After an incredibly busy week for spaceflight last week, this week promises to be equally busy. We have two Starlink launches (one from Vandenberg, another from KSC), SpaceX/NASA CRS-30 from SLC-40 sending supplies to ISS, and a Rocket Lab launch from Wallops early on the 21st. Also, a NASA astronaut is heading to ISS aboard a Soyuz on Thursday as well.
NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus, are scheduled to lift off on the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9:21 AM EDT (6:21 p.m. Baikonur time).
Dyson, Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya will be taking the fast-track to ISS, with a two-orbit, three hour journey with a planned docking at the Russian Prichal module at 12:39 PM EDT.
MS-25 Crew
Tracy C. Dyson will be taking her second long-duration mission to the ISS, with her first being a stint coming from her being a member of the Expedition 23/24 crew from April 2010 to September 2010. She also flew aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor on STS-118 in 2007, and has spent over 188 days in space. She will spend several months aboard ISS as part of Expedition 70/71, with a planned return date of September 24, 2024 aboard Soyuz.
Oleg Novitskiy is a former Lieutenant Colonel in the Russian Air Force, and an old salt when it comes to space travel: he has spent some 588 days in orbit already, as a member of Expedition 33/34, Expedition 50/51 and Expedition 64/65, and will serve as the commander for this flight, Soyuz MS-25. His stay at ISS is planned for twelve days.
Marina Vasilevskaya is not officially designated by Roscosmos as a cosmonaut, but instead as a spaceflight participant. The Belarusian was selected from over 3,000 applicants to be the country’s first woman in space by the Belarus Academy of Sciences. She has been training at Star City with Roscosmos since July of last year in theoretical and practical training for the flight as well as emergency operations and zero gravity conditions. As part of the 21st Visiting Expedition to ISS, she will also spend approximately twelve days aboard the orbiting international outpost.
Loral O’Hara To Return With Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya
Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya will return aboard Soyuz MS-24, which has been docked at ISS since September of last year. Dyson will remain aboard ISS, and NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara will return with them, concluding her roughly six month assignment on orbit. The spacecraft has a planned landing zone in Kazakhstan after re-entering Earth’s atmosphere.
Launch Viewing
Launch coverage will begin at 8:20 a.m. on NASA Television .
This Story was written by FMN correspondent Charles Boyer for TalkofTitusville.com
