The International Space Station setup as of September 28, 2021, with the Soyuz MS-18 crew ship docked to the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. Credit: NASA
The Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft that initially showed up and released to the International Space Station April 9 has now effectively relocated with its team aboard from the stations Earth-facing Rassvet module to the “Nauka” Multipurpose Laboratory Module. The spacecraft carrying Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy, leader of the Soyuz, and Pyotr Dubrov in addition to NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, docked at 9:04 a.m. EDT.
It is the very first time a spacecraft has connected to the brand-new Nauka module, which came to the station in July, and is the 20th Soyuz port relocation in station history and the first because March 2021.
The relocation frees the Rassvet port for the arrival October 5 of another Soyuz spacecraft, designated Soyuz MS-19, which will carry Soyuz leader and cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos and spaceflight individuals Klim Shipenko and Yulia Peresild.
Vande Hei and Dubrov are scheduled to stay aboard the station until March 2022. At the time of his return, Vande Hei will have set the record for the longest single spaceflight for an American. Novitskiy, Shipenko, and Peresild are scheduled to return to Earth in October aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft.
By NASA
September 29, 2021