Live coverage ISS Expedition 48 crew launch July 6

International Space Station Expedition 48/49 astronaut Kate Rubins of NASA, Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi. Credit: NASA.

NASA Television and the agency’s website will have live launch coverage of the Expedition 48 crew members beginning 8:30 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, July 6, 2016. They will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and will return to Earth in October.

Crew members include:

Kate Rubins (NASA astronaut)

Anatoly Ivanishin (Russian Space Agency Roscosmos cosmonaut)

Takuya Onishi (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut)

They will travel in an upgraded Soyuz spacecraft and spend two days and 34 Earth orbits testing the modified systems before docking to the space station’s Rassvet module at 12:12 a.m. Saturday, July 9. The hatch opens between Soyuz and the station about 2:50 a.m.

The crew members will continue the several hundred experiments in Earth science, biology, biotechnology, and physical science. Astronaut Kate Rubins will be the first person to sequence DNA in space.

NASA Television coverage (All times Eastern):

Wednesday, July 6

8:30 p.m.—Live launch coverage. Launch scheduled at 9:36 p.m.

Friday, July 5

11:30 p.m. Docking coverage begins. Docking scheduled at 12:12 a.m.

Saturday, July 9

12:12 a.m. Docking scheduled.

2:50 a.m. Hatch opening scheduled.

The Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft is rolled out by train to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Monday, July 4, 2016.

The Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft service structure is put into place after the rocket rolled out by train to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Monday, July 4, 2016.

Expedition 48-49 crew members Kate Rubins of NASA (left), Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and backup crew members Peggy Whitson of NASA, Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency pose for a group photograph at the base of a soyuz rocket Saturday, July 2, 2016 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.