A new crew that will live and work aboard the International Space Station rocketed into orbit early Sunday aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. U.S. astronaut E. Michael Fincke, Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov and Richard Garriott, a U.S. computer game developer, lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2:01 a.m. CDT. Read more
A Russian Soyuz launch vehicle with the Soyuz TMA-13 capsule carrying the Expedition 18 crew, Michael Fincke and Yury Lonchakov, along with space tourist Richard Garriot, has successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 07:01 GMT. The Soyuz spacecraft is set to dock on October 14, and will remain docked at the station for about six months and be used as an emergency escape pod for the crew.
A Soyuz-FG with the manned TMA-13 spacecraft is set to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, at 07: 01 UT (11:01: 29 msk), October 12, 2008. The TMA-13 spacecraft will deliver the expedition 18 crew to the international space station. The spacecraft is set to dock on October 14.
Expedition 18 crew members are set to liftoff aboard a Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft atop a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, at 07:01 GMT, 12th October, 2008.
Expedition 18 will be the final three-crewmember expedition, before the station crew is increased to six astronauts and cosmonauts with Expedition 19. Source
The work of the next International Space Station residents will be previewed in a briefing broadcast on NASA Television at 1 p.m. CDT Thursday, Sept. 25, from NASA's Johnson Space Centre. Reporters at participating NASA centres may ask questions. Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke, Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Yuri Lonchakov and U.S. spaceflight participant Richard Garriott are scheduled to launch in a Soyuz spacecraft Oct. 12 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. They will arrive at the station Oct. 14. Garriott will return home with the two Russian members of the Expedition 17 crew on Oct. 24. Fincke and Lonchakov will join NASA astronaut Greg Chamitoff, who has been on board the orbiting complex since June.
The Expedition 18 Mission crew list has been confirmed by the Russian Federal Space Agency. The three person crew aboard the Soyuz TMA-13 capsule atop a Soyuz rocket will be comprised by U.S. Commander Mike Fincke, a colonel in the U.S. Air Force; Russian Flight Engineer Yuri Lonchakov, a colonel in the Russian Air Force; and space tourist Richard Garriott. The Expedition 18 Mission is scheduled to lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on October 12. The Soyuz TMA-13 capsule will remain at the station for about six months. Richard Garriott will return on a Soyuz spacecraft with the Expedition 17 crew.