ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti: Soyuz TMA-15M Launch

Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft launch.

Credit: ROCOSMOS

The Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft was launched from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 23 November 2014 with ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and her crewmates to the weightless research centre where they will live and work for five months.

Credit: ROCOSMOS

ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is all set for her five-month mission on the International Space Station. 

She will leave Earth on Sunday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with NASA astronaut Terry Virts and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov.

Watch the international crew of astronauts board their Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft strapped to 274 tonnes of rocket propellants, accelerate to 28 800 km/h and dock with the Space Station orbiting Earth in just six hours.

The programme will include images of Expedition 42/43 suiting up, walking to their spacecraft and a last wave as they board.

The hatch opening will include commentary by ESA’s Space Station Programme Manager Bernado Patti and ESA’s Head of the Astronaut Corps and former astronaut Frank De Winne.

Docking with the Space Station will happen early Monday morning at around 02:53 with coverage returning at 02:30.