ISS 36 Launched today.

Three new Expedition 36 crew members are set to launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:31 p.m. EDT Tuesday (2:31 a.m. Wednesday, Baikonur time) to begin an accelerated six-hour journey to the International Space Station.

Live NASA TV coverage of the launch begins at 3:30 p.m. and returns at 9:30 p.m. for docking.

› Watch NASA TV

Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Luca Parmitano will dock their Soyuz to the station’s Rassvet module at 10:16 p.m. After the hatches open at 11:55 p.m., the new trio will join Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy of NASA and Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos who docked with the orbital complex May 28. All six crew members will then participate in a welcome ceremony with family members and mission officials gathered at the Russian Mission Control Center in Korolev near Moscow.

Meanwhile aboard the station Tuesday, Cassidy, Vinogradov and Misurkin made final preparations for the arrival of their crewmates, adjusting their sleep schedule to accommodate the scheduled docking of the Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft this later evening.

Over the weekend, the Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft was rolled out by train to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to prepare for Tuesday’s launch.

› Watch the Expedition 36 crew prep for launch in Kazakhstan

› Read more about Expedition 36


Expedition 36/37 Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin (center) and Flight Engineers Karen Nyberg (left) and Luca Parmitano give a thumbs up after the crew's press conference. Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls


Image above: Pictured on the front row are Expedition 36 Commander Pavel Vinogradov (left) and Flight Engineer Fyodor Yurchikhin. Pictured from the left (back row) are Flight Engineers Alexander Misurkin, Chris Cassidy, Luca Parmitano and Karen Nyberg. Photo credit: NASA