Russia will send a NASA astronaut and two cosmonauts to the ISS on Thanksgiving morning

4:12 International Space Station on low Earth orbit. NASA

A trio of astronauts and cosmonauts celebrate Thanksgiving with a trip to the International Space Station.

NASA astronaut Chris Williams and cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikaev will travel to the ISS to join the crew of Expedition 73. They will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:27 a.m. ET on Thursday aboard a Roscosmos Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft.

The International Space Station in low Earth orbit. NASA

The launch and docking with the ISS will be broadcast live on NASA+. and the space agency’s YouTube channel.

The trip to the ISS will take about three hours and two turns around the Earth. The Soyuz spacecraft will automatically dock with the station at approximately 7:38 a.m. ET, after which the hatch will open.

The trio will join NASA astronauts Mike Finke, Zena Cardman, and Johnny Kim, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov, Oleksiy Zubrytskyi, and Oleg Platonov, who are currently working and living aboard the ISS.

Williams and his fellow astronauts will spend about eight months aboard the ISS as part of ISS Expeditions 73 and 74. This will be Williams and Mikaev’s first spaceflight and Kud-Sverchkov’s second.

NASA says Williams will conduct scientific research and technology demonstrations during his time on the station. Some of the experiments will include installing and testing a new modular training system for long-duration missions, improving cryogenic fuel efficiency, and growing semiconductor crystals in space. Williams will also help NASA develop new re-entry safety protocols for future missions.

November 2 marked the 25th anniversary of continuous human habitation aboard the ISS.

Source: abcnews.go.com