NASA astronaut Jessica Meir, Rocscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka and first-time UAE spaceflight traveler Hazza Ali Almansoori are all set to launch aboard a Roscosmos rocket in a Soyuz capsule, as part of the Expedition 61 crew launch to the International Space Station.
The crew is set to take off from Kazakhstan at 9:57 AM EDT, and the spacecraft will dock with the ISS at around 3 PM EDT, roughly six hours after takeoff. This is Skripochka’s third trip to space, but it’s the first for both Meir and Almansoori, with Almansoori on an eight-day mission contracted by the UAE with Russia’s space agency.
Once they arrive on the station, there will be nine total occupants on board. Both Meir and Skripochka will be spending over six months on the ISS, conducting research and experiments.