Expedition 7 Crew Launched on Mission to International Space Station

Expedition Seven crewmembers Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu began their journey to the International Space Station tonight from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. Launch occurred on time at 10:54 p.m. CDT (0354 GMT Saturday). After two days in orbit, the Soyuz TMA-2 spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the international outpost at 12:56 a.m. CDT (0556 GMT) Monday.

Aboard the station today, Expedition Six Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit continued to prepare for Expedition Seven’s arrival. They also climbed into the Soyuz TMA-1 and conducted training for their upcoming departure. Expedition Six will leave the station and return to Earth aboard the Soyuz TMA-1 on May 3.

NASA TV’s coverage of the Expedition Seven launch will begin at 10 p.m. CDT today (0300 GMT Saturday), and the docking coverage gets under way at 12 a.m. CDT (0500 GMT) Monday. Then on Tuesday, the three astronauts and two cosmonauts will participate in a news conference at 10:25 a.m. CDT (1525 GMT) that NASA TV will carry live.