Expedition 48/49 Crew to Station Tomorrow

Image Credit & Copyright: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Wednesday, July 6, 2016 at 21:36 EDT (01:36 UTC on the 7^th) a Soyuz-FG rocket; MS-01 (ISS 47S or Soyuz 49) will be lifting off from Launch Pad 1/Launcher 5 (LC 1/5) at the legendary Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will carry three crew members of Expedition 48/49 to the International Space Station (ISS) on a two-day, 34-orbit launch to docking vs the now standard, four orbit, 6 hour “fast-track” launch to docking. This will be the 130th launch of a Soyuz spacecraft and the 1st of the upgraded Soyuz which replaces the TMA series. The testing of this spacecraft is the reason the launch to docking timeline will be longer this launch.

The crew will dock with the Russian Mini Research module-1 (MRM-1) Rassvet “Dawn” Module later that evening and that capsule will remain there for approximately 6 months as a crew escape vehicle should they need it and ultimately a return vehicle.

Want to see the ISS overhead? Here’s everything you need! https://danspace77.com/iss-tracking/

Crew Image Credit & Copyright: Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

CREW OF: MS-01, Soyuz 49, ISS 47S, Expedition 48/49:

NASA astronaut, Kate Rubins:

NASA bio: http://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/astro_kate7

Roscosmos cosmonaut, Anatoly Ivanishin:

NASA bio: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/ivanishin.html

JAXA astronaut, Takuya Onishi:

JAXA bio: http://iss.jaxa.jp/en/astro/biographies/onishi/index.html

THEY WILL JOIN:

NASA astronaut & Expedition 48 Commander, Jeff Williams:

NASA bio: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/williamsj.pdf

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Astro_Jeff

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astro_jeffw/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NASAAstronautJeffWilliams/

Roscosmos cosmonaut, Aleksey Ovchinin:

NASA bio: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/ovchinin.html

Roscosmos cosmonaut, Oleg Skripochka:

NASA bio: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/skripochka-oi.pdf

Image Credit & Copyright: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani of the rollout of TMA-20M on March 16, 2016.

The Rocket: Russian Roscosmos Soyuz FG is a three-stage (sort of), medium lift rocket developed and manufactured by the Progress State Research and Production Rocket Space Center (TSsKB Progress). The FG was introduced in 2001 to deliver humans to the International Space Station (ISS). It’s derived from the Soyuz U rocket which is the most flown rocket in history with almost 800 launches and delivered Progress vehicles to the ISS until the recent addition of the Soyuz 2. The Soyuz “Union” rocket family is the most used space launch system in history with more than 1700 launches and traces its roots back to 1957 in the form of the Soviet R7 missile.

Third Stage (Assembly 1): The third stage, which would really be a second stage on other rockets is 6.7 m in length and 2.6 m in diameter and is powered by a single RD-0110 engine in a four thrust chamber configuration. It utilizes Kerosene fuel and Liquid Oxygen oxidizer and burns for about 230 seconds.

Second Stage (Core Unit): The core stage of the Soyuz is odd in the fact that it burns during the first and second stage of the rocket. As the rocket lifts off, it and the boosters work together as the first stage then after the strap on boosters are jettisoned the core stage continues to operate as the then second stage.

The core (1st & 2nd stage) stage is 27.1 m in length and 2.95 m in diameter and is powered by a single RD-108A engine in a four cruise thrust chamber configuration. It utilizes Kerosene fuel, Liquid Oxygen oxidizer and burns for a total of about 280-290 seconds. Attitude control is powered by four Vernier thrusters.

First Stage/Boosters (Lateral Assembly): The Soyuz is equipped with four strap-on boosters that are used during first stage flight. They are each 19.6 m in length and 2.68 m in diameter and are each powered by a single RD-107A engine four cruise thrust chamber configuration. They utilize Kerosene fuel and Liquid Oxygen oxidizer and burn for approximately 118 seconds. Attitude control is powered by two Vernier thrusters.

Watch Live:

Launch coverage begins July 6th at 20:30 EDT (00:30 UTC on the 7th).

Docking coverage begins at 23:30 on Friday, July 8 EDT (03:30 UTC on the 9th).

Hatch Opening coverage begins at 02:30 on Saturday, July 9 EDT (06:30 UTC).

Live Streaming Feed (NASA TV): http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

NASA TV on Ustream: http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv

Mission Information:

NASA Expedition 48/49 press release: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-television-to-air-next-international-space-station-crew-launch

NASA ISS Expedition 48: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition48/index.html

General ISS Pages:

NASA’s HDEV 24hr LIVE streaming feed from the ISS: https://danspace77.com/2014/05/07/nasahdev-deliver-live-streaming-view-of-earth-from-the-iss/

NASA ISS main mission page: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/