
Soyuz Launches Expedition 44 Crew to the International Space Station
"The Soyuz TMA-17M launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station at 5:02 p.m. EDT (3:02 a.m. on July 23 Baikonur time). Soyuz TMA-17M 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 Station."
Keith's note: On board was a mini-R2D2 who's purpose on this mission is not exactly clear ... yet. Maybe he'll fix the un-deployed solar array.
#NASA pic of R2D2 repairing Soyuz solar array that failed to deploy since @AstroDocScott & @Astro_Wheels are busy pic.twitter.com/V46KvybN38
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) July 22, 2015