Three Visitors Prepare to Launch to Station Live on NASA TV

NASA TV coverage now is underway for the launch of a veteran Russian cosmonaut and two Japanese private citizens to the International Space Station. Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin joins spaceflight participants Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano on the Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2:38 a.m. EST (12:38 p.m. Baikonur time). Launch and docking activities will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website.

After a four-orbit, six-hour journey, the Soyuz will dock to the station's Poisk module at 8:41 a.m. About two hours after docking, hatches between the Soyuz and the station will open and the crew members will greet each other.

Once on station, the trio will join Expedition 66 Commander Anton Shkaplerov and cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos, as well as NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei, Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer, for approximately 12 days on the orbital laboratory.

On Sunday, Dec. 19, Misurkin, Maezawa, and Hirano will complete their mission, undocking the Soyuz from the Poisk module before heading for a parachute-assisted landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan at 10:18 p.m. EST (9:18 a.m. Monday, Dec. 20, Kazakhstan time).

Full mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern):

Wednesday, Dec. 8

2 a.m. - NASA TV coverage begins for 2:38 a.m. launch.

8 a.m. - NASA TV coverage begins for 8:41 a.m. docking.

10:15 a.m. - NASA TV coverage begins for hatch opening and welcome remarks.

Sunday, Dec. 19

3 p.m. - NASA TV coverage begins for hatch closing at 3:32 p.m.

6:30 p.m. - NASA TV coverage begins for undocking at 6:54 p.m.

9 p.m. - NASA TV coverage begins for deorbit and landing. Landing is targeted for 10:18 p.m.

This will be Misurkin's third flight into space and the first flight for Maezawa and Mirano, who are making their trek into space under a contract between Space Adventures and Roscosmos.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

Get weekly video highlights at: http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

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