MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The first Russian manned spacecraft of Soyuz MS series will dock with the International Space Station (ISS) on July 9, the Russian Mission Control Center (MCC) said in a statement Thursday.
"The approaching of the Soyuz MS spacecraft and its docking to the Rassvet [Dawn] research module (MRM-1) is planned to be held automatically… The docking of the spacecraft and the station is scheduled for July 9, 2016, on 7:12 a.m. Moscow time [04:12 GMT]," the statement said.
According to the statement, the Soyuz MS will carry Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin, NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins and Japan Aerospace eXploration Agency's Takuya Onishi.
The launch of the spacecraft is expected to take place on July 7 at 4:36 a.m.
