NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and two cosmonauts safely arrived at the International Space Station Friday, Sept. 15, bringing its number of residents to 10 for the coming week.

The Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft carrying O’Hara, as well as Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Roscosmos, docked to the station’s Rassvet module at 2:53 p.m. EDT. Docking occurred about three hours after the crew’s 11:44 a.m. launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

O’Hara, Kononenko, and Chub will join the Expedition 69 crew when hatches open at 5:10 p.m. O’Hara, who is beginning a six-month stay aboard the orbital outpost, and Kononenko and Chub, who will both spend a year on the orbital outpost will work on science and research in technology development, Earth science, biology, and human research for the benefit of all. This marks the first spaceflight for O’Hara, the fifth for Kononenko, and the first for Chub.

Expedition 70 will begin Wednesday, Sept. 27, following the departure of record-breaking NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, and Dmitri Petelin. Rubio recently broke the record for longest single spaceflight by an American. Following a yearlong stay aboard the orbiting laboratory, the trio will land in Kazakhstan on Sept. 27, at which point Rubio will have spent a total of 371 days in space—the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut.

Quelle: NASA

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Soyuz Hatch Opens, Expedition 69 Expands to 10 Crewmates

The 10-person Expedition 69 crew is now aboard the space station. Front row from left are, Roscosmos cosmonauts Konstantin Borisov, Nikolai Chub, and Oleg Kononenko, and NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara. In the back are, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin and Sergey Prokopyev, NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, and JAXA astronaut Satoshi Furukawa. Credit: NASA TV

The hatches between the International Space Station and the newly arrived Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft officially opened at 5:16 p.m. EDT. The arrival of three new crew members to the existing seven people already aboard for Expedition 69 temporarily increases the station’s population to 10.

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub joined the space station’s Expedition 69 crew of NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Frank Rubio, Roscosmos cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin, Konstantin Borisov, and Sergey Prokopyev, as well ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa. O’Hara will spend six months aboard the orbital laboratory, while Kononenko and Chub will both spend one year on the orbital outpost.

On Sept. 27, Rubio, Petelin, and Prokopyev will return to Earth on the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft. The trio have been aboard the orbital laboratory since arriving Sept. 21, 2022.

Quelle: NASA