14 DAY TRIAL // Three astronauts will take off for the International Space Station today, aboard the Russian-built Soyuz TMA-20 space capsule. The crew will add to the three people already in orbit, and form the full crew of Expedition 26,
The launch will take place today, December 15, at 2:09 pm EST (1909 GMT). The Soyuz delivery system that will carry the capsule is already in position at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan.
Russian flight controllers say that the spacecraft should make its way to the ISS by Friday, December 17, and dock on the outpost at 3:12 pm EST (2012 GMT) the same day.
After being launched from Earth, spacecraft seeking to reach the station need to spend around two days in orbital pursuit. The US uses this time to have its space shuttle crew inspect their respective orbiters for damage that may have been caused during ascent.
Originally, the Expedition 26 crew was scheduled to receive the visit of both the space shuttle Discovery and Endeavor, but now it would appear that only half a crew will get to see both orbiters.
The three astronauts already aboard the ISS, ISS commander Scott Kelly (NASA), and flight engineers Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka (RosCosmos), will return home before they get a chance to see Endeavor.
By all accounts, Discovery should have already returned from its stay on the ISS. However, its planned November launch date could not be respected on account of numerous glitches and damage found in its computers and on its external fuel tank.
After being postponed to early December, the shuttle's launch has now been pushed back even further, to February, a move that bumped Endeavor's launch to around April.
The three astronauts who will launch today, Catherine Coleman (NASA), Dmitry Kondratyev (RosCosmos) and Paolo Nespoli (ESA), will however get a chance to see both the orbiters docking to the station.
During their stay on the station, which is scheduled to extend until May 2011, they will perform a series of experiments in fluid physics, radiation, biology, technology demonstrations and education outreach, as well as at least one maintenance spacewalk.
“It will be one of the most exciting moments in my life because spaceflight is something extraordinary and many people dream of it. I will be very glad and proud,” Kondratyev said in an interview.
“I've always wanted to go and live on the space station for as long as I can remember. I had a 16-day experiment flight, and I didn't want to come home,” Coleman told Space before the flight.
“To understand living in a different kind of environment – I think that is pretty cool to be a part of,” she went on to say.
“Our main goal there is to be available for carrying out experiments and use this laboratory that is up there and can let us do things that we cannot do on Earth," Nespoli explained.
“Most of our time will be spent in either being an operator or a subject for experiments,” he concluded.