| September 15, 2023 RELEASE 23-107 NASA Astronaut, Crewmates Reach Space Station for Science Expedition
53189631208_a9abfb7da5_k.jpg The Soyuz rocket is launched with Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credits: NASA |
NASA astronaut Loral OâHara and two cosmonauts safely arrived at the International Space Station Friday, Sept. 15, bringing its number of residents to 10 for the coming week. The Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft carrying OâHara, as well as Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Roscosmos, docked to the stationâs Rassvet module at 2:53Â p.m. EDT. Docking occurred about three hours after the crewâs 11:44 a.m. launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. OâHara, Kononenko, and Chub will join the Expedition 69 crew when hatches open at 5:10 p.m. OâHara, who is beginning a six-month stay aboard the orbital outpost, and Kononenko and Chub, who will both spend a year on the orbital outpost will work on science and research in technology development, Earth science, biology, and human research for the benefit of all. This marks the first spaceflight for OâHara, the fifth for Kononenko, and the first for Chub. Expedition 70 will begin Wednesday, Sept. 27, following the departure of record-breaking NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, and Dmitri Petelin. Rubio recently broke the record for longest single spaceflight by an American. Following a yearlong stay aboard the orbiting laboratory, the trio will land in Kazakhstan on Sept. 27, at which point Rubio will have spent a total of 371 days in spaceâthe longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut. Learn more about space station activities at: https://www.nasa.gov/station -end- |