KOROLYOV, 25 March (BelTA) – The Soyuz MS-25 manned spacecraft is
approaching the International Space Station in near-Earth orbit, BelTA
reports from the Roscosmos Mission Control Center.
The Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft is crewed by Belarus’ first spacefarer Marina Vasilevskaya, spacecraft commander, Belarusian national Oleg Novitsky and NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson.
The Mission Control Center specialists are watching the spacecraft approaching the ISS and issuing instructions. Media workers, family and friends of the cosmonauts have arrived in Korolyov, Moscow Oblast, to watch the docking. Belarus’ Anastasia Lenkova, who was part of the Soyuz MS-25 backup crew, also came to the Mission Control Center to support her colleagues. Those who did not get to the Mission Control Center have the opportunity to watch the live broadcast on Roscosmos’ Internet platforms starting from 17:40 Minsk time.
At about 16:36 an instruction was given to turn on the Kurs rendezvous system (a radio-technical system of mutual measurements of motion parameters for the search, approach and docking of spacecraft with the orbital station). At about 17:47 Soyuz MS-25 will start circling the ISS, then will hover and dock. Touchdown should occur at 18:10, after which the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft is expected to dock at a port on the station’s Earth-facing Prichal Module, a part of the Russian ISS Segment.
After the docking, the cosmonauts will start preparing for the transition to the ISS. This process takes two to three hours: it is necessary to equalize the pressure on the station and the spacecraft, to check the tightness of the docking, to carry out a number of other important procedures. After that the process of opening the transition hatches begins.
The Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft is crewed by Belarus’ first spacefarer Marina Vasilevskaya, spacecraft commander, Belarusian national Oleg Novitsky and NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson.
The Mission Control Center specialists are watching the spacecraft approaching the ISS and issuing instructions. Media workers, family and friends of the cosmonauts have arrived in Korolyov, Moscow Oblast, to watch the docking. Belarus’ Anastasia Lenkova, who was part of the Soyuz MS-25 backup crew, also came to the Mission Control Center to support her colleagues. Those who did not get to the Mission Control Center have the opportunity to watch the live broadcast on Roscosmos’ Internet platforms starting from 17:40 Minsk time.
At about 16:36 an instruction was given to turn on the Kurs rendezvous system (a radio-technical system of mutual measurements of motion parameters for the search, approach and docking of spacecraft with the orbital station). At about 17:47 Soyuz MS-25 will start circling the ISS, then will hover and dock. Touchdown should occur at 18:10, after which the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft is expected to dock at a port on the station’s Earth-facing Prichal Module, a part of the Russian ISS Segment.
After the docking, the cosmonauts will start preparing for the transition to the ISS. This process takes two to three hours: it is necessary to equalize the pressure on the station and the spacecraft, to check the tightness of the docking, to carry out a number of other important procedures. After that the process of opening the transition hatches begins.
