Next space station crew to launch next week; NASA to air live coverage!

Image courtesy: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

New Delhi: Ever since Expedition 48 crew members, NASA astronaut Jeff Williams, along with Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin of the Russian Roscosmos, made their way back to Earth, space enthusiasts have been wondering about the next batch of astronauts who will be taking over the International Space Station (ISS) for Expedition 49.

Well, your wait is over, because NASA has announced the names! NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough, along with cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko of the Russian space agency Roscosmos will head to the ISS next week on Friday, September 23rd, 2016 and the American space agency has decided to air live coverage of the entire launch.

The astronauts will be spending five months aboard the ISS.

As per NASA schedule, launch at 2:16 pm from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (12:16 am September 24th, Baikonur time).

The team will dock to the space station’s Poisk module at 3:32 p.m. Sunday, September 25th. NASA TV coverage of the docking will begin at 2:45 pm.

Hatches between the Soyuz and station will open at approximately 6:10 p.m. Sunday, and NASA TV coverage of hatch opening and welcoming ceremonies will begin at 5:45 pm.

The Expedition 49 team will be joining Commander Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos and Flight Engineers Kate Rubins of NASA and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, who have been on the station since July.

Check out NASA's tweet below!

Next Fri, @NASA_Astronauts Shane Kimbrough launches to @Space_Station! Follow his journey via @Astro_Kimbrough #FF pic.twitter.com/X8jFOw9iY5 — NASA (@NASA) September 16, 2016

Follow @Astro_Kimbrough as he gets ready to launch next week to begin a 5-month mission on the @Space_Station. #FF pic.twitter.com/x2uByrnQNP — NASA Astronauts (@NASA_Astronauts) September 16, 2016

Check out astronaut Shane Kimbrough's tweet below as he expresses his excitement for the Expedition!

I am looking forward to sharing this view with you. Our rocket launch is set for next week, come along for the ride. pic.twitter.com/vOa6XAIigv — Shane Kimbrough (@astro_kimbrough) September 16, 2016