This Soyuz spacecraft will carry a trio of 'nauts' to ISS this week

The Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft is rolled out to the launch pad by train in the early hours of Wednesday, March 16, 2016 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Photo credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

New Delhi: The manned Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft that will carry a trio of 'nauts' to the International Space Station (ISS) this Friday has been rolled out to the launch pad by train in the early hours of Wednesday, March 16, 2016 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Expedition 47 Soyuz Commander Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, Flight Engineer Jeff Williams of NASA, and Flight Engineer Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos are scheduled to launch at 21:26 GMT, March 19, 2016, into orbit to begin their five and a half month mission on the orbiting station.

The trio are expected to dock with the ISS at 03:15 GMT, about six hours after the launch. They will be welcomed aboard by current residents and Expedition 47 members Commander Tim Kopra, and flight engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Tim Peake.

(Source: NASA)