Three astronauts left for ISS – De Morgen

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 Actually, instead of the Kazakh Aimbetov British singer Sarah Brightman as paying space tourist to fly to the ISS. But she canceled her trip due to personal reasons

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For the first time a Dane with a Kazakh and a Russian cosmonaut headed to the International Space Station. The Soyuz TMA-18M with the Dane Andreas Mogensen, Aidyn Aimbetov the Kazakh and Russian Sergei Volkov was today successfully launched on the Russian Cosmodrome Baikonur. The three astronauts are safely on their way to the ISS, said the US space agency Nasa.

After a two-day flight, the Soyuz capsule Friday morning at 9:42 pm CET docking to the ISS. For safety reasons a short flight time of about six hours rejected this time, the Russian space agency Roskosmos said.

Aimbetov and Dane Mogensen of the European Space Agency Esa only stay for a short mission of ten days aboard the ISS. And yet pays such a flight, said ESA boss Jan Wörner. “Every day on the ISS is a day of research,” he said. For Mogensen, the first Dane in space, this is a shift of ten days. He succeeds current experiments and turn them on.

Actually, in the place of the Kazakh Aimbetov British singer Sarah Brightman as paying space tourist to fly to the ISS. But she canceled her trip due to personal reasons. Aimbetov third cosmonaut flying from the Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan to the universe. The last Kazakh spent in 2001 on board the ISS, especially Talghat Moessabajev, the current boss of the national space agency Kaskosmos.

This makes it all very tight at the outpost of humanity 400 kilometers above the Earth. Currently working on the space station all the Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka, Mikhail Kornijenko and Oleg Kononenko, US astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren and the Japanese Kimiya Yui.

As of Friday will than ten days, nine people aboard of the ISS life. If new crew only will the Russian Volkov by rotation for a half year stay in space. However, no place Problems see Volkov. “The station is large enough, and where they can sleep more than a week, there was,” he said before the launch.