Soyuz rocket positioned for liftoff with three-man crew

Russian ground crews moved a Soyuz rocket along a desolate railroad line to a launch pad in the Kazakh desert at sunrise Monday, then hoisted the kerosene-fueled booster into position for liftoff Wednesday with three fresh residents bound for the International Space Station.

Launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is scheduled for 2058 GMT (4:58 p.m. EDT), with docking of the Soyuz TMA-10M spacecraft at the space station expected at 0248 GMT (10:48 p.m. EDT).

Veteran Russian commander Oleg Kotov and rookie fliers Sergey Ryazanskiy and Michael Hopkins will strap into the Soyuz spacecraft a few hours before launch. The trio will join the Expedition 37 crew on-board the space station more than 250 miles above Earth.

See our Mission Status Center for the latest news on the mission.

Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi