On October 5, 2021 at 08:55 UTC the Russian “Soyuz MS-19” spacecraft was launched from Baykonur Cosmodrome. The space vehicle was orbited by the Russian “Soyuz-2.1a” rocket-carrier. There are 3 Russian crew members aboard the spacecraft: Commander, cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov (center); spaceflight-participant, film director Klim Shipenko (right) and spaceflight-participant, actress Yulia Peresild (left).

Photo by Russian Cosmonaut training center.

The launch was performed from Launch Site 31 (Baykonur Cosmodrome Site 31). Without an American astronaut, this launch marks the first time in more than 21 years (since Soyuz TM-30 in 2000) that a Soyuz crew only includes Russian cosmonauts and travelers and the spaceship had to be upgraded to be piloted by a single person at launch. The “Soyuz MS-19” space vehicle is to dock with the International Space Station in about 3 hours after the launch. Anton Shkaplerov, Klim Shipenko, Yulia Peresild will join current ISS expedition members Oleg Novickiy, Pyotr Dubrov, Mark Vande Hei, Robert Kimbrough, Katherine Megan McArthur, Akihiko Hoshide, Thomas Pesquet.