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 take-off. 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 9 total occupants on board. Both Meir and Skripochka will be spending over six months on the ISS, condign research and experiments.
