MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) - An American astronaut, accompanied by two Russians, will fly to the International Space Station for scientific research Wednesday.
The Roscosmos Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft, carrying Don Pettit and Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, will lift off at 12:23 p.m. ET Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, according to NASA.
After a three-hour trajectory to the station, the Russian spacecraft will automatically dock at 3:33 p.m. at the orbiting laboratory's Rassvet module. Shortly after, hatches will open between the spacecraft and the station.
Once aboard, the trio will join NASA astronauts Tracy C. Dyson, Mike Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, Butch Wilmore, and Suni Williams, as well as Russian cosmonauts Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin, and Oleg Kononenko.
The trio will spend approximately six months aboard the orbital laboratory as Expedition 71 and 72 crew members before returning to Earth in the spring of 2025. This will be the fourth spaceflight for Pettit and Ovchinin, and the second for Vagner.
They are the latest to follow dozens of astronauts who have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station for more than two decades, advancing scientific knowledge, and making research breakthroughs that are not possible on Earth.
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