WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Live webcasts of the Soyuz spacecraft and its three astronauts — from Russia, the United States and Europe — begin at 5:15 p.m. (9:15 p.m. GMT), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said in coverage of the flawless launch on Friday.
After reaching orbit at 125 miles above the earth, the Soyuz began a series of burns to raise its altitude for a rendezvous followed by a hatch opening and welcome ceremony scheduled for approximately 7:40 p.m. (11:40 p.m. GMT), NASA noted in an accompanying press release.
NASA Astronaut Randy Bresnik, Russian Cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy and Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency will spend more than four months in space before returning to Earth in December, according to NASA.
