And Liftoff! The Soyuz TMA-17M rocket launched at 5:02 p.m. EDT today from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, as seen in this long exposure. The spacecraft is carrying Expedition 44 Soyuz Commander Oleg Kononenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren of NASA, and Flight Engineer Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) into orbit to begin their five month mission on the International Space Station.
Photo Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
#nasa #space #iss #spacestation #exp44 #roscosmos #isscrew @astro_kjell