Final Preparations Underway for Launch of New Space Station Crew

Final preparations are underway for the launch of three additional crew members headed for the International Space Station (ISS).

Michael Hopkins of NASA, Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy of the Russian Federal Space Agency are scheduled to begin their journey with the launch of the Soyuz spacecraft at 4:58 p.m. EDT.

NASA Television will provide live coverage from the launch site in Kazakhstan starting at 4 p.m., including a stream of pre-launch activities leading up to the boarding the space vehicle.

Soyuz is scheduled to begin docking roughly seven hours later after completing four orbits around Earth. NASA Television coverage of the docking will begin at 10 p.m.

Hopkins, a Missouri native, was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the US Air Force in 1992 and was later assigned to Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico where he worked on advanced space system technologies. In 1997, he worked testing C-17 and C-130 aircraft and in 2005 was assigned to the USAF Rapid Capabilities Office at the Pentagon as a project engineer and program manager. Hopkins was selected as a special assistant to the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff where he worked until selection for astronaut training.

Kotov graduated from the Kirov Military Medical Academy in 1988, later entering the Kachin Air Force pilot school from which he graduated with a qualification of pilot-engineer. Kotov completed his first spaceflight in October 2007 after nearly 200 days as Soyuz TMA commander and ISS-15 flight engineer. He returned two years later as ISS-23 commander.

After graduating from Moscow State University in 1996, Ryazanskiy worked at the Institute for Biomedical Problems where he specialized in developing and testing measures to prevent the adverse impact of microgravity. In 2003, he was selected as a cosmonaut candidate and was later certified as a cosmonaut researcher.

The three will remain aboard the station until mid-March.