Next Soyuz Rolls to Launchpad for Fast-Track Flight to the Space Station

By Nancy Atkinson - September 24, 2013 at 7:43 PM UTC | Space Exploration
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A new Soyuz is now on the pad, ready to bring the next crew to the International Space Station. Launch is scheduled for at 20:58 UTC (4:58 p.m. EDT) on September 25. This is the third Soyuz spacecraft to use the new abbreviated rendezvous trajectory with the ISS, where it will reach the space station in just a few hours instead of the usual two days.

Below is a video of the rollout to the pad.

You can see a great collection of images from the rollout, a press conference and more from

NASA HQ's Flickr page.

This Soyuz rocket will send Expedition 37 Soyuz Commander Oleg Kotov, NASA Flight Engineer Michael Hopkins and Russian Flight Engineer Sergei Ryazansky on a five-and-a-half month mission aboard the International Space Station.

In the past, Soyuz manned capsules and Progress supply ships were launched on trajectories that required about two days, or 34 orbits, to reach the ISS. For tomorrow's launch, the Soyuz will rendezvous with the space station and dock after four orbits of Earth. The new fast-track trajectory has the rocket launching shortly after the ISS passes overhead. Then, additional firings of the vehicle's thrusters early in its mission expedites the time required for a Russian vehicle to reach the Station.

Docking to the Poisk module on the Russian segment of the station is expected to occur at 02:47 UTC on Sept. 26 (10:47 p.m. EDT, Sept. 25) All the action of the launch and docking will be on

NASA TV.

The new crew will join the current Expedition 37 crew of Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, Karen Nyberg and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency.

Hopkins, Kotov and Ryazanskiy will remain aboard the station until mid-March. Yurchikhin, Nyberg and Parmitano, who have been aboard the orbiting laboratory since late May, will return to Earth Nov. 11, leaving Kotov as commander of Expedition 38.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com