Space-faring trio blast toward International Space Station

by Stevie Smith - Dec 21 2009, 06:18

While most of us are preparing for the usual overindulgence and odd family argument associated with Christmas, three (lucky) astronauts are on their way to a significantly calmer festive period aboard the orbiting International Space Station (ISS).

Successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at just before 17:00 EDT (22:00 GMT) on Sunday, the intrepid trio currently huddled aboard a Russian Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft are expected to reach the multi-national scientific outpost by early evening on Tuesday.

“Everything’s fine onboard the vehicle,” relayed Russian cosmonaut and flight commander Oleg Kotov as the Soyuz rocket blasted clear of its launch pad yesterday. “Everybody feels great, no problems, no issues.”

Joining Kotov on Expedition 22 to the orbiting space station are Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi and NASA astronaut Timothy (T.J.) Creamer. The three new ISS arrivals will serve aboard as flight engineers until May of 2010 – although Kotov is scheduled to assume the role of commander of Expedition 23 in March. 

During their time on the station, all three men are likely to see plenty of inward and outward activity, which will include two supply and maintenance visits from the space shuttle fleet along with a number of unmanned missions using Soyuz vehicles.

Around the Web