[Launch successful] Soyuz TMA-18M will leave for the ISS tomorrow morning

    Tomorrow morning at 07:37 Moscow time, the Soyuz TMA-18M manned spacecraft will be launched on the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle. On board will be Andreas Mogensen, Aydin Aimbetov and crew commander Sergei Volkov.

    For Mogensen and Aimbetov, this is the first flight. Mogensen is an astronaut of the European Space Agency. Aimbetov is an astronaut of Kazakhstan. He flies to the ISS instead of space tourist Sarah Brightman, who, after losing Progress M-27M, refused to fly due to financial problems. Aimbetov’s flight will cost Kazakhstan 1.1 billion rubles (approximately $ 17 million) - much cheaper than a British singer ($ 52 million).

    Aimbetov and Mogensen will stay on the International Space Station for several days and on September 12 they will return aboard the Soyuz TMA-16M together with Gennady Padalka, who has been working at the station since March 28. Volkov, who is leaving for space for the third time, will work for six months. He will replace Gennady Padalka and return in March next year along with Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko, who perform an experiment on an annual stay in space to elucidate the biological effects of a long-term flight - this is the theoretical basis for a future landing on Mars. The resource of stay of the “Unions” in orbit in the docked form is insufficient, therefore, in this case they have to be changed. The crew of the Soyuz TMA-18M: Aydin Aimbetov, Sergey Volkov and Andreas Mogensen, NASA




    For several days, nine people will be on board the ISS instead of the usual six. The last time this happened in November 2013. This means three Soyuz ships docked to the station. Because of this, on August 28, one of them ("TMA-16M") had to re-dock to the "Star" module .

    Soyuz TMA-18M will be launched into orbit using the Soyuz-FG rocket. This is the jubilee 500th launch. In memory of this date, a white star will be applied to the service farm after the start. The general assembly of the rocket has already been made.



    The rocket was brought out and installed on launch pad No. 1 ("Gagarinsky launch"). In the remaining time, final checks will be carried out, the rocket will be charged with fuel.



    As in the case of the previous Progress , a more traditional two-day docking scheme will be used instead of a fast one, which allows you to reach the ISS in 6-8 hours. In the case of the Progress M-28M, it was a one-time check, which can be associated with the loss of the Progress M-27M. Here, the rejection of the fast approach scheme is caused by a change in the orbit of the ISS. Recently, the station’s orbit has been adjustedin order to avoid collision with space debris. The maneuver also changed the altitude of the ISS. The station will be in a different place and have a different speed relative to the expected. The four-turn scheme used since 2012 requires very accurately calculated engine starts for phasing the orbit. Similar calculations are performed in advance. Therefore, the Russian side decided to use a two-day scheme, which has higher tolerances. This explanation is also confirmed by NASA employee Robert Frost.

    Soyuz TMA-18M docked with the small research module Search on September 4 at 10:42 Moscow time, hatches will open at 13:15.

    The launch will traditionally be broadcast on the Web. Start time - September 2, 07:37 Moscow time. Broadcasts begin a few tens of minutes before launch.

    Broadcast Online "Roscosmos"
    broadcast on the website "TSENKI"
    Channel NASA (all content in English)

    Photo of the carrier rocket "Soyuz-FG" from TPK "Soyuz TMA-18M", " Roskosmos "

    Updated 09/02/2015 8:50 : Startup successful .

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