14 DAY TRIAL // The RSC Energia Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft is ready for takeoff, experts at the Russian Federal Space Agency (RosCosmos) announced earlier today. Launch is scheduled to occur at 0301 GMT on Tuesday, May 15, aboard a Soyuz FG delivery system.
NASA astronaut Joseph M. Acaba and Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin are scheduled to join the first half of the Expedition 31 crew already aboard the International Space Station (ISS) starting Thursday morning, on May 17.
Launch will occur from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz capsule was originally supposed to take off on March 29, but a series of technical errors prevented RosCosmos mission controllers from clearing the spacecraft for flight.
Revin will now conduct his first spaceflight, Acaba will fly to the ISS for the second time, while Padalka will start his fourth stay aboard the orbital lab. The latter will also become the Commander of the space station during the second leg of Expedition 31, from this May to September.
European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers, from the Netherlands, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and NASA astronaut Don Pettit make up the first half of the full crew. They have been waiting for their companions since arriving on the ISS on April 27.
“I'm looking forward to going from someone who worked for two weeks in space as a shuttle crewmember to now living in space – living and working in space – as a long-duration crewmember,” Acaba said during an interview earlier this year, Space reports.
“Personally, I think it'll be a much different experience – instead of just a whirlwind, 'let's get the job done' to, you know, 'now this is your home',” he went on to say. Acaba is 44 years old, and lives in Inglewood, California. His only flight to space was aboard shuttle Discovery, back in 2009.
His Russian colleague and future Expedition 31 Commander, Gennady Padalka, spent more than 585 days in Earth orbit during his past missions. He flew to the ISS in 2004 and 2009, and also aboard the Russian-built Mir space station, in 1998.
Two days after the arrival of the Soyuz spacecraft, Hawthorne, California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corporation will launch the first ever private spacecraft to the ISS, the Dragon capsule. Takeoff will occur from Florida, on May 19.