NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Kud-Soyuz MS-28 launched at 3:27:57 a.m. Central Time from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on November 21st, after a 10-second orbital alignment window. The Soyuz 2.1A booster carried them to a preliminary orbit 260 miles above northwest Uzbekistan, trailing the ISS by 1,025 miles. With Williams’ family present and traditions like planting trees observed, the crew tested automated rendezvous systems for docking at 6:38 a.m. Central Time, marking a rare U.S.-Russia collaboration amid geopolitical tensions. This mission underscores how space diplomacy persists despite Earthly conflicts. [Automatically generated summary]
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Next, the launch of NASA astronaut Chris Williams and two Russian cosmonauts aboard a spacecraft on Expedition 73 to join the crew on board the International Space Station for scientific research.
Then, as tradition called for, the crew members left the Site-254 integration building, allowing Kud Sverchkov, the Soyuz commander, to report that he and his crewmates were ready to proceed to the launch pad.
You'll see in a moment the trio boarding their bus for the ride to Launch Site 31.
That occurred at about 11:45 p.m. Central Time last night, a trip that took a little less than an hour to complete across the sprawling launch complex.
crew departing the parking lot at the Site-254 integration building, headed for the launch pad.
And here is the last of our B-roll from Roscosmos this morning.
Crew climbing a few stairs, waving goodbye to well-wishers, entering that elevator for the ride to the top of the Soyuz rocket to board their spacecraft, which they've now been aboard for the past two hours.
B-roll feed having been completed, we are now back live of the Soyuz MS-28 at Site 31, Launch Pad 6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
The countdown continuing to proceed on track, now at T-13 minutes, 27 seconds and counting.
At the time of launch, the International Space Station will be flying 260 miles over northwest Uzbekistan.
The station will be 280 miles behind Soyuz and will pass directly over the Baikonur Cosmodrome one minute after Soyuz lifts off, eventually leapfrogging past the Soyuz as Kudzverchkov, Mikheyev, and Williams climb to their preliminary orbit.
Eight minutes and 46 seconds after launch, the third stage engine of the Soyuz booster will shut down and the Soyuz will separate from its launch vehicle in its preliminary orbit, deploying its solar rays and navigational antennas.
At that point, the three Soyuz crew members will trail the space station by 1,025 miles and the chase will begin, resulting in a docking to the Rosviet module on the Earth-facing side of the station's Russian segment at around 6.38 a.m. Central Time, 7.38 a.m. Eastern Time.
At the launch site on the steppe of Kazakhstan, NASA officials are on hand to watch the beginning of the journey for Chris Williams, Sergei Kudzverchkov, and Sergei Mikheyev.
And with them is NASA Public Affairs Officer Chelsea Bayarte, who filed this report a short time ago.
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Thanks, Rob, and greetings from Baikonur.
The bulk of the NASA delegation arrived early Saturday morning to get ready for today's launch.
We have Ken Bauer Sox here, NASA's Associate Administrator for the Space Operations Mission Directorate.
Norm Knight is here representing the Flight Operations Directorate.
And representatives from the International Space Station program are here as well.
The Williams family, who arrived on Friday, is here in full force wearing shirts that say Chris's crew.
The family won't be participating in any Thanksgiving traditions here in Baikonur as they focus on the launch, but they tell me that they usually have a large family gathering, and it typically includes eating plantains, a nod to their family's heritage from Panama.
We'll have to see what Thanksgiving celebrations await Williams when he gets to the space station.
Williams and his crew arrived in Baikonur on November 11th, and on the 12th, they were presented with the final configuration of their capsule and conducted a pressure check on their launch and entry suits.
Soyuz launches are filled with traditions, and on November 20th, Chris Williams planted a tree in his name.
His commander, who has flown before, watered a tree that he had planted previously.
On the 26th, the crew participated in a news conference where they shared what their 0G indicator would be.
The crew will actually have two.
The first one is a cat wearing a spacesuit that has ties to the commander's family, and the second is a little cosmonaut.
The crew acquired it while on a visit to a school about two years ago, and they promised the students that they would use it as their 0-G indicator and will give it back to the school at the end of their mission.
Everything is proceeding nominally here in Baikonur, and we are ready for launch.
We're just a few minutes away from the point in the countdown where the key will be inserted in the launch bunker to transition the countdown to automatic mode.
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Five minutes out.
This is one.
This is one.
All helmets are closed and the CASAS rescue aids are ready.
And as you're hearing through the interpreter, Sergei Kud Sverchkov confirming that the crew has closed the visors to their helmets in the descent module, the center section of the Soyuz spacecraft as we approach the T-9-minute mark in the countdown.
Once again, the launch of the 10-second launch window is precisely timed for the moment when the Earth's rotation places the Cosmodrome in the plane or corridor of the orbit of the space station, which is inclined 51.6 degrees to either side of the equator.
