New Space Station Crew Members to Launch and Dock the Same Day

March 20, 2013

Joshua Buck
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
jbuck@nasa.gov

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

MEDIA ADVISORY: M13-052

NEW SPACE STATION CREW MEMBERS TO LAUNCH AND DOCK THE SAME DAY

HOUSTON -- Three new crew members are set to launch to the
International Space Station on a six-hour flight to travel from the
launch pad to their destination.

Chris Cassidy of NASA, along with Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander
Misurkin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), are
scheduled to launch in their Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:43 p.m. CDT, Thursday, March 28, (2:43
a.m. March 29 Baikonur time). Live coverage on NASA Television begins
at 2:30 p.m.

Cassidy, Vinogradov and Misurkin will become the first station crew
members to make an expedited trip to the orbiting laboratory. Instead
of taking the standard two days to rendezvous and dock with the
station, they will need only four orbits of Earth to reach the
station. This flight will employ rendezvous techniques used recently
with three unpiloted Russian Progress cargo spacecraft.

The crew will dock with the station's Poisk module at 9:32 p.m., with
NASA TV coverage beginning at 8:30 p.m. Hatches are scheduled to open
between the Soyuz and station at 11:10 p.m., with NASA TV coverage
beginning at 10:30 p.m.

Cassidy, Vinogradov and Misurkin will join Chris Hadfield of the
Canadian Space Agency, Tom Marshburn of NASA and Roman Romanenko of
Roscosmos, who have been aboard the outpost since December 2012.

NASA TV also will provide extensive coverage of activities from March
21-27 leading up to the flight. All times are Central:

March 21, Thursday
1 p.m. -- Video File of the Expedition 35/36 crew activities in
Baikonur, Kazakhstan

March 25, Monday
11 a.m. -- Video File of the Expedition 35/36 crew activities and
Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft encapsulation in Baikonur, Kazakhstan

March 26, Tuesday
11 a.m. -- Video File of the Expedition 35/36 Soyuz TMA-08M rocket
mating and rollout to the launch pad in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, plus
launch pad interviews

March 27, Wednesday
2 p.m. -- Russian State Commission meeting and final Expedition 35/36
pre-launch crew news conference in Baikonur, Kazakhstan

March 28, Thursday
2:30 p.m. -- Expedition 35/36 Soyuz TMA-08M launch coverage (launch
scheduled at 3:43 p.m.); includes video B-roll of the crew's
pre-launch activities
6 p.m. -- Video File of Expedition 35/36 Soyuz TMA-08M pre-launch,
launch video B-roll and post-launch interviews
8:30 p.m. -- Expedition 35/36 Soyuz TMA-08M docking coverage
10:30 p.m. -- Expedition 35/36 Soyuz TMA-08M hatch opening and other
activities

March 29, Friday
1 a.m. -- Video File of Expedition 35/36 Soyuz TMA-08M docking, hatch
opening and other activities

For NASA TV schedule and video streaming information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For information on the International Space Station:

http://www.nasa.gov/station


-end-



To subscribe to the list, send a message to:
hqnews-subscribe@mediaservices.nasa.gov
To remove your address from the list, send a message to:
hqnews-unsubscribe@mediaservices.nasa.gov