On September 11, 2024 at 16:23 UTC the Russian “Soyuz MS-26” spacecraft was launched from Baykonur Cosmodrome. The space vehicle was orbited by the Russian “Soyuz-2.1a” rocket-carrier. The spacecraft is piloted by 3 cosmonauts: Commander, Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin (center); flight-engineer 1, Russian cosmonaut Ivan Vagner (right); flight-engineer 2, US astronaut Donald Pettit (left).

The launch was performed from Launch Site 31 (Baykonur Cosmodrome Site 31). The “Soyuz MS-26” space vehicle is to dock with the International Space Station in about 3 hours after the launch. Aleksey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner and Donald Pettit will join current ISS expedition members Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, Aleksander Grebenkin.