Next Station Crew Launches Oct. 19

Expedition 49-50
Expedition 49-50 crew members (from left) Shane Kimbrough, Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko pose for pictures Sept. 9 in front of their Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft.

Statement from Roscosmos:

After reviewing the documents on operations that were carried out to repair the technical malfunction of the Soyuz MS-02 manned transport vehicle (MTV) the State Commission resolved that the space ship may be launched to the International Space Station (ISS).

Based on quality assurance tests of MTV Soyuz MS-02, the specialists of Rocket and Space Corporation Energiya determined that the control equipment was activated by the landing system cable, which was jammed during the test operations. After the cable malfunction was fixed, engineers ran a full trial of the space ship.

Based on trial results, the Commission resolved to launch MTV Soyuz MS-02 (decree #732) on October 19, 2016, at 11:05 AM MT.

Between now and December ROSCOSMOS State Corporation will carry out all the launches within the program of manned flights to the ISS:

  • The launch of MTV Soyuz MS-02 is scheduled for October 19, 2016;
  • The launch of MTV Soyuz MS-03 is scheduled for November 16, 2016;
  • The launch of Progress MS-04 cargo spacecraft will take place on December 1, 2016.

    Get weekly video highlights at: http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

7 thoughts on “Next Station Crew Launches Oct. 19”

  1. Hello NASA, i am a 13 year old boy from Arizona and i would like to say that some meteors are actually alien life forms that are coming out of hyper space or deep space itself and are also a huge part of the life we have not yet discovered. I would like to also say that it would be easy to build a colonization ship in space so on your very next launch after the October 19th launch you should send up a ship with materials to build a space frigate and if you can build an anti gravity machine on earth what is stopping you from building a gravity generator? Make sure you have a good engineer and builder crew to build that gravity generator and freaighter!

    1. Hi Camran. I really like your ideas. When I was 13 in 1969 (I’m now 61) I was growing up on a farm in northeast New South Wales, Australia, and watching the Apollo moonshots. Before July 1969 nobody new for sure if we could land on the Moon and get the astronauts back to Earth, alive. But it was done. Now NASA is talking about going to Mars, maybe by the 2030s. If they can do that, say by about 2036 when you’ll be 38, then after that we Earthlings might establish a permanent colony on Mars, say by the end of the century. After that, who knows.

      I’m sure that over the next few hundred years we’ll have people traveling around our Solar System, a bit like on Startrek. But as you know, to make things work, and work safely, often takes a lot longer than we think. I know, when I learnt to ride a bicycle, I couldn’t do it on the first try, even on the first day, I kept falling off. But after a few goes I was able to ride, and after weeks, ride well. The same goes for space flight. At the moment I don’t think we can make an anti-gravity machine, but we could in say 50 years time build a interplanetary spaceship, maybe that looks something like the International Space Station does, but with large rockets attached to it, that could go into orbit around the planets, and then come home again. (One way to make artificial gravity on the ship, is to have it rotate, and the centifigal force makes an artificial gravity against the outside walls of the ship, so if we had a very wide circular cylinder as part of the ship, and that part rotated, and the crew lived inside that circle, the crew could be comfortable in a 1G environment. Also, the other problem is that all of this would cost a very large amount of money. Somebody has to pay for it! (Just like buying a new bike.)

      Your point about meteors bringing life to Earth is interesting, and a very sound scientific idea, lots of scientists think that might have happened in the Earth’s past, and can still happen. We’re talking about very tiny life, bacteria or smaller lifeforms etc.

      I also like your comment about needing very skilled engineers and builders. NASA has those now. To do a very hard thing and do it well, requires very special people. Maybe you’ll grow up to be one of them. You might end up working on building some parts of a future spaceship, or even be a future astronaut.

      I replied to your post because I was in your shoes in 1969 when I was 13. I love science, astronomy and space things, and enjoy reading about space on the NASA website. (Being an Australian in Australia, I don’t work with anything about spaceflight, but I do work with satellite information – photos from space. I love what I do.)

      So enjoy being fascinated by space, and grow up to enjoy whatever you do, including whatever work you will end up doing. From one space nut to another, goodbye, and keep looking at the night sky, it’s the “greatest show not on Earth”!

      1. Mark, this is such a wonderfully kind and thoughtful reply to have shared with Camran here!

        I adore and share your’s and Camran’s intrigue and ambition for human Space Exploration and want to give you a virtual hug and a high five for being so brilliant!

        Keep looking up!

        From 19-year-old Stefan from Argyll, Scotland!

        P.S: Although Scotland does have a small tendency to collect rain clouds I saw the ISS tonight! – here’s to clear skies and Mars habitation! 😉

  2. Hello Nasa am 14 year student from Ethiopia and I want to be astronaut how can I apply for internship please I wrote 2 books about space

  3. Hi Nasa, very good job !!! I’m Brazilian and I always intercept the radio broadcasts from our beloved iss … very good

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