Monday, December 17, 2012

Expedition 34′s Ride to Space Rolls to the Launchpad

The Soyuz rocket is erected into position after being rolled out to the launch pad by train on Monday, December 17, 2012, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Early today the Soyuz rocket and Soyuz TMA-07M capsule were rolled out to the launch page at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in preparation for the December 19 launch of the Expedition 34/35 crew. On board will be Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn of NASA, Soyuz Commander Roman Romanenko and Expedition 35 Commander Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency who will spend five months aboard the International Space Station. We've been highlighting some of the training Hadfield has been through the past two and a half years, and per tradition, Hadfield and his crewmates were not present at the rollout today. Instead they were getting their hair cut. "I'm not superstitious," Hadfield said, "but I'm all for traditions, especially ones that serve a good purpose. I'll need short hair while I'm on the space station."

The launch is scheduled for 12:12 UTC (7:12 a.m. EST) on Wednesday, beginning a two-day journey to the station.

More: universetoday

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