MOSCOW, March 27. /TASS/. The launch of a Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with the Soyuz MS-27 manned spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) is scheduled for April 8 with its docking in three and a half hours after liftoff, Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos announced on Thursday.

"The launch of the Soyuz MS-27 crewed spacecraft to the International Space Station is scheduled for 8:47 a.m. Moscow time [5:47 a.m. GMT] on April 8, 2025. The docking is planned at 12:04 p.m. Moscow time [9:04 a.m. GMT] on April 8," Roscosmos said in a statement.

It follows from Roscosmos’ statement that the Soyuz MS-27 manned spacecraft will travel to the orbital outpost under an ultra-short two-orbit scheme.

The Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft will deliver Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Aleksey Zubritsky and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim to the space station. The backup crew comprises Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikayev and NASA astronaut Christopher Williams.

The Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft is set to return to Earth on December 9. During the eight-month space mission, the Russian cosmonauts will carry out 50 scientific experiments, including two new researches. In addition, Ryzhikov and Zubritsky will make two spacewalks in October.