New Space Station Crew Will Launch Into Orbit Tonight: Watch Live

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A Russian Soyuz rocket stands poised atop its launchpad at Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan ahead of the Sept. 2 launch of a new three-man crew to the International Space Station. The rocket will launch Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, Danish astronaut And
A Russian Soyuz rocket stands poised atop its launchpad at Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan ahead of the Sept. 2 launch of a new three-man crew to the International Space Station. The rocket will launch Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen and Kazakh astronaut Aidyn Aimbetov into orbit on a Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft. (Image credit: RSC Energia)

Three new crewmembers will blast off toward the International Space Station late tonight (Sept. 1) and you can watch the liftoff live online.

(L to R) Aidyn Aimbetov of the Kazakh Space Agency, Sergei Volkov of the Russian Federal Space Agency and Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency (ESA) will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015, and head to the International Space Station. (Image credit: NASA)

Cosmonaut Sergei Volkov of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency and Aidyn Aimbetov of the Kazakh Space Agency are scheduled to blast off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early Wednesday, Sept. 2, at 12:37 a.m. EDT (0437 GMT/10:37 a.m. Baikonur time). 

NASA will begin live coverage of the launch at 11:45 p.m. EDT (0345 GMT) and you can watch the broadcast on Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV.

The astronauts are scheduled to arrive at the station on Friday, Sept. 4, at 3:24 a.m. EDT (0724 GMT). NASA will also provide live coverage of that event.

Mogensen and Aimbetov will serve short-duration stints, returning to Earth on Sept. 12, along with Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, who is already on the station. Volkov will stay on the station for six months, joining American astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko in the second half of their yearlong mission, the longest mission ever completed aboard the International Space Station.

Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield.Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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Calla Cofield
Calla Cofield
Senior Writer

Calla Cofield joined Space.com's crew in October 2014. She enjoys writing about black holes, exploding stars, ripples in space-time, science in comic books, and all the mysteries of the cosmos. Prior to joining Space.com Calla worked as a freelance writer, with her work appearing in APS News, Symmetry magazine, Scientific American, Nature News, Physics World, and others. From 2010 to 2014 she was a producer for The Physics Central Podcast. Previously, Calla worked at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City (hands down the best office building ever) and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California. Calla studied physics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and is originally from Sandy, Utah. In 2018, Calla left Space.com to join NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory media team where she oversees astronomy, physics, exoplanets and the Cold Atom Lab mission. She has been underground at three of the largest particle accelerators in the world and would really like to know what the heck dark matter is. Contact Calla via: E-Mail – Twitter