A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying two astronauts and a NASA astronaut arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) today (September 15), nearly three hours after launch.
The Soyuz spacecraft, named MS-24, docked with the orbital laboratory today at 2:53 PM EDT (1853 GMT), while the two spacecraft were flying 260 minutes apart. miles (418 kilometers) over eastern Kazakhstan.
That was just 3 hours and 9 minutes after the Soyuz MS-24 had lifted off from the Russian-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, a very quick trip to the International Space Station, but… Not quite a record.
Related: The International Space Station – everything you need to know
The Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft is carrying NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara, Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, both from the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
About two hours later, the hatches between the Soyuz spacecraft and the International Space Station opened, and the three spacecraft floated aboard the orbiting laboratory.
O’Hara, Kononenko and Chubb join seven other astronauts aboard the orbiting laboratory. The two astronauts have launched a year-long mission on the International Space Station, while O’Hara will return to Earth in six months.
O’Hara and Chubb are spaceflight newbies, but Kononenko has plenty of experience. The astronaut had already spent 736 days in orbit across four different ISS missions before today’s launch. During his year-long mission, Kononenko will break the record for most time spent in space, 878 days, held by fellow astronaut Gennady Padalka.
The arrival of MS-24 also sets the wheels in motion for departure from the International Space Station. On September 27, the Soyuz spacecraft carrying astronauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petlin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio is scheduled to return to Earth. By then, Rubio will have spent 371 consecutive days in space, a record for an American astronaut.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 5:30 PM ET with news that the hatch between the Soyuz and the International Space Station has opened.
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