Launch of Soyuz TMA-05M, July 14, 2012, Click for Zoom (Photo-credit NASA)
There are currently 3 astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS): Commander Sunita Williams (NASA), and Flight Engineers Aki Hoshide (Japan), and Yuri Malenchenko (Russia). Commander Williams has been conducting all on-orbit operations with the SSEP Antares and Aquiarius II payloads.
At 6:51 am ET, Tuesday October 23, 2012, Soyuz TMA-06M will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying Flight Engineer Kevin Ford (USA), Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy (Russia), and Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin (Russia). Docking at ISS is scheduled to occur at 8:35 am ET, Thursday, October 25, 2012.
Commander Williams, and Flight Engineers Hoshide and Malenchenko are scheduled to depart Station in Soyuz TMA-05M on November 18, 2012, with return to Earth on November 19, carrying the SSEP Antares and Aquarius II payloads. The payloads will then be flown back to Houston for distribution to all 23 student flight experiment teams across America for harvesting and analysis. The launch of Soyuz TMA-05M back in July 2012 is shown in the photograph.
NASA TV coverage of the launch of Soyuz TMA-06M begins 5:30 am ET, Tuesday, October 23. You can watch it right here at the NASA TV portal below. The NASA Media Advisory on the Launch of Soyuz, with details of NASA TV coverage, is also provided in its entirety below.
NASA TV
MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-204 COVERAGE SET FOR NEXT SOYUZ CREW LAUNCH TO SPACE STATION HOUSTON -- NASA Television will provide live coverage of next week's launch and docking of the next trio of crew members who will fly to the International Space Station. Expedition 33/34 NASA Flight Engineer Kevin Ford, Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy and Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin are scheduled to launch in their Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft at 5:51 a.m. CDT (4:51 p.m. Baikonur time) Tuesday, Oct. 23, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. NASA TV launch coverage will begin at 4:30 a.m., and include video of activities leading to the crew boarding its spacecraft. Two days later, at 7:35 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 25, the trio will dock the Soyuz to the space-facing Poisk module of the orbiting laboratory. NASA TV docking coverage begins at 7 a.m. Approximately three hours later, hatches between the Soyuz and station will open and Ford, Novitskiy and Tarelkin will be greeted by Expedition 33 Commander Sunita Williams of NASA and Flight Engineers Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Russia's Yuri Malenchenko. Hatch opening coverage begins at 9:45 a.m. Ford, Novitskiy and Tarelkin will remain aboard the station until March 2013. Williams, Malenchenko and Hoshide, who arrived at the complex in July, will return to Earth Nov. 19. The full schedule of the Soyuz pre-launch, launch and docking includes coverage (all times are Central): Thursday, Oct. 18 1 p.m. -- Video File of Expedition 33/34 crew activities in Baikonur, Kazakhstan Saturday, Oct. 20 1 p.m. -- Video File of Expedition 33/34 crew activities and Soyuz rocket mating in Baikonur, Kazakhstan Sunday, Oct. 21 11 a.m. -- Video File of Expedition 33/34 Soyuz roll out to launch pad in Baikonur, Kazakhstan Monday, Oct. 22 11 a.m. -- Video File of Expedition 33/34 final prelaunch crew news conference and Russian State Commission meeting in Baikonur, Kazakhstan Tuesday, Oct. 23 4:30 a.m. -- Expedition 33/34 Soyuz launch coverage (launch at 5:51 a.m.), includes video B-roll of crew pre-launch activities 9 a.m. -- Video File of Expedition 33/34 Soyuz prelaunch and launch B-roll and post-launch interviews Thursday, Oct. 25, 7 a.m. -- Expedition 33/34 Soyuz docking coverage (docking at 7:35 a.m., followed by post-docking news conference from Mission Control in Korolev, Russia) 9:45 a.m. -- Expedition 33/34 Soyuz hatch opening and welcoming ceremony (hatch opening at 10:15 a.m.) Noon -- Video File of Expedition 33/34 Soyuz docking, hatch opening and welcoming ceremony For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv For information about NASA and the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station -end-
SSEP is undertaken by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) in partnership with NanoRacks LLC. This on-orbit research opportunity is enabled through NanoRacks LLC, which is working in partnership with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.
SSEP is the first pre-college STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education program that is both a U.S. national initiative and implemented as an on-orbit commercial space venture.
