World News – US – Watch NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and two cosmonauts launch into space tonight

« I can’t wait to jump in and get back into space, » said Kate Rubins

Four years after her first flight to the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins will return to space today (Oct 14)

Today at 1:45 a.m. EDT (5:45 GMT), the Expedition 64 Rubins astronaut will fly to the space station aboard the Russian Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft, departing from the Cosmodrome in Baikonur in Kazakhstan with Cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov Shortly after arriving at the station, Rubins will welcome a SpaceX crew on board and celebrate the history of the space station

You can watch Rubins and his teammates launch live here and on the homepage com, courtesy of NASA TV Coverage of the launch will begin at 12:45 pm EDT (0445 GMT)

“I’m starting to get excited,” Rubins told Spacecom ahead of the next flight. “We just finished our final exams before the space flight, and it’s a little hard to think of anything other than the exams when you you prepare for them »

But, she added, « now that we’re done with these, I can’t wait to jump in and get back into space »

The Rubins launch could mark the last time a NASA astronaut has flown into space aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket, as the United States’ crewed commercial launch capabilities rapidly expand In Last May, for example, SpaceX launched its Crewed Demo-2 mission, which sent two NASA astronauts to the space station aboard the company’s Crew Dragon vehicle. SpaceX’s first fully operational crewed mission, Crew-1, will launch four astronauts this fall, and Rubins will be on the space station to welcome those astronauts on board

“I think I think it’s incredibly exciting,” said Rubins “I’m really looking forward to welcoming the first operational commercial vehicle to park, not only because it represents a milestone in the commercial crew, but I have very good friends in this vehicle So I can’t wait to see them fall on the trap « 

“I think we will always have this amazing partnership; we have international partners all over the world,” she added, “The [NASA] commercial crew program just allows us to have more presence on the space station, but that does not mean the end of the partnership We will therefore constantly work with our partners all over the world. This is one of the strengths of the space station « 

As well as being perhaps the last NASA astronaut to ride a Soyuz in space, Rubins will also be a part of space station history as, during his stay, the orbiting laboratory will celebrate his 20th anniversary of continued human presence Rubins will also vote from space, as will NASA astronauts launching with Crew-1 (Crew-1 will take off no earlier than « early to mid-November, » according to reports. NASA officials)

During this next mission, Rubins, a microbiologist who was the first person to sequence DNA in space, will be working on a number of experiments.She will participate in a cardiovascular investigation and an experiment with the Cold Atom Lab, an instrument that researchers use to study the behavior of atoms, etc.

“I’m really looking forward to some of the experiments with living cells,” said Rubins “We did studies the last time we were growing heart cells. Some of the things we are currently looking at are: can you examine the architecture of the tissues, what constitutes the organs in space? Are we able to grow things that look more like human organs? Can we build delicate tissue structures in space? « 

« I’m also very interested, of course, in the space station’s microbiome, » she said, adding that they were working on « mapping the entire space station microbiome, which has been separated from Earth for 20 years I think whatever the outcome is going to be incredibly exciting « 

Rubins and his cosmonaut teammates are scheduled to dock at the space station at 4:52 a.m.m EDT (0852 GMT, and the hatch between the space station and the capsule will open at 6:45 am EDT (10:45 GMT)

Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd @ spacecom or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook

Join our space forums to keep talking about the latest missions, the night sky and more! And if you have a tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community @ spacecom

Space is part of Future US Inc, a leading international media group and digital publisher Visit our corporate site

International Space Station, NASA, Astronaut, Roscosmos, Soyuz MS-17, Kathleen Rubins, Sergey Ryzhikov