Soyuz TMA-13M rocket is launched with Expedition 40 on board

The Soyuz TMA-13M rocket is launched with Expedition 40 Soyuz Commander Maxim Suraev, of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst, of the European Space Agency, ESA, and Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman of NASA in the early hours of Thursday, May 29, 2014 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Suraev, Gerst, and Wiseman will spend the next five and a half months aboard the International Space Station.

Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

Preparations for Expedition 40/41 Launch to International Space Station

Image Credit: NASA

Three new Expedition 40/41 crew members are counting down to their May 28, 2014 (U.S. time) launch to the orbital laboratory.

The trio is in its crew quarters at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, finalizing mission preparations.

Soyuz Commander and cosmonaut Maxim Suraev, NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman and European astronaut Alexander Gerst will launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft at 3:57 p.m. EDT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Alexander Gerst

They are scheduled to dock to Rassvet after just four orbits at 9:48 p.m. returning the space station to its full complement of six crew members.

Pictured here, Wiseman gives the thumbs up during launch preparations on May 19 in Kazakhstan.

Baikonur Cosmodrome: Expedition 39 Soyuz TMA-12M Rollout

The sun rises behind the Soyuz launch pad shortly before the Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft is rolled out by train to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Sunday, March, 23, 2014. 

Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for March 26 (5:17 p.m. U.S. EDT on March 25) and will send Expedition 39 Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, Flight Engineer Steven Swanson of NASA, and Flight Engineer Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos on a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station.

Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Russia's Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft at Baikonur

Credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

The Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft lowers into place March 22, 2013, during encapsulation into the third stage of a Soyuz booster rocket, at the Integration Facility of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Soyuz will launch March 29 (Kazakh time), carrying Expedition 35/36 Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy of NASA, Soyuz Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Alexander Misurkin to the International Space Station for a 5-½ month mission.