KEY POINTS
- 3 astronauts are launching to the ISS from Kazakhstan this week
- They will only have a week together with the current residents of the ISS
- In November, the ISS will celebrate the 20th year of continuous human presence aboard the space lab
Three astronauts are set to launch to the International Space Station (ISS) this week to join the three astronauts currently aboard the orbiting laboratory. But their time together will be short-lived because the three current residents are already set to come home next week.
NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov are scheduled to launch aboard a Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft Wednesday. The three will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and are expected to arrive and dock to the ISS just hours later around 4:52 a.m EDT.
Live coverage of the 1:45 a.m. launch will be available on NASA Television