Expedition 70: Launch Day in Kazakhstan | International Space Station

Expedition 70: Launch Day in Kazakhstan | International Space Station

Expedition 70 Cosmonaut Hotel Departure: NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, left, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko (Russia), center, and Nikolai Chub (Russia) depart the Cosmonaut Hotel to suit-up for their Soyuz launch to the International Space Station, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara dons her Russian Sokol suit as she and fellow crewmates, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, prepare for their Soyuz launch to the International Space Station.

Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, right, and Expedition 70 backup crewmember Tracy Dyson of NASA share a moment after O’hara donned her Russian Sokol suit in preparation for launch to the International Space Station.

Expedition 70 NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara waves farewell to family and friends.

Expedition 70 Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub, right, and Oleg Kononenko, center, along with NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, visit with families shortly before departing for their Soyuz launch.

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko (Олег Кононенко) and Nikolai Chub (Николай Чуб) of Russia launched on a Russian Soyuz 2.1a rocket at 11:44 a.m. EDT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (8:44 p.m. Baikonur time) on Sept. 15, 2023. Their Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft docked with the International Space Station three hours later.

The trio joined the space station’s Expedition 69 crew of NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Frank Rubio, Roscosmos cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin, Konstantin Borisov, and Sergey Prokopyev of Russia, as well European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa. O’Hara will spend six months aboard the orbital laboratory, while Kononenko and Chub will both spend one year on the orbital outpost. This is the first spaceflight for O'Hara.

Astronaut Loral O’Hara Official NASA Biography:

https://www.nasa.gov/content/loral-o-hara-nasa-astronaut

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center/Bill Ingalls

Capture Date: Sept. 15, 2023

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