Expedition 32 Launches

Image Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi

The Soyuz TMA-05M rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:40 p.m. EDT on Saturday, July 14, 2012, carrying Expedition 32 Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko, NASA Flight Engineer Sunita Williams and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Flight Engineer Akihiko Hoshide to the International Space Station.



Expedition 32/33 Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko, NASA Flight Engineer Suni Williams and Flight Engineer Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched on the Russian Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft on July 15 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to begin a two-day journey to the International Space Station. The trio will dock to the station July 17 to start a four month tour, joining station Commander Gennady Padalka, NASA Flight Engineer Joe Acaba and Russian Flight Engineer Sergei Revin, who have been on the outpost since mid-May. The launch took place on the 37th anniversary of the launching of the historic Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975 that resulted in the first docking of U.S. and Russian spacecraft and marked the start of the partnership that spawned the International Space Station.