Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Countdown Underway for Russian Soyuz FG

A Russian rocket is just hours away from carrying two astronauts and one cosmonaut to the International Space Station on Wednesday as two of them begin a six month odyssey in earth orbit.

A Russian Soyuz FG rocket with crew members Maxim Suraev Victorovich, Jeffrey N. Williams and spaceflight participant Guy Lalibert'e will strap into their Soyuz TMA-16 space craft about ninety minutes before the 3:14:42 am EDT lift-off on Wednesday morning.

At 7:45 pm EDT this evening, Williams reported to SpaceLaunchNews.com, "Off to breakfast...last meal for awhile where the food behaves well on the plate. Everybody is happy and calm".

By 8:21 pm, with the three space men's breakfast complete, Williams replied, "Breakfast done. Off we go. See you after docking. Thank you for prayers and support. Enjoy the journey!"

The space trio will spend two days in a lower orbit than the space station which will allow them to catch up quickly and then dock on Friday morning at 4:37 am EDT.

SpaceLaunch News.com will have live television of the launch beginning at 1:45 am EDT, on Wednesday morning. Also, follow our mobile updates directly to your cell phone or PDA phone via Twitter.com/spacelaunchnews.

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