NASA Space Mission

NASA Television to Air Launch of Nasa Astronaut on First Space Mission    

At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 57 crew members Alexey Ovchinin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos (left) and Nick Hague of NASA (right) pose for pictures in front of their Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft during final prelaunch training Sept. 26, 2018. Ovchinin and Hague will launch Oct. 11, 2018, in the Soyuz from the Baikonur Cosmodrome for a six-month mission on the International Space Station.

Credits: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

Editor's Note: Advisory updated Oct. 8 to reflect earlier hatch opening coverage time.

Astronaut Nick Hague, who joined NASA’s astronaut corps in 2013, is preparing to launch Thursday, Oct. 11, on his first space mission – a six-month stay on the International Space Station. The launch and arrival at the space station will air on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

Hague and Alexey Ovchinin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:40 a.m. EDT (2:40 p.m. Kazakhstan time) on a four-orbit, six-hour journey to dock to the station at 10:44 a.m.

Less than two hours after arrival, hatches between the Soyuz and the station will open and they will join Expedition 57 Commander Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency, NASA Flight Engineer Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Roscosmos Flight Engineer Sergey Prokopyev, who arrived at the station in June.

Complete coverage of launch and docking activities are as follows:

• 3:30 a.m. – Launch coverage begins
• 10 a.m. – Docking coverage begins
• 12:15 p.m. – Hatch opening and welcome coverage

Beginning Tuesday, Oct. 9, video of the crew’s prelaunch activities in Baikonur will air on NASA TV leading up to the launch.

The crew members of Expedition 57 will continue work on hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science aboard the International Space Station, humanity’s only permanently occupied microgravity laboratory.