The three-member Expedition 59/60 crew have docked with International Space Station (ISS). The spacecraft docked with the station’s Rassvet module at 01:07 this morning (21:07 EST on March 14).
NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin launched aboard the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft on March 14 at 19:15 UTC (15:15 EST). After just a few hours, the three-person Expedition 59/60 crew rendezvoused and successfully docked with the ISS. The trio joins Candian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques, NASA’s Anne McCain and Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos.
For Ovchinin and Hague, the MS-12 mission is their second chance at a stay aboard the ISS. On October 11, 2018, the pair launched aboard the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft. Although the launch appeared to be successful at first, an issue with the separation of one of the four strapon booster forced the pair to abort the mission. Just seconds after utilising the rocket’s emergency abort system to pull the spacecraft clear, the Soyuz FG rocket disintegrated behind them.
During the Expedition 59 crew’s stay aboard the station, NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Anne McCain will perform the world’s first all-female spacewalk. The pair are expected to “complete the upgrades to two station power channels” on March 29.
