A Soyuz spacecraft is carrying American and Japanese astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut to the International Space Station following a successful launch from Kazakhstan Tuesday night.
- Expedition 48-49 crew
- Launches from Kazakhstan for 4 month mission to ISS
- Will also spend 2 days testing upgrades to Soyuz spacecraft
The crew of Expedition 48-49 will spend four months at the ISS and return in October.
NASA Flight Engineer Kate Rubins, Soyuz Commander Analtoly Ivanishin and JSA Flight Engineer Takuya Onishi will take a two-day ride from launch to the ISS, where they will spend the time testing a number of upgrades to the Soyuz system.
The modified spacecraft has upgraded thrusters, additional debris shielding and increased power from photovoltaic cells on the spacecraft's solar arrays.
Once onboard the ISS, the crew will contribute to more than 250 experiments in a variety of fields.
The crew joins its other Expedition 48 crewmembers: Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineers Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos.