New Crew Headed to the International Space Station

Oct. 23, 2012

Rachel Kraft
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov

Josh Byerly
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
josh.byerly@nasa.gov

RELEASE: 12-369

NEW CREW HEADED TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

HOUSTON -- NASA astronaut Kevin Ford and Russian cosmonauts Evgeny
Tarelkin and Oleg Novitskiy launched aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket on
their mission to the International Space Station at 5:51 a.m. CDT
Tuesday (4:51 p.m. Kazakhstan time). The trio lifted off from Site 31
at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. This is the first time in
28 years the pad has been used for human spaceflight.

Ford, Tarelkin and Novitskiy will spend the next two days inside their
Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft as they close in on the space station.
Novitskiy is serving as the commander of the Soyuz and will be at the
controls as the spacecraft docks with the Poisk module of the station
Thursday. The three will join Expedition 33 Commander Sunita Williams
of NASA and Flight Engineers Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency and Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space
Agency, who have been living aboard the orbiting laboratory since
July.

NASA TV will provide live coverage of the Soyuz docking beginning at 7
a.m. CDT (8 a.m. EDT) Thursday. Coverage of the hatch opening and
welcome ceremony aboard the space station will begin at 9:45 a.m.
Hatch opening is scheduled for approximately 10:15 a.m.

Ford, Novitskiy and Tarelkin will remain aboard the station until
March 2013. Williams, Malenchenko and Hoshide will return to Earth
Nov. 19. When Williams, Malenchenko and Hoshide undock from the
station, it will signal the end of Expedition 33 and the beginning of
Expedition 34 with Ford as commander.

For NASA TV downlink information, up-to-date schedules and links to
streaming video, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For information on the International Space Station and the Expedition
33 crew, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station


-end-



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