8 Apr, 06:14

Carrier rocket with Soyuz MS-27 manned spacecraft blasts off from Baikonur spaceport

The crew consists of Roscosmos cosmonaut and TASS’ sixth special correspondent aboard the ISS Alexey Zubritsky, cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim

BAIKONUR SPACEPORT /Kazakhstan/, April 8. /TASS/. Russia’s Soyuz-2.1a rocket with the Soyuz MS-27 spaceship carrying the three members of the 73rd long-duration expedition to the International Space Station (ISS) has blasted off from Site 31 of the Baikonur spaceport, a TASS correspondent reported.

The spacecraft will be delivered to orbit in about nine minutes. It is expected to dock with the Prichal module of the Russian segment of the ISS at about 12:04 p.m. Moscow time (9:04 a.m. GMT).

The crew consists of Roscosmos cosmonaut and TASS’ sixth special correspondent aboard the ISS Alexey Zubritsky, cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim.

The crew is expected to carry out 50 scientific experiments; in addition, Ryzhikov and Zubritsky will perform two spacewalks in October. The launch is dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory in the Great Patriotic War.

Russia’s Roscosmos State Space Corporation said earlier that at least 2,500 tourists had arrived in Baikonur to watch the launch, which is a record number. The launch was also broadcast live at the Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow.

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