Launches: Expedition 67 crew arrives safely at ISS

Launches: Expedition 67 crew arrives safely at ISS

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying a U.S. astronaut and two cosmonauts took flight today (Wednesday, September 21, 2022), headed for the International Space Station (ISS) on Expedition 67. The crew arrived safely at the station three hours later, bringing Earth’s on-orbit population to 10 people. The flight came after a six-month delay. NASA announced the successful launch via the ISS blog:

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and two cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station Wednesday, bringing its number of residents to 10 for the coming week.

The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft carrying Rubio, as well as Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin of Roscosmos, docked to the station’s Rassvet module at 1:06 p.m. EDT. Following two orbits, docking occurred about three hours after a 9:54 a.m. launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Now, with three more space travelers at the station, the on-orbit population is 10 people:

Once on station, the trio will join Expedition 67 Commander Oleg Artemyev, cosmonauts Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov of Roscosmos, as well as NASA astronauts Bob Hines, Kjell Lindgren, Jessica Watkins and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. Rubio, Prokopyev and Petelin will spend six months aboard the orbital laboratory.

Later, the ISS will be back to a seven-person crew by month’s end, as three cosmonauts return to Russia. NASA said:

Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov will return to Earth September 29 on the Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft, which is currently docked at the space station, for a parachute-assisted landing on the Kazakh steppe.

Bottom line: An American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts are now aboard the ISS after lifting off the morning of September 21, 2022.