NASA astronaut Don Pettit, alongside Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, has successfully arrived at the International Space Station (ISS), marking the beginning of a busy 13-day handover period. Their arrival increases the ISS's crew to 12, highlighting the complex and collaborative nature of space exploration.

The Roscosmos Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft docked with the ISS's Rassvet module at 3:32 p.m. EDT, following a swift two-orbit, three-hour journey from Earth. The spacecraft had launched earlier that day at 12:23 p.m. EDT (9:23 p.m. local time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, a historic launch site pivotal to human spaceflight.

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NASA will broadcast the hatch opening live at 5:30 p.m. on various platforms, including NASA+, YouTube, and its official website. The hatch opening, scheduled for 5:50 p.m., is a key moment in the crew’s transition aboard the ISS, symbolizing the formal start of their mission.

Upon entering the station, Pettit, Ovchinin, and Vagner will join Expedition 71 crew members, which include NASA astronauts Tracy C. Dyson, Mike Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, Butch Wilmore, and Suni Williams, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin, and Oleg Kononenko.

Upcoming Missions and Crew Changes

The arrival of the new crew members marks an essential phase in the station’s operations, with Expedition 72 set to commence on Monday, Sept. 23, following the departure of Dyson, Chub, and current station commander Kononenko. Dyson's six-month mission and the year-long stays of Chub and Kononenko will conclude with this handover.