Mission control update with a handy timeline. Print it out and follow the major events of the launch and voyage to the International Space Station:

Luca’s flight to the International Space Station in numbers: more than 150 000 km travelled in six hours. Speed: more than 2800 km/h.

The Columbus Control Centre teams are already working on Luca’s planning for the next days. Members of today’s morning shift posed for a quick photo with a representative of the Italian Air force who will stay with the control teams to follow Lucas flight into orbit. We are all excited about the six months of Luca’s stay on the Station.

This morning we went over the details of the flight plan between the Soyuz launch and its docking to the orbital outpost. This is only the second time a Soyuz will fly a four-orbit rendezvous and it is really exciting to imagine that within a few hours Luca will have travelled more than 150 000 km within only 6 hours.

The flight plan below shows the major events that will happen tonight and lets us follow Luca’s ride to space closely.

…a few hours left to launch, and counting….