The Soyuz 2.1A booster is a three-stage rocket.
The first stage, which consists of first-stage engine and four strap-on solid rocket boosters, will operate for about a minute and 58 seconds until it shuts down, with those strap-ons being jettisoned in what is called the cross of Korya, basically a cross-shaped pattern as they fall away from the rest of the Soyuz heading uphill.
We're at T-minus eight minutes and counting, one minute until the command for the key to start.
Again, that's rotating a special key, a launch engineer at the blockhouse in Baikonur, transitioning the countdown in its terminal phase to its automatic mode.
As we pass the T-7 minute mark in the countdown, Kud Sverchkov reporting that he and his crewmates, Chris Williams and Sergei Mikheyev, are ready for launch.
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Engineers through the s on the descent module camera.
The fuel lines and other elements of the rocket engines are being purged with nitrogen right now that fireproofs them by removing vapors of fuel and oxidizer from the base of the launch pad.
We are at T-minus four minutes and counting.
About a minute and 15 seconds from now, the booster's fuel tanks will be pressurized for flight.
The skies have cleared nicely over the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Temperatures in the mid-40s Fahrenheit.
All quiet here in Mission Control in Houston.
The Orbit 1 team of flight controllers watching over the systems of the International Space Station in anticipation of the arrival of Williams, Kudzverchkov, and Mikhev a few hours from now.
T-3 minutes in counting.
Strip chart recorders in the launch control center now activated to receive telemetry from the Soyuz booster.
Next up, the Soyuz will be placed on internal power.
The two umbilicals you see at the bottom of your screen buttressed up against the Soyuz.
The first of those two will be retracted at about the T-33 second mark, followed at T-12 seconds by the second umbilical separating that will initiate the engine sequence start.
Coming up on T-minus one minute, Mark, T-minus one minute and counting.
first stage engine performance report the view inside the descent module showing Kudz-Ferchkov at the bottom to his left Sergei Mikheyev All engine parameters reported to be functioning normally.
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The vehicle is nominal, everything fine on board as well.
A little over two minutes of powered flight remaining.
liftoff time was confirmed at 327 and 57 seconds a.m. central time 227 and 57 seconds p.m. at the launch site in Baikonur Passing seven minutes into the flight, about one minute, 46 seconds of powered flight remaining.
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Keeps last for 20 seconds.
Your pitch and roll are all nominal.
Copy.
We're feeling good.
T plus 450 seconds nominal flight The crew is feeling fine.
t plus 520 third stage get ready for third stage separation and we have third stage shutdown and separation a nominal ride uphill for williams kudsverchkov and mikayev will be watching momentarily for the deployment of the solar arrays and the navigational antennas on the ms28 and there they go
And we now have confirmation that the arrays and navigational antennas have all been deployed.
Normally a perfect ride uphill for the soon to be newest trio of residents of the international space station.
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We confirm a third stage.
Separation was nominal great.
Now close rpv one and two.
So that's going to be parameter 21 copy.
Rpv1 is closed.
Unintelligible repress.
a perfect ride uphill for the three crew members aboard the soyuz ms28 put in control in work and close the launch insertion display 37 minutes Pressure in Betway is 824.
The crew on board Soyuz Ms28 led by the commander Sergei Kudsverchkov, the Soyuz commander, moving on to page 36, in the process of receiving uh parameters from the Russian mission controllers in Karoleov, outside of Moscow, who are now in control of the flight of Soyuz to the station following a flawless launch and ascent to its preliminary orbit.
We are receiving the video signal from you and there's a view of the control panel inside the Soyuz spacecraft with a variety of different technical parameters that are being monitored by the launch control team in Baikonor, as well as the flight controllers and Koryov at the Russian Mission Control Center outside of Moscow.
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Went through and we are turning off repress and we're standing by for form 03.
The next burn in the sequence of rendezvous maneuvers is scheduled just after 4 a.m. Central Time.
This is our first view from an external television camera on the Soyuz.
This will come into play more prominently when we get back into our next broadcast for rendezvous and docking to the Rosviet module of the International Space Station.
Coming up just after 4 a.m. will be what is called the DV-1 burn, the Delta Velocity 1 burn, that will increase the speed of the Soyuz by about 22 meters per second, fine-tuning its path on route to a fast-track rendezvous with the space station later this morning.
The Soyuz crew is testing now one of the redundant sets of the Corps' automated rendezvous system that will guide the Soyuz into an automated docking to the Rossviet module.
In the unlikely event, anything would happen that would inhibit the Corps system from operating normally, could Sverchkov will take over manual control of the flying of the Soyuz for its docking.
But the Corps system is up and running and currently being tested, and everything appears to be in good shape.