posted 11-24-2025 09:38 AM               

Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft, crew poised for launch

Soyuz MS-28 commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and flight engineer Sergey Mikayev, both of Roscosmos, together with flight engineer Chris Williams of NASA are set to launch to the International Space Station at 4:27 a.m. EST (0927 GMT or 2:27 p.m. Kazakhstan local) on Thursday (Nov. 27) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

They will dock the Soyuz to the station's Rassvet module at approximately 7:38 a.m. EST (1238 GMT), after a two-orbit, three-hour rendezvous.

About two hours later, the hatches between the Soyuz and station will open and Kud-Sverchkov, Mikayev and Williams will be greeted by Expedition 73 commander Sergey Ryzhikov and flight engineers Alexey Zubritsky and Oleg Platonov of Roscosmos; NASA astronauts Jonny Kim, Zena Cardman and Michael Fincke; and Kimiya Yui of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)

Kud-Sverchkov, Mikayev and Williams will stay on the station through July.

On Monday (Nov. 24), the Soyuz-2.1a rocket was transported to the pad by train and erected into position.

posted 11-27-2025 07:55 AM               

Soyuz MS-28 crew makes Thanksgiving Day arrival at International Space Station

The first-ever space crew to launch on Thanksgiving Day has made it official: you cannot escape holiday traffic, even if you are in orbit.

To be clear, it was smooth sailing for NASA astronaut Chris Williams and his two Soyuz MS-28 crewmates, Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikayev, as they completed two revolutions of the planet to arrive at the International Space Station on Thursday (Nov. 27). The trio launched at 4:27 a.m. EST (0927 GMT; 2:27 p.m. local) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.