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Soyuz launch to increase ISS crew to six for first time

RIA Novosti

13:0727/05/2009 MOSCOW, May 27 (RIA Novosti) - The Soyuz TMA-15 launch vehicle is set to take off on Wednesday on a mission to deliver three astronauts to the International Space Center (ISS), increasing the total number to six for the first time.

The launch of the Soyuz-FG booster rocket, bearing the manned Soyuz TMA-15 vehicle, is scheduled for 02:34 p.m. Moscow time (10:34 GMT) from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.

The vehicle is due to dock with the ISS at 04:36 p.m. Moscow time (12:36 GMT) on Friday.

The 20th Expedition comprises flight engineer Frank De Winne from the European Space Agency, Robert Thirsk from the Canadian Space Agency and Russia's Roman Romanenko.

The astronauts will join the current Expedition 19 crew, comprising Russian Commander Gennady Padalka, U.S. Flight Engineer Michael Barratt, and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata.

During the upcoming 180-day mission, the six-member crew will receive and unload three Russian Progress craft and a Japanese HTV-1 space freighter, conduct two spacewalks and carry out a series of scientific experiments.

The head of Russia's Federal Space Agency, Anatoly Perminov, earlier described the mission as unique, saying that "representatives of five countries - Russia, the United States, Canada, Japan and Belgium - will for the first time work at the station simultaneously."