NASA said it plans to air live launch coverage of crew members of Expedition 49/50 to the International Space Station on October 19, the administration said.
NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough, along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko, will travel for two days in the Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft to test upgraded spacecraft systems before docking to the space station´s Poisk module on Friday, Oct. 21. NASA TV coverage of the docking will begin at 5:15 a.m.
The original launch date of Sept. 23 was postponed due to a technical issue with the Soyuz spacecraft, which Roscosmos repaired.
Kimbrough, Ryzhikov and Borisenko will spend a little more than four months together aboard the orbital complex before returning to Earth in late February. The full six-person crew will continue work on hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science aboard the International Space Station, a microgravity laboratory.
