocked their Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft from the Rassvet module on Friday (June 2) at 5:47 a.m. CDT (1047 GMT), beginning their return to Earth.

The Soyuz will perform a four-minute, 36-second deorbit burn at 8:17 a.m. CDT (1317 GMT). The crew is scheduled to touch down at 9:10 a.m. CDT (1410 GMT) southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.

posted 06-02-2017 09:25 AM               

Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft lands from space station with Russian, French crew

A Russian cosmonaut and an astronaut from France returned from the International Space Station on Friday (June 2), landing with one fewer crewmate than when they left Earth six and a half months ago.

Oleg Novitskiy of Russia's space agency Roscosmos and Thomas Pesquet with the European Space Agency (ESA) touched down on the steppe of Kazakhstan on board the Russian Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft at 10:10 a.m. EDT (1410 GMT or 8:10 p.m. local Kazakh time).