Soyuz Carrying Expedition 30 Launches Successfully

At 1316 GMT (8:16 am EST, 7:16 pm local time) today, December 21, the Soyuz TMA-03M space capsule carrying half of Expedition 30 to the International Space Station (ISS) launched successfully from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in the steppes of Kazakhstan.

The launch occurred at a temperature of -15.5 degrees Celsius (4ºFahrenheit), while the wind carried a chill factor of an additional minus 8 degrees. Regardless of the harsh conditions outside, the Soyuz rocket was determined to be in excellent condition to fly, so the necessary go-ahead was given.

At this point, the three astronauts – NASA's Don Pettit, RosCosmos' Kononenko and ESA's Andres Kuipers – are expected to rendezvous with ISS Expedition 30 Commander Dan Burbank (NASA) and flight engineers Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin (RosCosmos) in a couple of day.

Docking is set to occur at 1522 GMT on Friday, December 23. The Soyuz TMA-03M will affix itself to the Russian-built Rassvet mini-research module. The doors between the two spacecraft will be opened at around 1800 GMT.