Expedition 17 Crew Headed To ISS

April 9, 2008

After Tuesday’s successful launch, the Expedition 17 crew members are headed to their new home aboard the International Space Station. Commander Sergei Volkov, Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko and spaceflight participant So-yeon Yi launched at 7:16 a.m. EDT in a Soyuz TMA-12 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Less than ten minutes later, the spacecraft reached orbit and its antennas and solar arrays were deployed. Expedition 17 will be welcomed by the Expedition 16 crew after docking to the orbiting laboratory, scheduled for Thursday.

Expedition 17 launches aboard a Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan. Credit: NASA TV

Expedition 17 crew members Volkov and Kononenko will begin a six-month stay in space. Spaceflight participant Yi will return to Earth with Expedition 16 crew members Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko on April 19.

Whitson and Malenchenko launched to the station Oct. 10. Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman launched to the station on the STS-123 mission of Endeavour March 11. He joined Expedition 16 in progress and will continue his tour with the Expedition 17 crew.

Aboard the station, Whitson, Malenchenko and Reisman took a break from their daily activities to watch the launch of Expedition 17. They also reviewed the flight plan for spaceflight participant So-yeon Yi, familiarizing themselves with the experiments and Earth photography she will be conducting during her nine-day visit on the complex.