posted 09-23-2019 04:07 PM               

Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft, crew poised for launch

Soyuz MS-15 commander Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos, together with flight engineer Jessica Meir of NASA and spaceflight participant Hazzaa Almansoori from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), are set to launch to the International Space Station on Wednesday (Sept. 25) at 9:57 a.m. EDT (1457 GMT; 6:57 p.m. local) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

They will dock the Soyuz to the space station's Zvezda service module at 3:45 p.m. EDT (2045 GMT) the same day, after a four-orbit rendezvous.

About two hours later, the hatches between the Soyuz and the space station will open and Skripochka, Meir and Almansoori will be greeted by Expedition 60 commander Aleksey Ovchinin of Roscosmos and his crewmates, NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Nick Hague and Andrew Morgan, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Luca Parmitano and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, all flight engineers.

On Monday (Sept. 23), the Soyuz-FG rocket topped with the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft was rolled out to the pad by train and erected into position.

posted 09-25-2019 09:07 AM               

First UAE astronaut lifts off with American and Russian space station crew

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has now become the 40th country in history to see one of its citizens fly into space with the launch of a crew bound for the International Space Station.

Hazzaa AlMansoori, a spaceflight participant flying under a contract between Russia's space agency and the UAE's Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), lifted off with cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos and astronaut Jessica Meir of NASA on Wednesday (Sept. 25). The three launched on board Russia's Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft at 9:57 a.m. EDT (1457 GMT or 6:57 p.m. local time) atop a Soyuz FG rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

posted 09-25-2019 02:44 PM               

Soyuz MS-15 docks at space station

Cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos with astronaut Jessica Meir of NASA and spaceflight participant Hazza AlMansoori of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) arrived at the International Space Station on Wednesday (Sept. 25), with the autonomous docking of Soyuz MS-15 to the Zvezda service module at 3:42 p.m. EDT (1942 GMT).

Following standard pressurization checks, the hatches between the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft and the space station were opened.

posted 04-16-2020 08:54 PM               

Soyuz MS-15 undocks from space station

Cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos and NASA astronauts Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir departed the International Space Station to return to Earth on Thursday (April 16), undocking their Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft from the Zvezda service module at 9:53 p.m. EDT (0153 GMT April 17).

A deorbit burn on Friday (April 17) at 12:22 a.m. EDT (0422 GMT) will set up a landing southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan at 1:16 a.m. EDT (0516 GMT or 11:17 a.m. local Kazakh time).

posted 04-17-2020 12:21 AM               

Soyuz MS-15 lands safely with US, Russian crew from space station

A NASA astronaut who launched to the International Space Station 50 years to the day after the first astronauts landed on the moon has safely returned to Earth on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 13 splashdown.

Andrew Morgan completed an extended 272-day mission on Friday (April 17), touching down on Russia's Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft with NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka, who each logged 205 days on the space station. Descending under a parachute to the steppe of Kazakhstan, the capsule touched down on its side at 1:16 a.m. EDT (0516 GMT or 11:16 a.m. local time), southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan.