NASA Astronaut Loral O'Hara's First Launch to the Space Station

Astronaut Loral O'Hara, a member of NASA's 2017 astronaut candidate class, is set to launch on her first mission to space Friday, Sept. 15. O'Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft.

The Soyuz is scheduled to launch at 11:44 a.m. EDT (1544 UTC) Friday, Sept. 15. NASA TV coverage will begin at 10:45 a.m. After a two-orbit, three-hour journey, the Soyuz will dock to the International Space Station's Rassvet module at 2:56 p.m. (1856 UTC). O'Hara is scheduled to spend six months aboard the station while Kononenko and Chub are scheduled to spend a year on the orbital outpost.