Soyuz TMA-09M Set for Liftoff

Expedition 36
Credit : NASA

International Space Station Expedition 36, which officially began with the undocking and departure of the Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft on May 13th, is set to get underway in earnest with the launch of the TMA-O9M capsule this afternoon.  Liftoff is scheduled from Baikonur at 4:31 EDT, with docking to take place approximately 6 hours later.

Joining Commader Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineers Chris Cassidy and Alexander Misurkin who are already aboard the station,  today’s three person crew consisting of Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, and Flight Engineers Karen Nyberg and Luca Parmitano will follow the new rapid ascent trajectory used by the crew of TMA-08M on their March 28th liftoff.

In addition to continuing ongoing research aboard ISS the 6 person crew can look forward to the arrival of the European Space Agency’s ATV-4 “Albert Einstein, ” scheduled to launch on June 5th, as well as the Japanese HTV scheduled to launch on August 4th.   One Visiting Vehicle which may not arrive before Expedition 36 draws to a close in September is Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Cygnus, which had been scheduled to make a its first trial run over the summer,  but was recently delayed due to the need to swap out an engine, likely pushing that flight into the early fall.