1 week Ago By USA TODAY
An American astronaut has reached the International Space Station with two Russians to begin an eight-month orbital mission. Jonny Kim, who was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2017, arrived early Tuesday morning at the orbital laboratory with his two Cosmonaut crewmates after launching just hours ago on a Soyuz capsule from Kazakhstan. Kim, 41, is now among four Americans living in orbit – though astronaut Don Pettit is due to depart in the weeks ahead to return to Earth.
Kim's arrival also comes less than a month after four international spacefarers on a SpaceX mission known as Crew-10 reached the space station . That mission drew headlines for its role in paving the way for the NASA astronauts who flew on the infamous Boeing Starliner to return home with the Crew-9 contingent . The recent arrivals will soon commence on Expedition 73 at the ISS, helping to maintain the station and performing science experiments mostly designed to lay the groundwork for future missions to the moon and deep space.
Soyuz spacecraft docks at space station after launch A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carried the crew to orbit after lifting off at 1:47 a.m. EDT Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, a spaceport Russia's space agency Roscosmos operates within Kazakhstan.
NASA provided a livestream of the launch, which took place at 10:47 a.m. local time.
To prepare for the arrival of the mission, known as MS-27, the International Space Station was orbiting higher than usual after the Progress 91 cargo spacecraft fired its thrusters last week for more than 17 minutes while docked to the Russian Zvezda service module . The boost from the thrusters placed the orbital outpost at the correct altitude for the Soyuz capsule to dock. The trip to the space station took about three hours, with the Soyuz docking at 4:57 p.
m. EDT to the laboratory's Russian-built Prichal module , a port onto the station. The hatches between the spacecraft and the Prichal module were due to open at approximately 7:20 a.
m., allowing the crew to officially enter the space station. Who is NASA astronaut Jonny Kim? Born in Los Angeles, Kim is a U.
S. Navy lieutenant commander, pilot and flight surgeon who was selected as part of the 2017 NASA astronaut class. Kim is also an enlisted Navy SEAL.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of San Diego and a medical degree from Harvard Medical School in Boston. After completing astronaut candidate training, Kim supported several mission and crew operations in various roles, according to NASA. Kim was accompanied to the space station by cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky The spaceflight is the first for both Kim and Zubritsky, and the third for Ryzhikov.
Expedition 73 to begin at ISS The trio will spend about eight months aboard the orbital laboratory before returning to Earth in December. The arrival of Kim, Ryzhikov and Zubritsky also sets the stage for NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner to depart from the station later in April. Pettit arrived Sept.
11, 2024 with the Russians on the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft for a seven-month science mission. Also aboard the station are the four spacefarers of the Crew-10 mission , which includes NASA astronaut Anne McClain , NASA pilot Nichole Ayers , Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. Once the departing spacefarers undock, the remaining astronauts will become part of Expedition 73 at the station, which Onishi will command.
In the months ahead, the Expedition 73 crew will continues the station's vital work in assisting commercial companies in developing space transportation services and doing research to help NASA prepare for crewed deep-space missions. Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.
com This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NASA astronaut Jonny Kim reaches ISS with two Russians on Soyuz craft.
